Our Opinion

Odysseas said since he “first used a stylus on a cheap consumer Wacom tablet,” he could never go back to using mousing for sketching, a hobby of his since childhood. With a mouse being dominated by its weight and stuck on a flat surface, it doesn’t allow full freedom of motion in the wrist. With regard to using fingers as “input devices,” he notes that’s how our ancestors painted on cave walls eons ago. Andrew doesn’t have one because he’s pretty sure he would never use it. However, his wife uses one with her touchscreen laptop to annotate PDFs and the like. Sayak explains he doesn’t draw freeform that well, so he wouldn’t have much use for a stylus. He always thought they were intended for artists. Damien said it is definitely not useful to him. He used one on his tablet before and “hated the experience.” It’s faster for him to use his fingers than a stylus and realizes it’s just not for him. Miguel says the last time he had a stylus was in 1999 with one of those fancy PDAs people used before smartphones were introduced. With touchscreens, he’s just not really inclined to get a device that has a stylus. “I just don’t need it.” He never does anything on a touchscreen that requires the precision of a stylus. While he doesn’t find them useful personally, he can see how they would be for some people. Interestingly, I thought the same thing as some of the others here for many years. I did not see the point. I was just so comfortable using my fingers on a touchscreen. However, I saw a good deal on one so tried it and now find I use it often. It’s becoming indispensable to me. With certain things I do on my iPad Pro, it’s just easier to move around with the stylus. Yet, at the same time, it’s more difficult when doing things like touch typing.

Your Opinion

Do you use a stylus, and if not, have you ever tried one? Do you see them as more useful for artists? How useful do you find the stylus? Tell us in the comments below.