Change to a Great Stylus: The Pilot Pentopia Chameleon

There are thousands of stylii on the market these days and no one stylus is going to be right for every person. The same stylus can be too light for one person and too heavy for another. One person may prefer a thick pen-like stylus, finding it easier to hold, while another finds those thicker stylii difficult to write with. Some folks want a super gee-golly-whiz gadget that could pass for a swiss army knife (or in a few cases, actually is a swiss army knife) while others prefer utilitarian simplicity.

I admit I am a sucker for the odd and unusual and own many stylii that fall into that category. But when push comes to shove, in terms of actual usefulness as a working stylus, I lean toward the simple models. What I really want is a stylus that's comfortable in my hand, that fits into the stylus silo of my device, and that offers good graffiti recognition.

By that criteria, the Pilot Pentopia Chameleon stylus is darn near perfect.

There are actually several different models of Chameleon stylii, each designed for different PDAs. I have one of the original Chameleons, designed for Pilot, PalmPilot, and Palm III-style devices. It fits into the stylus silo of the following devices:

* Pilot 1000, 5000
* PalmPilot Personal, PalmPilot Professional
* Palm III
* Palm IIIe, Palm IIIe Special Edition
* Palm IIIx, IIIxe
* Palm IIIc
* Palm VII, Palm VIIx
* TRGpro
* HandEra 330
* Original IBM Workpads

Although some of the other models offer clear barrels, unfortunately this one only comes in stainless steel. However, there are four choices for the tip color - blue-gray, translucent blue, translucent green, and translucent purple. My stylus has blue-gray tips which makes it look fairly professional. The translucent tips transform the feel of the stylus, instantly moving from business/professional to trendy. The translucent tips are more my style, but, alas, they were out of stock when I got my Chameleon.

That barrel is amazingly thin, particularly considering it contains both a pen and a stylus. Unlike most pen/stylus combinations, they are not both on the same side of the unit but rather on opposite ends. The tip on the stylus side unscrews to reveal a metal reset pin that should work with almost any Palm. The pen side comes with a cap that looks quite a lot like the screw-on tip. This cap will also fit on the stylus side for storage but you may have to push a bit to get it to stay snugly.

The fine tip black pen writes well with good ink flow. The stylus is a bit small and thin to write comfortably for extended periods of time but it's a nice emergency pen for quick signatures or notes. If you're looking for a pen that can also be used as an emergency stylus then the Chameleon probably isn't the right choice for you.

The Chameleon is the lightest full stylus I've ever used. That's pretty amazing considering that there's a pen tucked in there too. It can take some time to get used to the lack of heft, but I found that I could essentially hold this stylus forever without getting tired. With some of the other stylii my wrist and fingers are tired after 20 minutes of use, sometimes even sooner. Again, after a short adjustment period, I was able to get excellent graffiti recognition with the Chameleon. It truly is a stylus I can write with until the words dry up. With most stylii my hands give out before my brain does. Not so here.

The Pilot Pentopia Chameleon is one of the best stylii I've ever used. It easily fits into the stylus silo of my HandEra 330 (and other devices I own), it's light and easy to write with, it provides almost perfect graffiti recognition, it acts as an emergency pen, and it's available in styles that suit both businessmen and folks who prefer cool and trendy accessories. If you're in the market for a new stylus, I strongly recommend trying the Chameleon.