Comments on: Just Mobile Alupen stylus for the Apple iPad reviewed

By: Robb

Robb — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 19:29:00 +0000

Nib nibbled by teething child! The Alu Pen was a neat gift but short-lived after “the baby” picked it up and bit into it with his razor sharp little teeth. So I emailed Just Mobile who responded quickly but the price of 2 replacement nibs is US $12.95 and delivery charges are US $25.oo! (one nib is all I need)
I live in Canada and I think they are shipping them all the way from Taiwan? Still, 2 rubber nibs in an envelope don’t cost 25 bucks to ship??? Has anyone else found this problem and if so is there a cheaper US or Canadian parts source? signed: Nibless

By: stíobhart

stíobhart — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 10:11:00 +0000

After ploughing through a zillion reviews for a zillion stylii, I bought two of these AluPens, about three months ago, to accompany a pair of new iPads for the missus and me. I wanted a stylus which was chunky, solid and not likely to fall apart after a couple of months –as seems to be a bit of an occupational hazard with these gadgets, judging by the reviews I read.

Well, up ’til a couple of weeks ago, I was delighted with my purchase. The AluPen feels solid, well-made and built to last. Appearances, however, can be deceptive and, I noticed lately that my AluPen was starting to feel like it was dragging slightly on my iPad screen and was becoming less responsive. I actually mistakenly blamed a few recent apps I had downloaded, when I found gaps in what I was writing or drawing were suddenly appearing. But on swapping my AluPen for the missus’s one, I found that it was in fact the stylus that was at fault, not the apps. I should point out that the AluPen has been well looked after: always kept in its pouch when not in use and there is no visible damage to the tip. It’s just not working properly any more.

Anyway, I sent the manufacturers a polite email, to the support address given on their website, asking if they could give me an address to send the stylus back for repair or replacement. A fortnight later, I hadn’t even received the courtesy of a reply. I sent a follow-up email, a week after that and that one was completely ignored also.

So, although I can’t say that the AluPen is complete rubbish –the missus’s one continues to work perfectly– I do think a failure rate of 50% is pretty poor for what is quite an expensive item, when you consider these things must cost pennies to manufacture [The AluPen was £18 when I bought mine]. My main gripe though is with their non-existent Customer Service. A company which completely ignores customers who have a problem with their product certainly will not be getting my repeat business. You’ll have to decide whether it’s worth the risk to give them your custom, in the first place.

By: Eb

Eb — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 16:30:00 +0000

No I also had this problem & was surprised as the rest of the design is so sturdy & pleasing. The way in which the nib is held on definitely needs some tweaking. I’m looking for an alternative at the moment but can’t get away from sites & reviews recommending the alupen, so thought perhaps I just got a bad one. However after searching around it does seem to be a common fault with them.

By: Liam Purnell

Liam Purnell — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:30:00 +0000

I bought an Alu pen stylus a few weeks back and was very impressed with it. But I used the leather pouch it comes with to protect It when it’s in my work bag and with the rubber nib inside the pouch you have to pinch the nib to get the pen out of the pouch. This seemed fine until last week when the rubber end popped off while I was pinching it to get it out the pouch. It doesn’t go back into place properly so I tried glueing it back on but it seemed to change the way it works (then it stopped working completely) and now I have to buy another one! Am I the only person who has experienced this problem?
The Alu pen seems so solid and well made that I was very surprised when the tip just popped off like that, and especially when it could not be put back into place.
Maybe it’s the one thing that they can improve on…

By: alupen

alupen — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:46:37 +0000

The Alupen is definitely not overpriced. I have used 3 different styluses for my iPad & trust me, this is the only one which is any good. The coverage of the nib is so wide that it’s effectively “pressure sensitive” & it’s shape is so easy to hold.

Honestly, this is a really good buy, I regret trying cheap alternatives.