Why does a $100 stylus not have an eraser?

I have to say, of all the styli I’ve used, NONE of them have had an eraser on them. The drawing program will have a virtual eraser you can choose - just like you’d choose between an airbrush or paintbrush tool.

To have different tools on each end of the styli you’d, in effect, need to have two styli put end to end each interacting differently to mimick a real physical eraser.

Phil & Skydiver,

Both of you, obviously, have never used Wacom tablets and stylii.

Wacom’s Bamboo, Intous and Cintiq tablet stylii all have a digital eraser on the end, as well as, programmable control buttons.

The Wacom stylii INSTANTLY know the stylus is in eraser mode when you flip it over to use the digital eraser end.

I have never been a fan of the Apple Pencil, either.

I, personally, do not like the whole Gestalt/industrial design/ergonomics of the Apple Pencil.

The weight of it I find is too heavy.

Hate the smooth, slippery and cheaply feeling plastic material.

Do not like the Barrel diameter ( I am used to wider diameter barrels on other third party stylii as I a used to drawing with after diameter marker pens).

Don't like that the Apple Pencil doesn't have the true hexagonal, anti-roll shape of a "real" pencil or mechanical pencil., because is DOES roll.

Don't really like its unnecessary length.

Do not like the really bad and kludgey way the Pencil charges.

Not even a built in pencil clip (where the silver band is on the Apple Pencil would have made an ideal place for a built in pencil clip.

That protective cap for the Lightning connector gets lost by everyone and has started a WHOLE cottage industry of Apple Pencil Lightning Protector cap holders to keep it with the Pencil when charging.

The Apple Pencil along with the smart keyboard all feel rushed and like an afterthought in the overall designs of these accessories.

I use an Adonit Pixel/Pixel Pro stylus with my 1st gen iPad Pro and I think it works fantastic with all of the compatible apps!

It’s the ONLY third party, smart Bluetooth stylus that I can, honestly, recommend that actually works well with an iPad Pro.

http://www.adonit.net/jot/pixel/

This smart, Bluetooth stylus works across a wide range of iDevices.

The Bluetooth connection is stable and its Bluetooth pressure sensing technology is very smooth, natural feeling and has consistent line drawing ability.

Plus it's a quality made, aluminum stylus with two programmable buttons.

I have been using this stylus for over two years now and it is really good on my iPad Pro.

I absolutely HATE the Apple Pencil. I think it is just a poorly designed and made afterthough stylus accessory for the iPad Pro.

If you do not mind losing the whole side shading thing, as well as a reduced set of compatible apps,

I use an Adonit Pixel/Pixel Pro stylus on my iPad Pro for the last two years or so.

http://www.adonit.net/pixel-pro/

This stylus works wonderfully for me.

The Adonit Pixel Pro, is, exclusively, to use with iPad Pro models.

Has ON/OFF/ shortcut buttons.

Has a nice fine, textured pen tip AND a nice rubber grip.

Magnetically charges, has an auto 15 minute shutdown feature ( to preserve battery life ), charges in a hour.

I find it only lasts for between 16-20 hours, but Adonit claims up to 24 hours of continuous use on a charge cycle.

Made of very high quality aluminum materials.

Works with about a dozen of the major/popular drawing/sketching/painting apps (the Pixel/Pixel Pro works with, but currently not “officially” supported with Procreate, but it still works and works pretty well in Procreate ), and about a half dozen of the popular note taking apps, a half dozen writing apps and about a half dozen PDF style/compatible apps.

You DO have to perform some pairing and setup parameters in each of the Adonit Pixel Pro compatible apps.

You just DO NOT simply turn on Bluetooth on an an iDevice and turn on the Adonit stylus and start writing.

The Adonit Pixel/Pixel Pro stylus is NOT an Apple Pencil in that regard.

You have to initially Bluetooth pair the Adonit Pixel/Pixel Pro, setup the hand/palm position and in many apps, set up the stylus screen pressure sensitivity for each and every compatible app!

Once you have, initially, done all of this, all Adonit Pixel/Pixel Pro compatible apps will remember these settings for future use!

Some Adonit Pixel users claimed their stylus doesn’t work, but it does work well IF you properly know how to set the Adonit Pixel/Pixel Pro up!

Here’s my ( incomplete) list of Adonit Pixel/Pixel Pro compatible apps for the iPad/iPad Pro.

Animation Desk

ArtRage

Astropad

AutoDesk SketchBook

Colored Pencils

Concepts

Interactive SketchBook

Inkist

Medibang Paint

ProCreate

Pixelmator (used to support Adonit, I have an older version that did, not sure about their latest version)

Tayasui Sketches/Sketches Pro (the new, free Tayasui Sketches School version works with this stylus, but without any palm rejection, so you need to use a special, non-electrical conducting drawing glove with the Sketches School version)

ZenBrush/Zen Brush 2

GoodNotes

Notability

Notes Shelf

Notes Plus

Notes Writer

QuickNotes X Pro

uPad

Zoom Notes

PDF Expert

Foxit PDF

This stylus works with other non-compatible apps, too, but without any palm rejection and/or pressure features.

You can use this stylus with other apps but will not be able to lay your palm on the screen, unless you use special drawing gloves that work to isolate your hand and allow you to lay your hand on the screen as you draw in these non-compatible Adonit stylus apps.

If interested, to make sure you get the latest installed stylus firmware, you must order one of these directly from the Adonit website.

Good Luck to You!

Skydiver119 wrote:

I have but obviously not the models you have so thank you for the correction.

All of Wacom’s tablet/stylus combinations (Bamboo, Intuos & Cintiq tablets) have stylus pen, Airbrush pen that havd a digital eraser end on them.

Been like this for as long as I have been using Wacom tablet/stylus combo devices, which has been, at least, for the last 12 years, or so.

Even their dedicated Wacom Companion Pro devices that are dedicated tablet devices, like iPads, use Wacom stylii that have a digital eraser end on them.

They Wacom stylii work in tandem with the Wacom tablet surface.

There is a preferences panel to install to use with Wacom tablets and stylii combinations.

So, there are settings for both stylus and tablet.

I have but obviously not the models you have so thank you for the correction.

I have not used those. But how do the apps then know the device is in erase mode?

I would think the Apps would need some way to interact with the stylii in question to enter erase mode.

Erasing is dependent on the App being used. You can select the erase function within the app, and erase using the same tip you use to draw.

Since its not an actual pencil and it does not work like an actual pencil, having an actual erase head on the top of it seems a bit pointless. Its not like flipping the pencil is magically going to tell the iPad that its now in erase mode or anything. So no point in adding something as useless as that. Just select the erase function in the App you are using, and you can proceed to erase.

Seems like you are reaching a bit with that one.

Also for what its worth, I find the weight of the pencil excellently balanced and I can use it for long periods of drawing and painting without any issues.

You can however, use the feedback age to offer Apple direct feedback about their pencil: Feedback - iPad - Apple