(Palm III has the plunger pushed all the way in)

I guess if you are like me, the first thing that you look for in a replacement stylus is a smooth, but usable writing tip. All of the styli that come with the Palm PDAs are a bit rough to me.  Most third party styli have tips that are great to write with. (Just check out some of the stylus reviews on this web site to see what I mean.) But I'll have to say that in my opinion, the tip of the Slimline Throttle is a bit rough. In fact, I was a quite apprehensive of using it for graffiti on my PalmPilot Pro.

This apprehension increased when I removed the Slimline Throttle from my Pilot and noticed that the tip had fallen off.  I found it inside the Pilot's stylus hole, which I found by turning the Pilot up-side-down.  This is a serious problem. Had I not noticed that the tip had fallen off, and started to use it on the Pilot's screen, it would have caused some serious damage.  I have no evidence that the stylus tip will actually damage your screen, and I am not saying that it will. But I base these observations on my comparison with many other styli that I have reviewed and tested. And although ttools, LLC gives you three replacement tips, the problem is serious enough for them to have 2 disclaimers in the product packaging and a bunch more on their web site. (I have reviewed numerous styli by other manufacturers, and none of them warn their customers about the stylus tip.)

But to be fair, this stylus might be fine for the "point and click" type person, like a friend of mine who rarely uses graffiti, and uses the "keyboard" pallet at the bottom of the screen to input all of his data. But heed the warnings to make sure that there is a black tip on the end of the stylus before you use it.

As for the feel of the pen when writing, it's a bit small. (Well, what would you expect?) The pen/stylus is less than .25" wide and only 4.25" long including the button to retract the pen.  It's about the same size as the original stylus that comes with your PDA. If you want to know what it would feel like to write on paper with something that is this size, just take out your regular stylus, (I know you are pretending to write with it right now...) and you will get a feel for the size.

Pen tip shown out.

Pen tip shown fully retracted. (Still sticks out a bit.)

One thing that concerned me a bit about the pen cartridge, was that when fully retracted, it still stuck out .040". (Yes, I measured it with calipers.) You probably are thinking that I'm being picky, but this can be a problem if the ink starts to glob off the tip. (Would you buy a pen if the writing tip extended out of the holder?) I don't know if all units are designed this way or just the one I reviewed. But if globs of ink deposit in the PDAs stylus hole, they could be transferred to the tip of the stylus and then to your PDA screen. This has not happened to me in the review/testing of this product, but I have a coffee mug full of pens without caps that have globs of ink on the ends of them, so I believe that the possibility for this to occur is valid.

As for the rest of the design of the Slimline Throttle, there is a knob on the side that helps you get it in and out of the PDA hole or slot. And at the end of the Slimline Throttle, the button that you use for retracting the ink cartridge unscrews to expose a small pin that can be used to reset your Palm PDAs. This is a useful addition, and one that most well designed styli incorporate into their designs. The only problem is that I have been told that the reset pin is not long enough to reset the Palm III. I tried it on my Palm Pro and it reset the machine.