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Hardware Review
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»Battle Stylus
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You have to admit,
the stylii that come with the Nintendo DS are pretty dinky and
uncomfortable to use. They’re about 3inches long and weigh absolutely
nothing. I was kind of confused about first hearing about the product.
I thought it extended, but I found out that was false. Is the PDA
Panache “Battle Stylus” what you really need for your DS? Read on to
find out.
The PDA Panache stylus comes in a relatively simple box, nothing really
head turning. The stylus itself is the same size as the standard stylus
and comes in a dark metallic gray with an orange tip. I wish I had
specific weights on it, but it’s probably about 3-4 times as heavy as
the standard DS stylus. The PDA Panache stylus still fits into your DS
slot snugly, just like the other one. The stylus also has nice rings
around the front half for a nice grip that’s much better than the
smooth standard DS stylus.
There are really two big advantages this stylus can give you, and
that’s what I’ll be explaining. The first big advantage is the orange
tip. I’ve noticed that while using the standard stylus, the black tip
mixes into dark backgrounds and you can’t really see what’s going on as
much. The PDA Panache stylus has an orange tip which definitely doesn’t
blend in at all and makes for easy viewing. For games like the Metroid
Prime demo, it doesn’t really help much because you don’t really look
at the bottom screen while moving, but I can see it helping down the
road for many other games. The other big advantage is the weight. The
weight gives you more control over what you’re doing and definitely
helped me aim in the Metroid Prime demo and if you switch back and
forth between them, you can definitely notice the difference.
The stylus is made out of a pretty strong metal and I don’t think I
could bend it with my bare hands. It’s really a solid design and if
you’re worried about the tip, on the back of the box it says, “If your
stylus plastic writing tip ever fails to perform, you may return the
unit to our factory repair service.” So, you get a lifetime warrantee.
The tip is safe on the screen and I haven’t noticed any rough spots or
scratches on my screen at all from it.
The only real reason not to buy the custom stylus is the price. $15
doesn’t really seem like a lot of money, and it isn’t, but for a stylus
upgrade that you might not feel like you need… it might be. PDA panache
is also giving a free Stick Stylus with the purchase, which I haven’t
tried out. The Battle Stylus is pretty nice though and I definitely
hope PDA Panache works on some more for the DS; possibly an extendable
stylus, which is what I’m looking for. This stylus is pretty much a
heavier DS stylus with a better tip. It will improve your accuracy, so
if that’s what you need, definitely get a Battle Stylus.
Article by: Knives
Posted on: Aug. 8th, 2005 |
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