Ballpoint Pen/Stylus Combo?

[k_semler]

Does anybody have one of these? If so, How is your experience with it. I don't intend to use it as a regular pen, but as an "emergency" pen. (if I can't find a pen anywhere else). How reliable are they, and does the ink dry out at all, (when capped). Will the standard pen-flow technique, (expose to fire for brief durations), work to get the ink flowing again? I'm kind of curious, because it only cost $8.45 for 3 of them, so I'm sort of wondering how good they are.

[djfujiyama]

I buy these for every PPC i own. They're lifesavers. You don't want to be writing entire essays with these pens (they're tiny as hell), but they'll do in a pinch. Writing is fine. I usually lose them before they run out of ink.

[sanjsrik]

Agree agree agree agree wholeheartedly. These are an absolute lifesaver. I am with my phone a lot but don't always carry a pen. I can't tell you HOW MANY times I've been so grateful to have one of these pen/stylus combos. Absolutely awesome idea. And, this is coming from a guy who's had them since his Casseopiea E-125 (sp?) days.

I can't recommend these enough. I think all carries/manufacturers should make these part of the standard package and get rid of the crap styli they sell with the original phones.

[Ed Zachary]

Depends on which one you're talking about.
I, too, have been using PPCs since the E200 days. And have done quite a bit of business app development for them.

First, the Boss Lady is a nurse. ALL the pen/stylus combos I have seen have been units left by drug company reps.
They range from the 3- or 4-way retractible combinations (2 color pens, stylus, and maybe a mechanical pencil). Some are nice with sort of pricey commercial counterparts and can be refilled. Others are jammomatic crap whose styli can really mar a touchscreen.
The simplest and cheapest was a plastic retractible. The business end of it had a bit of a "nose", sort of like a visor, that could be used as a stylus when the pen was retracted. Surprisingly smooth and mar-free.
The one I like the most, and am constantly on the lookout for, is a black metal deal, about three inches long. It has a clip so it can be clipped into your handy nerd pocket protector or into a notebook or even, as the Boss Lady does, to her phone holster. The pen is a twist-retract deal.
The pen writes nice, the stylus works well, and the size and weight give the impresstion of having something substantial to hang onto.
The deals I see for sale where the non-stylus plastic end comes off to reveal the pen point are, to me, too teeny to be used for anything but a dire emergency.