Cosmonaut Stylus

Back in October of 2010, Dan Provost & Tom Gerhardt of Studio Neat started a Kickstarter project for the Glif, a tripod adapter and stand for the iPhone 4. The project succeeded wonderfully, and they came back this past March to start another project, the Cosmonaut. Their second project was also wildly successful, and in my opinion, so is the product behind the project.

I happened to help fund the Cosmonaut, so I was able to get my hands on one of the earliest batches sent out, though now they’re currently on sale for $25 on their site.

The Cosmonaut is a capacitive stylus, best used with larger screens such as the iPad. The stylus itself is quite thicker than most other styluses; compare it to a dry erase marker. The outside is a sturdy, rubbery grip with the tip being also rubbery, but in a different sense — I’ll talk more about that in a second. The core of the Cosmonaut is a solid rod of aluminum, so the whole stylus is really solid and has a nice weight to it. While some styluses feel cheap, this is not one of them. You’ll feel like you got your money’s worth, and not just some cheap piece of plastic with a magic iPad-friendly trick up its sleeve. The only other element of the Cosmonaut worth noting is a plug in the back that’s flush with the end, which can either be a cherry wood or aluminum.

The tip of the Cosmonaut is interesting. It’s a thin, slick, rubber-like surface that is practically frictionless. Compare it to using a dry erase board, but without the occasional squeaky hang-ups. The very tip of the stylus gives a little, and while you can’t just brush it against the screen and expect it to work, you also don’t have to apply a lot of unnecessary pressure. I actually find this to be rather nice when doing handwriting as I don’t get a lot of extra, unwanted lines between words and letters.

While it’s not extremely thin, it does feel rather precise. I was able to start lines again while drawing and not have to undo and try again. I was surprised and impressed. Though if your handwriting is the size of an ant or you draw with excruciatingly small details, I’m not sure I can recommend it. However, there aren’t many good styluses for iPad and iPhone on the market today that can solve this problem anyway.

I should note that it works with smaller screens as well, obviously, but not near as gracefully as on a tablet. I tried it with my iPhone 4, though the only valid use I’ve ever gotten out of it was signing a PDF, which did work well. Drawing and writing is really awkward and clunky, and just doesn’t work the way you’d expect. I don’t fault them for this however, as it isn’t widely advertised for use with smaller devices.

Overall, I believe that the Cosmonaut is really one of the best styluses on the market, in regards to both build quality and performance. If you want a great all-around tool for more pen/marker-like control on your tablet, I highly recommend it.