aPen Digital Recording Wireless Pen

Yay Woot, the a3 finally for us non-Apple-inclined!

I’m having trouble clicking the thread from last month, so here’s the last thread I commented on.

Lots of Discussion Here

Here are some sample images of notes I took for work:

It’s so nice to have a digital back up of all my notes in case a body shop accuses me of ordering parts for the wrong car, when they gave me the wrong VIN.

bad reviews for A3 on amazon…says no support for android tablets

http://www.amazon.com/Apen-A3-Wireless-Digital-Recording/product-reviews/B004QOIDLO/ref=cm_cr_dp_all_summary?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

Slow night. Here are some youtube videos.

A Video Demo:
[youtube=5UXzdzsJBiI][/youtube]

A4 video
[youtube=PVcbAq25x70][/youtube]

Here is the Apen Website. $129.00 for the A3 or A4 on their website.

freaking typical I just bought the A3 on 7/28 when they had in their other deals, and when it was ten dollars more. I swear every time I buy a tech item from woot they rerun it again a few days latter at a significant discount. Ohh well Like the product it just arrived yesterday and I have been playing with it today and it is spiffy.

Does anyone here know if the aPen is better than the Wacom Inkling?
Seems like I’d trust Wacom a bit more for quality, but I could be wrong.
Wacom Inkling sample video below.

Have you done any advanced photo editing with it? I’ve been looking to get something similar for my photo business, but the ones I was looking at were way more. I’m so over using my mouse for editing. I’d much rather draw my selections. Does anyone have that kind of experience with it?

The previous model I bought here was returned to Woot after I could never get ANY help from the company about my apparently DOA item. Maybe I was doing something wrong, but I’ll never know. It took them 2 weeks to email back something like, “We hear you are having a problem?” After numerous calls and emails. Call the tech support # and get the company receptionist? No thanks.

Ugh… I really should stop looking at these daily deal sites every morning. I totally want/need one of these for my work. I guess on the bright side I didn’t buy that non-stick 10" saute pan yesterday. Maybe I should send that drum set back I bought a couple of days ago for the kid.

I’m in for one…

Edit: Wow, the reviews are all over the board - this is a crap shoot… I just need something to store my multiple notes digitally with.

Do not waste your hard earned money unless you have money to donate to Woot on the wireless pen. Very cheap quality, awkward to use, unreliable and I could go on. Pictures are deceiving, to use pen you must have receiver attached to source taking notes. If you have a writing tablet or similar the clip on the receiver is to small to attach. iPad and Andriod apps are very poor. Looks like a first year computer science dude that failed out of their second semester created them. In closing Woot money donations are not tax deductible!

Thanks, I’m out…

Could someone who has this comment on attaching the receiver to a “pad” of paper? Some of the comments indicate that it will NOT attach to a standard pad of paper (claim that standard pads of paper are too thick for the aPen’s clippy thingee to get around). Is that true? If so then, to those who do like this pen, how do you make it practical in your real-world use? Thanks!

The rest of us REALLY appreciate your efforts at reducing our costs for these woot items!

Thanks a lot and keep it up!!!

I picked this up a few weeks ago in a previous woot, and the wife and I have had a ton of fun with it. You can plug the device into your computer, attach the dongle to a normal pad of paper, and use the ball-point pen the same way you would a digital art tablet. It’s pretty intuitive, and rather fun.

There is a bit of goofiness sometimes when it comes to the sensing. If part of your hand gets between the pen and the dongle it’ll miss lines at times, but as long as you’re inking with the device plugged into your computer, you’ll be able to glance up and see if the lines are being recognized or not.

Personally, I couldn’t see doing serious art with it, but for doodling, note-taking, maybe a little cartooning, it’s totally workable and definitely a novelty.

The clippy thing is too small to fit around the entire pad of paper, but it clips easily onto a few sheets, and it spreads pressure along the entire clip well, so there’s not much risk of damaging the paper you’re working with.

For those of you wondering if you can use it even as a lefty, YES! Yes, you can. You just want to make sure that the top of your hand is not blocking the sensor. The grip of the pen is higher up, so that the side of your hand is not touching the paper much. (Lefties will know what I’m talking about).

Yay, finally an aPen deal for the rest of us!

In for one A3, thanks Woot!

I bought two of these about a year ago(one for me, one for a friend). They are fantastic, and I’m considering buying one or two more. The pen is really nice and writes smoothly even ignoring the fact that it’s digital, and I’ve taken to using it as my regular pen even for notes that I don’t want recorded. The fact that you can record notes and then throw the paper away is very nice(The case that the aPen comes with is usually smaller than a pile of paper sheets), and you can re-use paper by drawing over old notes and storing a new layer, which I’ve done several times.

I don’t have an Inkling, but I do know it supports pressure sensitivity(aPen does not) and that the driver situation is more user-friendly. For 1/5 the price, however, the aPen does a fantastic job of capturing text and lineart.

You sir are a liar, an idiot, or both. I have had no reliability issues and found the pen to be of exceptional quality even just on its own. The receiver works without being connected to a computer or iPad, but allows you to turn the aPen into a Wacom-style tablet if you do connect it, and as the previous commentor mentioned, you can easily attach the receiver only to a few pages on a notepad.(Binding on the top? Attach it to the side! WOAH, MAGIC!)

I’m missing the benefit compared to using a special pen on the iPad, anyone care to enlighten me?

Anyone know if the A3 would work with a touchpad?

Bluetooth says yes, but the fact that it doesn’t work with honeycomb (apparently, according to amazon reviews) throws me off.