Should You Switch From Mouse to Pen?
As far back as I can remember, I’ve been a little mouse – never hesitated. However, what if you want to ditch the mouse entirely? This is a question posed by Lifehacker reader James for Tech 911 this week. He’s writing:
I sign my name as best I can with a Logitech mouse. I am already over 80 and it is very difficult for me to shape the letters. I really want to try the Pentype Mouse to give me better control when signing or sketching.
My system is Windows 10 64 bit. Can you recommend any mouse or provide a link to any reviews of such mice?
Pen, mouse or drawing pad?
I confess I haven’t seen a review of a real pen mouse in years. They’ve always seemed to me to be one of those cheap $ 30 gadgets you’ll probably find on a deep shelf at Best Buy, perhaps with a “as seen on TV” sticker on them. This is not exactly the usual way to use the system, they look bulky and you have to deal with wireless charging all the time. Eeeee .
I’m talking about a very specific type of product, like this:
Many people use the pen to interact with the computer, but in a slightly different way. I would recommend that you try a full-fledged drawing tablet that you interact with with a stylus, although a pen-and-mouse will probably be a cheaper investment at first.
Pros? The stylus never runs out of power. It’s just an extension of your hand that interacts with the tablet, which is a real part of the job. Tablets for drawing, such as the Wacom CTL4100 – This entry-level product – have a lot of positive reviews, and the Wacom – is a brand that is trusted, so you know that any quirks associated with the relationship between pen and PC, most likely, will be eliminated, more importantly than I can say about some random manufacturer of a $ 20 pen mouse.
Minuses? Well, you will be clicking, not clicking, so it might take a while to get used to. However, I’ve even heard of some people using a hybrid approach: they put their non-primary hand on the mouse and use it to click, and use the pen + tablet combination to draw to navigate Windows, move apps, etc. to.
There is also a price. The aforementioned CTL4100 costs a steep $ 80. That’s about four times the price of various mouse pens I’ve seen; however, I would view this purchase as purchasing a quality kitchen knife. Sure, you can get $ 20 knives on Amazon that do the job – as I’ve done before – but overall quality sucks and their long-term prognosis is low. (Although, of course, when you lose them, break them, or rust, it doesn’t really matter.)
I assume that you interact with your computer quite often, and given that you specifically indicated that you are signing your name and sketching, I think the CTL4100 is perfect. I also didn’t mention before that it has a lot of pressure sensitivity built in for the latter, in case you want to learn this as part of your drawing. Feather mouse? Not sure if it will have such a built-in function as it is more of an input device than an ideal drawing tool.
So my advice: use a tablet to draw. I (and many others) love Wacom, but I’m sure there are decent alternatives. However, given your needs, I wouldn’t buy something that costs hundreds of dollars – unless digital art becomes a key part of your daily life.
If (or when) you buy a drawing tablet, make sure you open Windows 10 Pen & Windows Ink settings, where you should also see the key option you want to enable: Let my pen act like a mouse in legacy apps. … “ I don’t have a pen / tablet to draw myself, so I can’t confirm it’s called that (or if it still exists), but I know it used to be a way to make sure you can use your stylus to interact from a system-wide application. It is also likely that you will have similar settings in any application that came with your drawing tablet (make sure you have it installed, as well as the tablet manufacturer’s drivers to ensure the best experience).