Customer Reviews

Belkin QUADRA 4-IN-1 Pen, Stylus, Laser Pointer & LED light

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The LED is quite bright at full power and is helpful for finding things in the dark at a short distance (up ~2 meters away). The laser pointer is reasonably visible and has a nice range, too. However as stated in previous reviews, this all-in-one's batteries die out very quickly unless you can find a way to keep its buttons from being depressed while it rides in your pocket. Even if such a precaution is taken, the four batteries do not last long, and new ones can be very expensive, although they can be found online quite cheaply.

The same cannot be said for the ink tubes, however. The ink tube is tiny and does not last long at all, which is understandable considering that the pen's barrel has to hold both a stylus and an ink tube. I am a university student who takes about ten pages of notes per day, and I went through the first ink tube in about two weeks. I bought a 2-pack of refills but they were really way too expensive at 8 dollars; I wish I could have just made my own to save some money! The ink tubes are expensive online, too...the amount of money it takes to keep this pen working for a month or two could easily equal or exceed the amount paid for the new pen in the first place (around 15 bucks in my case).

The tip of the twist-barrel also became very loose after about a month of use, allowing the heavy end of the pen containing the electronic parts and batteries to wobble constantly while I wrote. It eventually became so loose that when I would twist the pen tube out to write the whole barrel would slip off leaving me with half a pen in each hand.

In short, if you have the money and time to replace the ink and batteries in something that should just work when you need it to, you might want to give this a try. If not, save your money for an all-in-one unit that can do just a few things properly and is a much better value, like a pen/stylus, a pencil/pen or an LED flashlight/laser pointer.

The idea of a 4-in-1 lazer-light-pen-stylus gadget was too good to pass up. Now that novelty is gone, reality is; poor battery life, marginal construction, pen & stylus get "stuck" requiring constant disassembly & coersion. All in all a good idea, but I'd say pass & save a few dollars & headaches.

After reading some of the other reviews for this product, I am a little dissapointed at the complaints about battery life. The biggest problem I noticed was the buttons on this pen have a tendency to get pressed in your pocket. If the buttons are getting pushed while in your pocket, it is easy to understand why the batteries don't last too long. Once you figure out how to carry it around without inadvertantly pushing the buttons, you will find the batteries last alot longer.

The replacement batteries are a little expensive if you get them from your local Radio Shack. It takes 4 LR41 batteries at $3.29 a piece!!! Luckily, with a little effort these batteries can be found for sale on the internet much cheaper. I actually ordered 100 of these batteries on the internet for 29 cents a piece, and shipping was included.

The biggest problem I've faced is finding ink refills. I have been unable to find the belkin refills locally, and ordering pen refills online is expensive due to shipping unless you order in bulk. There are other refills available at your local office supply store, but all I have seen are 3-packs with 3 different colors for $3.00.

Overall, this is a great pen and overall tool! I am an auxiliary operator at a nuclear power plant, and this pen is awesome. The stylus is very useful for taking readings throughout the plant on my PDA, and I use the laser often for pointing out equipment issues to other people/workgroups, and also for training new operators. I would recommend this pen for anyone who has a need for a pen and stylus or laser pointer.

This is a cool item, but the ink in the pen did not last for even one day. Other than that, I have not had any problems yet.

I will admit that I am somewhat a computer geek, and so when I received this as a gift I thought it was very cool. I then ordered one for a friend at work who absolutely loved it. He probably liked the laser pointer the most because it gave him one less thing to carry to his meetings, and it came in very handy at times. This pen is very light but seems to be quite durable. The pen is easy to refill, as are the batteries for the laser pointer and flashlight.

It makes a great gift for any geek you may know. :)

When I first got my Quadra almost 5 years ago I played with the laser all the time like a kid with a new toy. The lasers' intensity became dim as the batteries wore out during the first 2 weeks that it never left my hand. Imagine my embarassment when someone asked to use my gadget in a meeting and my batteries were spent. After that I found cheap batteries online. With normal use of the laser and multiple daily use of the LED light a set of batteries will last 3 months or longer. Later I bought spare ink cartridges. They are standard and last for approx 20 pages full of writing. More than most students will do quarterly in this age of the PC. I bought 8 of these for gifts. Only 5 made it to others and I've kept 3 as spares. I keep it clipped to the front of my button up shirt with half in and half out. The buttons never get accidently pressed after you become aware of where not to grab it when removing it from your shirt. I have used stylus type PDAs for 9 years and so all the more value to me. There is no other similar product to compare this to! I've looked. My only complaint is that when you replace the batteries you need to make sure the buttons are facing down so they don't get jamned up and not work properly later. Oops. Another complaint is that these style of ink cartridges don't seem to write on every surface. OEM or German manufactured. They always work on writing paper, but some glossy papers or smooth surfaces (bathroom wall tiles) will not provide enough friction to turn the rollerball. Also, learn from my mistakes. Don't be tempted to entertain children with the laser. They will cry until you let them play with it. After they point the bright hazardous laser light into the your eyes, their eyes, and the eyes of other children and adults, you won't be popular with anyone. :-) [...]

My neighbor gave this pen to me as a present. When I got it I took it out of it's case and tried it out. The pen and stylus work great but, when i tried the laser and light I realized that it wasn't very bright compared to the other lasers I've seen.
So I experimented with it a little and realized that if I pushed the batteries down further into it then it would work very well. (Maybe brighter then the other pointers) So I cut a piece of cardboard and put it inside the battery casing to push them down further. Once I did that it worked great, for a while... Then It went back to the oringinal state. I finally got frustrated with the stupid thing and just used the pen and stylus. But just for the pen and stylus I give this 3 stars.

I bought this pen four years ago and it has served me well.

Pros
- Relatively light weight for everything that it is.
- Laser pointer is very visible in medium light from across the room.
- LED Flashlight is effective in very dim lighting for about 9 feet.
- Ink has never refused to write on any typical surface.
- The clip STILL hasn't broken off or bent (That's record for me)
- Stylus is soft enough to not scratch my screen.

Cons
- Batteries have a short life. I spent $12 at Walmart to replace the four batters each time, until I found four for $3 on Froogle.
- The buttons get pressed too easily accidentally. It is common for the laser point to be running for hours until I notice it in my laptop bag.
- Ink is short lived but not too expensive to replace.

This pen has a laser, led light, stylus, and ink pen. The pen performs as advertised. Nits...When placed in your pocket the 2 buttons can get pressed which will activate the laser or led and can run the battery down. An improvement would be to a have a slide switch to turn these buttons on and off or perhaps the button activation pressure could be stiffer. I still carry a PDA and use the stylus tip with it. The pen is a little long for many shirt pockets. Buy extra betteries as you will need them. There are multipacks available here at Amazon. Buy them here because otherwise they are expensive. My cat will chase the laser beam :) Overall a very good product.

What more would you really want. A little pricy but covers all needs, personal and business...