The Universal Stylus Initiative – or USI – are a nonprofit alliance of companies, responsible for defining industry-wide standards when it comes to effective stylus-to-screen interaction.
This encompasses everything that a stylus is compatible with running on – including touch-enabled screens – such as tablets, computers, and entertainment platforms.
Though there are a large number of good-quality USI pens available on the market already, they tend to cost a bit more than their old-fashioned capacitive counterparts.
Using a USI stylus to write is also a much more positive overall experience than simply using a capacitive stylus, too. With that in mind, here are the 8 best USI pens for your tablet or laptop:
Best Overall: Penoval USI Stylus
This stylus is best overall for utilizing the USI compatibility on a Chromebook. It has 4096 unique pressure points that precisely sketch and shade, responding to the lightest touch.
It’s even able to recognize your palm and reject it – meaning you can comfortably rest your palm on the screen and lean in when writing or drawing, without it causing any interference. It does, however, require an AAAA battery to run.
Second Best Overall: IPlume USI Stylus
This stylus is another brilliant pick: with its elegant and streamlined design, it’s both nice to look at and comfortable to hold. It also lacks an eraser button; whilst this feature is equipped on many styli, most people consider it unnecessary.
It also has 4096 unique pressure points, and palm rejection. The elastomer tip can provide the user with the feel of writing on paper. Like the Penoval, however, the IPlume also requires an AAAA battery to run.
Best Rechargeable: HP Rechargeable USI Pen
For use with HP Chromebooks, the HP Rechargeable USI Pen is renowned for its phenomenal battery life. The pen withstands up to 20 days of battery life, and is USB-C rechargeable.
Its precision tip comes with a pressure sensitivity level of 4096, and also comes with two spares. Whilst writing, the PC will instantly convert handwriting to text.
Best OEM: Lenovo USI Pen
The Lenovo USI Pen supports Chrome OS, so is suitable for Duet Chromebook, CB Flex 5 and 10e CB tablets. It’s easy to hold and is great for extended note-taking, writing, fine art, and graphic design.
It has a pressure sensitivity level of 4096, along with 150 days battery life (based on 2 hours of active use each day).
Great Battery Life: Vitalasc USI Pencil
This stylus has top-quality palm rejection technology, enabling the user to rest their palm comfortably on the screen whilst writing or drawing, without causing interference.
There is a functional switch on/off button for added convenience, so the stylus can be used wherever and whenever. On standby, it has an average battery life of 4320 hours.
Best With Plug-In Battery: Andana USI Stylus Pen
This pen’s aluminum-polished body is designed to give the realistic feel of pen on paper when in use. It has a clip-on cap to place on when not in use, protecting the pen from harm.
To power it on, all that’s required is to plug in the battery. It has a sensitivity level of 4096, and like others listed, has effective palm rejection technology.
