BrushPen Creative Tool System by PenGo Creative

PenGo's BrushPen comes with two nibs and one brush.

This is my "out-of-the-box" review my newest stylus by PenGo Creative based in LA. The PenGo is a BrushPen with three attachments. Two traditional black stylus nibs of different sizes and a brush made from synthetic fibers. The stylus' nibs are attached to a hollow tube that allows you to screw and unscrew a nib or a brush at each end giving you more versatility when it comes to mark making application. Having a brush at one end and a stylus at another allows me to turn the stylus around easily so I can switch back and forth without having to go to a different tool.

The pen does come with a cap that protects only one tip of the stylus at a time and is best used to protect the brush from damage. Fortunately the brush head is small enough to keep the user from cutting off strands of the brush when the cap is removed or put back on like you can with other brush/styluses.

The PenGo stylus has a good weight and feel to it, but the cap is surprisingly heavy so it has a tenancy pull away or slip if you hold it to loosely. I find myself taking the cap off to work and putting it back on only to protect the brush head from damage.

Since the iPad cannot recognize changes in pressure (yet) you are forced to go into the settings of whichever drawing program that you are using, to best mimics the shape of the Pengo brush. I have noticed that the iPad does pick up the brush quite nicely so you can draw a circle for example and outline it with the brush making for a nice fluid motion. Having three different heads on one stylus does give you some flexibility, but you are still limited by the program itself and how you have that particular program configured.

Pros and Cons for the PenGo's BrushPen...

The brush is made of stiff synthetic fibers.

Pros

• Having a brush helps give the artist a feeling that he/she is using a brush to draw or paint rather than using an inexpensive rubber tipped stylus.
• I like the way the PenGo sits in my hand and that by having interchangeable nibs at each end I can easily go back and forth between brush and nib without having to reach for a different tool.

Cons

• The cap add additional weight to the back end of the stylus and pulls it away from the iPad's surface if you are not holding it tightly.
• There is only one cap for the stylus leaving the end not covered by the cap open to damage over time.
• There is no place to store of keep the third nib and with its small size it can be easily misplaced or lost.

Over all I like the feel of the PenGo BrushPen in my hand, that it has attachments at both ends allowing its' user an go back and forth between the brush and the pen without having to reach for another stylus and its price point of $29.99 for what you get over all. PenGo has also released an app to go with its' BrushPen called PenGo Paint for the iPad which I will be reviewing shortly.

I have read some reviews on Amazon when I was researching brushes for the iPad and some reviewers said that the nibs became unresponsive fairly quickly and some of the nibs would fall off the pen after they were taken on and off a number of times. I will update my review of PenGo's BrushPen in about a month and let you know how it is holding up.

For now I give BrushPen by PenGo...

5 out of 5 stars