Why I buy this one ?
- Ball-point pen that digitally captures everything you write or draw
- USB cradle lets you download your notes in handwritten form to your PC
- Files notes and drawings in Word 97 or later
- Enters appointments and "to do" items into e-mail programs
- Compatible with Windows 98, Me, 2000, or XP

bay_cal_deals offers this stuff with condition New, new for:

Price : $129.99 Usually ships in 1-2 business days

What our customer's say!

"Funciona acorde a lo prometido", Despues de meses de estar trabajando con el IO PEN puedo calificarlo como un excelente producto que cumple con la promesa efectuada, es decir digitaliza en forma precisa todo lo que se escribe en el papel digital. Algunos comentarios:

PRO
1. Excelente duración de la batería
2. Digitalización precisa
3. Magnifico software para administrar las notas
4. Magnifica sincronización con otras aplicaciones
5. Es un "gadget" apreciado por las personas, llama la atención y en general causa un buen impacto.

CONTRA
1. El tamaño lo hace dificil de cargar en un bolsillo
2. El papel es costoso y no es facíl de conseguir en LA
3. La interacción con MS ONE NOTE es por medio de gráficas BMP y pierden funcionalidad
4. El clip se daña rápidamente por el peso del lapicero

En general tiene más pro que contras, especialmente por que a pesar de su voluminoso tamaño es mejor opcion que un notebook, el proceso de tomar notas en una reunión o de efectar gráficos es natural, permitiendo prestar atención a la reunión y no al pc.


"Logitech io Pen", The idea seems good but for my general application I found it overkill and too much to use, in fact I didn't pursue it beyond initial partial installation -- I'm assuming that it works. Note that you have to use special paper which I would assume costs quite a bit. Alternatively I plan to merely scan a plain sheet of paper with writing or drawings and save it as a .jpg document using multiple indexing available in the Windows photo manager. If I want to extract a portion of a page I can use a picture editor.

"not something you carry in your pocket ", It works fine. Recognition foftware works fine. You will be happy untill...
1. You realize that you need digital paper TM that cost a lot of money. They rip you off on consumables.
2. You bring it to work and see the reaction of your colleagues (male and female). It is too big for a pen. It's design and size is way too risque and resemble a... Here is the kicker - it vibrates when you make a check mark (finish page). After you see the looks when they hear that...

"Eliminates The Mess", I'm kind of a gadget maven so this was right up my alley. For me, it's eliminating notes flying out of notebooks, stuck randomly in books etc of which I have so many. Ideas don't get lost in the shuffle of which there has been so much of. (speech becoming disorganized too) It's easier to see my own progress on a project when it's at hand not scattered all around so valuable time has to be spent searching...A frustrating exercise!! Additional software for the pen is available to turn handwriting into typed text. Haven't gotten it yet but it's in the plan. That's going to save some steps too!!
The notebooks are pricey which is why I can't give this 5 stars. I've found some deals online so leapt on them and am stocked up for awhile. Maybe in time, the costs will come down.
I had a few problems at install in that my computer wouldn't recognize the pen. Per Logitech's suggestion in their help pages, I removed the software and reinstalled it. Per my own idea, I had the pen sitting in the USB during the process so Windows could pick up on it which it did. Logitech had some fairly good support and Q&A sections. It's a matter of patience to shift through all the terminology and figure out what the heck they're talking about but with some determination, it CAN be done. Most companies don't have such extensive help sections which anticipate so many problems. Most similar companies don't have very good customer support so it's worth trying to sort things out for yourself. Gives one a sense of accomplishment too!!

"Over-engineered and goofy", The idea of capturing what you write, as you write it, for transfer to a computer later is clever. But this device is INFLEXIBLE and EXPENSIVE. I have no argument with the goals of the IO device, but this particular implementation is off-base for several reasons.

Reasons to not buy the IO --

1. The pen is big. Does not feel natural in your hand.

2. You have to write on special paper.

3. The paper is relatively expensive.

4. The paper is not commonly available -- if you are travelling and run out of paper, you are pretty much out of luck.


I have always wanted a device that could do what the IO sets out to do (but in my opinion doesn't achieve). I tried the Cross Pad which was also not very useful for completely different reasons. Folks, you need to look beyond the marketing and think about the implications of using the IO -- special paper, can't scan notes you write on pre-existing documents, memory fills up etc. It is a nice idea but has too many downsides.

Try the DocuPen instead. This tiny portable scanner works with any paper. You can scan pre-printed documents. You can store 50+ pages before having to download; and as a practical matter, you will never run out of memory because you can keep your paper until you're ready to scan it.

The DocuPen is less gee-whiz than the IO but it works and doesn't have these non-obvious downsides.

Read this reviews before You buy...

"Priceless item for college student", I recently purchased the Logitech io Personal Digital Pen. I love it! I can't say enough good things about it, or how easy it is to use. The software was easy to install, and automatically updated itself. Within an hour I was testing out this new technology, and was VERY impressed with its ability to convert handwriting (even pretty sloppy handwriting) to text, and its ability to convert hand-drawn diagrams, charts, and tables into wonderful digital media that can be imported into Microsoft Word. I have to go back and do very little clean up work, which is surprising considering my handwriting and charts.
I am currently a college student, and have begun to use the Logitech io for all of my classes' notes. I just put the pen in the cradle, and the software automatically downloads all the the information from the pen onto my computer, where I can then do whatever I want with it. I belong to several study groups, which makes this tool so much more useful. I can Email group members copies of my notes (converted to type-written text and Microsoft word for their ease of use).
This tool makes it so easy for me to organize and find my notes that I can't even believe how I got along without it. All of my notes are in my digital notebooks, and by using the Keyword feature I can easily find my notes on the computer and edit or review them. I can even put the word documents onto my handheld to review them later... charts and all.
Now I don't have to carry around big cluttered notebooks or binders, I can carry one notebook, and a pen. To find notes I don't have to scramble through cluttered, hard to read (even for me - the writer!) notes to find certain information, I can look it all up with the io software.
The only drawbacks to this incredible pen are the prices of the paper and the size of the pen. The notebooks are expensive. For me though, I was keeping many different notebooks to contain my notes and keep them organized, and now I find it much more efficient to keep a single notebook with all of my notes in it. This way if I need the information I can simply look it up in my computer. If I need it in paper format, then I can print it out. If for some reason I need the original, I still have it in my notebook. The pen itself is big and bulky, and I would be more comfortable using it if it were more discreet. I have relativly small hands, even for a woman, and find the pen easy to write with and comfortable to use despite its large size. But these drawbacks aren't enough to stop me from using something that has saved me hours and hours of searching through notebooks and keying data into the computer.

"What IS it????", I thought the IO was a handwriting recognition device that would save me from banging the keyboard. No such luck. According to the reviews I should have read before purchasing it, it simply makes pictures of what you write.
Anyway, I tried to install it and after receiving numerous error messages contacted the company. Their recommendation would have involved going deep into the system to make changes on something I hardly can understand. (I started to do so and ended up with my XP interface changing partially to a WIN 2000 interface --for shutting down) Maybe I'll put it up for auction on the Web. I guess I'll go back to voice recognition.

"Definitely underrated", I think the dissatisfied users are not entirely wrong in their assessments but I think they expect too much from this pen.

I use it for drawing charts in meetings and taking brief notes and making reminders for myself. And it works great for those.

BUT I mostly use it for my art. I do my drawings with the IO pen and it captures them in a vector format that is later convertible to EPS then later to Macromedia Flash. You need to own Illustrator to convert the native pen created EMF files into EPS. (There might be other parsers out there).

But once imported into Flash, I clean up my drawings and use the Flash drawing tools to refine my curves and lines. I love it. The discovery of this pen created a whole new set of possibilities for my creative process.

The Notebooks are expensive but they last a while for my purposes. It would be great if they could possibly make tracing paper with the same kind of patterns on it. That way I could use the pen for tracing my previously drawn materials.

Overall, with the new discount price, this is a great digital gadget.

"Very useful for early adopters, otherwise wait", I received the IO pen in December 2003. The advice to apply the $20 coupon to purchasing MyScripts was right on target.

The handwriting recognition software works reasonably well for me if I write carefully. I tend to jump around the page and draw boxes, arrows, and diagrams, and everything always shows up in the right places. The handwriting recognition is not perfect but the effort in correcting the output is much easier than re-typing my entire notes, and the best part is that my drawings remain in place and intact (though arrows are often mis-recognized).

There are a few gotchas with this pen:
Firstly, the IO Pen I received from Amazon in December 2003 had firmware revision 27.02 (your firmware version is displayed on the IO Pen Settings tool). The IO Pen software (downloaded December 2003) requires at least version 27.10 to use the password protect feature. My IO Pen from Amazon must be (relatively) very old! Since the software was released in September (? - might have been December) my expectation is that the pen I purchased would work with all the software features available at the time. It does not. Logitech cannot provide a downloadable firmware update and does not consider the firmware version to be a warrantable item. However, for a product that costs over $150 I consider this a failing. I was able to achieve a product exchange when I called customer support (on my own dime) and gently and persistently requested a pen that would work with the software available at the time I made the purchase.

Secondly, the on-line customer support at Logitech is unresponsive. If you think that a $150 product should be provided with helpful and timely on-line support, you may want to think about whether Logitech is for you.

Thirdly, the software requires the .NET framework to work, with the attendant gaping security hole and performance drain. I have a very new machine maxed out on RAM and still I notice the performance hit (it's worse on my older machine). My firewall takes care of security issues (I hope).

Just a little tidbit important to travellers, the power adapter supplied with the Logitech IO Pen works ONLY on 110 V and the power adapter must be plugged in to connect with the computer. Logitech does not offer a travel adapter. Logitech suggested I purchase the localized adapter for the countries I travel to - but I can only purchase it in that country while I am there(!). Since cheaper products I buy recently all come with SMALL multi-voltage power adapters, I don't understand why Logitech bundled this ancient brick with the new IO Pen. A handy friend adapted an electric cord to a Nokia ACP-8E travel adapter (which claims to produce the same output voltage) so I can travel with one adapter.

My recommendation is that if you are an early adopter, you will find this pen to be a very useful addition to your briefcase. If not, you'll want to wait for prices to improve and more features to be available on competing products before making your decision. For example, the Nokia digital pen provides a bluetooth interface which is way cool. However, the Nokia is more expensive at this time, and the MyScripts recognition software for Nokia is not yet available (but will be).

"Works... but big, conpicuous, and geeky", So I've been using my Logitech io pen at work for a week now. It works fine. Installation was easy. Viewing the notes is simple. Converting notes to a Microsoft Word image (not OCR -- I didn't buy the OCR software) is simple. Docking station is convenient. Carrying a pen and notebook into a meeting is much easier than carrying a laptop. (Technical note: I'm using the newer, version 2 of the Logitech io software.)

So why three stars?

First, the pen is huge. About six inches long and 3/4" of an inch in diameter. If you're in a meeting taking notes, you get a lot of stares from co-workers what the heck you're holding. Kind of disconcerting. And I work at a software company in Silicon Valley where there are plenty of early adopters.

Anyhow, people invariably ask for a demo, during which they are pretty surprised at how it works. After surprise comes judgement -- people either think it's cool or think it's a very stupid, geekly gadget. One co-worker thought it was very cool and wanted to buy one for her husband. Several folks just roll their eyes.

I just want a pen that gets notes onto my PC, not to feel like I have the 21st century equivalent of a pocket protector.

Logitech needs to make the pen smaller and less conspicuous. Until they do, I fear that this product will not make it through the "chasm" and make it to mainstream success, as the iPod, Blackberry, Palm Pilot, and Canon Digital Elph all have done.

Form factor matters as much as functionality, and the io is not quite there in its form factor. It's too big. Logitech, please make it smaller!

So, if you see a "like new" io pen being sold in the near future, it might be mine.