The LogiPEN Notes digital pen was our least favorite pen that we reviewed. Although it comes with a number of features comparable to the IOGEAR Mobile Digital Scribe, the pen does not measure up in performance.
This digital pen uses an external sensor that clips on to any piece of paper. The sensor measures soundwaves it receives from the pen as you write. However, unlike other products we reviewed, the pen only allows you to begin a note taking session when the external sensor device is not connected to your computer. If it is connected to your computer, the pen works as a mouse instead, and there didn't seem to be a way to turn off the function, although the instructions said otherwise. In addition, there seemed to be a problem with the USB connection. Even though it let us use the pen as a mouse, it didn't recognize that the sensor device was connected so that we could upload our notes. We think the demo pen we used for our review may have been faulty.
LogiPEN comes with an ergonomic pen with batteries and an ink refill, an external sensor device, a USB cable and a CD for installing the companion desktop software. The software also comes with MyScript optical character recognition (OCR) software, which will convert your handwritten notes to text. You can then easily copy and paste your text into a word processing software or into the body of an email.
The sensor device comes with a small screen that tells you how many pages it is storing. It also indicates battery status as well as when the device is connected to your computer. One button on the device turns it on and off. The device also contains a pen holder, although it doesn't hold up the pen very well.
The product is designed to record everything written within an A4 margin on your page, which is 8.27 x 11.69 inches.
The external sensor has a very short battery life. After charging it for the initial 12 hours prior to our testing of the product, we found that the next day the rechargeable batteries had gone completely dead.
Although we were unable to upload text we wrote with the pen, we were able to write with the pen as a mouse within the accompanying software, although its sensitivity was much less accurate than it would have been in a pen function. As a result, our "mousing" ended up looking like a child's handwriting, but the OCR function immediately converted what we wrote into text.
For initial setup, this pen requires being charged for 12 hours before use. The user manual booklet that comes with this pen is straightforward and informational.
The accompanying software with this product is compatible with Windows XP, Vista and 7, and the user manual claims to have limited compatibility with Mac OS.
From the product's website, there is an online form for contacting customer service. In addition, the website lists a support email address to send them a message through your email service. The website also provides frequently asked questions.
Overall, we were disappointed with LogiPEN Notes and hope the demo copy we tested was an exception to the product's typical performance. The pen not only doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the Echo Smartpen, which ranked highest in our side-by-side comparison, but it didn't compare with other digital pens that use a similar technology.
