Can we get the long and the skinny on the Dell Active Styluses?

Oh my gentle Jesus.

I saw that thread, and while I thought that it was fairly informative... I did not, upon my first visit, realize that it's 8 pages long.  Welllp.  Guess I'm in it for the long haul.

*dons sunglasses*

PS:  It would still be nice to get some clarification from official channels, though, so that consumers might make more educated guesses about what they're buying online.

No real need to read through that thread, if you don't want to; the general word is that the new/latest stylus version (the half-silver, half-black version) works well.

I'm not quite sure what you might want/expect Dell to say, including about the earlier-version stylus issues.  (Dell generally has kept quiet as to the stylus versions and issues.)  The bottom line:  to have the least potential issue, purchase the latest active stylus version.

Basically, all I want from Dell would be some kind of table that breaks down what part number corresponds to what stylus.  I'm reasonably confident that I got my Dell Venue 11 Pro with the latest stylus, but I didn't get reasonably confident without spending literally HOURS online combing through forum posts because I didn't want to unintentionally end up with a dud stylus.

Something like this except, you know, complete:

I'm not sure what more complete you want--you seem to have the information there.  :emotion-5:   (Great compilation, by the way!)

Regardless of the various Part Numbers and Hardware Revision numbers, the easiest way:  the latest Dell active stylus has a two-toned barrel, black on the bottom half (well, a little bit less than half) and silver on the (little bit more than) top half.  As far as I am aware, none of the earlier active stylus part numbers/revision numbers had this design--all the earlier active stylus part numbers/revision numbers were all black.  The silver/black version corresponds to the 750-AAHC Part Number in the EU and the 750-AAGN Part Number in the U.S., both of which are "Hardware Revision" A03.

And so, to make it easy on oneself--if you want the latest (seemingly unproblematic) version of the Dell active stylus, get the two-toned, silver/black version-easily distinguished from all the earlier (all-black) versions.  Personally, I prefer the all-black design a little bit more, but hey, it is what it is.

Oh, and by the way:  earlier versions of the active stylus weren't necessarily duds, they just had higher issue and failure rates.  Some people received earlier version styli that worked just fine/that they were happy with.  But obviously, Dell needed to fix the issues that some (or even many?) people were facing.  As a general matter, the "dud" issues were detectable right away, or close to that--the stylus not functioning well straight out of the box, or battery depletion issues (typically detected within a few weeks or a month, when the battery power ceased).

I'm not sure what more complete you want--you seem to have the information there.  :emotion-5:   (Great compilation, by the way!) Regardless of the various Part Numbers and Hardware Revision numbers, the easiest way:  the latest Dell active stylus has a two-toned barrel, black on the bottom half (well, a little bit less than half) and silver on the (little bit more than) top half.  As far as I am aware, none of the earlier active stylus part numbers/revision numbers had this design--all the earlier active stylus part numbers/revision numbers were all black.  The silver/black version corresponds to the 750-AAHC Part Number in the EU and the 750-AAGN Part Number in the U.S., both of which are "Hardware Revision" A03. And so, to make it easy on oneself--if you want the latest (seemingly unproblematic) version of the Dell active stylus, get the two-toned, silver/black version-easily distinguished from all the earlier (all-black) versions.  Personally, I prefer the all-black design a little bit more, but hey, it is what it is.

This is correct.   The SKUs and part numbers vary from region to region, so the best way to determine is as stated above.  The latest version (which reverts back to A00 because of a part number change) is now two tone instead of all black.   As far as I know, we're only selling the latest version now, at least for the regular price.   They had some of the A03 revision that were discounted for a while.

Hello,

I just purchased a Venue 8 7000 and the new active stylus model 750-aagn.  I got the stylus this afternoon and promptly tried it on the venue 8 7000.  I did a quick drawing on sketchbook pro and I have to say the stylus was amazing...for the five minutes it worked.  After it would not respond anymore.  Every tap on the venue 8 7000 screen by the stylus would not register.  I checked the AAAA battery that was provided with a battery tester and it was at full charge.  Is this a know issue?  Did I get a defective stylus?  Can Dell send me another one that works and what is the procedure?

~ rico ~

(No need to place duplicative posts, rico--it just leads to confusion and clutter . . . .   

tp:/en.community.dell.com/support-forums/mobile-devices/f/4586/t/19616466" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/mobile-devices/f/4586/t/19616466)

Hi Mikerman,

Sorry about the duplicate post.  I originally posted on the customer service section, but than I found this forum and thought maybe this would be a better place to ask my question.  In any case the link you posted:

http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/mobile-devices/f/4586/t/19616466

It comes up as Access Denied when I click on it.  Looks like I don't have high enough clearance.  But if possible I would still like to know what I have to do to replace the stylus that is not working.  For the 5 minutes or so I was able to use it I have to say it was incredible and made me forget about my cintiq for a moment.  I would really like to get my hands on one that works.  I realize this 750-aagn is a newer revision, but have other people reported having issues like mine where the stylus just ceases to function?  Just to be sure I also put in a new AAAA battery and still the Stylus does not work.  So it doesn't look like the battery, but the stylus itself.  Maybe the nib? 

I would love some advice on what to do here Mikerman.  From the brief time I had with the Stylus I really liked the potential it showed me. 

(The link simply was to your other, similar post.)

Personally, I would contact Dell for a replacement of the defective stylus.

I was having the very same issue with the version A02.  I have a Venue 8 pro and really like the tablet. I just received the A03 and it is like from night & day with this. No goof ups, no calibration or updating. And I am far from professional, it is just what I have experienced.

I am beginning to use One Note and the A02 was  horrendous, in there. Sometime it would write and sometimes not. As the previous reply stated, I would unscrew the barrel to get it working again, and then it would stop.

I wish everyone that is having issues the best & hope it works out, need to upgrade, of course, you are not going to get it for free. (Was Hoping)

After chunking  $34.00 out the window on the first one.

After chunking  $34.00 out the window on the first one.

Mikerman, also forgot to  mention I did not buy my A02 stylus from Dell, but another source, Dell stated since that I bought from someone else I needed to purchase another one, the  A03 which I did purchase from Dell.  Just  FYI.

Thank You! Very much Mikerman...much appreciated.  will try that. It is soooo hard talking to those people. Might do the chat thing.