Forums/Jot/Community Help

How can I prevent "skipping" while writing?

Jen Shepherd Moore
posted this on October 14, 2011 05:57

Writing notes using my jot with either penultimate or noteshelf, I tend to get an annoying amount of skipping, where my ipad2 is not recognizing the stylus being in contact for a second or two. I can go back and correct my work, but it's like one word out of every sentence. I've closed down any other apps, to minimize usage of memory, no impact. Could it be a faulty disc? I don't see this behavior using my finger, and it's not localized to any particular area of the screen. Help?
 

Comments latest first

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Lee Vivas
I just cleaned my disc. Inside and out. With dishwashing soap. It works like new again!
October 26, 2012 13:21
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Daniel Chetian

+1 for Thermal paste. FIxed my Jot Pro (two weeks old).

October 02, 2012 06:25
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Matthew V.

Scott,<br>

Roger that.  Good points all.<br>

Matthew

September 13, 2012 22:21
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Scott
Matthew, a company is only as good as 1) the products that they bring to market and 2) how well they support those products once they are brought to market. This stylus has been on the market for close to a year now - the skipping problem at product launch is one thing but almost a year later it is an entirely different matter. If a tweak as you refer to it costs a third of the price of the product then in my mind it is a little more than a small matter. If you bought a brand new computer for $1000 and it stopped working two weeks after you purchased it and the "tweak" cost $10 then it is no big deal. However, if you had to spend an additional $300 it becomes a much bigger deal. It isn't so much the price of the fix...it is the cost of the fix relative to the price of the original product. So I will respectfully disagree with you. This problem along with the caps unscrewing themselves based on the coarse threads that were used continue to plague this product and in my opinion are epic failures in product design. That both problems remain this long after the product introduction indicate epic failures on the part of the company in my opinion.
September 13, 2012 05:22
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Matthew V.
I understand Scott's opinion. But a precision stylus in concert with iPad's touch screen technology is a relatively new innovation. Innovators take chances; and Adonit created their precision stylus disk in a continuously growing arena.
The folks at Radio Shack's first question to me was "FOR YOUR XBOX RIGHT?" If a device as revered as the Xbox requires thermal compound to be added, Adonit is in good company, in my opinion.
Personally, I consider the need for thermal compound with the Adonit "a tweak" rather than a major design flaw for which heads should roll.
September 13, 2012 00:51
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Scott
What I find to be the most unacceptable about the thermal compound "fix" is the fact that it shouldn't be necessary in the first place. One shouldn't have to purchase an aadditional ten dollar item in order to make a thirty dollar stylus work. Perhaps adonit could address the underlying design flaw instead of pretending that it doesn't exist. When the salesperson at Radio Shack is familiar enough with the problem/solution it is more than just a few isolated incidents.
September 13, 2012 00:19
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Mslibera

I have now tried the thermal compound, and can confirm that it works!!  See attached screenshot for a comparison.  It's unbelievable how different the Jot works now - it's truly effortless, the way it should be.

The funniest part of this for me is that I was thinking of going out to buy some at a local Radio Shack last night, but didn't have time.  This morning, I found a tube of thermal compound in a box of random computer parts that was handed down to me - so I didn't have to buy it!

Thanks all for the advice!

September 12, 2012 21:55
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Matthew V.
THE THERMAL COMPOUND WORKS! It really does! THERMAL COMPOUND, ARTIC SILVER. You don't need to replace your discs just because of a skipping issue. I found this solution right here on the Adonit forum and gave it a try. The folks at Radio Shack knew exactly what I was talking about. They even knew it works for the Adonit stylus issues. They recommended the ARTIC SILVER thermal compound - $ 11 total. It comes in a tiny syringe and I needed so little for the Jot Pro fix that this tiny syringe should last me a long while. Take off the disc as per Adonit's instructions. Add a TINY dab of compound. MAKE SURE THE DAB IS TINY -- YOU DON'T NEED MUCH AT ALL. Replace disc as per Adonit's instructions. PLEASE TRY THIS FIX before you give up hope. My Jot Pro has not skipped ONCE since I've added the thermal compound and I don't see ANY of the thermal compound in the transparent disc. THERMAL COMPOUND, ARTIC SILVER
September 12, 2012 00:40
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Scott
Has anybody who is using the thermal compound figured out how to get it in so that it doesn't spread inside the disk and block your view through the clear disc? Now instead of the ball I see a big blob of arctic silver (although the stylus now works flawlessly.....the problem that I have with the whole concept is that you shouldnt need to do this in the first place. I have been through enough jots and disks to realize that this isn't a one off type of problem).
April 20, 2012 07:49
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Ck
Wow After owning my jot pro for only a short period, I noticed the stylus developed an issue with skipping. I tried the thermal compound solution (tiny dab of polysynthetic silver thermal compound between the interface of the pen's ball tip and disk , $10 at RadioShack) and now my stylus writes like new! Adonit really should include a tube of Thermal compound with their jot pros!!
February 17, 2012 10:31
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Artdavis
After nearly abandoning my Jot, I picked up some "thermal compound," a polysynthetic silver high density conductive greas of some sort, from Radio Shack. One small squirt in the swivel joint and, voila! Problem entirely solved. The guy at Radio Shack said gamers often use it on their joysticks and/or other controls. Though it is a bit expensive, it goes a long way. Best of all, it really works---and the Jot is restored as my favorite stylus.
December 21, 2011 02:44
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Anthony G Madden
Well, the academic year is wrapping up, and I had a lot of student presesntations to listen to and critique. I just got my replacement jot discs last week and decided to give them a whirl with Notability, my goto note-taking, grading app. After a few days, noticed that the jot was skipping once again. I tried the aluminum foil suggestion, but that only stretched the disc's hole, making it even looser. I went back to my BoxWave stylus until I heard the PERFECT SOLUTION: CPU THERMAL GREASE! I put some of that on the ball tip, and I get better contact and accuracy than I've ever had before. 99% no slipping! ADONIT, YOU SHOULD INCLUDE A TINY BIT OF THERMAL GREASE WITH EVERY JOT! YOU'D HAVE MANY MORE SATSFIED CUSTOMERS!
November 30, 2011 23:11
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Carlossa52

For the Jot to work, the metallic cross imbedded in the disk must make electric contact with the ball tip.

In my case, this contact was intermittent.

I fixed this problem by (1) removing the disk, (2) putting a tiny amount of conductive paste (GB-OX guard) on the bottom of the ball and (3) putting the disk back in place.

It has been working perfectly ever since.

A friend of mine had the same problem, and fixed his Jot the same way.

November 27, 2011 11:37
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Anthony G Madden
Dear Adonit, Wow! The squeaky wheel does get the oil! My replacement discs just arrived in the mail now. I'll try them out in school this week. They"ll get the same workout as the original discs. I'll let everyone know how they hold up.
November 22, 2011 17:49
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Anthony G Madden
Dear Jot, Over a month ago you asked me to send pictures of my Jots's disc and you said you were sending out replacements. Maybe they were shipped to the wrong address as I never received them.
November 22, 2011 13:38
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Mslibera

I must say that I was about ready to demand a refund for my Jot Pro.  My first disc began skipping, and the quality of the writing was degraded to the point where the Jot Pro was unusable.  Customer Support generously provided me with some disc replacements, and after about 3-4 days, both replacement discs started exhibiting the same deficiencies.  (I do not use my stylus heavily.  Perhaps once or twice per day, for 10-20 minutes per use.)  This seemed like an extreme design flaw, and I made up my mind last night to ask for a refund, following the "death" of my third disc after 4 days use.

However...

After reading Dewey's post, I thought "what the heck."  I took of the third "dead" disc, blew forcefully into the contact area, and reattached it.  HUGE difference - my Jot Pro is now back to normal!  I have no idea what the problem could have been - junk getting into the contact area, perhaps?  But it seems that detaching the disc, "cleaning" the contact area, and reattaching it fixed my problem (at least for now).  I'm now curious to see if my other two "dead" discs are really dead...or if they just needed some cleaning.

I want to love the Jot Pro, but I am still not entirely sure I can trust it fully.  I am, however, back on the upswing, and will continue to give it a fair shot.

I'm sharing because I thought that this might help others who are experiencing the same difficulties...hope you don't mind my rambling.  FWIW, I'm on an iPad 2 with no screen cover.

-- Matt

November 09, 2011 23:21
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Dewey K.

I actually missed my boat for Jot+ on KickStarters, but luckily I got my Green Jot+ last month and have been using it pretty heavily(?) since. I've got to say that I'm impressed with it :)

The "skipping" was an issue for me as well. I'm using it on my iPad2 with PowerSupport screen protector, with iAnnotate and Noteshelf apps (wonderful apps!). After using it for a while, I eventually found a sweet spot that allowed me to write smoothly, although I did have to 'calibrate' my writing every now and then due to the rotating nature of the disks. If the skipping becomes too much of a problem, what I did was I popped the disk out and just cleaned the contact between the pen and the disk (nothing special...just blowing on it and swabbing perhaps) and the skipping stopped. I don't know if it was the cleaning or the reattaching of the disk that fixed it, but it worked for me.

The good news here is, it's been about a month since I've had my Jot+ and I think my Jot+'s finally broken in. It's been about a week or less since my Jot+ have started to 'write' without any skipping and smoothly. One thing that's slightly concerning is that my disk seems to have become a bit wobbly, but apart from that, everything is great. I used to use Jot+ in conjunction to my Alupen when I got frustrated over the 'skipping', but (as much as I do love my Alupen as well) my Alupen's been pretty much been resting on my desk for a few weeks now.

I really like the precision factor of the Jot+ compared to other rubbery tip styluses. The rubbery types...well you can get used to it, but in the end, it's always nice to write on your iPad with something that resembles a lot like the ballpoint pen that I've been using for the past couple decades ;). That said, I was worried that the constant 'poking' with my Jot+ would damage my iPad2 screen but so far it's been fine (knocks on wood). With my Jot+ broken in, I've been applying a lot less pressure to prevent(?) the skipping from occurring, so it should help. Besides, I've seen some clips online about the durability of these iPad glasses and they're pretty sturdy from what I could tell.

One suggestion is, use these styluses with Matte-type screen protectors (if you use screen protectors). I've used Zagg's InvisibleShield ever since my 1st Gen iPhone but swapped over to PowerSupport's matte protector for my iPad2 to help me with taking notes on my iPad. The Jot+ glides smoothly on it, it's great.

November 06, 2011 11:30
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aman shah
Hi jen, I think that's may be the problem with your application software.check out if your stylus have the same problem with few other similar application softwares.
October 30, 2011 23:44
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aman shah
Hi jen, I think that's may be the problem with your application software.check out if your stylus have the same problem with few other similar application softwares.
October 30, 2011 23:44
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aman shah
Hi jen, I think that's may be the problem with your application software.check out if your stylus have the same problem with few other similar application softwares.
October 30, 2011 23:44
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Artdavis
My comfortable writing angle is perhaps rather shallow, but I think I know what the problem is: the disc angle at the end of a stroke is different from what it needs to be at the beginning of the next stroke. Thus, the disc must flop around to the correct angle, and by the time it does the stroke is already partially completed. A fundamental problem, I think, with the basic concept!
October 28, 2011 09:16
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Anthony G Madden
I loved my Jots(1bought 4 from kick starters, two for friends and two for men) for the first weeks. I used them heavily daily for drawing and note takings. now they are only both useful for drawings. it skips way too much. bothnof them, even if I wear a glove and don't touch the screen. I'm back to my boxwave stylus as it never skips. I'll submit a ticket, but I'm sad my investment has been short on return so far.
October 26, 2011 21:21
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Jen Shepherd Moore

Thanks Savannah!   I'll submit a ticket.   I have wrist protection on each of these apps (and it happens even when the only contact with the tablet is the disc), and I know that my angle isn't totally out of whack with the stylus.

October 15, 2011 00:19
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Sharon
Adonit

Jen,

This could be caused by one of two possibilities.  Either you are writing at such an angle that the Jot doesn't have the full on contact that is required, or you have a defective disc that is having issues with conductivity.

Also, be sure your hand isn't resting on the Ipad screen as the Ipad will register your hand as well.  If you believe you have a faulty disc, please submit a ticket to the help desk and we will be able to assist you further.

Savannah
Adonit Support

October 14, 2011 23:41
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