Livescribe 2 GB Pulse Smartpen

First of all, these pens are the best Smartpens made, and would still be the best, if they were still being made. The problem is these pens were last made in 2009, and contain parts have have a finite lifespan. The battery and the display are good for about 3 years from the date of manufacture. So if the pen was made in 2009, then by 2012 they are no longer any good. I bought two of these pens in 2009, and they both died in 2011. I bought a new one in preparation for a new job in 2019, and I received a brand new box with a pen undamaged since it was packaged in 2009, however it had a bad display. I was able to charge the battery, and the pen made noises when I tried to operate the setup menu, but with the display being dead, there was no configuration possible. The manufacturer tells me they stopped making these before I bought my first one, so there is no way it is possible these were made later. They have integrated batteries and are not intended to be repaired, The OLED display on my original pens grew dimmer in the two years I used them, and were the primary reason they were failing, but the batteries and display pens stored for 10 years are unlikely to have the same life as new.

It works great. I really love how you can playback the audio by clicking on a note you were writing while recording. I've never had it fail. It always picks up everything I write. I think this could be a really valuable tool for anyone in college. It's a little bit of a touchy item in a corporate setting because people don't usually want to be recorded. You don't have to record audio though. You can just start writing on your note pad and it will record what you write without audio. People complain about needing to purchase paper but it's not really that expensive. If you're really concerned about that, livescribe lets you download "dot paper" from their website that you can print on your home printer which works exactly like their pre-printed dot paper. I just bought one for my Father and I'm planning on getting at least 2 more as gifts for Christmas. I only have one gripe but it doesn't detract from my 5 star rating. I wish it came bundled with the software that turned your handwriting into type. You can purchase it for an additional $30 which isn't that bad, and some versions of this pen come with it bundled so shop around. Enjoy :)

Purchased in July 2010 for daughter to use in college. She loved it, worked well thru that year, she returned last fall, it quit working. When she contacted customer service, they told her battery was gone and it couldn't be replaced. We found the pen when moving her back, I hooked it up, updated the software, and pen firmware based on their website, the display doesn't show. The PC found the pen as soon as I hooked it up. But you can't see anything to tell if it's on, recording or anything. I believe it still has battery life but the display is show. I paid $130 for this pen, other notebooks, and refills. This is a huge waste of money for the quality. The pen didn't make it a total of 12 months use and it wasn't like she didn't keep it charged, stored, properly, etc. She has other electronics that still look new. I'll not be purchasing another one of these items or anything from their company.

Pros: *takes good audio *easy to use *best for meetings/interviews. close conversations rather than lectures cons: *bad software. Once you remove audio from the storage on the pen it creates a new folder as if you are writing in a different book. This made it complicated to order lecture notes simply by date because I had to constantly rename and save the files to another folder on my computer.

This is a truly fantastic product. I received my 2GB Pulse Smart-pen yesterday morning and used it in class that evening. It actually exceeded my expectations. The audio quality was great, it's not a Snowball mic but it's still perfectly useful for its purposes. The pen was easy to set-up on my Macbook Pro. Not only is it good tech it's actually a pretty comfortable pen to use on its own! This morning, at the office, I went over my notes and the lecture from last night. If you are a college student and you have the means to get one, don't hesitate. Note taking will never be the same again.

The LiveScribe Pulse pen I received is a complete piece of rubbish. I charged it for several hours and the display didn't light up when I pressed the power on button. It made a 'dink' sound but no lights. Suggested the device didn't boot up. Contacted Amazon and there was no exchange. Checked my Windows setting and it said the device driver was not available. Checked LiveScribe.com and the support for this device was seriously lacking. That's when I noticed this device might be a 2011 version of the LiveScribe series of smart pens. Gravely disappointed that Amazon stocked and sold me this unusable item;

I got this as a gift from my employees and I wonder how I worked without it. It does everything it says and more. The build quality of this pen surprised me and customer service at Livescribe surprised me even more. shortly after getting the product and using it for a few days it stopped working upon putting it on the charger. I called customer support at Livescribe and they said they would send me a new one. no questions asked. I with in minutes of calling them it started working again and I have had no problems since. I called and told them and they canceled the order for the new pen. The ease of use is amazing and surprised me. I use it primarily for meetings, but also to do my safety audits at work. The pen allows me to do my audits writing the issues I see along with a audio record of the issues at hand. My favorite part and what surprised me the most was being able to upload them on to the computer and send them out to my employees to get issues corrected. that and everyone else in the office wants one now.

The OLED display has died on me and this seems to be a common feature. Customer support is worthless, as out of warranty repair needs don't get a reasonable answer. For a £140 product (or over more), this is quite unacceptable. Sometimes the pen also connects the end point of a word with the beginning of the next, turning the pdf of your notes into an illegible scribble. Yes it was a good idea and a fine gadget to fill 3 or 4 notebooks, but in view of the high fault rate / limited lifetime it does not meet the expectations created by their marketing. I strongly recommend not to buy.

Bonjour, produit étonnant et fait ce qu'il prétend faire. Et il le fait très bien. Une autre façon de prendre des notes, en associant des dessins avec un exposé par exemple. Pourquoi pas des dessins heuristiques... Livescribe - APX-00004 - EFIGS Titanium Pulse - Smartpen - 4 Go (Import Royaume Uni) Belle invention.

Both pens I bought do not work, screen does not light up, parts unavailable and pens not able to be repaired.

Eigentlich mochte ich meinen Livescribe Pulse sehr gerne - bis nach knapp zwei Jahren das OLED Display begonnen hat immer dunkler zu werden. Mittlerweile ist es komplett erloschen - d.h. der Stift kann nur noch "blind" bedient werden (der Rest der Elektronik funktioniert nach wie vor - geschriebenes und gesprochenes wird noch immer aufgezeichnet und kann wie gehabt per USB vom Stift herunter geladen werden; auch das Laden des Akkus scheint nach wie vor zu funktionieren). Wer jetzt "Einzelfall" denkt, der sollte sich im englischen Livescribe Forum den Thread "21632063-Pen-Display-Faded" ansehen, dort haben sich über ein Jahr hinweg dutzende mit dem gleichen Problem gemeldet und die Standardantwort von Livescribe war, man solle einen neuen Stift kaufen... Entweder miserable Qualitätssicherung oder extrem dreister Fall von geplanter Obsoleszenz....

Yes it isn't perfect and yes there are horror stories around. Mine works perfectly and is in very regular use. Wouldn't be without it. Shame the paper is so pricey!