On of the first things you should get when you buy a tablet is a case. The second thing you should immediately buy is a good stylus. Now I’ve reviewed a few styluses here in the past and one of them was the original Nomad Brush, which was basically looked like a paintbrush that you could use on your tablet for drawing and painting apps. It was a good paintbrush stylus, but had limited use as it wasn’t very handy for note taking due to the brush design. Well, Nomad Brush has a new version of their brush stylus and this one is now called the Nomad Mini 2. It features a much improved design in which a separate case to keep the bristles protected is no longer necessary and it features a standard rubber tip on the opposite side for greater flexibility.
Like the previous Nomad Brush, the Nomad Mini 2 features an aluminum body, but its now much shorter and wider at the brush end. The shorter body means it’s more portable while the wider end makes it easier to grip and hold. The brush end also features a new rotating mechanism that allows the bristles of the brush to retract into the body, protecting the bristles when not in use. This is a much better solution than the previous brush which required a case to be used, which was cumbersome. The rotating end also allows you to adjust how much of the tip you want out allowing for a longer or shorter tip.
At the other end of the Nomad Mini 2 is a rubber tip like a more traditional stylus, but the one here is smaller for more precision. In fact, this is one of the smallest tips I’ve used in a while. Whats cool is that since rubber tips wear out after a while, Nomad made it easy to replace as the tip here is removable and can be unscrewed off and replaced with a new tip.
How is it to use though? Well, for starters, it’s a whole lot more comfortable to use than the old Nomad Brush. The brush works in the same way as the original one and is great with drawing and painting apps. If you need more accuracy, the rubber tipped end works great as well. Overall, they work as they should and the new double tipped Nomad Mini 2 is a big improvement over the original Nomad Brush.
Final Thoughts
The new Nomad Mini 2 is a great update and evolution of the original Nomad Brush. The brush tipped styluses have always been pretty niche but thanks to the addition of the rubber tip on the other end, there’s a reason now to buy one of these even if you didn’t think you needed a brush tip. The Nomad Mini 2 at least gives you that option of being able to use both a traditional rubber tip or the more niche brush tip.
You can pick one of these up now for about $35, which is decent considering that you are buying something that is a 2-in-1 stylus. This isn’t a cheaply made stylus either as all the materials used feel top notch with quality you can both see and feel. You can even grab it in either chrome or matte black finishes.
