The black molded plastic stylus that came with my Palm IIIxe was lightweight, functional ... and scratched my screen rather quickly, thanks to some excess flashing near the tip. These metal styli don't exhibit that problem. The extra weight also "feels better" in a way I can't describe otherwise. (It's not THAT much heavier, but it does feel more comfortable in your hand.) The best feature, though, is that unscrewing the top gets you to a built-in reset tool. Unfortunately, especially with third-party software, you WILL need to reset your Palm on occasion, and having a handy reset tool saves on batteries.