In recent years, great attention has been paid to using simple physical objects as tangible objects to improve user interaction in augmented reality (AR) environments. In this paper, we address AR-based user interaction using tangible objects, which has been used as a key component for virtual design evaluation of engineered products including digital handheld products. We herein consider the use of two types (product-type and pointer-type) of tangible objects. The user creates input events by touching specified parts of the product-type object with the pointer-type object, and the virtual product reacts to the events by rendering its visual and auditory contents on the output devices. The product-type object is used to reflect the geometric shape of a product of interest and to determine its position and orientation in the AR environment. The pointer-type object is used to recognize the reference position of the pointer (or finger) in the same environment. The rapid prototype of the product is employed as a good alternative to the product-type object, but various alternatives to the pointer-type object can be considered according to fabrication process and touching mechanism. In this paper, we present four alternatives to the pointer-type object and investigate their strong and weak points by performing experimental comparison of their various aspects including interaction accuracy, task performance, and qualitative user experience.