Wacom Bamboo Ink Plus VS The Surface Pen

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[ayior]

4:55 ah yes, my favorite Nib Hardness: Blue

[kiblyy]

This is a warning for the light sketchers out there !!
I strongly disagree with Brad's assessment of the initial activation force needed on a surface pro. Don't let that scare you away if you are used to drawing very lightly like me !
If you hesitate between an Ipad and a surface pro, just know that the initial activation force can be set up to your licking on a surface pro, and that you can draw as lightly as on the ipad !

I have a 2017 surface pro. I also tested the ipad pro several times before buying my surface pro ( for up to a few hours I would day). I agree with the wiggle with N-Trig, there definitely is one, and I rely on brush smoothing software for that, it hasn't been too much of a issue for me ( Krita is wonderful in that regard).


Regarding the initial activation force, I agreed with Brad when I first bought the surface pro, but that was before I took the time to really set up the pressure sensitivity settings to my liking.
You can absolutely have an initial activation force identical to the ipad pro. I personally draw VERY lightly, because I hate to strain my hand. I can definitely make a line without putting any pressure whatsoever on the pen, just touching the screen, it is possible.


For the pressure sensitivity settings, go to the surface app ( it should be installed by default) then the stylus settings, and adjust the curve to your liking.
I would recommend keeping it neutral there (probably around 6), and instead adjust the pressure sensitivity directly in your drawing software if it allows you to do so.


In Krita, go to settings > tablet settings, and adjust the curve there.


Have fun drawing !

[fuyuki_alt]

When no one sponsors you
Brad: Fine, I'll do it myself

[jade]

Yay!!! I was looking into this yesterday, I'm glad you reviewed it!

[daystrider]

Since the Surface Go tends to have more jitter anyway due to lower specs, I think we really need to see how things compare on at least a Surface Pro...

[DrunkonTacos]

Brad, the shape is best described as a rotor. If you are a car guy, or a fan of engineering oddities, you will know about the Wankel rotory engines. They were used mainly by Mazda, and mainly in sports cars. The rounded triangle shape is the exact same as the shape of the rotor, or the part that dances around inside the engine where pistons would normally reside!

[mydogeatspuke]

I could clearly see your hand twitching as you were drawing that "perfectly straight" line. I have the original Bamboo Ink and have had exactly zero issues with it and my Yoga C930. The Plus is exactly the same pen except you can charge it now, and it has tilt.

[casekocsk]

If wacom can make a pressure sensitive pen that works on all touchscreen tablet/phone (no need for tilt), it will sell like hotcake...

[Frappelychee]

If only Microsoft came out with a Surface Go/Pro Artist Edition with matching Surface Gloves 😭

[DJapan]

I have an HP 2-in-1 and bought the original Bamboo Ink (with the AAAA battery) and have not noticed any of this wobbling effect. What I do notice is that the pressure is fine as a press down but if I want to lift a little too get a thinner line it drops off very quickly. So it gets a little thinner, then just stops instead of a gradual reduction in line width.

[triv]

Thank you for this guide^^ I recently bought a 2-in-1 ASUS Zenbook (that didn't come with a pen 😭) and I've had to do some research...I _was_ leaning towards Wacom because of brand loyalty (I've had the old Intuos Draw since 2017 and still use it today), but after seeing that jitter I'm doing an about face and am leaning closer to the Surface Pen now

[zycane]

MS truly need to fix those wobbles and jitters, most of us, I believe, thought of it as just an initial first gen issue, but they simply kept up with it, because of how the tech works, and their desire to keep their stuff thinner and thinner, obviously, but really, I would rather have a 1-2mm thicker tablet, with proper pen accuracy, without the wobbles and jitters.

[bobbyfasel]

God, I'd love for Wacom to make a stylus that works on both tablet PCs and their Cintiqs/tablets. Thanks so much for the reviews, as always! <3

[jkristia]

I have a Surface Pro 4 with latest pen (I believe), I tried a bit of sketching but always hated the wavy lines. I just recently got a iPad Pro, and the difference between the Surface pencil and the Apple pencil is like night and day. Apple got it right, with the screen protector it really feels like a pencil on paper. I'm a big Surface fan, but in my opinion, for sketching iPad is a clear winner over my Surface Pro 4.

[stianthomassen]

Wow, that wobble was extremely noticeable. I’m sitting on my iPhone 7 now and I can see the wobble right away. I had the creative stylus 2 for the ipad and it was a lot better at straight lines. The parallex however was horrible 😖

[azzart]

The Surface Go doesn't have the same hardware as Surface Pro/Book 2/Studio.
So nope, the experience won't be the same. Actually the Surface pen on the Surface Go since there's no Pixelsense accelerator act more or less like on the Surface Pro 4: poorly.

[xSPAZNSPARTANx]

I love you're website, it's been very helpful to me!

[myasan]

Whenever i have something to do, i like to have videos playing and I always say "hmm lets watch brad colbow" 😂

[nigzn]

Im more impressed by the surface go on how it performs on this video.

[TabletPro]

Great video Brad, I plan on doing some pen reviews soon on my channel. I'd like to see how the cheap sub $40 pens on amazon that are MS certified perform.


2 things on this, I do think you'd get a much better iaf response with the surface app pressure settings set to "3" instead of default "7". It won't pick up the low end with the setting set too high. Just clips the data (the software program not the hardware).


other thing was mentioned earlier, that the pro 6, surface book and newer devices except the surface go have better digitizers and have less jitter and hooks on the ink strokes. Maybe 30% improvement.


Absolutely agree with you, neat idea, if you are looking for a 2 button pen for your surface that has bluetooth (I RARELY use this) and tilt support, then this is probably the best option. But lines aren't as clean as the MS pen and if you aren't using the 2nd side button (on Surface devices only programmable with the Tablet Pro Pen Tool) then stick with the magnetized surface pen. If you've never had a magnetized stylus before, its hard to think about going back without a VERY good reason.


Thanks for this video Brad! you the man!