Wacom - Bamboo Ink Smart Stylus - Black

Pros: - Uses WACOM AES technology, which is one of the best digital pen technologies. - Very responsive. - Paired to my Huawei Matebook E Windows 10 tablet no problem (this tablet has somewhat limited digital pen compatibility). - Uses AAAA batteries for power, so no need to hook to a port in the top of the pen. - All the Windows Ink functionality seems to work perfectly with default drivers installed by Windows. - Much cheaper than the new Surface Pen, with most, if not all, the same functionality for writing and taking notes (don't ask me about the creative side, as I haven't done much other than doodle with it in the coloring apps). Cons: - No eraser function like the new Surface Pen (it does erase but it's by pressing a button on the side instead of turning the top end to the display to erase). - Does seem to have a magnet, but it's very weak and doesn't stick to my tablet very well. Definitely no where as good as the Surface Pen where it really sticks to the side of your tablet. Due to this it slips out of my pocket quite a bit, so I'm worried about losing it. - The button on the top of the pen is really easy to push in, so sometimes the pen menu will come up inadvertently when I don't mean to bring it up which is kind of annoying. - AAAA battery isn't a very common size sold in a lot of brick-and -mortar stores (although I'm happy to report Best Buy does sell their Insignia brand batteries in a 12 pack for a reasonable price, so if you need replacement batteries for this you can pick them up either online or in store). To be honest, for the price and quality of the stylus and the "it just works" factor (although ensure to check Wacom's site for compatibility first), most of the cons are mostly really just naggles and it really is a good stylus overall, especially if you're mostly just looking to write and jot notes for meetings. It's even good for some doodling and drawing, but if you're doing serious creative work on your device you may want to spring for a more feature rich stylus (although it will most likely cost quite a bit more). I have done some coloring and doodling and can confirm it does support multiple levels of sensitivity (4,096 levels to be exact, according to my research online), as when I push down harder or lighter on the display the coloring shows up either lighter or darker in the adult coloring apps I used. Lines show up narrower or thicker, as well, in Paint when writing or jotting things down. When writing notes, it detected most, if not all, of my pen strokes. My wife had a couple issues but it could've been the angle she was writing at from the side. I'm unsure whether it supports tilt detection, so if you need that as a creative type professional you may want to look at the Surface Pro Pen or another pen that does support it. As far as compatibility goes, you need to check Wacom's site online for this model to ensure your device is supported, but I'm very happy to report that the Huawei Matebook E (2nd gen) Windows 10 tablet does work with this no problem with the default Windows 10 drivers with no need to download the Wacom Feel driver set from their site, although I'm understanding there's some more functionality with their driver software from what I read. I just need it for Windows Ink functionality and for that, this works with all functionality (pen menu pop up, write and erase, etc.), so if you are one of the few people who own this awesome Windows tablet 2-in-1 from Huawei and you're having a hard time finding the proprietary MatePen for it (no real domestic sellers other than importers from China), this one definitely works if you don't need a stylus with the laser pointer and slide presentation clicker buttons. I wanted to make sure to note that as there isn't a whole lot of information on other supported pens for the tablet, and some of the info I've seen here and on other sites and forums are inconsistent. If you own a different Windows Ink compatible device, check to see if you're tablet or 2-in-1 supports Wacom AES digitizer technology, as this is what this pen uses. I don't believe this model supports Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP) and definitely not N-Trig technology, so ensure you do your research as the Wacom site page for this model stylus doesn't list all the possible devices this pen supports and the information isn't completely up to date. For the price I paid for this and the functionality I get from the pen, overall I'm very happy with my purchase!

I'm going to break this review down into the groups of people I'd highly recommend this to: (1) If you just bought the 2017 Surface Pro, I would give this pen some heavy consideration before you buy the Surface Pen. I tested this pen with the Surface Pro I bought. For $30 less, this pen is so smooth, glides like butter across the screen. The Surface Pen has the "tilt" feature and double the levels of pressure, but honestly I think the tilt feature is just a novelty and you will not notice the difference in pressure levels. What you will notice, though, is that the Bamboo Ink pen is just a hair less laggy than the Surface Pen. The Surface Pen has come a long way in terms of reducing latency, but for $30 less, it's hard to argue against the Bamboo Ink except in two areas – first, the Bamboo Ink pen will not stick to the side of your Surface like the Surface Pen will. The Bamboo Ink pen also doesn't have an eraser at the tip (instead you'll have to press a button on the side to erase). If those are dealbreakers for you (understandable, especially the eraser part), go for the Surface Pen. But if saving a bit of cash while still having a phenomenal, smooth experience interests you, you honestly can't go wrong with Bamboo Ink. (2) If you have a Surface Pro 4, Surface Book, or Surface 3 device, and you've lost your pen or want to upgrade your pen, this is the one for you. I tested this pen with a Surface Book. Again, this pen doesn't have an eraser at the end, nor can you stick it to the side of your device magnetically, but this is a solid pen here. This is a miles quicker than pen that you're probably used to, the one that's supposed to come with these devices. Lag is noticeably reduced. This is just a wonderful pen. (3) Finally, if you have any other device that can take advantage of Wacom pens, you need to shoot for this one here. I tested the Bamboo Ink pen with a 2017 HP Spectre 13'' 4k and the 15'' variant, and wow! Seeing your own handwriting in 4k is already amazing, but on these devices, it's just like pen to paper. It's hard to put into words how great it was. Buttery smooth. Accurate. Beautiful. I'm definitely a fan of the Bamboo Ink with devices in this category. This is so much better than the included pen HP gives you, just fyi. More comfortable too. Excellent product!

I'm a Computer Science student, and bought this pen to use on my HP Spectre 15in 2in1 to replace having to use a whiteboard to figure out portions of code, along to use with class notes and homework. Pros: -Good battery life -Feels solid and well built, with good weight. (Other than top button, see below) - Feels great writing on the screen. (Biggest reason it's not a 1 star review.) Cons: - The top button continuously breaks or becomes super flimsy and unresponsive. The button that has all of your quick options like screen capture, quick note, and drawing. It does this without much use at all and at random. It can even start doing that from carrying it in a backpack. - The pen tip nub replacement is absurd. The pen nub carrier it comes with is pretty cool, but the way you use it to remove the pen tip seems mediocre like you are going to damage the pen. I just would stick with the tip that comes on it or you may have issues. If they went with the Samsung style nub remover for their Note Spen that would work much better. - Awkward battery type AAAA. But, it has great battery life. - Sometimes cuts out (could be computers issue though, I don't think windows ink is very error prone yet.) I'm not the only person with these issues, my professor used his for his lecture notes and that's how I found about about this pen. His top piece broke off so many times he stopped taking it back. For $70.00 you'd think they could make something that vulnerable to damage a little stronger. I would still suggest this pen, just be extremely careful about where you place the pen. Maybe if they came out with a hard case you could put the pen in so it wouldn't get damaged just transporting it that could help.

I'm currently using the pen with my new Surface Pro (2017) and I'm quite impressed with it's performance. Lag is minimal and it performs smoothly while sketching and taking notes in MS OneNote. I'm no veteran at using stylus pens but there are some cons I think are worth noting. Naturally I want to flip the pen over to use the eraser which is a feature of the Surface Pen but it didn't take long to adjust. (I have a new Surface Pen (2017) but I haven't taken it out of the box yet. I wanted to give the Bamboo and through chance before committing to the more expensive option.) Using the erase function is a little awkward having to search and hold the button on the side. It's a little further back on the pen and in an unnatural place for me. I tend to spin the pen in my hand thus losing the orientation of the button as I write and I often times find myself searching for the button each time I need to erase. It's just easier to use the onscreen eraser option which defeats the purpose of the button. The button at the end of the pen where an eraser would normally be is a little odd feeling and seemingly flimsy. It's held up well but sometimes its difficult to tell if I've applied enough pressure to activate the pen tools menu on the Surface Pro. On the other end, the tip glides nicely and having extra tips is great bonus for this price. There is some travel on the tip when pressing down on the stylus that takes some getting used. This rarely affects its performance but sometimes when I need to make the lightest pen stroke, it doesn't register on screen. I can see and feel the pen coming in contact with the screen but nothing happens. I did experience a short battery life in my opinion. Again I'm not that experienced in using this type of stylus so I have nothing to compare to but 3 weeks of light use does seems short. Overall, I think this is a 5 star pen at this price and even more so when you can get it on sale as I did. I believe the minor cons as I mentioned warrant a deduction of 1/2 rather than a full 1 star. If your looking for a stylus for light use and something you're not afraid to let your young kids use, this is the perfect stylus! I think professional or heavy users will rather look at the newer MS Surface Pro Pen (2017) which share very similar specs.

This pen works and still works. It does the job. My only problem with the pen is its choice of button placement and battery life. I use the pen primarily to take notes (I'm a college student). The buttons on the side are a select and erase tool and the 'eraser' is a quick launch tool which you can remap to a select amount of apps on your device. Let me mention that I find the eraser button useless more times than not. With the limited amount of options to remap it to, it's not really convenient and subsequently useful. The side buttons are awkward to use. In order to click and hold the erase or select buttons, you need to curl your fingers in an awkward way that I find to be just uncomfortable. It's not deal-breaking, but just thought it should be known. Now the battery life: it's not great if you think a couple of months is too short. I haven't used enough pens for long enough to make a proper review about this, but the battery that came with the pen did not last very long. I would advise just investing in some (I forget which kind these take) batteries to last. There is no warning when the battery is going to die. It will start skipping streaks when writing which can be annoying if you don't have any spare batteries on hand. Some other notes: If you try to use the pen while charging the Surface, be careful if the Surface gets hot. The palm rejection gets all wonky and you start getting random lines when using the pen. Overall, it still feels nice to hold, the pen tip glides over the Surface's surface with ease (there's definitely less resistance using this pen compared to the Surface Pen by Microsoft), it has some weight to it, and is still ergonomically well designed.

I originally bought this after seeing some of the demos in store. My brother had requested this as a gift for his birthday last month and seems to be pleased with what he can do with it. I should have borrowed his and tried it with my touchscreen before making a purchase for myself. Both my brother and I have Dell Inspiron 2-in-1 touchscreens, both about the same size, however his is about a year newer than mine. Apparently that year makes a huge difference. While it seems to work with no issue on his computer (that I am aware of), I can only get it to pair with my computer, and nothing else. I cannot change any settings. I cannot get it to control anything on the touchscreen. Whereas the instructions and support page online say pushing the top button once will open the Microsoft Ink Workspace, it would open up One Note instead, and would not allow me to change that either. I tried to change the protocol settings on the pen itself by holding the two side buttons, but had no luck. I have searched for multiple ways to try and get it to work, but have not been successful. When I started looking at this for myself, I did inquire of one of the reps in the computer department about compatibility, and he only insisted that I needed Microsoft Ink to be installed/enabled on my computer and it would work fine. It is clear now that I received errant information from the rep, and the lack of information about products seems to be a growing issue lately, regardless of specific product. It may be possible that my computer is not equipped with Microsoft pen protocol, but that is a possible conclusion I have come to after failing to get this product to work. It is quite misleading with the packaging (and some of the in-store advice) to suggest that it will work, no matter what, as long as you have Windows Ink enabled. But only after the fact did I notice that the packaging (in fairly small lettering) refers you to Wacom's website to determine compatibility.

I ordered the Bamboo Ink to us on my HP x360 and it doesn't work. I downloaded the driver from Wacom and on installation it popped up an error message. I finally went to the section that lists the devices it has been tested on and works. Here is the list.. Made for Windows 10 devices ASUS Transformer Pro T304UA/ TransBook T304UA ASUS Transformer Mini T102HA/ TransBook Mini T102HA Dell™ Venue 10 Pro™ 5000 Series (5055) Dell™ XPS 13 2in1 Fujitsu LIFEBOOK® P727 Fujitsu LIFEBOOK® T937 HP EliteBook x360 1030 G2 HP Elite x2 1012 G1 HP Elite x2 1012 G2 HP ENVY 8 Note Tablet HP Pro x2 612 G2 HP Spectre x360 13-ac000 Lenovo™ ThinkPad X1 Tablet Lenovo™ ThinkPad Yoga 260 Lenovo™ ThinkPad® X1 Yoga™ Lenovo™ ThinkPad® P40 Yoga™ Lenovo™ ThinkPad® 10 (2nd Gen) Lenovo™ Miix 510 Lenovo™ Miix 720 Lenovo Yoga 720 (13") Microsoft® Surface® 3 Microsoft® Surface® Pro 3 Microsoft® Surface® Pro 4 Microsoft® Surface® Book Toshiba dynabook V62/B Toshiba dynabook V42/B Toshiba dynaPad N72 If your device is listed here get it, otherwise don't bother.

Having no real experience with other stylus brands or types, I can't fairly compare the Ink to anything else. That being said, it's pretty great. The weight is good, the textures and shape are pleasing, and it actually works. The only thing that doesn't feel great is the programmable Bluetooth button on the top of the pen. It feels really sloppy and it just seems out of place on something this expensive where everything else is spot-on. It works pretty well as far as I can tell. There's no lag and the pressure sensitivity is fantastic. BE WARNED! While this pen will technically 'work' with pretty much any computer due to the Windows Ink integration, unless your device is on the list of compatible devices on the Wacom website, you only get pressure sensitivity with software that is compatible with Windows Ink. That kinda defeated the purpose for me, so I ended up just exchanging my PC for a similar model that was listed on the Wacom website. It was an oversight on my part, but it's still something to consider. Overall it's a pretty neat thing and I've doodled some neat stuff with it. I'd recommend it to anyone that wants to try out digital art and has a device that can actually use the Wacom drivers.