SLIM PEN 2 - All The Problems after 6 months HEAVY use as an Artist. Is it still the BEST choice?

[@hdlioos]

I have one already broken down ... If it stopped working . Go to device manager> display adapter > right click on it > disable it ...then enable it again its works without restarting windows

[@andrewcarpenterCC]

We've bought 35 of the Surface Studio laptops with Slim Pen 2, and have had to replace 5 pens so far after they stop working in several different ways in under a year. Have not been impressed with their reliability!

[@TerranIV]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this stylus' problems!

[@andrew_morev]

duude your voice is so calming :) Is the pen with 2 buttons that you recommend your own project? if so, I'd buy it, I trust you. Slim Pen is ok, if you have a software like Pen Tool to fix Microsoft's mistakes. Just Ok. From 3 pens I'v been using it's the worst one, but it doesn't affect neither speed nor quality of work. It's just rattling annoyingly if you shake it, there's one button and it's in an awkward spot and you can't feel it so you have to look at the pen before pressing it oftenly. The eraser button is completely useless and even if you are determined to use it, the line is wobbly. We should have got rid of it long ago. So it's worse than iPencil in a purely tactile way. But it's better designed! Because as soon as you tear through thin plastic cover on the point of iPencil it becomes useless. And you can do it by just dropping it once tip-down. Both these pens are gulping the dust left by Wacom 20 years ago. I don't get it, why not just copy it 1 to 1 and instead invent ugly non-ergonomic bicycles that you have to charge is beyond me, but that's the world we live in. As of yet, Wacom hasn't provided an adequate portable solution. One where you don't have to sell your kidney for a videocard from 2007

[@andrew_morev]

you shold add an option to keep haptics always on across all apps. I was amazed at how subtle it turned out to be and how it really tricked my brain into thinking I was drawing on paper.

[@3polygons]

Instead of restarting... With Wacom at least you can just kill and then start the Wacom Service, or "restart Wacom service" in 'Windows Services' (I even have a shortcut on my task bar to services, but for other reasons). As it does the same than a full restart but only takes 2 seconds, and does not force you to close everything, reboot and that. I don't know if MS's pen tech/driver is using some service like that or if it 'd even require restarting solely explorer.exe (another faster way to "reset things" than rebooting) in Task Manager. If the pen is handled by a process, not a service, it'd be a matter of discovering which is it, and how you can run it again after killing it in Task Manager. Even making a shortcut for it on desktop/taskbar. I have shortcuts for Task Manager, Services, and some main processes like that. Is super fast and handy :).

[@TabletPro]

Wow that’s really an intelligent creative solution. I wonder if I can figure that out

[@3polygons]

​@@TabletPro Hello. Curiosity is my worst enemy... I made a very fast search. Apparently, this pen can have issues if the latest Windows 10 updates are not installed. Needing as well to have the pen driver updated (which tells me most surely it will have some sort of service/process that you can restart as I mentioned. But all what I am reading sounds more like bluetooth kind of issues). Being so bluetooth dependent, it must be sure it's well paired, and issues like this can also happen with low battery level (which could match the "5 times in x months", maybe times when the pen battery was too low, having a pairing issue (then unpair->pair), or some other temporary problem. Or a case of needing to replace the battery. BTW, sth I did NOT know (is not usual with other pen tech) is that you can actually "reboot" this pen alone pretty fast: Just press and hold (against the tablet, I guess) the tip steadily on the same point during a few seconds (I have not dug how many, but surely around 10 - 20 secs) and it "reboots itself ; apparently several problems go away so. What I neither knew, despite having been a Windows user for decades, is that in the case of a Surface, you can do a "hard reset" of the whole tablet. Is not like a reset button of a regular PC. It surely restores some hardware stuff (more deeply) to a more optimal state. The process is not that simple, but could be used as a last resort once you have tried anything else (the following is "almost" a copy paste, I'm too lazy :D :D ) : " _Press and hold the power button on the surface for 20-30 seconds. It will turn off and will flash Microsoft logo few times. Don’t release the power button. Make sure to hold it at least 20 seconds. Release the button when your system completely turn-off. Make sure not to release the button while Microsoft logo appears. Now press and hold the Volume up and the power button together for 15 seconds. Your screen will show UEFI settings and turnoff few times. Don’t release the buttons while you see UEFI settings. Release the buttons after 15 seconds and when your system is complete turned off. Now press the power button to turn on the surface device as usual. It will turn on your device_ " . Some people say you might need to replace the pen battery in some cases. It is expected (one of the main reasons why I love battery-free pens; the other is there tends to be less wobble in lines) to last "only" one year. BUT... I'm not completely sure a device you bough might have the battery with still 1 year left. Maybe it was "older" than one would expect (being in stock a long time, etc). For me and any Wacom problem, it's faster my shortcut in the tool bar to Services, "restart Wacom Tablet" service. But the actual reality is I have all stuff quite ironed (apps, system, drivers, etc), and it's very rare to see an issue. This is with still a Wacom Intuos 4 XL, since 2009, which says a thing or two about Wacom's durability (if treated with extreme love ;) ). With certain driver versions, and certain apps, it happened often, years ago. Now the drivers have improved crazily, and also, mostly with these problems very often the drawing app was faulty. With updated versions of both the driver and the apps, I don't have to make use of this anymore. But the trick was a life quality changer for some time. The times it has happened more frequently to me (pen not working all of a sudden, not clicking, or loosing sensitivity) it has been almost always for a faulty app or driver, and almost always solved with restarting the service or tweaking driver settings or apps' preferences. I have been able to do all workflows with every app. But as I said, since I discovered my trick, it'd be a matter of 5 seconds. The pity is that most apps, once the service is restarted, you need to restart the app as well so for it to paint as it should. Still is a lot faster than rebooting the entire system, specially if there's some sort of HDD (which I believe are very important to keep using for work files) in the system. I am in the hunt of a new laptop, might get me a Surface Laptop... but I really prefer larger screens, that's my issue...and price; it is a bit too high for same components in other brands... besides I prefer classic tablets, planning to just putting a intuos M or "One by Wacom" M of 70 bucks in my laptop's back pack, lol. That's how much I prefer classic tablets vs display-pens. But I've seen the other day a Laptop Studio and a Surface Pro 8 in a shop, exhibited, and I admit they are absolutely gorgeous. :) BTW...Important: in certain article I've found this problem could happen "if the tip is somehow physically damaged". Then I remembered you showed how in your case it got somewhat bent.

[@TabletPro]

Thanks! There is a lot there I didn’t know. I think that the resetting a number of different ways is really helpful. I didn’t know about the refresh on the screen with the hold action. Does it show anything when you do that? Or have you tried it? I think I need to call them and ask them for a replacement as it may be related to the tip. The sp8 and laptop studio are gorgeous machines. But they are pretty pricey. The drawing on the pen tablet and looking straight ahead workflow has a lot of benefits. I can see why you enjoy it. Thanks for all this information. I know that took a bit of time. I appreciate it. 😊

[@3polygons]

@@TabletPro Very glad to have this conversation :) . One thing I'd like to mention, though: The holding of the pen tip on a fixed point on screen during a bunch of seconds (it's just something I read) does not refresh the screen or tablet. As I understood it (as I am not a Surface user myself), what it does is it resets the pen internally (or the pen driver/service/etc). I also read that doing this solves a number of issues (not sure if the one that you have from time to time). One problem there is that surely you cannot replicate on purpose the issue, so, I suppose all you could do is write down the possible solutions just in case happens again, test them (starting from the faster ones ;) ). I guess there's never going to be a pen/tablet without issues (maybe the iPad pro... but with those I have issues having less compatibility with industry standard software). Great channel! :)

[@limbo3545]

My wacom tablet is very old (6 years) with visible use marks and minor defects. Taking this bulky device with me with cables and laptop while traveling is annoying. I ended up buying a surface, because it seemed good. I have it for half a week and after a day of testing I thought about sending it back. I give it a try for two-three more weeks, but I'm currently not happy with it. I still miss my wacom tablet and the keyboard shortcuts. I feel like being too slow and I don't feel in control. Maybe it's because I just getting started and I'm impatient. I simply thought I get used to it faster.

[@chaniboy]

After 4 months I noticed the tip was bent. I have no idea how it happened or when. I guess over time with low pressure, low use. I couldn't find tips anywhere, I don't think they make them for SP2, only the SP1. I called technical support and they replaced the entire pen at no charge, so I guess I'm good for 4 more months.

[@TabletPro]

I’ll have to call them and ask them to do that for mine

[@chaniboy]

@@TabletPro Do! I informed them that it doesn't write evenly or where I place the pen because it's bent. Maybe if enough report and request a replacement, they will do something about it. Like sell individual tips.

[@3polygons]

I have discovered that some types of plastic in tech will just bend with heat (peaks of 45º C in my area, huh), or by a substance of certain composition (who knows if even sweat!). Gotta beware certain liquids. I got my colorimeter (screen color calibrator by hardware) totally wrecked. Still works, and not replacing it until it becomes completely useless (as is kind of a premium thing, and even a lower one is 250 bucks :s ). But the plastic has become like permanently melted, like... sticky. Is like if I had cleaned it with alcohol or similar, but I don't remember doing such (maybe some cleaning liquid with alcohol or sth like that)...

[@stevenhernandez7135]

Really, I found and bought a box of tips for slim pen 2...

[@chaniboy]

@@stevenhernandez7135 can u share where?

[@lucafortuzzi6462]

Question: the tip of the pen does click or tilt when you draw? Or it is rock solid as apple pen? Anyway, the tip can be replaced if you didn't know, on the official site of microsoft you can find the tips. :)

[@iuliuvlad563]

thats the slim 2 so i invite you to provide a link from where you can get one. and the fucking pen is 150 bucks

[@said-4433]

after replacing you will experience tilt when drawing. Poor quality.

[@nng4276]

Hello, I would like to get your recommendation if possible on which stylus pen would be suitable for my needs. I've recently purchased a surface go 3 and would like an alternative stylus pen for mostly taking notes. The microsoft pens are a bit over my budget and i just need a good pen for notes with good magnets so I don't lose the pen. Thank you

[@DamianDodd]

Has anyone gotten tilt to work with slim 2? For me it's not working on any app

[@TabletPro]

It works for me. It used to be easy to test if it was working or not by using the pencil tool in onenote. now with the new onenote that is gone. where are you testing the feature to see if it works?

[@nasergh9354]

Is it spen tip soft or hard? Can we replace the tip or it doesn't need ? 2. And I want to write on pdf which app is better and fast enough and pen works on it with pressure sensitive for heavy pdf no lag? Or Samsung and ipad have better experience on pdf writing?

[@shu6368]

Hello ! i have a Surface Pro 9 my issue is that my pen slim pen 2 wont charge at my charging port in my keyboard and i dont know why i tried to press the shortcut button but the LED light wont flash how do i fix this it wont charge and the LED light wont on if i press 5 seconds on it and i did all i can but it doesnt on and work can anyone help me. thank you

[@bernardograelgrael8218]

Same thing. Please someone help

[@user-uo6bs5zt8i]

same

[@eugenmaier495]

me either, you can buy a slim pen charger and it will do the work or try to reboot and clean the magnetic connection!rtic

[@uzairshah86]

Can someone pls tell me of this or any other pen supports rotation axis

[@TabletPro]

I don't believe rotation is supported in the protocol, so the answer would be no, unless there is some unique hack that a company does. But I'd most likely be aware of it if there was one.

[@WittlessWonder]

Hi, i just got the surface 8 and slim pen 2. But i cant seem to get the tilt working on any other app than clip studio. Ive tried whiteboard, onenote, photoshop etc.

[@TabletPro]

In OneNote the Windows Store app, select the pencil, make sure it's not the pen. What happens there?

[@WittlessWonder]

@@TabletPro That worked! Now i just feel stupid :D. I thought i had the windows one note app.. Just like that, you have ben more useful than ms support and other places ive tried. At least i dont have to reinstall windows or anything. Thanks a ton! Still cant get it to work in other apps tough. Like rebelle 5 demo. iVe tried different pencils and going into brush creator and changing to pen tilt etc but still no reaction :(.

[@cornpop7613]

I'm having an issue with my slim pen where in one note, the writing is not fluid... it will cut out in the middle and reconnected which makes writing fast kinda frustrating. Any ideas on what might be causing this issue?

[@ashtersshadow8]

Feel free to ignore this reply if you've already solved the issue If you have any extra magnetic accessories, remove those, restart your device, and see if the pen improves Had a similar issue with my tablet where a magnetic case keyboard was causing the detectors in the screen to loose track of the pressure Took months of frustration and buying a whole new pen to figure it out

[@adelmo83]

hello, in which part of windows 11 can I see the percentage of the charge of the renausser 530 pen, I would also like to know, when the pen tip should be changed, thanks

[@TabletPro]

I don't think that pens without bluetooth connection to the computer will show battery percentage. I think that information is received through the bluetooth connection, but I'm not sure. The R530 has a long battery life of typically a few months of use. When it's getting low it will flash the light on the side as well to notify you that the battery is low and it will turn off. you can then turn it back on and use it for a bit longer, sometimes a few hours longer. It's pretty smart.

[@adelmo83]

@@TabletPro thanks, and when I can know that pen tip (R530) should be changed? Thanks.

[@tobylee1170]

Had I not seen your other videos, it looks like the R530 is just as good as the slim pen 2. I guess the jitter isn't as obvious with the pencil brush, vs using a g-pen or something?

[@TabletPro]

Depending on the device you’re using it’s really good. On the surface laptop studio and sp8 it’s not better. But it’s good and much cheaper. Not sure on the g-pen. I tried to find the specific g-pen in clip studio. But there was a number of options

[@3polygons]

I had checked some video from some reviewer ensuring all the jitter/wobble in lines (without using smoothing by software; I like the fresh gesture) was definitely gone in Surface Pro 8 pen. Is it not the case? It might be then that he (person from another channel) is less sensitivity to this than some of us would be (a lot depends on the illustration style for each person: some styles require more steady lines).

[@TabletPro]

I agree. Some reviewers don’t see the same things or don’t notice the same level of detail. It’s much improved. It’s not perfect. I don’t think it’s a significant amount of wobble/jitter. I like mine a lot.

[@pixelpusher1393]

@@TabletPro My experience was that Slim Pen 2 is leaps and bounds above all that came before in MS Surface territory, but there is a very slight amount of residual jitter left, which played no role though even at slower drawing speed. In order to make that residual jitter visible, your hand would have to move so slowly that increasingly irregularities from your own hand movement creep in and it becomes hard to distinguish one from the other. My personal issue is initial activation force being still a tad bit too high. If you work in very small, fast and light motions on detail (the process could be compared to stippling in traditional media), the Slim Pen 2 does not give me this rock solid confidence that each and every time the tip touches the display it registers something in the image file. This can be mitigated somewhat by setting screen frequency from 60Hz to 120Hz (which of course will drain battery faster...), but right there Slim Pen 2 is not on par with Wacom EMR/S-Pen/Apple Pencil. I´m about to make a buying decision, and most likely it´ll be Samsung Galaxy Book 2 Pro 360 for that reason, but you bet I wish Microsoft will release a Slim Pen 3 with IAF lowered by maybe 30%-40%, because then it would be perfect and I´d get me a Microsoft Laptop Studio in the blink of an eye. In terms of performance and built quality, Microsoft´s new Surface devices just nail it, and the form factor and feel of them makes me want to work with them. My hope for the near future is a Slim Pen 3 along with new iterations of Surface Pro and Surface Laptop Studio, and then the big one, a Surface Studio 3. I would leave Apple behind without ever looking back.

[@svenjakel7076]

Hey all, Can someone pls help me? My pen won't write on the screen. Bluetooth is connected and the button work just fine. I also Changed the tip.

[@medicalcannabisawarenessne929]

I have the same issue,

[@OttoNoble]

Mines won't charge or active. I just bought it with the charger. I'm using the surface duo 2.

[@dannymcm26]

I like the pen but only 1 side button is frustrating if you need to use 3d softwares . Silly move by the designers of the pen

[@TabletPro]

Would really be nice if Microsoft had a pen for 3D artists.

[@jorgeanimates4443]

mine wobbles like crazy whenever i try to draw directional lines, ive already replaced the pen and contacted support but to no avail. Any tips?

[@TRYHARDRACCOON]

Tips, hehe

[@theblowupdollsmusic]

It's a shame this new pen is not compatible with the big Microsoft Surface Studio 2.

[@heidis2330]

I bought one for my Kobo Sage ereader for its Microsoft compatible screen. Worked great but then it stopped working after 2 months. $140 down the drain

[@Aaron-cg7nn]

Use warranty.

[@aboudaymane8195]

Niiice feedback