Microsoft has released the $145 Slim Surface Pen, which is rechargeable. This new pen lets you forget about finding AAAA battery for your stylus but is quite expensive. BTW, you can actually buy rechargeable AAAA batteries to be more environmentally-friendly and be able to just swap drained battery out for continual pen use.
Last year, we reviewed a few Surface Pen alternatives that are tilt-sensitive but still use AAAA batteries. Today we review two alternatives that are rechargeable and tilt-sensitive, namely the IQS INK Pro (bought it at RMB171 or $24 when there's discount from Taobao) and the Heiyo Gioia ($46 at Amazon). We believe the INK Pro is the same as this Renaisser Raphael 520 ($36), Ciscle ($40-44) or Uogic ($40) that are available on Amazon. This is later confirmed by Renaisser, who contacted us soon after our first draft of this review is posted online. There's also a sibling of the Heiyo Gioia branded as LACORAMO ($46) at Amazon. We asked Heiyo about this, and they replied they were 'involved in the design' of this LACORAMO, and agree that it is not much different as long as drawing performance goes so we would skip this LACORAMO pen in this review.
Last year, we reviewed a few Surface Pen alternatives that are tilt-sensitive but still use AAAA batteries. Today we review two alternatives that are rechargeable and tilt-sensitive, namely the IQS INK Pro (bought it at RMB171 or $24 when there's discount from Taobao) and the Heiyo Gioia ($46 at Amazon). We believe the INK Pro is the same as this Renaisser Raphael 520 ($36), Ciscle ($40-44) or Uogic ($40) that are available on Amazon. This is later confirmed by Renaisser, who contacted us soon after our first draft of this review is posted online. There's also a sibling of the Heiyo Gioia branded as LACORAMO ($46) at Amazon. We asked Heiyo about this, and they replied they were 'involved in the design' of this LACORAMO, and agree that it is not much different as long as drawing performance goes so we would skip this LACORAMO pen in this review.
See our unboxing video for the Raphael 520 / Ink Pro and the Heiyo Gioia:
And our main review video that shows you line and curve tests and more:
INK Pro / Raphael 520
The INK Pro (Raphael 520) is really light at only 14g. Manual says "charge for 40 minutes and use for about 12 hours". In practice, we found the battery lasts long enough that we don't really need to charge it often.
We are really happy that this pen can attach to Surface devices magnetic ally just like the original Surface pen. In general, this pen senses pressure and tilt very well, although in our experiment, the previous IQS pen we reviewed is still the best in light pressure sensing being able to give tapered stroke endings. Another small thing that keeps the Raphael being perfect is that tilt is not sensed when the eraser button is pressed. We've informed the maker and hopefully they can fix this in their next model. But anyway, this is not a big deal since we can always use keyboard shortcut 'E' to toggle eraser mode, which may even be a preferred way to do it since it's more stressful to hold a barrel button as you stroke.
We are really happy that this pen can attach to Surface devices magnetic ally just like the original Surface pen. In general, this pen senses pressure and tilt very well, although in our experiment, the previous IQS pen we reviewed is still the best in light pressure sensing being able to give tapered stroke endings. Another small thing that keeps the Raphael being perfect is that tilt is not sensed when the eraser button is pressed. We've informed the maker and hopefully they can fix this in their next model. But anyway, this is not a big deal since we can always use keyboard shortcut 'E' to toggle eraser mode, which may even be a preferred way to do it since it's more stressful to hold a barrel button as you stroke.
Heiyo Gioia
All the 3 nibs included in the package are of the same plastic material, as opposed to the rubbery tip that the origin Surface Pen has. It claims 150 hours continuous use and max. 230 days standby. charge time is 4 hour at 5v 1A. The User Manual says its stylus tips are POM (polyoxymethylene) and are "anti-friction". In practice, we find the nibs to be quite slippery. Included are two tall and two short nibs in total. We found the tall and short nibs to behave basically the same.
The Heiyo also senses pressure and tilt quite well. However, it feels a bit clunky to use in comparison with the Raphael. This is partly due to the bigger size and partly the center of mass is well above the middle point of the pen body. Shifting the point of holding toward to pen top would help, but then thew barrel buttons may be a bit far from reach of your thumb.
The Heiyo also senses pressure and tilt quite well. However, it feels a bit clunky to use in comparison with the Raphael. This is partly due to the bigger size and partly the center of mass is well above the middle point of the pen body. Shifting the point of holding toward to pen top would help, but then thew barrel buttons may be a bit far from reach of your thumb.
The Heiyo's center of balance is much higher towards pen top than other pens
One point to note is that both Raphael and Heiyo go to sleep and you need to press their button to wake them up. We found it a bit annoying at first, since we are used to the original Surface Pen that is 'always on'. But we get used to always pressing a button before stroking with these new pens now.
Turning them Magnetically charged?
A pen whose charging port is magnetic We saw one Surface Pen alternative from Taobao that resemble a pencil and has this interesting magnetic charging port of the pen so that you can just snap it away when you need to charge your pen. Unfortunately, it doesn't support tilt so we pass on that option.
However, we still fancy a magnetically charged Surface Pen, so we try to pair our pens with Magnetic USB Charging Cable. The particular cables we bought are data cables, as opposed to power only. There're also round and flat types of such cables. We chose a round type, thinking it should match the pen bodies well. However, the flat side of the Raphael has the magnetic head extrudes a little bit, which would hit the Surface device when you snap it to the device. Our solution is to wrap flat rubber bands to the two ends of the pen as cushion. Even without the magnetic head, I think it's still good to have rubber bands since the top part of the Raphael is metal and over time, that may also scratch your Surface device.
They work well, as long as charging goes. However, the magnetic bud, which is only 0.5g, adds weight to the very top of the Raphael 520 pen, shifting the balance towards the top. With the bud attached, I have to hold the pen further up to maintain balance.
It's okay to leave both the Raphael and the Heiyo connected, since both of them are protected from over-charge (we asked the manufacturers and they assured us this).
However, we still fancy a magnetically charged Surface Pen, so we try to pair our pens with Magnetic USB Charging Cable. The particular cables we bought are data cables, as opposed to power only. There're also round and flat types of such cables. We chose a round type, thinking it should match the pen bodies well. However, the flat side of the Raphael has the magnetic head extrudes a little bit, which would hit the Surface device when you snap it to the device. Our solution is to wrap flat rubber bands to the two ends of the pen as cushion. Even without the magnetic head, I think it's still good to have rubber bands since the top part of the Raphael is metal and over time, that may also scratch your Surface device.
They work well, as long as charging goes. However, the magnetic bud, which is only 0.5g, adds weight to the very top of the Raphael 520 pen, shifting the balance towards the top. With the bud attached, I have to hold the pen further up to maintain balance.
It's okay to leave both the Raphael and the Heiyo connected, since both of them are protected from over-charge (we asked the manufacturers and they assured us this).
Conclusion
Both the Raphael 520 and the Heiyo are great alternatives to the original Surface Pen, for their much lower prices and giving very good stroking performance. They are also rechargeable so you don't need to hunt hard-to-find AAAA batteries. This is arguably better or worse, since you can also buy rechargeable AAAA batteries that you can replace instead of needing to put the pen to rest during recharge. Built-in rechargeable battery has a life-span too, and when they die, you can't simply replace them easily like you can with rechargeable AAAA batteries .
We highly recommend the Raphael 520, for its price, build quality, magnetic attachment and performance. It's almost perfect. The only downsides are 1. tilt is not sensed when erase button is pressed. 2. not the best in getting thin lines to tapper at stroke ends. One minor negative point is that it's metal-hitting-metal when you snap it to the device. We hope Renaisser can consider making the plastic cover at the top longer, so that it can act as a cushion (along with the plastic side buttons), just like the original Surface Pen. We also like the fact they include both soft and hard nibs, so that users can try and see which they like better.
We do not recommend the Heiyo as much, since it's pricier and does not support magnetic attachment. Its body is mainly metal, so we also do not want to just put it on our Surface Book 2. Surface devices do get scratches so we want to avoid metal-to-metal clinking. We also wish they include spare nibs that give more tangible difference.
BTW, note that these pens sense tilt only when they touch the surface. This is a real downside for us Expresii users since we need to see the virtual brush posture before hitting the paper so that we know how the stroke starts. In this regard, these battery powered 'active' pens compare unfavorably against those EMR pens offered by e.g Wacom, Huion and XP-Pen.
FYI, we did not get any sponsorship or commission in this review and our opinions are entirely ours.
We highly recommend the Raphael 520, for its price, build quality, magnetic attachment and performance. It's almost perfect. The only downsides are 1. tilt is not sensed when erase button is pressed. 2. not the best in getting thin lines to tapper at stroke ends. One minor negative point is that it's metal-hitting-metal when you snap it to the device. We hope Renaisser can consider making the plastic cover at the top longer, so that it can act as a cushion (along with the plastic side buttons), just like the original Surface Pen. We also like the fact they include both soft and hard nibs, so that users can try and see which they like better.
We do not recommend the Heiyo as much, since it's pricier and does not support magnetic attachment. Its body is mainly metal, so we also do not want to just put it on our Surface Book 2. Surface devices do get scratches so we want to avoid metal-to-metal clinking. We also wish they include spare nibs that give more tangible difference.
BTW, note that these pens sense tilt only when they touch the surface. This is a real downside for us Expresii users since we need to see the virtual brush posture before hitting the paper so that we know how the stroke starts. In this regard, these battery powered 'active' pens compare unfavorably against those EMR pens offered by e.g Wacom, Huion and XP-Pen.
FYI, we did not get any sponsorship or commission in this review and our opinions are entirely ours.
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