SonarPenPressure Sensitive Smart Stylus Pen with Palm Rejection and Shortcut Button. Battery-Less. Compatible with Apple iPad/iPhone/Android/Switch/Chromebook (Blue)

After a very exhausting (child induced sleep deprivation) and sad week (death in the family) I was very excited to try my new pen, only to have trouble getting it to work. Come to find out that Layer Paint HD isn't supported. So I tried some of recommended android apps. Only to have more troubles. So I wrote a detailed email to the company explaining the issues I had run into. It was late so I figured I'd get a response in the morning. It was the kind of day where you normally curl up with some ice cream and tissues because everything had been miserable and even a small fun thing you'd hoped to distract yourself with just didn't work. You know those days.Imagine my surprise when I got a reply five minutes later with instructions to download the ArtFlow driver software. I did and my pen worked wonderfully! I was doodling all over just like my drawing tablet that connects to my computer!I emailed them to tell them it worked and heard back again very quickly! Instead of a "polite end of email exchange reply", I got a thoughtful inquiry about the zoom/zoom + freeze error I had run into with Ibus Paint. I took their troubleshooting suggestions and tried them. While I still didn't have any luck, further googling revealed this might be an issue with the amount of RAM on my tablet, or perhaps just a bug in the latest release. We shall see what becomes of an updates!They also told me the had reached out to the folks who make Layer Paint HD, but have not heard back yet.You guys, this is *incredible* customer service!!! They replied to me in five minutes both times and were very thoughtful in their response to the issues I raised.That they were able to get my pen working for me within *same* evening as emailing them, is just rounding out this fabulous customer experience and a very bright spot to an otherwise sad week.Every drawing app should support this pen and developer!Also you should totally buy this pen.My husband, a professional 3D digital artist, now wants one, lol! The question is, should I make him wait til Christmas? lol!

So I’ve used the Wacom Bamboo Sketch, Adonis Jot, and the Wacom crayon-like device. All of those were BLE/wireless/Bluetooth type devices or high frequency audio reliant. They all were… laggy, disconnected randomly, obscured the view with the huge tip, or were almost always out of charge when I wanted to use them. They also all cost quite a bit. And don’t even mention to me about the PITA of finding a replacement rechargeable battery for them. -_-;;;;;Saw this SonarPen the other day and thought… for $35 I’ll give it a go. (With tax it was like $37….)I tried it on two iPads(12” and 10”) as well as on my iPhone 13(with lightning to 3.5mm TRRS adapter).Pros:Works VERY well and the response speed is almost no lag, provided your device has enough compute power to handle the drawing app, the brush effect, and the bit of audio processing needed to get a pressure reading. Palm rejection, completely dependent on the drawing application’s implementation is good. Ie, only register contact with the screen when there is a pressure reading. Otherwise, ignore touch on the screen.I thought the cable would be an issue, but for the most part, it wasn’t. In the case of the 12.9” iPad, I made use of a 3.5mm TRRS extension cable. :) Works great.I NEVER got a disconnect during the several hours of sketching and drawing.. on any of the devices or apps that supported the SonarPen. This is a huge improvement over the wireless options out there. Slick tech is pointless if it isn’t reliable tech….The self contained cable holder pen body is neat, and if you take care, is repeatable. :)Cons:Well, it’s $35. The body of the pen is basically an ABS plastic frame for holding the cable and for holding the bit of tech in the first 2” of the pen. Because the pen is designed to store the cable within itself, the cable itself isn’t super long. This can be a pro/con, depending on how you use your pen. I found it to be great for an iPhone, good for the iPad 10”, but almost too short for the 12.9”.Like any other wireless or BLE/Bluetooth pressure sensitive stylus for IOS, the application you are using it with needs to support it directly. This applies to Wacom and it applies to Apple Pencil. The question is how many applications support it. I found that MediBang and Ibis Paint both supported the SonarPen and both are great drawing applications. Other apps lacking support for SonarPen will not be able to provide pressure sensitivity nor provide palm rejection. The palm rejection is completely reliant on the application’s implementation of the SonarPen pressure sensing.I included a shot of the pen, the Ibis Paint config screen listing the SonarPen, and the pressure sensitivity curve I use for drawing with this device.Compared to the Apple Pencil, I would say the Apple Pencil is more responsive, pressure-wise, but lags a tiny bit compared to the SonarPen due to the latency inherent in Bluetooth technology. The lack of need for recharging is a huge plus. Though the lack of heft from the SonarPen makes it feel like you aren’t holding anything. Some might prefer the extra heft… perhaps a hack of some kind is in order.Compared to the Wacom Bamboo Sketch… *LOL* Let’s say… I love this SonarPen compared to the Wacom Bamboo Sketch. I don’t know what is that Wacom does with their wireless devices, but there is always some lag and jaggedness in the tracking. The Bamboo Sketch is no exception. Also, when I used the Wacom Bamboo Sketch, I experienced frequent disconnects. This is a MAJOR PITA. With the SonarPen? Smooth sailing, fast, responsive, and smooth tracking/pressure sensing.TLDR;The SonarPen is a low cost pressure sensitive stylus that gives you a reliable pressure sensitive drawing stylus for drawing apps that support it. It is light weight and very portable. There is no need to worry if the stylus is charged or not. And disconnects basically never happen. No lag or jitters. Kinda wish I had this before having wasted money on other solutions previously.The biggest gotcha, I think, is that because the SonarPen uses the headset functionality… that means that audio output and audio input is taken up. :( This means listening to music on your device while drawing with this stylus are mutually exclusive things. -_-;;;;; Try it. If you have the SonarPen detected and working, music will stop. And if you play music, the SonarPen will disconnect. I haven’t found a way to route around this since on IOS, I don’t think you can specify multiple audio outs for different apps. You can on the desktop, but not on the mobile devices. -_-;;Side note: This works with Nintendo Switch for the Color live drawing app. Also works with Android devices running the drawing apps that have support for the Sonar Pen added. Same for Linux and Windows devices, provided it is on some kind of touch screen(capacitance) device.

I was pleasantly surprised with how accurate this was for both my android tablet and android phone.The cable is a little annoying and the palm rejection is hit-or-miss, but the pressure sensitivity is great (for apps that actually use the pen's features).On my phone (which is a Galaxy a10e), this pen works great, but I did encounter a weird issue when using it on my Galaxy Tab A7 (2020).On Medibang Paint (great art software, by the way), there's an option that says 'Start using SonarPen' and after about a few seconds of using the pen, lines just won't show on the screen, at all regardless of how hard or light I press the pen across the screen.And yes, I had the pen calibrated before using it on Medibang and even had it recalibrated a few times, only to be met with the same results.Maybe it's because of the matte screen protector I have on my tablet, but what makes it even weirder is when I go to the option that says 'Stop using SonarPen', the pen works just fine, as long as I have it plugged in. Aside from the pressure sensitivity not working when I do that, I would still say that this pen is good for folks who want to get into digital drawing on a budget, but just know that this pen ain't perfect.