UP-911E Pen. Axiotron Studio Pen replacement? Maybe...

LAST EDIT Jan 19, 2015
Hey,

So I finally got a chance to go to the post office to clear my UP-911E Pen.

It all started after searching and searching for the ever-elusive Axiotron Studio Pen every digital artist out there venerated. I found the following website for reference and started looking for it's closest match:
Wacom Asia Pacific | Pen Compatibility
EDIT Jan 19, 2015: The above link no longer takes you the page that had the visual reference to all UD tech pens. Will try to find it on another website.

(The above was also quoted by Steve S on this thread which is super helpful thread
TabletPC Compatible Wacom Pens (Work with Surface Pro)

So, I decided to give this a try (the UP-911E-02DD):


So, if you're still reading, here are my observations:
First, my lot of pens for visual reference if anybody else have any of my other pens:

[Left to right: UP-911E, Bamboo Feel IT Carbon, Motion Computing, Surface Pro, Fujitsu Lifebook 5010, Lenovo x230t, Galaxy Note 2 pen]

And here are the specs of the above pens (Profile measurements):
First the UP-911E as it is a very irregular shaped pen:


And for the others (Tried to keep in 16ths of an inch; 8/16 is 1/2 and 4/16 is 1/4 and so forth):




I'm really not sure if the nibs used by the UP-911E are standard or not. I guess the only way to know is to buy a few and try them. But at least I can notice that the nibs used by Fujitsu, x230t, motion computing and UP-911E are all interchangeable and at the same length of 1 1/16" and same standard circumference. So if anybody can confirm that any of these pens use Standard nibs, then we can say that the UP-911E uses Standard Nibs as well... Which would be great.
EDIT Jan 19, 2015: I've confirmed that the UP-911E, Fujistu, x230t and Motion Computing pen all use Standard Nibs, which you can get here

Still reading? Artists, this may be of interest to you:
On Photoshop on my Win 7 HP, i7 x230t, the UP-911E is almost as accurate (with very small nib offset) as the most accurate pen I've ever tried - my Bamboo Feel IT Carbon pen.

Here are some screen shots. First, the UP-911E (notice the cursor, not that off from the tip of nib)


Then, the Motion Computing (this one felt pretty bad..):


And finally, the dead-on-center Bamboo Feel IT:


EDIT Jan 19, 2015: Here is how the UP-911E looks on my Galaxy Note 4. One word: Horrible Offset. You'd have to write/draw at a 90 degree angle for it to have no offset. My guess that it will behave the same way on the Galaxy NotePro 12.2 as well:


Next, my pressure buildup test done on sketchbook pro. I tried to build pressure consistently with same amount of press with all three pens. The Bamboo Feel seems a bit thicker as it is heavier:

EDIT May 7, 2014: At the request of forum member dream3 in post # 5, I tested the three pens on light stroke mode. I tried several brushes (knife, pencil, air brush) and I had a hard time noticing any difference between the UP-911E and the Bamboo Feel IT pen. I believe that the Bamboo Feel IT is probably infinitesimally more responsive to very VERY light strokes but the weight of the pen may have something to do with it. On the other hand my Fuiji pen and Motion Computing pen require significantly more force to register the same pressure level

Now, here is where the UP-911E scored high marks. This pen is so comfortable to grip and make long strokes with. It is not as heavy as my Carbon pen (28g), or as light as my Fujitsu pen, but it weighs maybe a gram or two more than the motion computing pen, which according to surfaceproartist blog weighs 15g. So this pen weighs IMO around 16g or 17g.

Here are some screen shots of how it looks in your hand. Note that I'm not a leftie, but was forced to awkwardly hold it that way as I needed my right hand to take pictures:






Now for note-taking, I gotta say that my Carbon pen still reigns supreme. I can make short strokes and draw letters better and more comfortable and fluidly with my Bamboo Feel Carbon than any other pen I've tried; even my newest addition UP-911E. Here are the results:


On my Galaxy Note 2, nothing beats the stock 4.5" pen. I remember reading that the digitizer on the Galaxy Note 2 were slightly different than the standard Wacom digitizer.

To wrap up. This pen costed US$90 from a Japanese supplier (which reminds me, I need to leave him some feedback) on ebay. It arrived super fast and in a very secured outer package. I didn't take pics of that package but I took pics of the inner package which is the UP-911E box that is labeled Cintiq on the outside:

EDIT May 7, 2014: Contents: Regular hard white nibs, rubber grip with no aperture for side button, Pen Stand, spare side button. That's it, no nib removal ring or additional nibs...

If you notice from above it even came with a little stand:


If you were brave enough to read all that and still have questions, just shoot them up

 

Reserved for testing on Surface Pro on Win 8.1

 

This caught my eye..

Is it dead on centre on different tablets and screens that recognise it?

 

I've never calibrated any of the active digitizer tabs I've owned. I prefer if I don't have to so I'm always looking for the pen with the best (from my perspective) accuracy under the nib.

I've only owned 3 Windows tabs that support pen: S7S, x230t, SP1 and on those 3 my Bamboo pen seems more accurate. Bear in mind on those 3 I've been using the Feel IT driver so legacy pens may have an issue on it. On my Galaxy Note 10.1 I think remembering the stock pen was more accurate.

Swiped from my Galaxy Note 2 using Tapatalk

 

Great ron2k! Great review!

It does seem that wacom asia is bringing the axiotron back. Couple things now:

1- Does it come with a button replacement? Can you even remove the button? It snaps quite easily in the axiotron.

2- What types of nibs came with it? Just the regular white plastic ones?

3- Something I can easily feel is the difference regarding light strokes between the Wacom Feel and the axiotron. With the feel I can make a very thing line in Photoshop, meaning the minimum force required for the input seems less than the one needed for the axiotron. I find that in that situation, the Feel brings a closer experience to cintiqs, even though it still needs some little pressure to register.

After all that, do you think your UP911 behaves exactly the same as the Feel, or would you say you need less/more pressure for it to register?

 

@dream3 I updated the first post with red font. Hope the amendments were of help to you. Let me know.

I'll keep adding amendments to that first post in red unless it related to Win 8 or the Surface, which I'm still testing and I'll update the second post when I have a chance.

 

Awesome man. Addresses my concerns pretty well!

1- When you do your testing on the surface pro, do you mind testing the minimum pressure to register again? Maybe with the surface you will feel a bigger difference, since it has 1024 levels and the UP911 theoretically support only 512, as opposed to the Feel.

2- Also, how many potentiometers do you see when you remove the side-button and slide out the grip? Axiotron has 4.

I'm trying to figure out if the UP911 has the same old tech or if they somehow upgraded it.

 

I think I'm sold on this, it looks a lot thicker in-hand and appears to be a more solid grip...

Damn they're expensive, AUD $116.00 was the cheapest on eBay... Man... Well, I just put down the money.
If it fits my needs, awesome.. If not, I'll just chuck it back on eBay or sell it here.
I'm also considering selling one of my UP-817's (I got one with my DTU-2231, so I have a spare... Also thinking I'll sell my Fujitsu pen too).

Anyway, great review, mate.
Thanks for the PM notifying me of your post too.

 

So I was doing some research and I found out the UP911 was released back in 2002, with the cintiq sx 18, in Asia. Haha I guess Modbook just took the same pen and recolored it, since both have only 512 pressure levels.

Isnt it funny how we are all amazed by the surface pro and being able to draw/paint on the screen even though we are actually using 10 -year-old tech?

Anyways, anxiously waiting for the surface pro review!

 

Yeah in sorry I haven't gotten the chance to review the pens on my other tablet.

However, I have an answer for your second question on your last post concerning the potentiometers. It has 4 pots packed together on the upper part closer to the eraser end.

Swiped from my Galaxy Note 2 using Tapatalk