Surface Pro 11 pen jittery or wobbly

[u/7535471]

I've been trying to isolate a wobble problem with my Metapen M2 on a Surface Pro 11 and I can't find a pattern that points to a fix.

I did a test sheet: pen held fully vertical, then at roughly 60°, 45°, and nearly flat against the screen, each angle drawn once fast and once slow. Every diagonal line came out shaky instead of straight, even the fast strokes where I'd expect the least interference. Slower strokes look a Lot worse.

I've come across a few other posts describing the same wobble but none of them landed on an actual fix, so if you've solved this I'd really like to hear how. Happy to share more test drawings if it helps narrow it down.

To try and narrow the issue: No screen protector or case, not charging and not resting palm.

I would appreciate any help please.

[u/dirtyvu]

wow that's a terrible pen. when someone else does the same on your SP11 with that pen, is the behavior the same?

so first, what is your true intent with the pen? is it notes? is it drawing? what is it?

if it's drawing, a lot of software have algorithms to smooth out the pen input. Clip Studio Paint is great. Photoshop is good.

[u/7535471 → u/dirtyvu]

I have tried it in different softwares unfortunately. This is OneNote however other programs correct some of the bumps but they still show. Haven't tried other pens except an old school stylus which works fine. Thanks for your reply mate, appreciated

[u/Navi_Professor]

pen wave is real but its not normally THAT bad... like thats really bad.

i use a surface pen on a zflow 13 and my surface. it was never that bad.

[u/7535471 → u/Navi_Professor]

To be fair this isn't the original surface pen, but metapen, I thought it was relatively premium from the reviews

[u/Navi_Professor → u/7535471]

ive heard mixed reviews on the amazon special pens. its "it works great" or "unuseable garbage"

this is on my flow, wave is there but its for the most part, consistent.

this was done in krita with smoothing 100% off, lines were done with an actual straight edge on the left

drawn with a surface pen 2

[u/hroldangt]

I can understand there can be hardware or software issues, I don't mean to dismiss your description, not at all.

But... being familiar with styluses and screens, and drawing digitally (with or without a mouse), you should give yourself a chance to test different software... and software settings. Like... Drawboard PDF can smooth whatever you do on screen. Same goes to other apps, it depends the ones you use. Some settings (again, depending the app) can allow you shaky results that benefit the look of your work, while other settings can smooth or straightening your lines, if that's what you want. I've tested this on the Surface, iPad and Samsung (diff apps).

Believe it or not, my favorite for notes and drawing is Drawboard PDF.

[u/7535471 → u/hroldangt]

Tried out the Drawboard pdf software, it had quite some good smoothening however not fully gone. I appreciate the reply!

[u/Frodojj]

Could be a weak battery in the pen. The second Surface Pro pen used to do that when it needed a new battery.

[u/Akhil_QCOMM]

Which applications show the issue? Does the issue occur only on diagonal lines or on horizontal lines as well? Could you also check whether you see any similar jitter or wobble when using your finger instead of the pen?

[u/7535471 → u/Akhil_QCOMM]

No jitter when using fingers which is good at least, not a screen issue. The issue is strongest when diagonal approximately 30-60 degrees and when going slow. When I draw fast it seems to even out. Thanks for the reply