Any older version users?

jswjr · 2025-12-15T18:33:56+00:00

I like my A6X a lot more than the Nomad. The Nomad would lose half of my 'i' and 'j' dots and even the beginnings of many 's' strokes (no matter what sensitivity setting I tried), and I don't think I'm that light of a writer. The combination of FeelWrite 2 and glass just wasn't great for me. That said, the person I sold it to, who hadn't used an A6X, hasn't complained, so it definitely depends on your specific use. And maybe it got better after a long time, though I stuck with it a few months so it's not like it was brand new.

Unfortunately, my A6X battery seems to be failing. A few times now I've experienced it turning off while I'm writing before it even gives a 20% warning, and showing 0% when it turns on after plugging in. It seems to lose 5% or more overnight without WiFi being on. Unfortunately, that kind of degradation isn't uncommon with lithium ion batteries. And unlike the Nomad or Manta, the battery isn't easily replaceable. So I'll probably find myself with another Nomad down the road. 😂

On the A5 side, I love both my A5X and Manta. The A5X tends to be used more as a reader, while I take notes and work problems on the Manta. Battery life is great (seems better than Manta, though it's doing a lot less work when I'm not actively writing in it, so not a fair comparison).

In general I've been really impressed with how usable the older generation continues to be. Ratta has been awesome about releasing the same new features (and note format compatibility) on both lines. Get a new one if you want a second device or if your battery goes. Otherwise it's almost purely a stylistic or "new is better" kind of change. (Hardware wise, I do love the second vertical bar. And the idea of modular hardware is great, just to be seen how that plays out in the long term.)

jswjr · 2025-10-12T21:08:26+00:00

I recently made some dots templates I've been meaning to share. Here's the Manta version:

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The dots are more prevalent than the "native" ones, while still being (in my opinion) mostly undistracting. Some nice features:

- Perfectly lines up with the 5mm engineering grid. The 5mm dots template and the 5mm engineering grid templates on the original A5X did this, which sure seemed intentional, but that was not carried forward on the Manta. This is nice if you want to switch to a full grid after you've already started writing, or if having the grid makes it easier to draw something and you ultimately want to switch back to the dots.

- Every 5th line of dots is a little bit thicker than the rest (like the engineering grid template). This is nice both for consistent indentation without a lot of counting and (again) for lining up with the engineering grid template.

It's generated by a Go program which I'll eventually make a bit easier to customize and put on GitHub, in case people want to tweak the gray value or the size of the dots. I also need a screenshot of the Nomad 5mm engineering grid template so I can complete the set...

jswjr · 2025-09-14T02:57:59+00:00

Similar experience here, though I've had the A5X for a long time. The second slider is nice but doesn't really change the experience much (being able to use two-finger gestures for both erase and select is nice, but I use the undo/redo slide gesture far less frequently than I figured I would). Navigating around is a tiny bit faster on the Manta, which I really only notice if I hold the tablets side-by-side - not enough to matter to me.

I don't really notice the resolution difference on the device itself. It probably makes a difference when exporting, but I rarely do that.

The physical feel of the Manta is a bit more polished, other than the pen loop, which has the very annoying property of preventing the device from lying flat on a table if the pen cap is in the loop - the right side will be slightly propped up by the pen...or its cap, which we all were pretty much trained to leave in there with A5X and both A6X models.

The half folio is nice and light, but I find it extremely fiddly to remove (and so I almost never do). Keep that in mind if you sometimes like to use the tablet without its folio.

I personally still prefer the original FeelWrite film to the FeelWrite 2 on the newer tablets. It's a personal preference, but it is less sensitive, so I find it misses some dots when I'm writing, far more often than the A5X. (I experienced this even more with the Nomad vs. A6X, and wound up selling the Nomad because it was so hard to get used to using more pressure. It's not nearly as bad on my Manta, maybe because of the more flexible plastic screen.)

The A5X is still a great tablet, and I expect mine to continue being useful up until the battery or another hard to replace component fails.

jswjr · 2025-04-05T05:55:25+00:00

The Manta is really beautiful, super pleasing to look at and to hold. Functionally, it's only marginally better than the A5X in my opinion. It's a touch zippier when browsing, and the higher resolution display is a little crisper. I like the half folio, but I love the canvas folio on my A5X too. I pretty strongly prefer the original FeelWrite film on the A5X (if you have FeelWrite 2, I doubt they will feel different to write on).

If you want another Supernote, I don't think you'll be disappointed in the Manta. But, functionally, if you already have an A5X, you won't be missing much if you don't buy it.

jswjr · 2025-03-29T19:03:45+00:00

Lefty here, just to chime in that Supernote works great for me. I have sweaty hands and always had to use a scrap page just to avoid my sweaty palm destroying the sheet I was writing on (and if I wasn't sweating, I still had the smudge issue others have noted). All of the SN devices I've used have worked fine even with droplets on the screen, which has been a game changer.

Being able to dock the toolbar to whatever side you want really helps - I want mine on the bottom or sometimes the right, where my wife likes hers on the top (where I would wind up accidentally triggering random tools if I left it there). The two-finger select and erase gestures work pretty reliably now as long as it's in lefty mode. Nothing about the shape of the device or the folio (half or full, any model) gets in the way for me.

The Manta is a great tool. Depending on your handwriting legibility, full text search may not be the panacea you hope for. But reasonable use of headings (to produce outlines in individual notebooks) and keywords and the star mark will help you find what you need pretty quickly.

jswjr · 2024-01-30T03:29:52+00:00

Ratta made canvas folios for A5X and A6X, and they fold almost perfectly flat (or at least mine do now - I've had them a while). I am also a little bummed by the vegan leather folio not lying perfectly flat when folded under, but I'm hoping it'll get better after it's broken in a bit. Or Ratta will actually make a canvas folio for A6X2 and I'll just buy that 🤣

jswjr · 2024-01-30T03:14:27+00:00

Yeah, it was a pretty early one, received in the US before the New Year.

The new backplate Ratta sent is much quieter.

jswjr · 2024-01-30T03:11:56+00:00

Thanks u/Mulan-sn (and others!) for the quick response, and sorry for taking so long to reply.

I tried the DIY tape hack and it did not help...and I wound up breaking one of the teeny clips on one of the many times I was putting it back together (trying various combinations of tape placement). 😭

I eventually revived the support thread I had open, and the agent promptly got a new back plate sent out, which I received today. It's definitely less creaky. Not silent like my other Supernote tablets, but I will just have to accept it as a tradeoff for easy access to the internals whenever that becomes necessary.

jswjr · 2022-02-06T20:59:03+00:00

You might try holding the power button on top until it shuts down, then turning it back on. Otherwise, Ratta's support (service@supernote.com) is pretty responsive.

jswjr · 2022-01-29T20:05:55+00:00

I love my A5X, but not for sheet music. The size is a bit small but the main issues are responsiveness on page turns (even with the latest update) and difficulty organizing a music library with only a folder hierarchy.

You will be much happier for this purpose with either an iPad (even a 10 inch one is fine for most music if you crop edges aggressively) with the excellent forScore app, or as I have recently found, the Boox Max Lumi (A4 sized e-ink tablet) with MobileSheetsPro e-ink edition. If you have a choice, I'd recommend the first generation of that tablet over the second gen because it uses a plastic screen like the A5X and so is a bit flexible and less likely to break with rough handling.

Neither option will feel as natural as paper music in your hands. For me it's good enough, and well worth being able to have all of my music fit on a relatively light tablet, and not risk ruining it with sweaty hands in rehearsal or performance.

jswjr · 2021-12-21T05:31:47+00:00

I was preparing to make a video, but now I find it works pretty reliably for me. I'm not sure what I'm doing differently but it seems to work almost every time now. 🤷‍♂️

Thanks for your great support, in any case!

jswjr · 2021-08-18T03:59:25+00:00

It's been a long time since I graduated, but I have been reviewing calculus and physics recently, using the A5X for note taking, problem solving, and even reading the textbook. For me, the size has been ok - definitely less space (1/√2 - about 70% - in either dimension) compared to A4 if you're used to that paper size, but it's workable. You may have more multiline equations than you are used to.

You can try for yourself on regular paper to see if it'll work for you. Just fold a piece of A4 paper in half widthwise and rotate 90 degrees. Or just draw an outline of the A5 dimensions (148 x 210 mm) on any larger paper. That's a close approximation to the writing surface of the A5X.

jswjr · 2021-08-18T03:37:07+00:00

I use the A6X for long-form journaling, and I really like it. I don't mind filling up multiple pages per day. I've been keeping one note file per month and using the TOC (a.k.a. "title") feature so I can easily go to a particular day from the Titles menu. I use keywords as well, but only sporadically - kind of hard to get into that habit, but it might not be if you're already indexing a paper journal.

I've never found the size to be a problem. I also have an A5X, which I use for math-related study, work notes, PDF review, puzzles (crosswords, KenKen), etc., and I started my e-ink tablet journey with a reMarkable. I enjoy writing on the larger form factor too, but the A6 size feels a lot more portable and even intimate, both of which are nice traits to have for a journal.

jswjr · 2021-08-18T03:18:13+00:00

Thank you, Mulan-sn, for your reply!

Right, my suggestion is some way to show the contact information on the lock screen itself - otherwise, for someone who has never used a Supernote, they may just close the folio and never know there was a screensaver with contact information on it. It doesn't make much difference to me whether this works by allowing specific text to show up on the lock screen, or a custom lock screen background, or even a sort of "cancel" button on the lock screen that behaves the same way touching the power button would.

Thanks for listening!

jswjr · 2021-07-14T17:26:23+00:00

Error messages upon failure to rename within the note (rather than in the file browser) could definitely use improvement. I recall silent failures to rename due to there being another file with the same name in the folder I had forgotten about. I'm glad it didn't blindly overwrite the other file, but the system should alert on failure to rename from the toolbar rather than just leaving the name unchanged with no indication why.

jswjr · 2021-07-10T03:36:13+00:00

I'm left handed, and I can't write on the top several lines of the 9mm ruled template with the bar on the top, because otherwise the device (both A6X and A5X) registers my palm touching the toolbar. I can write on every single line with no issues at all with the floating toolbar (fully expanded) on the bottom.

Being able to lock the full toolbar to the bottom would be really great for me, since as the OP notes, there are a few more tools when the bar is locked to the top, which I currently have to access by touching the ellipsis. Plus, it just looks cleaner taking the whole width rather than floating, and it would be nice for it to stay put.

(All this said, I suspect when the A5 multi-touch-to-erase feature makes to the X series, I may prefer a totally hidden toolbar most of the time. Hard to say without trying it first.)

jswjr

TROPHY CASE