Hey everyone,

I just ordered my first Supernote. I got the open box deal they had on the nomad crystal edition and I’m pretty excited for it. What are some tips and tricks you all would recommend once I get it? Thanks in advance!

I have had my Manta for about a year, and right now it is just a collection of what used to be physical notebooks for my various studies and hobbies.

I am overwhelmed with the tutorial videos I am finding on YouTube, and am getting dissatisfied that I can’t seem to bring forth better organization of my notes. When I go online and see the myriad of suggested videos, I just freeze :))

I shall be the most grateful of you could share your favorite video tutorials, which will help me to learn my device better 🙏🏻

Also, as an avid journaler and commonplacer, I LOVE adding images, pictures to my notes. My main area of study is literature, and I would so so much love to add authors portraits, etc to my notes. Is there a way to add pictures to notes?

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

Hello Supernote users. I am reaching out especially to Manta users to share their experience.
Edit: To clarify,  I'm not looking for a comparison from others; rather, I'm looking for thoughts on Manta based on my preference parameters shared below.

I have a supernote Nomad with the Lamy pen. I love the writing feel, however, for work im unable to use it effectively because the ipad pro (with Goodnotes app Or Noteful app) is a much better ecosystem. I do want to get the Manta, so requesting some inputs to help me decide.

Here is my comparison based on my workflow criteria. Primary usecase is note-taking for work and syncing with MacBook

Supernote Nomad

Pros:
Compact
Writing Feel: unmatched
Distraction free

Cons:
Form factor - Page space
Backlight - darker than regular paper notebook. with the booklight there is a lot of glare. with a lamp, its ok. Im hoping manta is brighter than nomad
Reading: kindle app is not as good as on ipad
Workflow: Macbook partner app is there but you cannot edit the same note with additional text notes. the digest feature doesnt integrate and work for me atleast

iPad Pro with paperlike screen protector and metal nibs for pencil
Pros:
Form Factor: perfect size
Backlight: adjustable
Workflow - Connects to MacBook Pro and saves seamlessly to the cloud. Most importantly, you can take notes on either the iPad or directly on the app on the MacBook without losing content. I use either good notes or Noteful.
Speed: Page turn speed, search, etc is far better on the ipad than on supernote
Distraction: Im not worried about this as ive blocked out notifications that arent important for me.

Cons:
Bulky
Writing experience not as good as supernote

So why am i still comparing? The screen size and writing feel might outweigh the cons of supernote ive listed above.

Would really love to hear thoughts and feedback.

I just bought a Manta and it arrives Monday, after lots of research, it seemed like the best fit. Now the Pure is out for a couple hundred dollars less. I've watched some short videos on it and one feature I love is you can now draw a line and then move everything down the page, instead of circling, so if you want to add something to your earlier notes, that's a super nice feature. Not really needed with Supernote since it's not a scrolling down page.

But it raised a question...can you insert a page on the Manta? Like if I want to go back and add something to a note and there isn't space, how do you all do that?

Starting from the top (about 1 o'clock direction) and going clockwise, the pens are, respectively, DIY with Supernote official refill, LAMY AL-Star with plastic pointy nib, cheap Amazon pen with plastic pointy nib, Pilot Dr. Grip, Shinonome pen, and Vi-wood ceramic.

I am an ordinary Supernote user, and a pen enthusiast. I have used a lot of EMR pens throughout my journey with the Supernote, and feel lucky that we have so many options. I have tested almost everything I could possibly find, so I put together this brief yet comprehensive guide to share my experiences.

Unlike the glass or matte-textured screens found on most e-ink tablets, the writing experience on Supernote is defined by its unique FeelWrite 2 film (which you can buy separately and apply to other devices, in case you weren’t aware). The friction that mimics the “pen-on-paper” feel actually comes from two distinct mechanisms. The first is standard contact friction between the nib material and the textured surface of the film. Nibs with rougher surfaces naturally give more contact friction. The second mechanism is deformation friction. Because the FeelWrite 2 film is compliant, the nib actually creates indentation on the film surface as it glides through. A "pointy-er" nib can dig deeper into the film, creating more surface area contact through deformation and, consequently, more friction.

Note that ceramic nibs, in fact, are much smoother (at least for the Supernote ones) than, for example, plastic nibs. You can see this yourself by how the ceramic nib surface reflects light like a mirror. Plastic nibs, by contrast, lack that mirror-like reflection because their surface is much rougher at the microscale. Therefore, ceramic actually produces less contact friction than plastic. However, because ceramic is a much harder material, it experiences less "self-deformation" under pressure than a softer plastic, meaning that force is transferred directly into the film surface, forcing it to dig into the film. In short, a combination of (microscopically) rough and pointy nib will generally give good friction, when writing on Feelwrite2 film.

However, a great physical feel doesn't always mean great digital performance. Another crucial aspect of EMR pens on Supernote is the EMR core compatibility. While almost all EMR pens will physically write on a Supernote, the digital line quality varies greatly. Out of all the pens I have tested, only four (Supernote official, vi-wood ceramic, Shinonome pen, and a surprising cheap Amazon pen) produce perfectly smooth strokes. The rest produce wobbly strokes to varying degrees, and performance of writing near the edges fluctuates heavily depending on the pen. I suspect this is because the Supernote operates at a very narrow and specific EMR frequency range to achieve its signature high-precision writing.

With the lengthy introduction out of the way, here are my short reviews of the various EMR pens I have used.

To first show the importance of EMR core compatibility, I show two writing samples: a Samsung S-pen, and a cheap Amazon pen**.**

Samsung S-pen (https://a.co/d/0cQR9wGQ)

a cheap Amazon pen (https://a.co/d/0g4axW0G)

https://preview.redd.it/aosngfq0880h1.png?width=1792&format=png&auto=webp&s=e258d1e276b469653739e583a005685add63bafb

These two represent the extreme end of bad line quality. It has nothing to do with the nib or pen calibration settings. It is simply that their internal EMR cores are not a perfect match for Supernote. They write just fine on other EMR tablets, but on the Supernote, they suffer from heavy wobble.

The followings are the six pens shown in the picture.

Supernote official refill + 3D printed adapter by borderbox

https://preview.redd.it/p0zv8gtc880h1.png?width=1792&format=png&auto=webp&s=a5caea231bc6785d80ddf9d4d9482bc725a4b5bc

In case you may not know, all official Supernote pens (the standard clicky pen, Heart of Metal 2, LAMY Safari, and LAMY ceramic twin pen, etc) use the same EMR core as the official refill. They are simply built with different pen bodies for different aesthetics, meaning the digital performance and writing feel will be identical across the board.

The core uses their signature 0.7mm ceramic nib. Because the ceramic is highly rigid and relatively blunt at 0.7mm, it actually cannot dig into the FeelWrite 2 film deeply enough under normal writing pressure to create that secondary deformation friction. Instead, its friction is largely dependent on the surface texture of the film itself. Because of the aforementioned smooth surface of ceramic nibs, they, in fact, generate very little contact friction, and therefore can have a noticeably slippery feel if not applied with high writing pressure. This slippery feel has been reported by some users. In my case, because the DIY pen body is quite lightweight, I experience the slipperiness even more noticeably. If you are using a heavier pen body like the Heart of Metal 2 (HOM2), the natural weight of the pen probably helps compensate for the lack of writing pressure, forcing the nib deeper into the film and improving the overall feel.

Vi-wood ceramic (https://a.co/d/0dZcjFPA)

https://preview.redd.it/pjtwbykb880h1.png?width=1755&format=png&auto=webp&s=b5c0bc30752e29f0baf00adb4c5a4c41d7c0cd9d

While you might naturally be eyeing the side button and eraser on this pen, I want to particularly highlight the fact that it features a 0.5mm ceramic nib. This is the only 0.5mm nib (ceramic or metal) currently on the market. This finer point allows the pen to dig into the FeelWrite 2 film way deeper with much less effort than the standard 0.7mm Supernote nib, creating a significant amount of friction. I personally really enjoy how it writes, though the ergonomics of the pen body itself are not to my taste. I've heard rumors that Supernote is currently designing their own finer nibs, which I am very much looking forward to.

Pilot Dr. Grip (https://a.co/d/0aPcCunR)

https://preview.redd.it/jnpe8q4a880h1.png?width=1792&format=png&auto=webp&s=dd067028d2520112d54fd4826dae4a6bc6519eae

This pen has absolutely superb ergonomics. But unfortunately, the EMR core compatibility is poor. It writes with noticeable wobbly strokes, as shown in the writing sample. On a side note, the Staedtler Noris Digital and Kaweco AL Sport use the exact same internal EMR core as this one, so the difference between them is just in the ergonomics (meaning they will likely suffer from the same digital wobble).

LAMY AL-Star (mine is a little more expensive because of the color option)

https://preview.redd.it/s8c1j4u8880h1.png?width=1792&format=png&auto=webp&s=a4f22366b99c81560c518ab42fee02cd53c2f268

One of the biggest advantages of this pen, besides the side button and good ergonomics, is its incredible versatility. It can accommodate a wide variety of nib options, ranging from plastic and felt to metal and even modified ceramic nibs. The one in the picture is the plastic nib from Samsung S-pen. Because this specific nib is rough and pointy enough to maximize both contact and deformation friction, this setup produces my favorite physical writing feel so far. Unfortunately, the digital pen strokes do suffer from a (very) minor wobble (you can see it, for example, in the “M“), as the LAMY's internal EMR core is just slightly mismatched with Supernote.

Shinonome pen (https://a.co/d/0fpMhtIS)

https://preview.redd.it/2ursjbt7880h1.png?width=1755&format=png&auto=webp&s=a6daabbc7c0c94e7e8c2885fe4aa47d72e4cc837

This pen has the exact same EMR core and the same 0.7mm nib as the official Supernote ceramic pen, but with one key difference: it uses a plastic nib. This nib is softer, and the nib surface reflects little light, indicating its microscopically rougher surface than the ceramic nib. This rougher surface allows for more friction than the ceramic nib, giving a better writing experience. The digital line quality is flawless, offering the same precision and stability as the official Supernote pens without any of the wobble.

Shinonome pen (left) and DIY pen with Supernote official refill (right)

Since I entered the e-ink world in 2024, my research has shown that Supernote actually utilized plastic nibs before they pivoted fully to the "Never-Replace" ceramic nibs they are known for now. I suspect this is essentially the "pre-ceramic" version of the official Supernote pen.

A surprising cheap Amazon pen (https://a.co/d/0aa7EgPh)

https://preview.redd.it/00iw6u1v880h1.png?width=1792&format=png&auto=webp&s=fce9c41a49bc7ecb7e4839a7b95979440ad49c94

This pen was a complete surprise. It is the only truly budget-friendly pen I've found that delivers almost identical digital stroke quality to the official Supernote pens. Believe it or not, its internal EMR core compatibility is actually better than the LAMY AL-Star, resulting in even smoother lines without that minor digital wobble. Pairing with my favorite pointy Samsung plastic nib (as shown in the picture), this is one of the best budget options for pens on Supernote.

Personally, if not considering the price, I will rank them in terms of overall writing feel ( physical feel, ergonomics, the line quality etc.) by: Vi-wood > Shinonome ~ LAMY AL-Star > cheap Amazon pen > Supernote official > Pilot Dr. Grip. If considering the price, the ranking would be: cheap Amazon pen >~ Shinonome >> DIY with Supernote official > LAMY AL-Star > Vi-wood > Pilot Dr. Grip.

I hope you find this guide helpful!

For those who write!

I’m working though the user guide and clicking around. This is dumb but when I click a toolbar icon the additional options pop up and disappear SO QUICKLY. I don’t even have the time to get the pen to a thicker width.

This is 100% an operator error but I’m kind of lost as to what I’m doing wrong. What’s the secret?

Hey r/supernote,

I love my Nomad. It's my main line of defense for distraction-free thinking. But I’ve always found the pipeline for getting my notes off the device to be a bottleneck.

The Supernote Partner desktop app is awkward for bulk exports, and the old Python sync libraries I used to rely on no longer work. I wanted a way to automatically pipe my focused thinking directly into Obsidian and my AI workflows.

So, I built and open-sourced supernote-cli.

It's a terminal tool that fixes the plumbing and adds a few workflow conveniences. Here’s what you can do with it:

1. Extract notebooks and transcripts
List your notebooks and dump the on-device text recognition right to your terminal.

$ supernote notebook ls --limit 3
$ supernote nb [NOTEBOOK_ID]

2. Extract handwritten annotations from PDFs/EPUBs
List your annotated documents, extract your handwritten highlights/notes, and transcribe them (I use a local VLM for this).

$ supernote annotation ls --limit 4
$ supernote an [ANNOTATION_ID]

3. Extract action items using custom prompts
You can pass a custom prompt to extract specific things. For example, pulling out anything marked with a checkbox (☐) into a clean list:

$ supernote nb [NOTEBOOK_ID] --prompt "Whenever you see a line beginning with ☐, transcribe it..."

Links:

• GitHub repo (installation & docs): https://github.com/borismus/supernote-cli
• Blog post (more on the philosophy/why I built it): supernote-cli: pen, paper, and a pipe

It's extracted from my personal note-management setup, but it's generic enough now that it should be useful for anyone trying to build automated workflows around their Supernote. Let me know if you try it out or hit any bugs!

Looking to get a little reading light as I spend a lot of time on planes and don't like using the big overhead light. I was just wondering if we'd agreed on some decent options?

That’s the whole post.

Just missed the open box sale on the nomad and I’m bummed. Been looking for a good deal now and can’t seem to find one. Thanks everybody!

Other than a private server, is there anyway to keep the SN app from connecting to the cloud. Based on work policies I am unable to use the app.

I have turned off the Manta from syncing any files so I can get on Wi-Fi for updates and stuff. But I miss the app.

Had my Manta for about three weeks. The issue started in the first week — sometimes the power button doesn’t register and I have to press harder or double press to wake/turn off the screen.

Everything else works fine.
I’m thinking about sending it in for repair but worried about being without the device. Anyone been through this — how did you handle it?😭