XPPen Pilot Pro Review – A Versatile Editing Controller, But Not for Everyone

Computer AccessoriesEditing Hardware

by Jeff LochJune 29^th, 2026

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The XPPen Pilot is a fairly compact editing console designed to speed up your video editing workflow, featuring no fewer than 19 buttons, three rotating parts, and a joystick at the center. With a futuristic design, wireless connectivity, and software compatible with all your favorite apps, can the Pilot Pro be a good contender to join your editing desk?

If you’ve ever spent hours hunched over an editing timeline, fingers dancing between J-K-L and your trusty mouse, you know how quickly even the smallest friction points can add up. For years, video editors and creatives have been searching for tools to speed up and streamline their workflow. The next quest for the perfect controller had begun. The recently announced XPPen Pilot Pro is a new contender stepping into a space long dominated by familiar names and, frankly, a fair share of letdowns. But does it bring genuine innovation, or is it just another gadget vying for a spot on your crowded desk?

My history with controllers

Everyone who has ever done some video editing knows the traditional keyboard/mouse editing setup. Indeed, when you start cutting footage, you learn your favorite NLE’s shortcuts – usually the J-K-L, cut/select/delete keys – and you start building up some muscle memory from there.

I started video editing 15 years ago in the good old Adobe CS3 days. However, I quickly realized that I was using the same dozen shortcuts all day long. Also, arm fatigue after an 8- to 10-hour editing session became noticeable. So I started looking for ways to speed up my video editing workflow.

The amount of choice on the market back then wasn’t massive. So in 2013, I ended up buying a Contour Design Shuttle Pro v2. I absolutely loved it and realized how much more efficient I was. That controller died after three or four years of intensive use; the software support also began to decline.

Then I pulled the trigger on a Logitech G13, which is, at its core, a gaming controller. To this day, this is one of the best and most customizable controllers I have ever owned. Unfortunately, Logitech discontinued it, and software support ended, making it incompatible with the latest macOS versions.

As a quick note, you’ll already see a pattern here: two controllers, both suffering from software support issues. How good the ergonomics and features of a controller are is half of the job; how good the software and software support are is the other half.

Then I went through a bit of a dessert phase with controllers. I tried the Elgato StreamDeck, which is great but lacks tactile feedback, making it hard to use without looking at it. I gave the Blackmagic Design Speed Editor a try, which is a great controller for the Cut page in DaVinci Resolve, but it is quite large and specifically designed for that page and software. I got a Tangent Wave panel for color grading, which is fantastic, but it is dedicated to color grading only. I thought about going with the full Blackmagic Design Resolve Editor keyboard. However, it has three major problems for my workflow: first, it’s quite big and makes traveling with it complicated (although it’s nice for studio use), second, it’s limited to DaVinci Resolve only, and third, it’s only available in QWERTY, and no other option is available.

In the end, I bought another Contour Design Shuttle Pro v2, which I still use today. The company updated its software, and even though I’m not a huge fan of the new Contour Design Multimedia app, it’s compatible with the latest macOS versions and gets the job done. This is the controller I use to cut all of our current CineD trade show coverage.

Who is XPPen?

XPPen is a brand that might not be on every filmmaker’s radar, and to be honest, I hadn’t heard of them before this review. The company was founded in 2005 in Japan and later relocated its headquarters to Shenzhen, China.

For years, the company has been making graphic and drawing tablets and pen displays at affordable prices, a market long dominated by Wacom.

The Pilot Pro is part of XPPen’s push into a new market: workflow tools for content creators, filmmakers, editors, and colorists. So, let’s see what this controller looks like!

Unboxing and physical dimensions

When you open the box, you’ll find a quick guide, a 12-month warranty card, and a quite nice rigid carrying case.

Inside the case, you’ll find the Pilot Pro, a USB-A-to-USB-C adapter, a straight USB-A-to-angled USB-C cable, and a Bluetooth dongle. I would’ve preferred a USB-C-to-USB-C cable, but I get the company’s rationale for that choice.

I was quite surprised when I first saw the XPPen Pilot Pro, as it is quite a large controller, measuring 13cm x 9.2 x 6.6cm (5.11 x 3.62 x 2.6 in). In terms of weight, it tips the scales at 251g/0.55 lbs, which is great, as it helps keep the Pilot Pro stable. There are anti-slip pads at the bottom of the unit to prevent slipping during use.

Connectivity and compatibility

As previously mentioned, you can connect the Pilot Pro wirelessly to your computer via Bluetooth, with or without the 2.4 GHz Bluetooth dongle if your computer has built-in Bluetooth. At the bottom of the unit is a power switch and a button to switch between two computers.

At the front of the unit, there is a USB-C port to charge the Pilot Pro, and you can also use it to connect the unit to your computer. The controller has a built-in 1900mAh battery. According to XPPen, the Pilot Pro has a 15-day battery life if you use it for 4 hours per day. During my review, I only had to charge it twice and found the autonomy quite good.

The Pilot Pro is compatible with Windows 10 or later and macOS 11 (Big Sur) or later.

Buttons, jog, wheels, and build quality

The Pilot Pro features a large number of customizable buttons, jog, and wheels. This includes:

• 19 buttons:
  • 12 shortcut command buttons: four at the front left side, four at the back right side, and four at the center back.
  • Four touch buttons are at the top of the joystick.
  • 3 function buttons: one at the center of the jog, one if you press the jog, and one if you press the front dial.

• One joystick at the center.
• Three rotating parts: a small knob at the top of the joystick, a large knob below the joystick, and a dial at the front of the unit.

The Pilot Pro is made entirely out of plastic. I would say the build quality is okay. Everything feels well assembled, and the plastic’s quality is fine, even if it feels a bit “rigid”.

The buttons have a pleasing, soft, non-clicky feel. The joystick is smooth and pleasing to use; the wheel at the top of it is, too.

Regarding the black-and-white design, I’ll let you decide whether you like it; everyone has their own preferences. I’m not a huge fan of the white part of the Pilot Pro, as your fingers/hands can get dirty or oily, and it can easily transfer dirt to the immaculate white. I think that over time the white will collect stains, so I would’ve preferred a full black design, but that’s only cosmetic.

Pilot Pro’s software

To start using the Pilot Pro, you have to install XPPen’s Pilot Controller software. The installation is straightforward, and there is a handy little tutorial when you first launch the app.

The Pilot Pro can work with a wide range of applications, including Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, Premiere Pro, Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve, Apple Final Cut Pro, CapCut, and more. XPPen has multiple pre-made profiles that you can download for DaVinci Resolve, Photoshop, and Premiere Pro.

In the app, you can assign any button or dial to a shortcut command, a macro command, a built-in command, or a shortcut tool command. In short, any button can be assigned to a command combination to do pretty much everything you want. Also, you can choose if a shortcut will be executed once you press the button, once you release the button, once every time you press it, or multiple times if you long-press a button.

The Pilot Pro app automatically detects when you launch an app or switch apps, which is convenient. In DaVinci Resolve, you can configure different shortcuts for the Media, Edit, or Color Page. However, the software doesn’t automatically detect page changes, so you’ll have to change it manually in the software.

If you don’t want to spend time configuring the software, there is an entire library of presets available on XPPen’s website. You can download all presets free of charge. Of course, you can modify and customize those presets to suit your needs, but they can give you a starting point. Furthermore, you can upload your own presets to XPPen’s website.

During my testing, I didn’t have any major issues with the software, and it never crashed. However, when trying to assign the Blade (shortcut B) and Select (A) shortcuts in Resolve’s Edit page, it never worked. The Select shortcut would switch to the Blade, while the Blade shortcut would toggle between Timeline and Source clip viewers. We reached out to XPPen to find out more, and according to them, this issue “might be caused by the DaVinci version 20.3.3 Build 10, but the team is still investigating and running tests to determine the exact cause.” I wasn’t able to test it with other versions of DaVinci Resolve.

Usability for video editing

For this review, I spent most of my time on DaVinci Resolve, editing and finishing real-world projects. To me, a controller is meant to save you time and become a natural extension of your software. You assign all your most-used shortcuts to it and end up almost never having to use the keyboard. This is where the XPPen Pilot Pro has a couple of shortcomings for me.

First of all, I found a couple of “bugs” that I hope the company can patch or fix in the near future. For example, when playing a clip, the front rotating knob, which is by default assigned to zoom in/out on your timeline, behaves randomly. When paused, it works perfectly fine, but once you hit play, it may not zoom in or out on the timeline immediately. Instead, the action catches up when you pause again, causing the timeline to suddenly crash zoom in or out. The same happened with some shortcuts.

In terms of usability, during my editing sessions, I kept hitting the middle wheel. I assigned that middle wheel to jump between clips, so it was a little bit frustrating. The middle wheel is quite sensitive, so one solution would be to disable it in the software, which is possible, but you’ll lose two shortcuts. According to XPPen, “while this cannot be fully eliminated at the hardware level for now, adjusting the magnetic wheel speed to medium or low can help reduce accidental operation.”

Also, I found that I was basically never using the four center back buttons. Indeed, when your hand is on the controller, your palm covers it. It makes it impossible to press those buttons without moving your hand along the controller and looking at what you’re doing.

I reached out to XPPen to learn more about it, and the operation guidance they provided is above. Obviously, as part of the current design logic, you’ll need to move your hand to access the four back buttons. But more on the ergonomics later.

All rotary dials, including the small knob at the top of the joystick, the large knob below the joystick, and the dial at the front of the unit, provide haptic feedback. This is nice, and you can even adjust the amount of haptic feedback you want, or turn it off if you don’t want any.

During the editing process, I found that the joystick in the center is used very little. Of course, you can assign a function or shortcut to any of the four or eight directions, but I found myself not using it at all. I guess this joystick was more designed for a page like the Color page.

Indeed, if you go over any of the color wheels, you can press the center button and move the wheel in any direction you want with the joystick. I found that color grading my footage was imprecise. It is hard to make small, precise adjustments compared to a color grading panel or even a mouse. XPPen told us that they are “considering adding a color precision adjustment option in a future driver update, allowing users to customize precision levels.”

Ergonomics

Let’s address the elephant in the room when it comes to the Pilot Pro: ergonomics. First of all, this device is designed for use with your left hand only. If you’re a lefty, you won’t be able to use the Pilot Pro with your right hand. Indeed, the front buttons are nearly impossible to reach with your thumb.

For most users who will use it with their left hand, I would say the Pilot Pro is quite a large controller. I don’t have small hands, and reaching all the buttons isn’t easy. For me, an editing controller should let your hand rest in one position while you work.

On the Pilot Pro, that was tricky, because my hand naturally covered the four center-back buttons when placed comfortably on the controller. If you try pressing those back buttons with your thumb, it’ll hurt, as the positioning isn’t natural at all. How XPPen intends you to use the Pilot Pro is shown in the previous section.

I also found myself accidentally pressing the eight front-left and back-right buttons quite often. They sit close together, and their concave shape makes them a little harder to distinguish by touch. There is no small indicator bar on any of the buttons to know where your fingers are, as on the F and J keys of a Mac keyboard, for example, which allow you to “feel” where you are without having to look at the controller. XPPen told us that “this design leaves more room for user customization. For users who prefer blind operation, stickers or tactile markers can be added as a DIY modification to suit their layout preferences.”

However, one good note compared to other controllers on the market is that your wrist naturally rests at a comfortable angle when using the XPPen Pilot Pro. I’m not an ergonomics specialist, but for editors who suffer from carpal tunnel or wrist issues, I think this position is better than resting flat on a controller.

XPPen Pilot Pro – verdict

So, who is the XPPen Pilot Pro for? If you are doing different things – streaming, video editing, photo editing, a bit of color grading – and you don’t already have a controller, the XPPen might be a good solution for you. If you mainly do video editing, a dedicated, purpose-made controller might be a better option.

It is nice to see some innovation in the controller segment of the industry, where most players have been in the market for decades. The Pilot Pro is a great first shot at creating a controller for creatives. I hope the company will continue to improve the software and fix the small issues I had with it in the future.

We would also like to highlight that, while the Pilot Pro still has areas for improvement, throughout our review process, the team has responded sincerely to feedback and is already considering future updates and optimizations based on user input. The company is clearly listening to user feedback, which is nice to see.

Pricing and availability

The XPPen Pilot Pro is available now for $209.99. Depending on your location, you can buy it in the following online stores: US store / Amazon.com, Canada store / Amazon.ca, Spain store / Amazon.es, or the Japan store / amazon.co.jp.

For more information, please visit XPPen’s website here.

What do you think about the Pilot Pro? Do you use a controller to speed up your workflow? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!