Which first E-chessboard is good - ChessUp 2 vs Chessnut Air vs DGT Pegasus vs Millennium eONE?

Hello all!

I’m about to buy my first physical chessboard ever. I’ve always played on my phone, but I really want to experience actually moving pieces and playing OTB (even if it’s online). 😅

Right now I’m deciding between ChessUp 2, Chessnut Air, DGT Pegasus, and Millennium eONE, mainly because I like the idea of playing bots and Chess.com/Lichess on a real board.

From what I’ve read:

• ChessUp 2 - cool features + built-in screen, but I keep seeing complaints about long-term reliability: glitching LEDs, ghost touches, detection issues, boards becoming unreliable even after firmware updates/resets.
  
  
• Chessnut Air - fewer hardware complaints overall, mostly Bluetooth/app quirks, but seems more stable day-to-day.
  
  
• DGT Pegasus - I’ve read older reviews (2021–2023 mostly) saying it was kind of an unstable mess: frequent disconnects, flashing/glitchy LEDs, pieces not registering, app crashes, etc.
   Have updates fixed this, or is it still unreliable for regular Chess.com/Lichess play?
  
  
• Millennium eONE - haven’t found as much info, except some older posts mentioning random disconnects.

Also quick side question isn’t there actually an advantage if a board doesn’t rely on piece recognition
Like if I lose a piece or if a piece somehow stops working, I could just replace it with any cheap set online instead of needing proprietary pieces? I know that DGT Pegasus and Millennium eONE doesn't have piece recognition.

So for those who’ve used these long-term:
Which one do you actually recommend and enjoy the most day to day?
(Stability, connection and overall experience.)

Really trying to avoid ending up with a frustrating board. 😅🙏

I’ve read reports that some ChessUp 2 units have had their small screens stop working entirely, which makes them unusable. There also seem to be recurring problems with glitching LEDs and piece-detection errors.
I’m a bit worried that might happen if I buy one.
I have absolutely no problem connecting a chessboard to my phone, as long as the connection is stable and everything works reliably.

I have three chessnut boards and they're fantastic. The chessnut pro with premium pieces is the best thing since sliced bread.

I am playing on a Chessnut Evo, which I can also recommend

Moved topic.

You might get more relevant responses here. I know many members have these smart boards. (I have a DGT)

Personally, I think the software is going to have the biggest impact on your user experience.

Can you share how you intend to use the smartboard and what you expect?

One day I will likely by a Chessnut Air primarily for training and analysis. I'm heavily invested in custom DGT pieces. I have 5 sets from NOJ with the DGT sensors.

Honestly nothing fancy, I'm a beginner, just want to play against bots then play some ranked games online.

Which DGT do you have? If it's Pegasus, how well does it work? Any random disconnects?😲

Are any of those Air or Even Go? 🙏

If so, how are the LED lights? Are they bright enough to see clearly? I’ve read that others think the Chestnut Air, Go, etc., should have LED lights around the entire board, not just a single one, since it can be a bit annoying when seeing the dot if it's behind a piece 😅🙏

I have a DGT smart board... the one used in most tournaments. IMO, not the best option for online play. I like playing bots too.

I think DGT Pegasus, DGT Centaur, ChessUp2 and Chessnut are the leading boards.

I like the size of the Chessnut Air. Much more compact and fits on a desk easier then my tournament board.

You are going to get a lot of answers recommending what people have. I'm in that same category.

I have a Chessnut Air+. It works great, I have no trouble with the brightness of the LEDs, and I have around 200 games played on it. I bought it back just before Christmas. I mostly use it with the Chessconnect app, which has also worked great.

If I have any regret, it is that I didn't spend the extra money for the Pro version of the board. On the other hand, If I had, I would probably be wishing it was a tad more portable.

Since you play online on the computer this isn't an issue for you, but the pieces are not very heavily weighted. That is quite understandable given how they work. But I do prefer the feel of my full size, FIDE regulation, heavily weighted pieces from HOS. Still given how I use the Air+, that is a minor nit.

I have been wondering the very same thing. I spent over two hours deep diving it last night. I grew up playing otb with my mother and grandfather and just kind of stopped when well quake 3 came out but over the last couple months started playing again. And although I love playing again at all it doesn't feel the same as it did. Phone simply does not compare to otb. Plus is your ever gonna play in fide games and your not used to a board your kinda screwed.

Quick stupid question about the ChessUp 2 (thinking to buy it).

Is it possible to turn off the live feedback messages like "Great", "Excellent" or "blunder" etc that pop up on the small screen when you make a move when you play against a bot?🙏🙏

Yes I also have the Air and Go boards. I've never had a problem with the lights on the Air. . I've probably used the Air the most out of my boards as it's mobile. I love the Air . The Go is brilliant too but I haven't used it outside in the daylight yet. I do know the Chessup is beginner friendly but I do recommend the Chessnut boards.

I had a DGT Centaur and found software & build quality quite poor and therefor can confirm the issues you mentioned. I than bought a Chessnut EVO, and I'm very satisfied with that. Really good software with regular updates. More: The "chessvision"-feature lets you use the board with almost any book/webpage/app that displays a chessboard - very, very cool feature! Even more, with little effort one can install a third-party app store which can be used to install third-party apps with built-in native support, like Gerhard Kalabs PGN Master for example. Of course it has full featured support of both Lichess and Chess.com built it - even Twitch! And using Graham O'Neills open-source drivers you can also connect easily via wifi to your (Linux-) PC. I mostly used it with LucasChess there!
I really love that machine!

Yes Move Feedback is an optional setting.

I have the millennium e-one. It works great. I just wish it was a little bigger. I thinking about getting one a little bigger.

@RGeiser

Which one are you thinking about ?