I am still using the first-generation 11" iPad Pro (2018) with Magic Keyboard (2020), and the combination does what I always did very well - sketching, writing (typing), serving as second screen to my Mac, etc.
What I find frustrating about the iPad Pro is iPadOS. There is so much potential with iPad Pro, yet its capabilities seem to be constrained by iPadOS. I would love to bring the iPad along when I travel, especially during extended trekking trips. However, iPadOS does not offer any compelling features beyond what my iPhone can do and what I most needed (or wanted) - proper file management system and functions (e.g. rsync), running an IDE offline as a “super-calculator”, etc.
At this point I do not see the possibility of any of these becoming reality (except, perhaps, the plain vanilla calculator), nonetheless the iPad Pro continues to serve me well at what I use it for. So I will continue to use it instead of upgrading to a new one.
I used an iPad 2 (2011) while travelling in Japan and it worked really well. I asked the hotel staff to help me write down some Japanese phrases (e.g. “When is the last bus leaving?” and place names), and show it to the bus and taxi drivers, etc. That worked quite well (though I still missed the last bus one time). It is a good conversation starter in Kissa-ten’s too; I was able to show the photos and communicated quite a bit using gestures. I have not used an iPad on the train though; do people find that distracting and impolite?