Back when I only had my tablet masterlists on this site, I had the mindset of “I’ll show you all the options I’ve found, so go research them yourself.”, so I never tried to create any sort of list of which tablets I thought were “the best”.
Quite frankly, I’m glad I didn’t because I most certainly didn’t have enough experience with tablets to even make such a list back then.
However, now that I’ve reviewed a decent number of tablets, I feel that I would like to give my recommendations for which tablets that I personally feel are “the best” out of what I’ve tried.
Hopefully, this list will be helpful to those who are looking for a new tablet.
This post is specifically about screen-less tablets, the tablets without screens on them (ex. Wacom Intuos).
I am not sure if I will ever do one for drawing monitors (ex. Wacom Cintiq) as I do not have nearly enough experience with those to judge what might be “the best”. For now, my drawing monitor recommendations will be on hold.
In this post, I will have 3 categories: Best Budget, Best Performance and Value, and Untested Recommendations.
-The Best Budget category will be my 2 top picks from the tablets I have tested for those with very limited budgets. Basically, what I think is the best you can get for the lowest price.
-The Best Performance and Value category will be my 2 top picks of “the best” tablets I have tested with lots of emphasis put on value.
-The Untested Recommendations category will be a bunch of tablets which I have not personally tested, but still think are worth pointing out.
Anyways, let’s get on with the recommendations!
Please note!
-This information is written with digital drawers and painters as the focus. It may not apply to other forms of digital art such as photo retouching.
-I am not a Mac or Linux user!! I mainly test my tablets on Windows 10 version 1803. I also ignore Android compatibility as I do not have a proper device to test it.
-Prices may have changed since I wrote this post.
-It is good practice to check multiple reviews to cross reference their information before you make a conclusion about a tablet.
Table of Contents
- Best Budget
1. XP-Pen Star G640
2. Huion H640P - Best Performance and Value
1. Huion H1060P
2. XP-Pen Deco Pro Small/Medium - Untested Recommendations
–Huion HS64
–Huion H610Pro V2
–XP-Pen G640S
–XP-Pen Deco 01 V2
–GAOMON M10K (2018) - Conclusion
Best Budget
These are my top picks of the tablets you can get for the lowest price possible.
This section is mainly aimed towards people who want to try out digital art, but don’t want to spend very much on their first tablet which they may or may not keep using.
1. XP-Pen Star G640
Price: 29.99 USD
(My review: XP-Pen Star G640 Review)
Specifications at a glance
Active Area: 6 x 4 inches
Pen Type: Battery-free
Pen Buttons: 2 side buttons, no eraser
Pen Pressure: 8192
Pen Tilt Sensitivity: None
Shortcut Keys: None
Multi-touch: None
The XP-Pen Star G640 is the lowest priced tablet which has great drawing capabilities due to using the exact same drivers as XP-Pen’s higher tier models.
Although the XP-Pen Star G640 is technically only a small size tablet with its 6×4 inch drawing area, it provides an extraordinarily low entry price into digital art with its 30 USD price tag.
(The 6×4 inch “small” size is the minimum size I recommend for art. There are cheaper tablets such as the XP-Pen G430 and Huion H420, but those are even smaller at 4×3 inches, making them too small to draw on comfortably.)
There are certainly some compromises to build quality and aesthetics because of the low price, but the tablet itself has a surprisingly tough build despite being so thin, and the simple plastic design of the pen is really bare bones, but it isn’t uncomfortable to use either.
Also, if you download one of the great free art programs available nowadays like Medibang or Krita to use with it, you will have everything you need to start drawing digitally for only 30 USD!
In comparison, the most commonly recommended beginner tablet, the Wacom Intuos, is a whopping 80 USD for the exact same 6×4 inch size, despite having no significant advantage over the XP-Pen Star G640.
It may look simple and unimpressive, but the XP-Pen Star G640 is the absolute go-to if you’re looking for the cheapest option for starting digital art.
2. Huion H640P
Price: 49.99 USD
(My review: Huion H640P ReReview 2019)
Specifications at a glance
Active Area: 6.3 x 3.9 inches
Pen Type: Battery-free
Pen Buttons: 2 side buttons, no eraser
Pen Pressure: 8192
Pen Tilt Sensitivity: None
Expresskeys: 6 Buttons
Multi-touch: No
The Huion H640P is one of the lowest priced premium feeling tablets currently available, with drawing performance which has matured over time thanks to driver and firmware updates.
Like the XP-Pen G640, the Huion H640P is also only a small size tablet at 6×4 inches, but it makes up for its somewhat high price with a solid tablet body, and a comfortable and premium feeling Huion PW100 battery-free pen.
It is certainly not as cheap as the XP-Pen Star G640, but its more premium feeling build quality and high level of drawing performance justifies its higher price for the most part.
If you are not looking for the absolute cheapest tablet you can find, then this could be your go-to as a relatively cheap but premium feeling tablet.
Writer’s note: There is actually a new 6×4 inch tablet called the Huion HS64 for only 40 USD, which is cheaper than the Huion H640P’s 50 USD.
Unfortunately, I have not had the chance to test it myself, but you may wish to check it out if the Huion H640P interests you. Please keep in mind though that I cannot guarantee that it works as well as the Huion H640P.
Best Performance and Value
This section has my top picks which are chosen based on drawing performance, and then further judged by the price.
If a tablet is so good that it has no competition, then price will not matter as it has no competition. However, if there are comparable tablets with cheaper prices, then those will be considered better value.
This section is my top tablet picks for all artists, beginner and experienced.
Unless you have so much money that you literally don’t care about price, these are the tablets I recommend you get for the best “bang for your buck”.
“Why is the Wacom Intuos Pro M not on here?”
Like I said, there needs to be at least some semblance of “value” to be recommended here. The Wacom Intuos Pro M does not have magical drawing capabilities that can justify it’s ridiculous 350 USD price tag. The Huion H1060P for 100 USD draws very well and is easily comparable to the Wacom Intuos Pro M in drawing performance.
Certainly, Wacom has extra features which other companies do not have, but that’s all they are. Extra.
However, if you know that you specifically as an individual want those extra features, then perhaps you can justify the high price as necessary for your art. Or perhaps you just have so much money you don’t mind paying the higher price for the brand name.
You make that decision for yourself, but I believe the majority of people prefer value over those “extra” features.
1. Huion H1060P
Price: 99.99 USD
(My review: Huion Inspiroy H1060P Review)
Specifications at a glance
Active Area: 10 x 6.25 inches
Pen Type: Battery-free
Pen Buttons: 2 side buttons, no eraser
Pen Pressure: 8192
Pen Tilt Sensitivity: Yes, +-60 levels
Expresskeys: 12 buttons, 16 soft keys
Multi-touch: No
The Huion H1060P is a very well built tablet with one of the best drawing performances I have seen in a screen-less tablet yet, and it comes at a surprisingly cheap 100 USD price tag at that.
The Huion H1060P is a medium/large size tablet with a spacious 10×6.25 inch drawing area. The tablet itself is made solely of plastic, but it is built very solidly due to it using a thicker tablet design than most other offerings in the current era of “thinness is everything”.
Some people may not like how the surface texture is rather smooth compared to other tablets, but once you become used to drawing on it, it brings the advantage of a texture which never wears out, and it also never wears down your pen nibs.
For the pen, it uses the comfortable and premium feeling Huion PW100 battery-free pen, and it is capable of pen tilt/direction functionality.
It also comes with 12 shortcut keys which should be enough buttons for anyone looking to draw by solely using the shortcut keys.
Whereas many other tablets have some sort of issue in how the pen performs such as uneven tapering or non-linear pen pressure curves, the Huion H1060P has absolutely no problems which I can notice.
This tablet at 100 USD even rivals the drawing performance of the supposed “professional standard” tablet, the Wacom Intuos Pro M (350 USD), while only lacking some of the extra features that the Wacom offers such as: The pen eraser, Bluetooth wireless, felt nibs, and pen rotation functionality (only available with the purchase of a separate 100 USD pen).
It should also be noted that the replacement pen for this tablet only costs 23 USD, and you can even replace the texture sheet with a brand new one for ~30 USD (6 USD + shipping on huiontablet.com).
This means that you won’t have to buy a whole new tablet even if there are some accidents which damage your pen or scratch your drawing surface.
As long as you take care not to break the micro-USB port, I believe this tablet should last you a very long time.
If you are looking for the tablet with the best drawing performance while still having a reasonable price, this is my recommendation.
Writer’s note: I have heard that upgrading to Huion’s newer firmware versions for this tablet is not a good idea, because pen pressure feels worse and initial activation force is higher (worse).
-If you get an H1060P with my firmware version, I suggest that you do NOT risk updating the firmware to anything newer.
-If you get an H1060P with a newer firmware version and are noticing bad pen pressure or higher initial activation force, contact Huion to get a firmware updater for the version I am on so you can roll it back to a good version.
To check your firmware version, open the Huion driver and go to the About page, then press the keys Ctrl+V+E+R all at once. Your firmware version should show up.
My firmware version is HUION_T167_180808.
Basically, if it’s working properly, don’t update it.
2. XP-Pen Deco Pro Small/Medium
Price: 89.99 USD (Small)/119.99 USD (Medium)
(My review: XP-Pen Deco Pro Small Review)
Specifications at a glance
Active Area: 9 x 5 inches (Small)
11 x 6 inches (Medium)
Pen Type: Battery-free
Pen Buttons: 2 side buttons, no eraser
Pen Pressure: 8192
Pen Tilt Sensitivity: Yes, levels unspecified
Shortcut Keys: 8 buttons, 1 physical wheel, 1 touch wheel
Multi-touch: None
The XP-Pen Deco Pro is a tablet built with a premium aluminum alloy back case and a unique silver accent design, and it features a never-before-seen double wheel shortcut key which combines a physical and virtual wheel into one, and even supports pen tilt functionality.
Thanks to the aluminum alloy back case, the tablet itself feels quite robust and durable, and the new XP-Pen PA1 battery-free pen provides a very comfortable pen experience on the rough paper-like texture. XP-Pen has also used a new and improved texture on this tablet which doesn’t wear off easily, unlike a few of their previous textures which started showing wearing the moment you started drawing on it.
The tablet is also easy to use in left-handed mode thanks to using a symmetrical USB type-C port on the tablet.
Despite the premium build quality on this tablet which can be said to rival even the Wacom Intuos Pro, this tablet only costs 90 USD for the small, and 120 USD for the medium.
It should be noted that the XP-Pen Deco Pro is available in two sizes of small or medium, but you shouldn’t be misled by the naming.
Unlike the Wacom small and medium sizes, the “small” for the XP-Pen Deco Pro is a spacious 9×5 inches (which is actually the Wacom medium size), and the “medium” is an even more spacious 11×6 inches.
The most unique part of the XP-Pen Deco Pro is the double wheel, which has a physical wheel on the outside, and a touch wheel on the inside. Unlike all other wheel designs which only allow you to use one function at a time which often make them an inconvenient waste of space, the double wheel allows you to use two wheel functions seamlessly without the extra step of using a function switch key between each use.
Of course, this only matters if you use shortcut keys, but this is the first tablet where I felt that the wheel wasn’t just a waste of space compared to having 4 more shortcut keys in its place.
It should also be noted that a replacement pen for this tablet only costs 18 USD, and that you can buy 100 pen nibs for 10 USD only.
The biggest problem with rough textures on Wacom tablets is that they burn through pen nibs and Wacom pen nibs cost 1 USD per nib. In contrast, nib wear isn’t a problem with the XP-Pen Deco Pro because pen nibs literally only cost 10 cents per nib!
The only issue with this tablet which makes it “worse” than the Huion H1060P is the small pen tapering issues which affect some quick strokes from 100% to 0% pen pressure (refer to review for more detail).
It is not a massive issue which completely ruins your drawings since everything else about the pen pressure is fantastic, but it is an issue nonetheless.
If XP-Pen can fix that issue, this tablet will be well on par with the Huion H1060P as my top pick.
Untested Recommendations
This section has a few tablets which I believe are worth mentioning, however, I only mention them in passing because I have not tested them myself.
Since I have not tested them myself, I cannot guarantee their actual quality and performance which is why they are not one of my top picks, despite some of these tablets sounding better than the tablets I have recommended above.
The Huion HS64 is a relatively new Huion tablet which seems to have basically everything Huion H640P does, except for cheaper.
For some reason, I have my doubts about it having pen pressure as good as the Huion H640P (because the Huion HS610 had worse pen pressure than the Huion H1060P), but I really have no idea without trying it myself.
Maybe I’ll consider buying it eventually to review it.
-Huion H610Pro V2
Price: 79.99 USD
The Huion H610Pro V2 is the tablet most people look to when looking for a large tablet with a battery-free pen from Huion because it’s cheaper than the Huion H1060P which I recommend.
I’ve always had my doubts about the build quality of the current and previous H610Pro tablets because I’ve seen a lot of complaints about broken H610Pro’s when I used to prowl Reddit, but I can’t really make any guesses about it without trying it myself.
-XP-Pen G640S
Price: 39.99 USD
The XP-Pen G640S is a small 6×4 inch tablet like the XP-Pen G640 which I recommended as the best budget tablet, but it’s slightly pricier at 40 USD because it comes with the more comfortable P05 battery-free pen instead of the budget P01 pen which the G640 uses.
I used to think of it as a good recommendation for people who wanted something similar to the Huion H640P but cheaper, but now there’s the option of the Huion HS64 for 40 USD as well.
I think I would have to try both the XP-Pen G640S and Huion HS64 to judge which would be the better choice because they both sound like very good deals.
-XP-Pen Deco 01 V2
Price: 59.99 USD
The XP-Pen Deco 01 V2 which was announced a few days ago is the Deco 01 V1 except with a nicer P05 battery-free pen, and it is also advertised to have pen tilt functionality which the V1 didn’t.
My biggest complaint about the V1 was the pen design which was slick and cheap-feeling, so this upgrade is a very welcome change, especially because the XP-Pen Deco 01 V2 will have the exact same low 60 USD price as the V1.
Of course, I haven’t tried it out myself so who knows if the actual pen performance is good or not. I think it’s well worth a look at its low price though.
-GAOMON M10K (2018)
Price 75.99 USD
The GAOMON M10K (2018) is a tablet which has had a relatively low amount of attention since its silent release.
I reviewed its previous version and it was quite a disastrous product back then due to fairly shoddy drivers, however, I have seen that the new version uses GAOMON’s Huion based drivers which basically guarantees that it won’t have the same problems as before (because their tablets which use the Huion based drivers are very stable).
I’m actually quite interested in this tablet because it could be a cheaper alternative to my favourite Huion H1060P due to its similar build design and numerous shortcut keys, but of course, that’s only if the pen pressure works as well as expected.
I think it’s worth a look, but it doesn’t have very many reviews for anyone to go off of.
Conclusion
I recommend the XP-Pen Star G640 if you’re on a budget or just looking for the cheapest option for getting into digital art.
The Huion H640P is also a good choice if you want a budget tablet which feels at least a little bit “premium”.
For the best value overall, I recommend the Huion H1060P. It’s the tablet with the best performance out of all the screen-less tablets I’ve tested so far. I feel that it draws just as well as the Wacom Intuos Pro M, so it completely knocks the Wacom Intuos Pro M out of the value section with its low price.
I also recommend the XP-Pen Deco Pro since it’s almost as good as the Huion H1060P. The only con with it is the small pen tapering issue, but if that one issue were fixed, it would completely rival the Huion H1060P and Wacom Intuos Pro M as a top performing tablet.
To make it completely clear, this top picks list is based on the tablets which I have actually tested and reviewed myself.
There may be some tablets which you believe should be on this list, but are not on here simply because I have not had the chance to try them.
Links to my reviews of my top picks:
- XP-Pen Star G640 Review
- Huion H640P ReReview 2019
- Huion Inspiroy H1060P Review
- XP-Pen Deco Pro Small Review
Anyways, I hope you found this post useful.
If you believe I have overlooked a tablet which you think I really need to check out, please recommend it to me in the comments below!
Digital Art Tablet Guides 
Hey, Nikage. Huion has 2 new tablets and one of them is called H1161. It seems similar to H1060P but has lighter weight, longer by width, and a lil cheaper. I like how it has a touch bar/strip for zooming canvas, it also said it’s programmable. I hope you can review this tablet if you ever decide to get it and do a comparison to the H1060.
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Hey there,
Thanks for letting me know!
Yes, I have actually been eyeing it quite a bit since it came out for the exact reasons you mentioned. I’m really curious about how it actually performs, but unfortunately, I don’t have any plans to be getting it at the moment due to how busy I am.
If I get enough time to review another tablet, the Huion H1161 will most certainly be near the top of my list though!
-Nikage
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I know Jazza just reviewed this tablet but would you review the Huion Inspiroy Ink H320M?
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Hey there,
I am certainly interested in the Huion Inspiroy Ink H320M because its price is lower than the Huion H1060P while still having the same written specifications for drawing.
Unfortunately, I don’t have any plans to buy it myself for review since I don’t really have the time right now to review every new tablet Huion releases (and they release a lot, almost too many).
In the future, if I make a new “my top picks” kind of list, I will consider reviewing it for sure though since the price is really competitive.
Thanks for asking,
Nikage
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and what do you think abou xp-pen deco 01 v2 there is version 2 of it
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Hello. I’ve been watching/reading some tablet reviews lately, and studying the specs/prices available in my country, I’ve narrowed it down to these models, basically: the Huion H1060P and XP-Pen Star 06C. But then I found out about the Huion HS610, which seems to be pretty much the same as the H1060P, but with a touch ring.
Is there any significant difference between them? I get the impression the Huions are a little bit better (and a little bit more expensive too).
Also, between these models and a barely used Intuos 4 Medium which works perfectly and is about the same price (but it’s used), should I go with a new tablet from Huion or XP-Pen, or is the used Wacom worth it? The person says she’s had this tablet for 9 years, plugged to her PC but she almost never used it, so I don’t know if it’s “old age” is something to worry about. A brand new Wacom similar to these Huion and XP-Pen I mentioned costs like 6 times more so that’s out of the question.
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Hey there,
Personally, I find that the Huion H1060P has had the best pen pressure out of all the tablets which I’ve tried so far. I don’t know about the XP-Pen Star 06C, but the Huion HS610 seems to have inferior pen pressure (specifically, it isn’t perfectly linear, but it’s good enough that you could ignore it and still be happy with the tablet).
With XP-Pen, I’ve found that the only problem with their pen pressure is that it has problems with drawing quick tapers smoothly. This applies to all of XP-Pen’s current tablets which I’ve tried (you can read about it in my recent reviews such as the XP-Pen Deco Pro and XP-Pen Artist 15.6 Pro reviews).
Other than that, the pen pressure is good and, like the Huion HS610, the issue is something you can ignore and still be happy with the tablet.
Personally, I find the Huion H1060P to be the “best” tablet that I’ve ever had up til now, however, that doesn’t mean I trust all of Huion’s other products to be the same high quality. This is because they always seem to find a way to mess up their pen pressure on new released (ex. The Huion H640P was released with the same non-linear pen pressure issue as the Huion HS610, and the Huion H950P had extremely wobbly lines and bad click sensitivity on release).
The Wacom Intuos4 M is a good tablet with no problems (aside from the USB port being relatively easy to break, so make sure not to flex or wiggle the cable too much while it’s in the port). If it really wasn’t being used much, then it’s very possible that it still works just as well as it should.
My personal suggestion would be to get either the Wacom Intuos4 M or Huion H1060P. It depends on how trustworthy the seller of the Wacom Intuos4 M is, how much you trust the “old age” of the Intuos4, and also what you would prefer to get. I think the biggest difference between the two is probably the drawing texture, where the Wacom Intuos4 M has a rough texture, and the Huion H1060P has a much smoother texture.
I hope that helps,
Nikage
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Yeah it was of great help, thank you! I believe I’ll stick with the H1060P, it’s still slightly cheaper than the Wacom, has a bigger active area and overall seems to be well liked in the reviews I’ve seen/read, including yours which I guess is the most thorough review I’ve seen, so it seems like a safer bet. I just hope it lasts for years like the Wacom tablets apparently do. Thanks again 🙂
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Hi Nikage,
Long time reader of your blog here! Thank you for posting these detailed reviews, I’ve always found them very informative.
Currently I’m trying to decide whether or not to switch to Huion/Xp-pen from Wacom. The only thing holding me back is concern over IAF as I draw very lightly.
How do Xp-pen and Huion tablets perform with very light strokes?
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Hey there,
Thanks for reading, and I’m happy that you find my blog informative!
Unfortunately, there is no clear cut answer to your question. Some Huion tablets have fantastic IAF, while others don’t. The same thing applies to XP-Pen. You really have to consider each of the tablets separately from one another since they’re pretty inconsistent with how the pen performs.
Personally, I feel that Huion usually has lighter IAF than XP-Pen with their battery-free pen tablets, at least as far as I have seen with the tablets I have tried. If you look in the “drawing tests” section of my reviews of Huion’s and XP-Pen’s tablets, you can see that they are quite similar for the most part.
If I mention in my review that I had troubles tapping/double tapping options, then that’s a big red flag regarding the IAF. However, if I don’t mention anything about it being bad, then it means I had no troubles with IAF when using the tablet.
I hope that’s at least a bit helpful,
Nikage
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Hi Nikage,
Thanks for the reply! I’ll do a bit more research on Huion tablets. Hopefully by the time my old Wacom bites the dust the rival brands would have perfected their pen technology :B
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hi, i see an offer of the xp pen 640 with the artrage lit and its good or not necessary? its a little cheaper without it. And also i dont know if its whorth buy the 640s version compared with this one as far as drawing quality and fell. Tanks for the great true reviews!
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Hey there,
I suggest that you take a look at the pens that the XP-Pen G640 and G640s use. The G640 uses an all plastic pen, while the G640s uses a rubber grip pen. Personally, I would suggest the G640s because the pen seems more comfortable to use, but if you want the cheapest option, then you should go with the G640 without Artrage Lite.
Also, it should be noted that you can always use the great free art programs out nowadays such as Medibang Paint, Krita, Autodesk Sketchbook, etc. I don’t think there’s any need for you to pay extra for Artrage Lite.
I hope that helps,
Nikage
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Thaks! And compared with huion g640?
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Hey again,
I have not heard of a “huion g640”, but if you are referring to the Huion H640P, then I think it is a pretty good tablet, although it should be noted that it’s fairly pricey for its small size.
Personally, I feel like the XP-Pen G640s should be almost exactly like the Huion H640P, but lower priced. However, I haven’t personally tried the XP-Pen G640s so I don’t know how well they actually compare in performance.
-Nikage
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Hi Nikage,
huion HS610 or huion H1161 which one is good ?
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Hey there,
Thanks for the question, but I honestly do not know. I have not had the chance to try the Huion H1161 myself, so I don’t know if it’s actually good or not, although I can say that it certainly looks good in terms of specifications and appearance.
With regards to the Huion HS610, it’s a decent tablet although the rough texture isn’t particularly “paper-like” since it feels more like drawing on textured hard plastic. With that said, it doesn’t feel too bad and it works as a rough surface, it just doesn’t feel like paper.
Aside from that, the Huion HS610 is a good enough tablet which draws well and has lots of buttons, so you could certainly choose that if it looks like a good deal to you.
-Nikage
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Nice blog. It will surely help beginners update their knowledge. The efforts you have put in to create the posts are quite interesting. Looking forward to seeing you soon in a new post.
However, new artists may feel that they are at a loss when confronted with a wide variety of graphic drawing tablets available these days.
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Thank you for this, helps alot. I’m thinking about getting the h1060p, but to me the lowest starting pressure level would be a big deal. How would I know if it’s low pressure level is compromised with no experience? should I just get the other tablet with the double wheel instead?
I would think that i’d want the lightest touch possible.
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Hey there,
With regards to the lowest starting pressure level, not to worry, it will be noticeable even if you are a beginner with no prior experience using tablets. If you feel like you have to press too hard to activate the pen, then it’s probably the lowest starting pressure level.
With regards to the choice between the Huion H1060P and XP-Pen Deco Pro, I would suggest the XP-Pen Deco Pro if you want a “guaranteed” hassle-free experience. Unlike the Huion H1060P, XP-Pen has not screwed up the XP-Pen Deco Pro with firmware updates as far as I know, so it will most likely work as expected from the start.
On the other hand, the Huion H1060P has the risk of coming with newer (but worse performing) firmware because Huion decided to try “upgrading” it but made it perform worse instead. With that said, you can ask Huion for my firmware version if yours is a newer firmware version which performs worse, but that requires you to do extra work by contacting Huion yourself, waiting for their reply, installing the firmware, etc.
With the XP-Pen Deco Pro, you probably won’t have to do any of that kind of extra work to use it, so it’s really up to you whether you want to go with the Huion H1060P or XP-Pen Deco Pro. Just make sure to take into consideration that the Huion might come with extra work to get it working the best it can.
Hope that helps,
Nikage
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Nikage,
1) I was at BestBuy recently just killing time, and seen the Intuos 2018 small and bought it on impulse. I’m new to art, figured this would be a good way to break into it for $80.
Then I get to using it, and the first thing I noticed was the nib “recedes” alittle when I try to tap the surface of the tablet before it stop receding and starts activating on the drawing.
It doesn’t move much, but enough that even though I feel the tip dragging along the surface, it’s not activating at very light touches. This is throwing me off while messing around on my art program.
Do nibs recede slightly for all pens/brands?
2) you said the XP deco pro has a firm grip on the nib so it doesn’t rotate, is the H1060P also free of this issue because of it’s smoothness?
3) About the smoothness on the H1060P, does this mean I won’t be able to tell when my pen is very lightly dragging across the surface?
4) would you consider doing an IAF test with the new drivers on the H1060P?
5) this one is actually advice for you, consider making your IAF test easier to study by telling the software to go full line width at all pressure levels. just to make it more obvious how well it’s performing for the specific goals of that test.
6) Love this site, it’s helped alot. You really seem to have the art noob in mind who’s overwhelmed with what does and doesn’t matter. Makes me feel much calmer when deciding what I need and don’t need.
last, this Intuos makes me want a glove, the edge has what seems to be a mold line or something and sometimes it bothers me, as I too don’t have my desk low enough to keep my wrist at elbow height. So your notes about the XP Dec Pro not having rounded enough edges makes me sad, as the texture the tablet has and it’s firm grip on nibs makes me want to try it.
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Hey there,
1) With regards to the nib receding into the pen a little before activating the pen, I find that this pen nib receding is especially noticeable on the Wacom Intuos pen because of its relatively “hard” pen nib spring which causes you to end up feeling the difference between the “light” receding nib phase and the sudden “hardness” once you hit the activation point.
However, this is just an issue with Wacom’s cheapest (crappiest) Intuos Pen. For the Wacom Pro Pen (the higher end one), there is basically no pen nib receding.
By comparison, the Huion PW100/PW500 pen has a much “softer” pen nib spring, so any pen nib receding (before pen activation) blends naturally into the point of activation. Huion has also been fairly successful in lowering the activation pressure, so there’s basically no nib receding before activation.
2) Yes, the Huion H1060P pen doesn’t need to prevent rotation of the pen nib because the pen nib never gets flat in the first place thanks to its smooth surface.
3) The Huion H1060P smooth texture is certainly smooth, but it is not smooth and frictionless like glass. It has some slight texture which you can feel for sure even when doing light strokes.
4) I tried it just now and there are no changes to the results which I saw on the previous driver.
5) Thanks for the idea, that’s certainly something I will consider. Like you said, it’s hard to explain the goal of the IAF/Pen Pressure test clearly because of how I’ve been combining it. I’ll also try to come up with a more reliable method of demonstrating IAF since its reliant on how good my arm control is on the test day.
6) I’m glad that it’s been helpful. I started this site with the idea of helping others figure out what tablet options they have, so I’m glad it’s actually useful in that regard.
With regards to the XP-Pen Deco Pro, if you really want to try it and you are worried about your table not being at elbow height, you can prop up the tablet to an acceptable angle by putting other objects/things underneath it.
For instance, I personally put erasers under my Huion H1060P so that it matches the angle of my wrist. This makes it quite a bit more comfortable to use even though my elbow is lower than my table. I’ve tried the same trick with a few of my non-rounded edge tablets as well and it really helps take the weight off my wrist to prevent the edges from digging into my wrist.
-Nikage
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Thank you, very helpful stuff here.
I’ll Just order both from amazon and return whichever I like least. XP is going for $99 and the H1060P is $68.
For point #5 I unintentionally left some ambiguity. I said “go full line width at all pressure levels.” but I actually meant “Full width AND full black/as dark/as hard as possible at the lightest pressure level” just to make spotting if it’s picking up at the start of a line simpler.
You probably understood what I meant, but I didn’t want to leave it at that.
Last thing, robots? Logitech, a well known company that makes computer gaming mice, has a video somewhere either on their channel or on Linus Tech Tips, showing that to test the accuracy of their mice, they have mechanical devices to do consistent movements and so on. I know this is it’s own can of worms, but I found the video. Skip to 1:32 https://youtu.be/wQxw-pX4dak?t=92
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Hey again,
Sounds like a plan, I hope you like them.
Yes, I understood what you meant in your original comment, but I certainly appreciate the clarification since small details like that often make a big difference.
Thanks for the suggestion about using robots. I’ve previously seen a thread about someone testing tablets for Osu! using a 3D printer before, so I’ve certainly thought about it as a method of testing in a more objective way. Unfortunately, I’m just not very programming savvy yet so it’s going to take some work and effort before I’m able to incorporate custom testing robots into my reviewing process.
P.S. Thanks for the video link, it was very cool to watch.
-Nikage
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hey, I have a question I hope you can answer, I currently have been using the Huion 1060 Plus for few years and it does almost everything I want it to (except for no pressure curve settings). But the nib on the pen kind of retracts for a small amount when you start drawing, and isn’t solid like my old wacom bamboo and apple pencil. Since I like to draw with a very light touch and have to crop the pressure range in the drawing software due to some hand/arm problems it kind of messes up my lines sometimes.
Do you know which medium sized tablets have a solid non moving tip (if any ?) It’s hard to find information on this. Thanks for your reviews they are some of most in depth and detailed I have seen!
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Hey there,
In terms of the tablets which I have tried, the tablet which comes straight to mind which has less nib “sinking” would (of course) be the Wacom Intuos Pro.
However, I just went and tried a few of my more recent tablet pens and found that most of them actually don’t have the pen “sinking” which the Huion New 1060 Plus pen has.
The ones which I just tried were:
-The Huion PW100 (which is used by the Huion H1060P, H950P, H640P, H610Pro V2)
-The Huion PW500 (used by the Huion Q620M)
-The XP-Pen P05 (used by the XP-Pen Deco 03)
-The XP-Pen PA1 (used by the XP-Pen Deco Pro)
On all of these, the pen nibs don’t “sink” very much before actually hitting the activation point and outputting a line.
However, the pen nibs on the Huion PW100 and PW500 travel more from 0% to 100% pressure, meaning they feel more “springy”, whereas the XP-Pen pen nibs travel a lot less from 0% to 100% pressure (although the pen nibs don’t travel as little from 0% to 100% as Wacom’s pens).
If the only thing bothering you was the small pen “sinking” before the pen starts outputting a line, then Wacom, Huion, and XP-Pen all do a good job with their current pens.
If the springiness of the pen nib also bothers you, then XP-Pen and Wacom are probably the preferred choices.
As a side note, I don’t suggest the Wacom Intuos (the low-end one) if you’re considering Wacom. The pen is quite bad and the nib “sinks” quite a bit before it hits the activation point, so it’s probably exactly what you don’t want.
Hope that helps,
Nikage
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Thank you! This is a huge help.
Thanks for taking the time to try them out and getting back to me. I will probably get either the XP-Pen Deco Pro or the XP-Pen Deco 01 v2 which according to the advertisement video also uses the XP-Pen P05.
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Hi, Nikage!
I’m not sure if you remember, but I commented here back then (even I forgot where I made that comment) and asked your recommendation on what drawing tablet to buy. I now have XP-Pen XP-8050 (my very first pen tablet, old and already obsolete I guess as I have to reinstall the driver and restart my Windows10 whenever I want to draw with pressure sensitivity on) and my newer XP-Pen Deco 01 that I bought after reading the posts here and your recommendation.
Long story short, I didn’t bring my newer pen tablet with me when I returned to my hometown due to the pandemic and now I find myself looking at a smaller and more portable pen tablet, hopefully one that can be used with Android phones as well. For some reason, my mind perceived that a portable version would be nice. So far I’m looking at XP-Pen Star G640S but the downside is that the distributor said it won’t come with a scratch protector. I’m debating whether or not I should buy a smaller and more portable pen tablet and which model should it be. May I know your opinion about this?
Thanks in advance and please take care ^^
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Hey again,
Unfortunately, I haven’t put too much thought into tablets which can be used with Android so I can’t really give you a “in-depth” answer.
From what I’ve seen though, I believe the XP-Pen G640S or Huion HS64 would be the best choices.
I’m not sure where I saw this, but I think the XP-Pen G640S rotates its drawing area by 90 degrees to portrait mode when connected to an Android device, which lets the XP-Pen G640S make better use of its full drawing area. If that’s the case, then I would say the XP-Pen G640S is better than the Huion HS64 because the Huion HS64 does not rotate its drawing area to portrait mode when connected to an Android device as far as I know.
However, the most evidence I have of this is from one of XP-Pen’s youtube videos: https://youtu.be/Q3d5TqcKklc
I also don’t know the specifics of how Huion tablets orient themselves when used with an Android device, so perhaps they make good use of their drawing areas too.
Sorry I can’t be of much help,
Nikage
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is the huion (h1060p) still working as good. I am considering to buy this tablet, but the only thing that is holding me back and swaing towards wacom (One by CTL-672/K0-CX Medium) is the durability factor. People say that the wacom is more durable thus the price. I would like to try this huion tablet but my only fear is that it will get damaged within an year or two. And i cant afford to switch tablet year by year. But other than that i feel like this huion tablet is better in every way that the wacom one, be it features or working area or anything else. Any suggestion will be helpful.
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Hey there,
Personally, I have seen no reason to believe that Huion’s durability is worse than Wacom’s. At least, not so much worse that it would make up for Wacom’s higher prices. However, this is just how I “feel” and I do not have any evidence to back up this claim because I do not use the tablets I review for a long time, so I cannot actually measure their “real” durability.
If you are very worried about durability, then certainly, you should have no problems if you go with Wacom which is quite tried and trusted. Otherwise, I think Huion offers quite a bit more value for the money.
-Nikage
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Hello Nikage,
First, thank you for doing all of these reviews. I recently picked up the H1060P as my first tablet and I’ve been really enjoying it so far!
The H1060P came with the latest firmware and while it’s hard for me to notice if there are sensitivity issues, I wanted to try the older firmware to see if it made an improvement. I contacted Huion Customer Support to ask for the older firmware, however I was told that they “don’t have the older one.” Do you know of any other way to get this?
Thank you,
Jonathan
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Hey there,
I’m glad to hear that you are enjoying using it!
If Huion is not offering the older firmware anymore, then I do not think there is any way to get it. However, if you are not noticing any sensitivity issues, then I believe there is no need to tamper with your tablet’s firmware. My opinion is that looking to revert the firmware for a marginal improvement in sensitivity is more risk than it is worth when the sensitivity of your current firmware version is satisfactory.
-Nikage
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You have greatest reviews in whole internet! Thank you!
Any plans reviewing XP-Pen Deco Mini7 (or it’s wireless version)? It has same price as G640 or H640P, but also Tilt and USB-C. After reading all your tests now not sure if it worth buying or might have those Tilt issues that most tablets have, how do you feel about it?
-Dima
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Thank you very much for your great review, I enjoyed reading it a lot. Also, your note about the firmware upgrade for the H640p was invaluable, it fixed the strange pen pressure problem I also encountered with mine.
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