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Any thoughts on Huion Kamvas Pro tablets?
3 years ago
You see the title! I'm looking at upgrading my tablet; it's a 7 year old Wacom Intuos Pro, and starting to show its age.
I have an iPad Pro which I enjoy using, I really like being able to draw directly on the screen. But for various reasons it isn't appropriate for me to use as a full-time art tablet, the main issues being:
1: I use a timer to track the time spent drawing, important because my commissions are on an hourly rate. It stops counting when I stop drawing. On the iPad it does track time - but it's time spent with the app open, not time spent actively drawing. So what may be 2 hours on my desktop would look more like 2.5 - 4 hrs on the iPad, depending on if I remembered to minimize the drawing app every time I look for references, reply to messages, have a snack etc.
2: I stream my art and the options for capturing my iPad screen aren't great. I can use a cable, but then I can't charge it at the same time, and have really struggled to find any dongles which will let me charge + capture the screen at the same time. I need something that lets me plug in two USB-C cables - one for power, one for capturing the screen, or a capture card which that function. The alternative is to capture the screen wirelessly, which I do but it loses resolution pretty significantly.
3: The screen is a bit smaller than I'd like. It makes it fantastic for portable drawing and sketching, but when I am working on a really heavy file with lots going on it feels pretty cramped.
I've looked at reviews and so far the Huion Kamvas Pro 22 has really caught my eye. But I would like to hear any feedback on this tablet if you have any experience with it! It doesn't have hotkeys on the side like my wacom does, but I can buy something inexpensively to make up for that.
Otherwise any recommendations for similar display tablets would be much appreciated!
- Doesn't need to be lightweight/portable, since I can use my iPad for that.
- Needs to be a monitor/used with a desktop computer with Windows OS for ease of streaming and using the timer software.
- Ideally should have a monitor mount on the back so I can attach it to an arm to position it perfectly and not rely on an inbuilt stand.
- Hotkeys on the side are useful but not essential.
- Needs to be durable since it will have 40+ hrs of use every week.
- Replacement parts like pen nibs, pens, cables etc should be easily accessible either in NZ or Australia for quick replacements if necessary (so it's better to stick to the large brands of Huion or Wacom).
- Needs minimal/no parallax issues.
- Needs high quality pressure sensitivity (especially for soft touches, since I like to draw light).
- Doesn't need to have touch gestures.
- Needs to have low glare since my room has a lot of bright natural light.
- Would prefer to have textured screen or availability of textured screen protectors.
- Needs to have adjustable brightness since I am prone to migraines from bright screens.
- Big screen is best :3
- Pen should have buttons.
Thank you in advance if you have any thoughts on the Huion range or any suggestions for a different model <3 <3
I have also heard good things about cintiqs, but the extra $1000 is a lot. I would love to hear from anyone who has tried both, if you think the extra cost is worth it or not.^^
I have an iPad Pro which I enjoy using, I really like being able to draw directly on the screen. But for various reasons it isn't appropriate for me to use as a full-time art tablet, the main issues being:
1: I use a timer to track the time spent drawing, important because my commissions are on an hourly rate. It stops counting when I stop drawing. On the iPad it does track time - but it's time spent with the app open, not time spent actively drawing. So what may be 2 hours on my desktop would look more like 2.5 - 4 hrs on the iPad, depending on if I remembered to minimize the drawing app every time I look for references, reply to messages, have a snack etc.
2: I stream my art and the options for capturing my iPad screen aren't great. I can use a cable, but then I can't charge it at the same time, and have really struggled to find any dongles which will let me charge + capture the screen at the same time. I need something that lets me plug in two USB-C cables - one for power, one for capturing the screen, or a capture card which that function. The alternative is to capture the screen wirelessly, which I do but it loses resolution pretty significantly.
3: The screen is a bit smaller than I'd like. It makes it fantastic for portable drawing and sketching, but when I am working on a really heavy file with lots going on it feels pretty cramped.
I've looked at reviews and so far the Huion Kamvas Pro 22 has really caught my eye. But I would like to hear any feedback on this tablet if you have any experience with it! It doesn't have hotkeys on the side like my wacom does, but I can buy something inexpensively to make up for that.
Otherwise any recommendations for similar display tablets would be much appreciated!
- Doesn't need to be lightweight/portable, since I can use my iPad for that.
- Needs to be a monitor/used with a desktop computer with Windows OS for ease of streaming and using the timer software.
- Ideally should have a monitor mount on the back so I can attach it to an arm to position it perfectly and not rely on an inbuilt stand.
- Hotkeys on the side are useful but not essential.
- Needs to be durable since it will have 40+ hrs of use every week.
- Replacement parts like pen nibs, pens, cables etc should be easily accessible either in NZ or Australia for quick replacements if necessary (so it's better to stick to the large brands of Huion or Wacom).
- Needs minimal/no parallax issues.
- Needs high quality pressure sensitivity (especially for soft touches, since I like to draw light).
- Doesn't need to have touch gestures.
- Needs to have low glare since my room has a lot of bright natural light.
- Would prefer to have textured screen or availability of textured screen protectors.
- Needs to have adjustable brightness since I am prone to migraines from bright screens.
- Big screen is best :3
- Pen should have buttons.
Thank you in advance if you have any thoughts on the Huion range or any suggestions for a different model <3 <3
I have also heard good things about cintiqs, but the extra $1000 is a lot. I would love to hear from anyone who has tried both, if you think the extra cost is worth it or not.^^
You can find my commission information here.
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I draw with:
Procreate + iPad Pro 
or Clip Studio + Wacom 
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Compared to what I came from (wacom), I've never had driver issues either. They're pretty much plug in, get your driver, and good to go.
(XD My problem now is more that there's no drivers anymore for Wacom on iMac.)
:,3 I also pretty soon couldn't really draw screenless anymore after I got adjusted to a screen tablet.
Either way I also want to save up for a Wacom, it looks like colours are nicer etc.
For me on Huion blue colours are kinda off sometimes. (But I have nothing to calibrate it here, so not sure if really the colours are not able to be properly shown or whether I just need to calibrate it and it would be fine. (Sure I did some adjustement.)
The screen is bright, the color reproduction is almost perfect (there are some problems with bright red, it seems to be more orange), but I have two monitors and I double-check this moment from different sources
One of the advantages is that it is really VERY BIG. It is very cool! There are two buttons on pen. There are no buttons on the monitor itself, only enable and adjust color correction
A convenient stand at the back was included, so it is very convenient to adjust it in height
I found an old photo where I first noticed this difference https://imgur.com/a/fg2f49z
-Tablet is a monitor, so you can use it as extended screen or mirror it I think. (I have it as extended screen, so I can still use my computer screen as second screen, where I put references etc.)
-You can attack an arm to it. With the table itself was a stand, which you can put into different angle. But as far as I see, you can add any arm to it. (I also wonder getting one. Looks useful. So certainly open here for suggestions which arms are good.)
-Has hotkeys on the right and left side. So plenty of buttons which you can program, but also some on the pen itself. (I think like two buttons there or something.)
-So far mine is still working and I use also for fulltime work.
-Had not really noticed parallax. (The pro has a thinner glass, than the normal version, as far as I know.)
-Found sensitivity great. I think it was even better than iPad Pro. (I mean just like I felt, I had more range of sensitivity when I drew a line. So yeah really liking that since you can small lines, with just less pressure and don't have to switch thickness of brush.)
-Mine has no touch, but no idea if there's different versions.
-Hmm not sure about glare. So far I didn't notice much, but I have it so that no natural light can directly shine on it nor do I have any lamps which could shine on it.
-I think screen is smooth, but feels maybe less like glass than the iPad. (So yeah probably slightly textures, when I think of how the screen looks.)
-I think you can adjust brightness.
-Screen can be as big as you can. I like my 20 inch one.
I got my Huion, because a friend bought a Cintiq. He sold it to me, because there was some parts on the screen which made wobbly lines. (I do have the issue sometimes too.) So might be that support wasn't helpful, no idea.
My impression is that Cintiq has maybe nicer colours. But not sure. I don't have a calibrator yet, but I feel like I can't get the colours as sensitive as my iMac screen. (Or iPad Pro.) So not sure if it is me not having calibrated it properly or wheter colours are really less intense. I don't know for sure either for Cintiq since I just looked at them in stores. But they looked like screen was nicer.
Still for the lower price range I think the Huion is still worth it.
:,3 In general I feel like screen tablets put more strain on one's hands, as compared to the Intuos. Also one's back position might be worse. (But would say it isn't too bad with larger screens.) Since with a nonscreen tablet you look straight at the computer screen.
I do like to draw more with screen though.
(But yeah just some thoughts which I had when I wanted a screen tablet. So was glad a friend sold me the Huion for cheap, so I could try out to see whether I like screen or not.)
I've had it for like 7 years and it is fucking awful, it's a gt-190 and I wish I had saved up for a Wacom. Huion drivers are worse than shit and barely work. The customer support is nonexistent, my pen broke during a regular nub change (doing it exactly right but it still broke) and when I ordered a new one from them after explaining the situation, they sent me a non-functional pen and never responded to me afterwards. It also gets VERY hot at the bottom.
Trust me, it'll be fine for like a year or two but after that you'll wish you had waited and saved up for a more quality brand.