I decided to buy a digital drawing tablet so I could easily transfer my doodles over to Illustrator or Photoshop. I had heard a lot of good things about Wacom, and almost decided to just go ahead and buy one because “everyone has one.” But then I overheard one of my professors at school explaining that Wacom let their patent run out on their touch surface and because of this, a lot of other companies popped up. One of these companies was Huion.
So I did some research and found the 610pro. (You can look at the specifications here) Although it is relatively cheap, the 610pro is well made and comes with some nice features. A similarly spec’d Wacom tablet can easily cost you over $150, so if you are looking for a nice tablet that isn’t priced ridiculously, the 610pro might be the right one for you.
The Tablet
First off, it feels really nice drawing on this tablet. The drawing surface is rough so it feels like you are drawing on sketch paper. The tablet itself looks very modern and slim with some neat shortcut buttons on the side. Not only does it have the default shortcuts on the side (like undo, save, and the “Hand Tool”) but there are 16 programmable touch areas that can be programed to open certain programs, run a specific keyboard shortcut, or even control your music! The tablet feels very sturdy in my hands, yet light and comfortable. The tablet supports 2,048 variations in pressure sensitivity and the drawing area is a huge 10″ x 6.25″ which is nice if you are coming from a small tablet or even a mouse. One downside I found that isn’t too big of a deal for me is the fact that the tablet must be plugged in to the computer and is not wireless. The cord, however, is long enough that you can comfortably sit the tablet in your lap if you need to.
The Pen
The pen fits well in my hand and has a nice weight to it. The tablet comes with four extra pen tips so you know you can get a lot of mileage out of the product. It is a rechargeable stylus that plugs directly into a USB port and has two buttons on it that act like a mouse clicks. With the texture of the drawing surface, the pen feels really nice in your hand and doesn’t slide around or feel cheap. The tablet also comes with a penholder that is mostly for show, but has some use because it does hold the extra tips.
Other Thoughts
The tablet seems to be built well and does everything it is advertised to do at a really nice price. I noticed some small scuffing happening on the sides due to it being carried around in my bag. I can only assume this is because the tablet has a matte finish that seems to attract these marks. But I was able to rub them off with ease.
Furthermore, dealing with default drivers on both Mac’s and PC’s is a problem that isn’t annoying unless you are working on public computers at work or school. This may not necessarily be Huion’s doing, but the cursor lags consistently making it almost impossible to effectively draw without having to undo your work.
All in all, I think this is a really great tablet and has many great features for such a small price tag. Think Huion is a good substitute for Wacom or is the leading manufacturer still number one in your heart? Let me know in the comments below!
