7P Drawing tablets

Drawing tablet brands

Introduction

There are many tablet brands. And picking the brand of the tablet is one of the most important decisions you will need to make.

Tier 1: Wacom

Wacom continues to make the highest quality and most reliable tablets. In general, Wacom has tghe best drawing experience. Their products are the most expensive. I consider Wacom to be the "safe choice". More here: my notes on Wacom

Tier 2: Huion, XP-Pen, and Xencelabs

Huion and XP-pen since about 2021 have been releasing decent devices and size 2023/2024 a couple very good ones that compete strongly with Wacom. In many ways they deliver 90% of what a typical person needs for about half the cost. They do trail Wacom in reliability and in customer support however. If you carefully research a tablet from these brands, you can find one that works for you. More here: My notes on Huion and XP-pen

Xencelabs (founded 2019) is a new brand focused only on professional tablets and have a very strong focus on customer support. more here: my notes on Xencelabs

Tier 3: Smaller brands

After Wacom, Huion, XP-Pen, there are many other brands that focus on budget or consumer tablets. All these brands the same technology as the Tier 2 brands. In fact they are even owned by the same companies. But have smaller portfolios, less responsive customer support, and smaller communities.

Tier 4: Everyone else

Avoid

Customer support

No brand's products are consistently perfect.

All brands will eventually ship a product that has defective units or that will have sporadic problems with their drivers, etc. So, at some point you will need help.

This is why you MUST choose a brand that:

  • Supports its customers well

  • Has enough other people using their tablets, so that you can get help from the community.

Online communities

Communities are where a people can learn and get help with drawing tablets. Depending on the brand there are different options. More here: Drawing tablet communities

Discussions

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