Overall

Overall it performs decently. No obvious problems

Design

The pen is a little "plastic-feeling" and does not have a premium feeling.

The nib retracts a little more than than more modern EMR pens. It doesn't impact drawing, but it some people may not like the more "spongy" feeling.

Max pressure

Max pressure is OK at around ~250gf with the unit I tested.

Pressure response

Overview

The Huion PW517 pen is one that comes many Huion tablets that use PenTech 3.0.

It seems (subjectively) to have around an IAF of around 3gf.

It's maximum pressure varies quite a bit depending on which unit your have.

Use the PW550 pen instead

If you have a tablet what is compatible with the PW517 pen, I strongly urge you to consider getting a PW550 pen which is also compatible but has generally a much better pressure range. my notes on the PW550 pen.

Pressure range measurements

Models

• PW600

• PW600S

• PW600L

Pen buttons

• PW600 has 3 buttons

• PW600S has 2 buttons

• PW600L has 3 buttons

Pen button feel - GOOD. the buttons on these pens have a nicer "crisper" clicking action than the buttons of the PW517 which feel a bit soft/mushy in comparison

Pen IAF - GOOD. Huion says 2gf for these pens. Seems accurate. A little more sensitive than the PW517 pen which is at about 3gf.

Pen maximum pressure -

VERY GOOD.

Huion states 500gf. I saw some variance a little bit of variance - not much. Overall the PW600 pens are very consistent.

Pressure response

PW600 series compatibility with older tablets - The new pens are NOT compatible with older Huion tablets.

Pen weight - I measured with a digital scale

• PW600 = 16g

• PW600S = 14g

• PW517 = 14g

Pen eraser

the PW600 and PW600S pens do have an eraser. I don't user erasers so don't have any particular comment on it.

The PW600L does NOT have an eraser.

Buttons

These pens have two buttons which is typical for an EMR pen.

Pressure testing notes

I tested four PW550 series pens on 2024/08/30

• 1x PW500S

• 4x PW550

Pressure: IAF

I'm not good at measuring IAF but each seemed to be around 3gf.

Pressure: max pressure (approximate)

3 of 4 of the my PW550 pens have GOOD or EXCELLENT max pressure. One outlier has an OK max pressure.

Pressure: Response curve

As is typical for EMR pens, these pens have a response that bows up. All 4 hit 50% at around 100gf.

So as I often recommend, you should consider a pressure curve to linearize this response so that you have more pressure control at the lower end of the physical pressure range.

Photos

PenTech

Huion uses the name "PenTech" for their EMR pen technology and even has version numbers to help it has evolved over the years. Much more here:

Notes

Huion pen models

Huion pen compatibility

Overview

Huion uses the name "PenTech" for their EMR pen technology and even has version numbers to help it has evolved over the years.

Much more here from Huion:

Huion PenTech history