13" pen displays very popular, often representing great choices for beginners. In this document I compare some popular options in the market in 2023.
Huion Kamvas 13 (GS1331) - (user manual | product page | model year 2020)
XP-Pen Artist 13 GEN2 (CD130FH) - (user manual | product page | model year 2022)
Wacom One 2019 GEN1 (DTC-133)
These are very, very similar tablets. There is NO CLEAR winner - each has positives and negatives.
Huion Kamvas 13
slightly less pointer lag (GOOD)
slightly more more anti-glare sparkle
XP-Pen Artist 13 GEN2
a tiny bit more pointer lag
less anti-glare sparkle
Driver versions used
Huion: 15.6.2.80
XP-Pen: 3.4.0
Operating system of test machine
Huion: Windows 11
XP-Pen: Windows 10
Specs
The tables of specs come from the Huion and XP-Pen websites. For some specs, I did some testing to come up with the numbers.
Variances
Please remember that how tablets work can vary even with tablets that have the same model number. I cannot guarantee everyone will experience what I encountered.
Pen labeling
I used gaffer tape to identify the pens. Green = XP-PEN, Red=Huion.
X-Pen Artist 13 GEN2 - X3 ELITE
Huion Kamvas 13 - PW517
Wacom One 2019 GEN1 - CP-913
Accuracy in both tablets is very good for a pen display
In my testing
Both have similar center accuracy. I agree with their listed specs of ±0.5mm
Both have similar corner accuracy. I measured at ± 2mm
Both tablets have excellent diagonal wobble (i.e. very low amounts of diagonal wobble) with both slow and fast strokes.
XP-Pen Artist 13 GEN2 (CD130FH) wobble
Huion Kamvas 13 (GS1331) wobble:
Compare it to the most expensive pen tablet wacom makes the Wacom Intuos Pro Large (PTH-860):
Both the Huion and XP pen are on par with
Both tablets exhibit some anti-glare sparkle. Ideally tablets should exhibit no sparkle.
iPad -> no observable sparkle
Wacom Cintiq Pro -> very low sparkle
Wacom One -> low sparkle
XP-Pen Artist 13 (2nd gen) -> On the low end of moderate sparkle
Huion Kamvas 13 -> moderate sparkle
For both tablets you'll notice the sparkle if your eyes are close, at a normal drawing distance I don't notice it.
The XP-Pen tablet is clearly the winner over the Huion tablet for AG sparkle.
Both tablets handle these cases well
drawing lots of dots
drawing many small quick tiny low pressure lines - hatching
keeping pressure constant
moving between high and low pressure smoothly
Tapering - typical for every pen display I've seen.
Overall drawing experience is very good for both tablets.
Remember: Pressure is detected by the pen, not the tablet.
The lower bound on the pressure range is called the Initial Activation Force.
To test this I hung each pen from a string and dragged the tip of the pen across the surface. The goal is that the minimal weight for the pen will draw a continuous line. Here's how they ranked:
XP-Pen Artist 13 2nd Gen -> made no marks whatsoever
Huion Kamvas 13 -> half the time made a mark. if pen moves slowly mark is captured usually but if there the pen is moving a little faster the mark is not registered.
Wacom One -> about same as the Huion Kamvas 13
Wacom Intuos Pro Large (PTH-860) -> draws a continuous line
Huion Giano (G930L) -> draws a continuous line
Between the two, Huion is the clear winner with its lower IAF.
Both Huion and XP-pen models tested exhibit the typical pointer lag present with all pen displays. The lag is comparable to the Wacom One pen display (DTC-133).
Manufacturers don't publish lag numbers. So, this is subjective:
The Huion has about the same amount of lag as the Wacom One
The XP-Pen model has a bit more more lag than the Huion model
Both tables can be successfully used for creative applications. But Huion is the winner here over the XP-Pen model.
Thanks to their laminated displays both have very good parallax. They match that of Wacom One.
Below is a parallax photo for several pen tablet models. The XP-Pen parallax similar to the picture of the Wacom One and Huion model in the photo.
Both tablets come with a 3-in-1 cable.
The end that goes into the tablet is USB-C.
The other 3 ends are:
HDMI - connect to computer
USB-A for data - connect to computer
USB-A for power - this cable is colored red.
if your computer can provide enough power you can plug the cable into the computer
Or you can connect to a USB power adapter. Neither tablet comes with a USB power adapter.
For both tablets, I was able to use a single USB-C cable to connect them to the computer. More here: Connecting a pen display with one USB-C cable
