Roughly a month or so ago, I bought my first graphics display tablet. I shared about my initial thoughts on it here.

So, this is what it says on the tin, for a month, I have been using the XP-PEN Artist 22HD display tablet to rather great effect despite running into typical problems with tablets that make me think it’s perhaps my computer’s (I built my current PC in 2016 purely from scratch and well… It could have been done much better) USB problem rather than the actual tablet’s problem. I will go more into that later. Firstly…

The Pros

My productivity has been really high, and it shows, from the weekly posts I have been trying to upkeep on this blog, this is the most I have drawn/posted in public for years. I do not have the same headache problem I talked about here. I feel like I want to actually use the tablet and I feel like I get the appropriate tactile feedback while doing so.

Going from 512 pressure levels to 8k+ levels, to me I don’t really feel the difference but I think it exists, it’s just that I haven’t use the old tablet for so long that I don’t see or notice or feel the difference in a very obvious way. I kind of treat this display tablet as a fresh start so the extra levels are definitely welcomed regardless.

The Cons

There were definitely some cons when using this tablet that are all of a hardware problem nature than anything else. Involving weird workarounds or constant insert and reinserting the USB to resolve it that can affect your work flow for sure.

So, with the old Wacom Bamboo tablet the cursor instantly snaps to wherever the pen hovers respective to the screen, instantly. The XP-PEN Artist 22HD doesn’t at all, which made me think: “Oh, did it somehow disconnect.” turns out the weird workaround is pressing the pen against the screen long enough for it to register that you are using the tablet with the pen then you can start using it on the display tablet, and the cursor will then follow wherever the pen hovers as it should. This is one weird problem that might just be how the tablet is but its worth noting.

The other problem which involved inserting and reinserting the USB is that the cursor will be wrong, and by wrong I mean register on the wrong screen, the pen is on the graphics tablet but the cursor is moving on the main display, 1:1 ratio scale but wrong screen, this can even happen half way through using it by some weird glitch that makes the cursor suddenly jump and register on the main display rather than the actual graphics display you are using.

Having this happen halfway and having to unplug and plug in the tablet again gives workflow problems which are irritating and disruptive. Although I do believe that this can totally be my own PC’s problem like I mentioned because if I remember correctly, the previous tablet also liked to randomly disconnect and connect by itself and then after refuse to work.

It also seems that to make the tablet work the pen tablet driver must be open all the time, if not it just won’t take to working properly, which also seems weird to me but whatever works works.

Summary

At around I think it was 670SGD (Singapore Dollars) or lesser with free shipping, as a budget tablet, the Artist 22HD really still is good enough at least? Wacom is going to charge you 3-4 times that amount of the same size of tablet so unless you have a third kidney to sell, then you will be looking at other brands for graphic display tablets. I think the only real cons will start showing up a year from now (as the wires I use go through wear and tear) which gives me an excuse to write a one year later review.

If you don’t have huge hands and bad eyes like me, you can always try the smaller sizes first and see how that goes then when that spoils you can pivot towards a Wacom with hopefully enough money saved by then.

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Stay safe~!
JR