Tag Archives: affordable graphics tablet

Huion Inspiroy Dial 2 Review: Is this your Dial of Destiny?

Huion dials up an unusual art tablet

See price and customer reviews

Type of tablet

Graphics tablet–no screen.

Digitizer: EMR

Pen: Battery-free PW517 pen

Nibs: 5 regular nibs and 5 felt nibs in penholder, plus nib in pen

Pen weight: 14 grams (.5 oz)]

Compatible with Windows 7 and above, MacOS 10.12 and above, Android 6.0 and above, Linux (ubuntu)

Connect via USB-C or Bluetooth

Bluetooth range: 5 to 10 meters depending on environment

10.5 x 6.5″ active area

Dimensions: 14″ x 8″ x .03″ (356.6 x 207 x 8mm)

Weight: 1.5 lbs

Pen ilt +/-60 degrees

Report rate: 300PPS

Battery capacity: 1300mAh

8192 levels of pressure sensitivity

Special feature: two dials that control shortcuts

Includes felt nibs

Purchase option of dual or single dial

Symmetrical design good for left- or right-handed. You can put the side with the dials and buttons on the right or left.

UNPACKING THE DIAL 2

The Huion Inspiroy Dial 2 came in a handsome white box with a photo on it, inside a protective outer cardboard box). The company kindly sent me a unit to test and write this Huion Inspiroy Dial 2 review. I have never tried the Dial 1.

The tablet is sturdy with a textured surface. The pen feels solid and rests comfortably on my hand.

The company says the battery lasts about 20 hours, but I have not tested this. If the tablet is connected via the USB-C then it’s obtaining power from your computer/phone, so then you don’t need to worry, as long as your computer/phone is charged.

Installing and setting up the driver

You can adjust the active area in this part of the driver

Installing the Inspiroy Dial 2 driver on the Mac seemed to go smoothly, but had some hiccups,

as it was still showing as disconnected. The instructions did not fix this but after contacting Huion support, who were easy to reach via email, I was able to get it working easily. It just required restarting the Bluetooth and going into Settings on the Mac.

Bluetooth is very handy since the current M2 Macs have taken away the USB port. Plus, it’s great to have one less cord. However, the USB-C comes in the package, so you don’t need to have Bluetooth.

Testing art programs on the Dial 2

Once getting going, I began to test some art programs. It’s easy to program shortcuts. I tried my go-tos– Photoshop, Krita, Inkscape, Gimp, and Clip Studio Paint.

I got the best results in Photoshop and Clip Studio, where all the shortcuts work. With the others, I had some issues with the scrolling and pan/zoom though all the other commands I tried worked. With Clip Studio I did experience some lag with Bluetooth, as in, if I pressed down and lifted the pen, sometimes the paint area would keep going. When connected with the USB-When connected with the USB-C, I did not get any lag at all.

With the dials, you click (it’s a satisfying click) on the large button then turn the dial to adjust to the function’s value. You can use the default premade functions for all programs, or program to each art application.

To get granular control, you can set keystrokes to any command you want, as well as increase the quantity by setting one key to Quick Menu. An on-screen menu will pop up allowing you to program 6 more commands. You can do this with each of the 6 small analogue keys, adding 36 extra commands.

Controls for the Dial 2

The dials each let you program one command, and Quick Menu is not on the list. Turning the dial lets you scroll through the program’s values–for instance, cycle through a brush menu, or zoom in or out. You get haptic feedback, so you know when you’re turning the dial.

You can set custom shortcuts for each art program, both for the buttons and dials, and in the pen. The pen also has QuickMode, expanding the customization options. As the pen has two buttons, you get a total of 12 programmable settings per app if you use QuickMenu, and two if you don’t.

I did get a short “tablet disconnected” message while switching programs, but it only lasted a few seconds.

The driver also lets you set the pressure sensitivity and see a live preview.

On Windows

In Windows, the tablet worked well, though I could not always get scrolling and pan/zoom with the dial. Krita worked the best on those. In PS, I could get brush size and zoom with the dial. If you’re having trouble programming in separate art programs, Huion has this helpful post.

Drawing on the Inspiroy Dial 2

A hasty peach done in Clip Studio Paint using Bluetooth

The generous size makes it easy to draw and the surface is really comfortable to draw on. It’s not beaded but has a grip. It naturally isn’t completely silent while drawing. It’s got a nice feeling, and the tablet doesn’t rattle. The pressure works very well without skips or blobs.

So is this Huion tablet your Dial of Destiny? Perhaps. If you want something simpler and don’t feel you need the bells and whistles, there are optionsHuion Inspiroy H1060P review. In short, the Huion Inspiroy Dial 2 is great for drawing, photo editing gaming. Though I had a few hiccups in the beginning, they were minor. With all the buttons and dials, it may seem a little intimidating for beginners, but it’s really quite straightforward. The Bluetooth and the 8196 levels of pressure make this a competitor to the Intuos Pro Medium, and suitable for a student or professional illustrator or designer.

See the Inspiroy Dial 2 on Amazon

end of Huion Inspiroy Dial 2 review

Ugee S640 review: small but powerful graphics tablet

Ugee S640 graphics tablet review: small but packs a punch

Ugee S640 review

The Ugee S640 graphics tablet is by Hanvon Ugee. Ugee began in China 1998, as did Hanvon, and the two companies merged in 2017. The company also includes XPPen. Hanvon Ugee holds 91 patents.

Disclosure: Ugee sent me an S640 tablet to test and review.

The S640 is a wired graphics tablet with no screen. If you’re looking for something similar to the Wacom Intuos small, the Ugee S640 is one to consider. The features are close to being on par with the pricy Intuos.

The Ugee S640 lets you customize the pen to your own shortcuts. It has as many pressure levels as the most advanced tablets, which is 8192. The Ugee site has free downloadable drivers for Windows, Mac, and Android, so you could use with either with a computer or a mobile device. Drivers for Linux, Debian, and more are also on the site.

Besides being able to fully customize the pen buttons, you can customize 10 buttons to shortcut commands. You can customize on a per-app basis.

See the Ugee S640 on the Ugee site

See the Ugee S640 on Amazon

See more of our Ugee reviews

Type of tablet:

Graphics tablet (no screen)
-Must be connected via an included cord to computer or Android device
-Works with Windows 7/8/10, Mac (10.10 or higher), Linux, Android 6.0 and above
-Pen, not pen and touch (can’t use finger touch on it, only the stylus)

Type of digitzer: EMR
Pressure levels: 8,192
Customizable shortcut keys: 10
Highly customizable pen buttons
Tilt +-60 degrees
Tablet can be rotated using driver to 0, 90, 180, 270 degrees
Battery-free, lightweight stylus pen
Size : 215.3 x 162.53 x 12.06 mm
Active area 6.3″ x 4″

Pen weight: 11g

Resolution 5080 LPI

Report rate: up to 220 RPS
Accuracy ±0.4mm
Reading Height: up to 10 mm

What’s in the Box

Tablet
Pen
10 extra nibs
pen clipper
USB cable (L-shaped_)
USB to Micro USB adapter
USB to USB-C adapter
Quick guide
Warranty card

The Ugee shipped in a brown cardboard with cute line graphics. The items inside are sealed in plastic bags. It was packed carefully and everything needed is in there. You can download the latest drivers off the Ugee site; no disk is included.

The L-shaped connector is a nice feature as it makes it harder to stress the cord, and the tablet has a place you can attach a lanyard if you want to add a lock or some kind of accessory. The pen does not have a built-in opening to attach a lanyard.

Ugee S640 drawing tablet with included pen

The tablet is rectangular and in a landscape format, not square like the small Wacom Intuos. The Ugee has a heft to it; it’s not flimsy or lightweight. The included mini-USB fit snugly. You connect the USB to your computer and the mini USB to the tablet.

The tablet has ten physical programmable buttons on top. They’re a generous size. They make an audible click. They’re not hard to press, but have a bit of firmness, which might stop you from pressing them by accident.

The surface is pretty smooth but has some matte finish. There’s a soft pen loop attached to the upper right of the device.

The active area is bounded by small rectangles.

It did pick up some fingerprints, so I suggest keeping hands off it or wearing a glove to keep the oils from your hands off it. I have no evidence that these oils cause any harm, but I think if they build it up it could cause slickness.

Anti-slip strips

The bottom has two long, narrow rubber strips to stop sliding. Most tablets have four rubber squares, so this is more generous with the amount of rubber. The strips go along the full length of the part that fits on the table; the footprint goes beyond that with the sides curving upward. The corners are rounded.

Back of the Ugee has two anti-slip rubber strips.

There’s no wireless option. The co. also has released a version of this, the S640W, that has a wireless option, as well as a similar, larger tablet, the S1060 and S1060W (the W is for Wireless).

Pen Loop

The fabric pen loop is sturdy and the pen fits well (in some tablets, the loop is too tight-fitting). It would be nice if the pen loop were not on the same side as the mini-USB port, because it makes it so you can’t lay the pen flat across the tablet when the tablet is connected. But you still can put it into the loop.

I’m guessing the pen loop is on top and not on the side because if it were on the side, the pen then be longer than the tablet, making it a little harder to carry around. It also would look a little weird on the bottom but that could be a better solution.

If you want a pen loop on the side, you can simply buy some portable pen loops that have sticky backs and adhere one to the back of the tablet. I use these pen loops when needed, though I’m going to use the built-in loop on the S640.

Portability

The S640 is easy to carry and would fit into a backpack or even a purse.

For lefties

It’s fine for left- and right-handed use, as you can map the tablet to the orientation you want.

Pen

The batteryless, cordless pen is made of plastic and is light at 11g.

The Ugee pen is batteryless and cordless.

The Ugee has a small, bright white indicator light that lights up when you connect it to the computer and when the pen is in contact with the surface.

You can customize the pen button as you wish, which is not the case with all affordable tablets.

Art Programs

I did basic pressure tests on Mac on Photoshop, Illustrator, Inkscape, and Clip Studio Paint. The Ugee pressure worked well on all of these. I was really impressed with how it got pressure on Inkscape. I did have some issues with Gimp on Mac, which is buggy anyway, so I don’t think it had to do with the tablet.

In Illustrator on Mac, at first I could not get the pressure option to show up in the options panel for the pens that get pressure. After trying a few things, I learned I had to download the Wacom drivers off the Wacom site, and voila, the pressure option showed up and it worked fine. In Illustrator for Windows, the pressure options work out of the box, as Windows may already have some built-in drivers that enable it.

Drawing on the Ugee

In Windows, I tested Illustrator, Krita, Adobe Sketchbook, Paint Tool Sai, Photoshop, and Inkscape, and had no issues, all worked great.

The drawing experience is smooth and solid, with no jitter. While we do recommend a larger tablet, such as medium size, for professional illustration and fine art, a small one is fine for small drawings, photo editing, graphics, OSU, and more. Or you may just want to replace your mouse and mouse pad with something that does a bit more. Customizing your buttons and pen can really speed up your workflow, and a pen offers easier control than a mouse when you’re doing things like lassoing.

https://youtu.be/gxeF97pnuOg

If you want a larger, similar tablet, Ugee also offer the S1060 model.

Driver

The driver installed really easily on Windows and Mac, to my relief. In the olden days I was often struggling with installation, but this was a breeze. I was careful to delete old tablet drivers I had installed before installing this one, and of course I had to allow the driver in the Mac System preferences Security and Privacy/Accessibility panel.

The driver lets you customize the pen and the ten Express Keys, both to presets and your own customization. You can customize the pen buttons however you like. You can also add software programs to set the customizations to each program if you like. So, it’s pretty similar to the Intuos.

You also have control over tilt.

S640 vs. Wacom Intuos

-S640 pen is lighter
-no wireless option for S640
-art software is not included with the Ugee
-Ugee is landscape format

-has similar customization options to Wacom, including per-app
-more affordable

Pros:
-driver easy to install
-highly customizable
-good build quality

Cons:
-no wireless option with the S640, though you can get the S640W for that
-pen loop too close to charging port

The Verdict

In short, I’m really happy with the Ugee S640 in the small tablet category. The driver installs smoothly, there’s tons of customization options, the table works with a wide variety of art programs (there are more listed on the Ugee page), it’s got a solid build, and it’s portable. You can use it for art, design, photo editing, OSU, and more. If you’re looking for a small graphics tablet that’s affordable, versatile, and has a smooth-installing driver, you should consider this one.

See the Ugee S640 on Amazon

See the Ugee S640 on the Ugee site

end of Ugee S640 review

Huion 610Pro v2 review: low-cost graphics tablet with tilt

Huion H610Pro v2 review: a sequel worth the ticket

Update: I’ve just published a review of the newer Huion Inspiroy H610x.

This Huion 610Pro v2 review (also called H610Pro v2) covers the second generation of the popular and affordable Huion 610Pro. There have been several versions in between, each one upping the functionality of the driver while the hardware stays the same.

Could the H610 Pro v2 finally deliver all the features you want at a truly affordable price? Well, this model boasts a battery-free, cordless pen that lets you fully customize the buttons, 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity, 24 express keys, and tilt/angle detection. It doesn’t have touch, but other than that it’s got all the most important features of the Intuos Pro (yes, the Intuos Pro, not the plain old Intuos). Scroll down for a more detailed comparison. I was able to test several art programs on Mac and PC on the Huion. To find out how that went, read on.

Type of tablet

Graphics tablet, non-screen. You will need a Mac or PC (desktop or laptop) to connect it to. Works with Mac and Windows only.

Digitizer: EMR

Needs Windows 7 or later or Mac 10.12 or later.

Features

10″ x 6.25″ active area

8192 pressure levels

Battery-free, cordless pen

Tilt sensitivity +/-60 degrees

8 External hotkeys and 16 softkeys, all customizable

Pen has two buttons, fully customizable

Materials: black plastic exterior, rubber mat feet

Accuracy +/- 0.3mm

Report rate (PPS) 233

Lines per inch (LPI) 5080

Reading Distance: 10mm

Tablet weight: 22.4 oz. (635g)

Pen weight: .49 oz. (14g)

Size including inactive area: 13.9″ x 9.6″ (353 x 245 mm)

The bezel adds about 2″ on each side of the active area.

What’s in the box?

The Huion H610 Pro v2 and accessories. Photo by Tablets for Artists

Tablet

Pen

Pen stand that includes 8 extra nibs inside (total 9 nibs, including the one that comes in the pen)

The pen stand can also be used to remove nibs

mini-USB cable

Quickstart guide

Anti-smudge glove

The tablet, which Gearbest sent me to write this H610Pro v2 review (click to see it there), came well packed in a sturdy and attractive printed box that says Inspiroy, which is the product line the tablet is part of. You don’t see the word Inspiroy a whole lot other than on the box.

It has 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity, matching Wacom’s maximum levels. Not only that, but the v2 offers tilt/angle sensitivity and a cordless, battery-free pen. The old 610Pro had a corded pen.

Tilt sensitivity means that your drawn line will change according to the angle at which you draw at, making your line more natural-looking.

The tilt range is -60 to +60 degrees, same as the Intuos Pro.

For Lefties

In the driver you can easily set up left-handed use.

Portability

At a lightweight 22 oz., it’s very portable and would fit into a largish backpack or briefcase. On a plane, it’s OK to bring it on board or place it in checked luggage. Leave the battery in the device.

Build quality

The Huion is lightweight and made of black plastic, with a thickness of roughly over a half inch at the highest part. It has a curved design. It’s sturdy, nothing loose or rattling. It has 6 round hotkeys on the outside as well as a dial that has two hotkeys (the dial is not a touch ring). The dial has two curved buttons that also press easily. The bottom has four soft rubber feet that add very little height.

The softkeys are along the top of the active area (or the bottom, depending how you have the tablet set up). You can see the softkeys faintly on the tablet; they don’t light up when used. The press keys and softkeys both function the same as ways to use shortcuts such as backspace, option click etc. They are totally optional to use.

The buttons and dial are shiny and the rest of the tablet is matte. Fingerprints don’t stick to the active area too much.

The drawing surface is smooth but not slippery. It doesn’t have a toothed texture.

While it’s plastic, it’s still sturdy, so I won’t take any points off for that in this Huion 610Pro v2 review.

Driver

The 610Pro v2 driver’s About page

Installing the driver on both Mac and PC was easy as long as you follow the instructions and are ready with the Mac Mojave issue if you have Mojave.

You have to download the driver from the Huion site; there’s no included CD. There are two Huion sites, huion.com and huiontablet.com; either is fine.

You will need to remove all other tablet drivers including Huion ones. You don’t need to remove native Windows ones. If you have a tablet PC, this will work with it. Don’t remove the tablet drivers that come installed on the tablet PC.

You may or may not need to install the Huion driver under Administrator depending on your computer settings.

There’s no on or off switch. Once the tablet is connected via the mini-USB, the driver will show the words Device Connected. A green indicator light will go on when the pen touches the surface.

Mac Mojave and Huion 610Pro v2

If you can’t install the driver on your Mac that has Mojave, you need to take some simple steps which are described on the Huion site here:

https://www.huiontablet.com/mojave.html

Other potential Mac issue:

If you still have problems, sometimes with Macs you need to reset the USB ports. Here’s how:

http://osxdaily.com/2015/08/09/mac-usb-ports-not-working-fix/

Customizing the driver

Driver panel to customize shortcut keys on the v2

You can configure the pressure curve, test pressure, and map the screen you want to use; change to a left-handed setup, and set up multi-monitor use in the driver.

The driver has preprogrammed functions for popular shortcuts but you can also customize them to whatever you want. You get a total of 24 customizable buttons, including 16 softkeys which are visible along the top (or bottom, depending how you have the tablet set up).

To customize the buttons and softkeys, click on the buttons in the driver, then click on the bar in the center of the image.

Unfortunately, the softkeys do not light up and are hard to see. They are there to speed up workflow and are completely optional to use. But if you rely on them, the low visibility could be annoying. You could do something like write them down on a piece of white tape and tape that to the surface if you’re up for a DIY solution.

Unlike with Wacom drivers, you can’t save different shortcuts to specific art programs.

In the driver you can also customize the pen buttons to do much more than just erase and undo, which is not common at all with affordable tablets. The pen has one button, which toggles.

Pen

The Huion 610 Pro v2 stylus pen needs no charging.

The pen is very lightweight at around a half ounce (14 grams) and feels hollow. Some may find it too light; you don’t get that feeling of balance and heft with a light pen. But it doesn’t add strain when drawing for hours. The pen has a tapered barrel. It does not take a battery nor need to be charged (the old Huion had a pen that had to be charged).

The pen stand is cleverly designed to hold 8 included extra nibs and the little hole is a nib remover. The stand is small and vertical and doesn’t take up much space.

The pen buttons are also fully customizable, which is unusual in a Wacom alternative tablet. Using the pen buttons as an eraser to to undo is convenient, or you can use them for other shortcuts as well. The pen buttons are placed in a way that’s easy to reach.

Art Program testing

To make this HuionH610 Pro v2 review complete, I tested it with several popular art programs on Mac and PC.

Testing on PC

Photoshop, Sketchbook Pro, Clip Studio, and Krita worked beautifully. Krita is especially sensitive with little pressure needed to get a thick to thin line (that is using the default pressure setting). Fresh Paint, which is a Windows app, works fine.

Gimp and Sai worked great as long as Windows Ink is unchecked. I had trouble installing the latest Gimp on my PC and had to use an earlier version.

Remember that these programs have various settings that need to be enabled for tablets and pressure to work.

Testing on Mac

Photoshop, Sketchbook Pro, and Clip Studio Paint work great. Pressure sensitivity worked fine in vector layers in Clip Studio Paint (haven’t tried on Windows). The tablet works fine with Inkscape as well.

Note that you won’t be able to get pressure in Adobe Illustrator’s pressure-sensitive brushes; only Wacom offers that for now, so if you want pressure in vector, use Clip Studio, though file types that can be exported are limited.

Not as good: Krita and Gimp in their latest versions really don’t work that well on the latest on Mac Mojave. While the tablet worked with them, these programs are difficult to install and generally have issues on Mac. In Krita, I’d sometimes get a reading height issue where the pen would make lines without touching the tablet. Earlier versions may work better.

The H610 Pro v2 should work with other programs as well, including Corel Paint, Medibang, and ZBrush; I didn’t test those, but others have.

There were some hiccups at times, such as loss of connectivity, but simply quickly disconnecting then reconnecting the USB (either side of it) fixed this. At times the pen would take a moment to start producing a line. These seemed to happen more on the PC.

Drawing on the Huion H610Pro v2

Compared to Wacom there is a slight difference in feel; the Wacom feels more fluid, the Huion more springy.

Photoshop and Sketchbook are my go-to programs, so I was very pleased with the performance of the pen and tablet. There’s a smooth, blob-free widening of lines with pressure, no skips or jitter.

Support

Huion offers a one-year guarantee. They respond to emails (on the Chinese time zone, so it’s at night if you’re in the U.S.) and also can be contacted on Skype and phone; the info is on their sites. They also answer questions in several places online. There are also discussions and forums around the Web to seek answers, and I’ve posted some hopefully helpful tips in this v2 review.

User reviews and reactions

Huion 610Pro v2 reviews by users are mostly positive from what I’ve seen. The chargeless pen is a big improvement over the 610Pro, and the drivers seem easier to install. Many are lauding the tablet’s affordability and comparable functions to the Wacom Intuos Pro.

Huion 610Pro v2 vs. Wacom Intuos Pro

With the Huion, you get the same 8192 levels and you get tilt sensitivity of +/- 60 degrees, same as the Intuos. You get customizable keys including fully customizable pen buttons. The drawing area of 10” x 6.25” comes to 62.5 sq in., a little larger in square inches than the current Wacom Intuos Pro Medium, which is 8.7 x 5.8” ,or 50.46 sq. in.

The Huion has no multitouch so you can’t use touch functions or finger paint. You don’t get bundled art programs, nor are there different types of pen nibs or pens. The Huion pen doesn’t have an eraser end. There’s no wireless option.

There are also no accessories that Wacom offers that are sold separately, such as texture sheets and the Paper Clip, which lets you attach paper (though you can go ahead and put paper on top of the Huion). The Huion doesn’t have a touch ring; the dial on the Huion is more part of the design, housing two Express Keys.

There’s no on-screen radial menu (instead, there are the softkeys). You also can’t save customized driver settings to specific art programs.

The Huion exterior is all plastic with no metal parts. and the Intuos Pro uses some anodized aluminum.

The Intuos, which is the entry level non-Pro Wacom drawing tablet, has 4096 levels and no touch or tilt. So the 610Pro v2 has more in common with the Intuos Pro, though has the lack of touch in common with the non-pro Intuos. The drawing surface on the Huion is smoother than either kind of Intuos.

Pros

Affordability

Battery-free, cordless pen

Ease of use–intuitive

8192 pressure levels

Tilt sensitivity

24 fully customizable Express Keys

Fully customizable pen buttons

Nice packaging

Lightweight, portable

Cons

Some people report driver glitches

Difficult to see the softkeys

No touch function

No Wacom type of accessories such as different types of nibs, texture sheets, or Paper Clip

Lacks a wireless option

Not a lot of documentation

Driver compatibility: what’s with all those Huion 610s?

Some Huion drivers are cross-compatible. If you’ve got the Huion610Pro (8192) that’s not the v2, you can use this v2 driver on that one but not on the earlier ones. Here’s some info:

There are 4 different models of the 610 series. Those are:

H610(2048), H610PRO(2048), H610 PRO(8192), H610PRO V2(8192)

H610(2048) and H610PRO(2048) can both use the same driver (note: meaning the driver for

those, not the v2).

H610PRO (8192) and H610PRO V2(8192) can both use the same driver.

H610(2048) and H610PRO(2048) are not compatible with the V2 driver.

Huion 610Pro v2 review VERDICT

This really is a bargain and a BIG step forward in the affordable drawing tablet category, so this Huion610 Pro v2 review is a thumb’s up. I had fewer driver problems than I’ve had with some of the others, and the battery-free, cordless pen is a major improvement.

There were a few minor glitches, but for the price, this gives you the creative power of the Wacom Intuos Pro. The generous size is great for drawing, not too small or too big. It’s easy to fit in a medium-sized backpack or bag and is lightweight. Ideal for artists, photographers, students, and OSU players, the v2 could be a starter graphics tablet, an extra, or your sole drawing tablet.

See it on Amazon

See it on Gearbest

end of Huion610 Pro v2 review

Veikk S640 review: ultrathin graphics tablet

7 Replies

Last updated Monday, June 25, 2018

Veikk S640 review: ultrathin, affordable graphics tablet

I did this full Veikk S640 review using a unit I received at no cost for testing. The Veikk S640 is a small, very thin, small, affordable, lightweight graphics tablet that you can use as an alternative to the Wacom Intuos. It has a high number of pressure levels (8192), equivalent to the maximum of any tablet as of this writing.

Type of tablet

Graphics tablet, no screen, works with Mac and Windows

You have to connect this tablet to a computer to use it.

Digitizer:

EMR, 8,192 levels of pressure

What’s in the Box

Tablet, pen, pen sleeve, nib remover, extra nibs, instruction manual, driver reminder, USB cable

Unboxing the Veikk S640 tablet

Veikk-in-the-box.

The Veikk tablet comes in a nice-looking package that’s easy to open. Instead of a CD, there’s a cardboard disc that tells you where to download the latest CD. The tablet is also sleek and even stylish. It’s thin and light. The pen also has an attractive design with gray barrel and comes with a nice felt case.

The default active area is rectangular and maps to the whole screen.

Here’s what you get

The Veikk has a thicker part that would hold the battery inside and stop the pen from rolling off.

The pen is lightweight and not the standard pen that comes with inexpensive tablets; its barrel is one I haven’t seen before. It’s comfortable to hold.

There was a bit of squeak at first when I used the pen but a few quick rubs of the tablet with my (clean) hands were enough to stop the squeak. The oils from one’s hands fix the new-tablet squeak problem.

The VEIKK logo also has good design. The quality of packaging, and design, makes this tablet a nice inexpensive gift idea.

Features

The tablet is small and black, made of plastic with gray lines indicating the active area. The tablet does not have any external buttons or shortcut keys. It has a blue LED indicator light that lights up when you’re using it. The pen is batteryless. The tablet is very thin and light.

Size: 6″ x 4″

Thickness: 2 mm (less than 1/10 of an inch) at the tablet part, and the side bar is about 3/8 inch thick.

Weight: 174g (6.1 oz.)

Works with: Windows XP/Vista 10/8/7, Mac 10.8 or above

Connects via USB; cable included. No further power source is needed.

Resolution: 5080 LPI;
Report rate: 230 pps
Reading height: 10 cm

Portability

You could easily carry this in a backpack, handbag, or any small carrier. It’s very lightweight, at a mere 6.1 ounces.

For Lefties

There’s a setting in the driver for right- or left-handed use. The raised bar would go on one or the other side.

Setting up the Veikk S640

Veikk driver

Clicking on the “Drivers for Mac” link gets you the correct driver, one that’s shared with Veikk’s other tablets.

It was easy to install onto the Mac, and Windows.You can choose Pen or Mouse.You can customize the pen buttons to right-click or erase, and adjust the pressure settings. You can change the screen mapping settings to All, or specify exact dimensions. There aren’t any keyboard shortcuts. There’s no touch, either.

Drawing on the Veikk

Veikk’s ultrathin tablet with pen

You can easily put the tablet on your lap, where it balances well, or on a table even if you don’t have much space. Or can rest it on your laptop keyboard.

The tablet surface is smooth; so if you like texture this may not be for you. It’s not slippery, though, like glass screens; the pen glides rather than slips. The smooth top should make the pen nibs last longer.

The pen comes mapped to full screen; I didn’t have to calibrate.

The pen weighs 12g (4.2 oz.) is comfortable to hold. It’s also not so light that it feels flyaway, and not so heavy (talking to you, Apple Pencil) that it tires the hand. The length helps it balance. It’s not a stubby stylus, but a full-length pen. The buttons are easy to reach and I didn’t experience issues with accidental clicks. The hover distance is listed as 10 cm.

You need to apply a little bit of hand pressure to use the pen, more initial activation force than with a Wacom pen, but not enough for it to feel tiring. (do more testing of curve). I didn’t get any blobs or jitter. The weight needed to get a line varied among programs but was never a problem.

Testing art programs

Veikk, Photoshop (Mac)

Mac: It works great in Sketchbook, Photoshop, and Clip Studio Paint. In Gimp, I got less variation in line width.

The tablet worked with Krita, but I was not able to get pressure sensitivity in Krita despite the pressure settings being on.

Windows: The pressure worked great and the performance was smooth in Sketchbook, Photoshop, and Clip Studio Paint. I could not get it to work with SAI but SAI has issues with tablets in general. Could not get pressure in Krita.

In Windows, you will need to check the checkbox in the driver to enable Windows Ink.

Gimp and Krita are both free, open-source programs but don’t seem to work terribly well with this tablet. Luckily, the full version of Autodesk Sketchbook, which is non-open source and once required a paid subscription, is now free, you just need an account. Sketchbook works well with the Veikk.

Note: I reported the Krita and Gimp issues to the company and they are working on fixing these.

The company says it works with Flash and Animate.

OSU gaming

OSU is a game played where it’s advantageous to use a pen tablet instead of a game console. You have to click on buttons that create a musical beatmap. While the driver tablet doesn’t have specific settings for OSU, it’s a good size and weight for it and has excellent accuracy. There’s no learning curve or need to be an artist. It’s certainly a good tablet for OSU and the company promotes its use for this game.

Pros

Inexpensive
lightweight
portable
works well
nice design
highest available pressure sensitivity (8,192 levels)
simplicity and ease of use
works with Flash and Animate (company says; I did not test these)

Cons

No touch
no Express Keys
not big enough for most artists to use as a sole drawing tablet
did not get pressure in some of the programs I tested

Veikk S640 review verdict

This Veikk S640 review is a thumb’s-up if you want a very portable drawing tablet. The value and portability are great and it has the maximum levels of pressure of any tablet. It offers smooth performance and easy installation. Its size is something like a signature pad. It’s simple to set up and use.

The high quality of the design and packaging makes it a suitable gift. Because of its size it’s not going to replace a main drawing tablet for most artists, but if you’re going on a trip or just want something that doesn’t take up much space it’s a great little companion. While it’s not the biggest or most ambitious tablet, it does what it does very well.

See it on Amazon US

See it on Amazon UK

end of Veikk S640 review