When it comes tablet supporting to all types of art, I guess wacom still beats them all.
I have the 13hd and can’t really say that it makes you draw faster... but I still recommend it regardless as it’s easy to get used to! Definitely worth the every penny!
Also I agree what everyone is saying here plus Wacom just provides the most updates. I’ve had at least 5 updates these pass 3 months alone which is pretty often!
@Chronitis Bamboo is a Wacom brand.
@Light per the pen pressure, I know sometimes there are conflicts between tablet, program, and OS, and one has to find plug-ins to work around them. I'm not upgrading to the newest Mac OS because of this (I tried and the pen recognition was waaay off so I restored my mac to an old save state, lol), I don't have the time to dig for solutions. Could it also have been the pen itself that was failing?
I had no idea what was wrong with it. It been a few years ago since I last touch a wacom. It could have been wire. Could have been drawing tablet itself. I check everything that was tech support even calling Wacom. Which the experience wise from them was terrible every time. Assuming since I had a kid voice (high pitch voice due to puberty) the tech support didn't take me seriously. The whole experience with tech support every time with them just sucked. I'm sure tech support had change but I'm not exactly egar to try even if I had another wacom tablet.
If I stay focused on just drawing and am having a good day, I feel like having a cintiq has definitely sped up my process a lot more. I think it's mainly because you can see where your hand is going so you don't have to hit ctrl-z as many times to get the lines juuust right. I normally only finished like 1 full-color thing in the past and it took me about an hour to do just a sketch of two characters with my intuos pro but with the cintiq I can hammer out a sketch in 20 minutes or less.
Only problem with the 13hd is that it's cable is extremely finicky. If you don't plan on moving it too much then that shouldn't be a problem, but replacement cables are hell to come by since they're practically sold out everywhere except for One Site (that isn't even wacom's). The stand is also pretty poor at doing its job so you'd have to buy a replacement to keep it up.
Wacom is just a very trusty brand for tablet in general. I used to have a $80 Wacom bamboo fun tablet and used it for a good 5-6 years before I decided to ditch out my saving money to a Cintiq 13HD. The bamboo is still useable, no issue at all beside some surface scratch, and my Cintiq 13HD has been worth every penny. It solves my dual screen problem and I feel like my lines have become sharper and smoother ever since I started using it.
I use A Wacom at work and that's where I was first introduced to it. It was love at first touch!! A Wacom Tablet with Clip Studio Paint Pro... do I need to say more? It simulates pencil, ink, paint, etc. on paper seamlessly! However, I still draw traditionally with red chalk on brown paper for my "FreeHand Fridays" series.
i have to admit, i still use my first ever drawing tablet (Wacom Intuos Manga... something) and it still works like brand new. tbh i much prefer just looking at Wacom tablets over others, because alot of others have an overwhelming amount of buttons while most wacom tablets if not all only have 4 buttons so it looks less intimidating to new artists. not to mention most artists seem to stay loyal to their tablet brand. my friends who use huion only use huion and me and others who use wacom only use wacom. i believe thats all it is, Wacom looks less intimidating and complicated (not to mention theyre always the first brand you see when you search quality tablets like you said) and then they stay loyal to Wacom because they rather stick to something theyre used to.
As far as Wacom's regular type tablets- I own 2. The 1st one I bought long ago(Graphire 3, 2004) & it still works; the 2nd one I bought about 3 yrs ago.
I stuck with Wacom(pen & touch CTH 680- right before they switched the design) on the 2nd go coz I didnt trust going with any other tablets. I'm planning on getting a screened tablet, and that is where I will experiment with something else(most likely, Huion GT 190)- I dont have $1000 or more to throw at a Wacom Cintiq(right now).
My very first tablet was a Trust tablet with an attached pen.
It was plain awful, it stopped working, the pressure sensitivity was absolute SHITE and omg, I was so mad at it.
I had it for a year before I got so mad that I threw it against a wall and jumped on it...
So I told my parents it broke because it was a terrible quality 8D
I was recommended a Bamboo Fun (a friend had one and I got to try it out and HOLY WOW it was the smoothest one i've ever had!).
Or at least compared to the old one.
So I got myself a Bamboo fun. I accidentally dropped a glass of water on it 8 years later and it stopped working. If I hadn't done that, it'd probably still be functional.
After that, I got myself and Intous pro M (intous 5) and it was seriously a good one, tho I missed the old Bamboo with the buttons on the top instead of having them to the side.
(I sold it later to a friend, and bought myself a Cintiq<3)
The reason for why everyone has been recommending the Wacom is because it's one of the leaders on the market with it's durable tablets and replaceable pens.
(LIKE SERIOUSLY, YOU CAN STILL GET YOURSELF A BAMBOO PEN IF YOU NEED ONE)
Huion seems to be sneaking up on Wacom, tho I've never tried it but I've heard some pretty good reviews about it.
But yeah: Quality that lasts, drivers that still updates even after 10+years and replaceable components.
This right here.
I have the same Intuos 3 and it lasted me over 10 years. (I bought it 2nd hand, so who knows how old it really is haha) Only recently I replaced it with a new tablet. Also wacom, yes yes.
I did try cheaper brands but it just didn't feel the same.
I didn't know anything about buying tablets when I started digital art and I went through some really bad tablets at first.
My first tablet was a gift and it was tiny, my 2nd was Genius that I bought myself, it broke after 2 years (or less) and my 3rd was Genius as well and i remember it being bigger and it laster less than a year, I bought it for around $200+ and it was money I saved up too and I was so frustrated when it broke because I didn't know why and how, it just stopped working.
When I went to buy a new one I just thought that I wanted a cheap tablet because they're going to break anyway and I ended up buying a Wacom intous (small), it was for around $80 and it has lasted with me for around 6 years now. The only problem I have with it is that it's still working really well that I don't have a reason to upgrade to a newer tablet lol.
imo wacom is a bit like the apple of tablets - they are really, really good tablets, but also have the industry by the short and curlies a little, and there are a lot of other good tablets for lower prices. personally, i love me a huion
@stnmaren 's story abt her huion is important to take into consideration, but also one broken tablet out of many huion tablets that dont go wrong. also, i remember following that experience on her social media, and there was a complication with amazon packaging the tablet terribly that coulda been the issue. either way, samsung's phones blew up en masse last year, but they still make some brilliant phones, right?
getting a wacom is a garuntee of high quality, but theyre not the only high quality tablets out there.
I've had 3 tablets, all Wacom, over the last 8 years. None of them ever broke (I gave 2 away and they were still working perfectly.) The first one was a Graphire and came in a bundle with Manga Studio Debut 3, which was the real reason for my buying it. The second was a Bamboo, also in bundle with Manga Studio 4. The last one, that I've been using for 1,5 years now, is an Intuos Pro Large.
I've looked at other tablets and thought about buying them, but I'd started with Wacom and it's like "the devil you know" (it's not that I've had many issues over the years, just some drivers being nasty, the tablets were all great).
My reasons for first buying/staying with Wacom were the longevity, the quality, my good first experience with the Graphire, definetely the brand's domination of the market (I'd only ever really noticed Huion about three or two years ago) and the bundles.
Why do a lot of Artists recommend Wacom?
Well.
Considering I've been using the same tablet model since I was 13 and it still works like new...
I don't know.
edit: something to keep in mind though: you don't HAVE to pay big bucks when buying Wacom products. My bamboo splash tablet was $80 and I've been able to do so much with it.
Don't fall for the marketing tactics (spend 2000 dollars you don't have on a pen display tablet), lower your stakes and you'll be fine.
