Huion GT-220 Review

Let’s be honest, when we talk about graphics tablets or pen input devices one brand springs to mind. Wacom have held the monopoly on this type of hardware for years, and for good reason. The devices they produce are good quality and reliable, but can also be very expensive.I am guilty of falling into this category too, and in the past I have tried to leap from the Wacom bandwagon on occasion to try a more affordable option, only to go crawling back because the technology wasn`t up to scratch.

Huion are a brand I am not familiar with myself, and the GT-220 is the first of their devices I have had the opportunity to try. What I was hoping for was a painting and sculpting device with a crystal clear screen and responsive stylus, while also being a piece of hardware I could invest in without breaking the bank.

I am also a realist and the Huion GT-220, which is currently retailing at around £609 (on Amazon at the time of writing), is still expensive, but also nearly a thousand pounds cheaper than the closest Wacom model. So I wasn`t expecting the build quality, or its usability to blow me away.So with the Huion GT-220, is it a case of you get what you pay for? Read on to find out.

Unboxing

Taking the GT-220 out of the box I found it to be compact, light and solid. The 21.5 inch screen covers almost the whole front of the device with just a slim silver bevel around the sides, making for a cleaner, less cluttered design. Around the back you have the usual input sockets for HDMI, USB, VGA and DVI as well as a built in stand. The stand allows the monitor to be set into a number of different angles from standing almost vertically to pretty much flat on the desk.

Once you have the cables connected however you soon discover that you can`t actually go too low. With the sockets being at the lower back, and pointing down, the GT-220 ends up resting on the cables when at its lower positions, making it unsteady to work on.The power and menu buttons are located along the bottom of the monitor, which I found to be a strange decision. With the monitor in its vertical position it’s difficult to reach them, and if you tilt it forwards to access the stand or the rear, you inevitable end up turning it off.

With the GT-220 appearing so well crafted these design choices do let it down, yet they aren`t deal breakers, and with the device being so light you can easily work around them.

One more thing to note is the lack of any configurable buttons on the front of the device, so, if you’re like me and can`t live without access to the Control, Alt and Shift keys, then you will still need your keyboard handy.

Drivers & Software

Once the GT-220 is plugged in and your machine has been powered up its then time to install the drivers. Without them the device acts as a simple monitor and nothing else.

First, I urge you to download the latest drivers from the Huion web site. Since I got my hands on the GT-220 there have been numerous updates, and I am sure there will be more in the future. This is good step for Huion, to be on top of any issues and ready to supply support and fixes to the community quickly shows real commitment to their users.

I discovered quite a major issue early on, one which would affect 3D artists more than 2D, and within a day Huion had a firmware fix ready for me to test.

Back to the drivers and one issue I did have while installing was a popup box saying that the Wintab32.dll file couldn`t be updated. This is quite an important file to simply skip but after a while I worked out that the Autodesk Application Manager I had installed was locking it for some reason. Temporarily closing this application down solved the issue.

Once you’re installed you are ready to go and the stylus will then be recognised by the monitor. You also receive a set of simple utilities which allow you to customize the stylus and how it performs. These cover all the basics, like assigning different functions to the two buttons and adjusting sensitivity, as well as monitor calibration.

These tools are very basic and work more as global settings. Initially I did think I would like more options to play with, maybe even the ability to specify settings per application. In reality though this would be more important if the GT-220 had configurable buttons available to use, so I didn`t find the number of options too limiting.With that said, it would be nice to see more flexibility in future updates.

The Screen

When you first boot your machine with the GT-220 connected you will be amazed at the screen. It’s 1920 by 1080 pixel resolution is bright, colourful and sharp. If you’re used to using a Cintiq then you will be familiar with the faint grain on the screen, well you can rest assured that there is none of that here.As a monitor in its own right the GT-220 is excellent. The colours are punchy and the contrast spot on. Being glass based you do get the standard issues of smudges on the screen and also bad reflections when working in a well lit room, but again, like any device similar to this you learn to work around that.

The GT-220 in Use

With everything installed, setup and configured it was time to play and my first port of call was my current go-to sketching application, Mischief. The lines were clean, sharp and the 2048 levels of pressure came across beautifully.I then hopped over to Photoshop CS4, working on an A4 sized canvas. The lines here weren`t as clean, with most having a slight jaggedness to them. This is probably because Mischief is vector based so the lines in that application are cleaned as you work. I was slightly disappointed, but when I tried the same on my main machine, using a Cintiq and Photoshop CS6 the jagged lines were still present, although less so.Time to try 3D and I am happy to say that 3DCoat, ZBrush and Maya all worked very well, as expected.

The only issues I had while working were that the pressure sensitivity dropped occasionally when swapping between applications. The screen also got quite warm, but not unbearably so.

The Stylus

We can`t talk about a device like this without covering one of the most important areas, the stylus. When I initially removed it from the box, and realised it needed to be charged, my heart sank. I am used to working with a stylus where power isn`t even an issue, and I did worry that it would die on me mid stroke.

The good news is you simply charge it via USB, and the charge seems to last forever. I have used it for hours now and not had to worry. You simply get into the mind set of plugging it in while you’re not using it, like anything really.

The stylus itself is quite light, but fits nicely in your hand as you work. I found it to be comfortable as I worked, with the two main buttons feeling solid and responsive.I have heard comments about parallax being an issue but I haven`t suffered from this myself. Yes there is a notable distance between the pen tip and the cursor but this is due to the thickness of the glass, or the distance between the glass and the actual screen.

Should You Invest?

You can`t help but compare the Huion GT-220 with its closest rival, but in doing so I think you’re doing it a disservice. They are two different devices, in two vastly different price ranges, so you should judge it simply on its own performance.And that’s the problem. The majority of people I have spoken to are doing just that, they are tempted by the GT-220, but feel more secure with the popular, but more expensive brand simply because its a known entity.I think for me the question wouldn't be which is the best device, but would I feel comfortable using the GT-220 on a daily basis to do all my work - 2D, 3D, everything? Well I am happy to say a resounding yes!

The screen is gorgeous and the line quality is good, the pressure levels come across very nicely too. Yes there are slight issues with the pressure every now and then, but nothing major.

At the end of the day, anything you buy will have its quirks, and as you use it you learn to live with those small issues and even find a way to work around them. Even the Cintiq has its problems, so the fact the GT-220`s buttons are at the bottom, it rests on the cables when too low and it has no configurable buttons are tiny things when you look at the price.

Going back to the opening statement and I do feel in some ways you do get what you pay for, but in this instance the cheaper options isn`t the more inferior. Its a great device for the price and one you should seriously consider before you max out your credit card on the more well known brand.