In the world of drawing tablets for artists on a strict budget, Huion H610 PRO is an underdog that wins every time.
It’s sometimes hard to forget that Wacom is not the only company producing drawing tablets.
Wacom is clearly a bigger brand, but it means that they’re the most expensive.
Is the affordable and reliable Huion H610 Pro is the drawing tablet you’re looking for? Let’s find out.
So you might imagine what was my first reaction when I heard about Huion tablets. “A Chinese brand trying to dethrone Wacom? Yeah, right.”
But it became exactly that. Huion H610 PRO dethroned the king.
When I decided to buy Huion H610 Pro, I was expecting a simple drawing tablet that I could “settle” with.
Huion H610 Pro turned out to be a nearly perfect marriage of affordable price and build quality, which many other manufacturers struggle to achieve.
So let’s get down to it.
Table of Reasons – Huion H610 PRO
Huion H610 Pro Price: A great solution for people on a tight, and even a very tight budget.
The price of Huion H610 Pro is, without a doubt, its strongest point. When I first saw it, I thought it was some special promotion.
But no. Turns out, Huion H610 Pro really does retail for only $76.99. Well below $100!
What’s more, is that they didn’t cut many corners – at least not in terms of the tablet’s functionality. It’s got pretty much everything an artist or retoucher would need.
Of course, Huion H610 Pro can’t compete with mid-range tablets…
…but it gives any other entry-level tablet a run for their money.
So, what do you get in return for $76.99?
Huion H610 Pro comes packaged with a stylus, USB cord, stylus holder, 4 extra pen nibs and a nib removal tool.
It has no programs bundled with it, and that’s probably why the price is so low.
There are plenty of free (or paid) software you can find online.
Huion H610 Pro Graphic Drawing Tablet: What every artist needs – a large drawing area, easy to carry around.
Compared to many other drawing tablets, Huion H610 Pro is quite thin, which speaks in favor of its portability. The tablet comes only in black, and I think it pulls it off really well.
If you’ve seen the Intuos Pro, Huion H610 Pro may look familiar to you.
In terms of build quality, Huion H610 Pro understandably loses to its more expensive counterpart, though it is only slightly smaller than Intuos Pro Medium (but significantly larger than the Intuos small graphic drawing tablet).
And the size of Huion H610 Pro is its another advantage over other tablets.
The drawing area is 10 in x 6.25 in, which is somewhere between A4 and A5 paper formats. It is designed for widescreen monitors.
If you keep the price of Huion H610 Pro in mind, it can feel a bit weird working on such a large area. Most commonly, cheap tablets are small – that’s how they cut the production costs, after all.
To get a great tablet of this size for much less than a hundred dollars is a bargain.
The Wacom Intuos Pro, as well as the medium-sized Wacom Intuos Draw, are the same size.
…But the cost difference is $100+ and you’re reaching the $200 territory.
The surface of Huion H610 Pro feels close to Wacom Intuos line, perhaps a bit more slippery. It doesn’t resemble paper as much as Intuos does, but the surface still feels good to glide your pen on. There is a nice tactile feel to it.
There are four rubber feet at the back, so you won’t scratch your table if you’re moving the tablet around.
The Huion H610 Pro graphics drawing tablet has an extensive set of shortcut buttons located on the left side of the tablet. There are 8 customizable buttons, which by default access the most common Photoshop tools.
These include:
- Undo
- Erase
- Brush
- Zoom in
- Zoom out
- Enlarge brush size
- Decrease brush size
- Grab
Zoom-in and zoom-out functions are set in a nice-looking pattern that some people have compared to yin yang. Personally, I see a Pepsi logo.
Whatever you call it, it is a cool little piece of design, and it makes the overall look of the tablet slick and elegant.
Each shortcut button has an icon that corresponds to its default function. Also, there are always ways to reassign the buttons.
The buttons may feel a bit plasticky, but I think it’s great overall, since it prevents you from clicking on them by accident. Plus, they have a firm feedback, which I’m a big fan of.
Apart from 8 shortcut buttons, Huion H610 Pro has 16 additional soft keys above the drawing surface. They are customizable as well, and you can key in any combination you want.
These soft keys can be turned off, but it’s better to leave them on, since you’re not going to click on them by mistake (at least I didn’t.)
As long as you stay within the drawing area of Huion H610 Pro, you’re good.
So, that brings us to 24 buttons total. That’s more than most entry-level tablets offer, and way more than your average beginner would need.
Most pros would probably not need so many buttons either, but it’s good that the Huion team decided to err on the side of overabundance.
After all, it’s better to have buttons you never use, than have a tiny amount of buttons that you have to switch around all the time. Especially considering there’s so much space.
Huion H610 Pro Pen: Well-designed, with extended capabilities. My expectations met and exceeded.
Huion H610 Pro comes with a P80 pen. The pen is lightweight, and despite my preference for heavier pens, I quite like it.
It feels good to hold it in your hand. It has a soft-touch plastic coating that resembles rubber and provides a firm grip.
There is a rocker button on the side, and its two positions correspond to left click and right click. Of course, you can freely customize the inputs.
The pen comes with 2048 pressure levels, which is comparable to Intuos Pro. And when you consider the difference in their price, Huion H610 Pro really comes out on top.
Of course, it’s not all about sensitivity levels, and Huion H610 Pro is far from a perfect tablet. But it does well with what it offers.
The strokes register with no visible jitter, and the greater number of pressure levels means more precise control over the thickness and opacity of your lines.
Like any Intuos, Huion H610 Pro lacks tilt sensitivity, so calligraphy enthusiasts may want to look for an alternative. If you simply want to make drawings, this is a more than a solid start.
The pen is powered by an internal AAA battery – but don’t worry, you won’t have to change the battery that often.
In fact, you won’t have to change them at all, and you can’t even open the pen. The pen boasts 800 hours of continuous use. Though I haven’t conducted any experiments, its battery life is more than adequate.
When the pen runs out of juice, you need to recharge it through a USB port.
Actually, the fact that the pen has a charging port is probably the reason the pen has no eraser on the back.
On the other hand, that’s not a huge problem since you’ve got so many shortcut buttons. Just pick an eraser tool in your software, and remove the lines the natural way.
Huion H610 Pro Features: Standard graphic drawing capabilities. Plus, simple but useful accessories.
When I first connected my Huion H610 Pro, I did what everybody told me – I uninstalled my Wacom drivers.
Apparently, there may appear some issues if you leave everything as is. I have no concrete proof of it, but it’s good to listen to the community.
Huion H610 Pro settings window is very simple and intuitive. As I said above, you can freely assign shortcuts and softkeys. Plus, you can disable softkeys and modify the drawing area.
Huion H610 Pro is left hand friendly
If you’re left-handed, you can change the tablet’s orientation in the settings. This way, shortcut buttons will be on the right side of the tablet.
Pen settings are even simpler – there are pressure sensitivity and button customization. In short, you won’t need a manual to get a hang of it.
Huion H610 Pro works with most programs like Photoshop, Manga Studio, or Zbrush. If you’re working on a popular graphics software, you shouldn’t expect anything out of the ordinary.
Huion H610 Pro offers many useful features, but no multi-touch or wireless capabilities. Then again, some sacrifices had to be made to reach that low price range, and I think this is a logical compromise.
One accessory I really like, and also the one I’ve been missing in Wacom Intuos line, is a pen holder. Huion H610 Pro provides a nice-looking plastic device to store your pen in. The holder, like pen, is quite light.
Perhaps it would’ve been more ergonomic if the pen rested vertically, but I can see why they decided against it. Putting your pen nib-down may harm or even break the nib, so horizontal placement really is the best.
But if you do break the nib, or if you’ve scratched one away, you can detach the top of the pen holder to reveal 4 extra nibs. There is also a metal nib removal tool, so you don’t need to use your fingernails.
Huion H610 Pro Technical Specs.
Here are the specifications for Huion H610 Pro, directly from the official Huion website:
- Technology: Electromagnetic digitizer
- Active area: 254 x 152.4 mm (10 x 6.25 in)
- ExpressKeys: Yes, 8 + 16 function keys
- Pressure levels: 2048
- Wireless support: Yes (sold separately)
- Weight: 635g
- Resolution: 5080 lpi
- Report rate: 233 rps
- System requirements: Windows 7, 8 or 10 / Mac OS X 10.8.0 or above
TL;DR – Huion H610 Pro Graphics Drawing Tablet: Come for the price, stay for the quality.
Huion H610 Pro may not become your go-to professional tablet, but it is a good choice if you’re on a budget and looking for a cheap solution.
And when I say cheap, I’m talking strictly about the price. Everything else about Huion H610 Pro feels thought-through.
In many regards, this tablet is comparable to Wacom Intuos Pro, and though I’d ultimately pick the latter, Huion H610 Pro is an excellent pick for everyone.
For quite some time, Wacom has been dominating the market of the drawing tablets, but I’m really glad that there appear more and more new challengers.
And Huion is among the most serious contenders.
To sum up:
- Extremely low price. It’s hard to overpraise the affordability of this tablet. If your budget is extra tight and you’re looking for a good entry-level tablet, look no further than Huion H610 Pro.
- Excellent pen. An advanced number of pressure levels, good performance, and four extra nibs. Even though the pen is powered by batteries, its battery life is good and doesn’t cause any discomfort.
- Great set of shortcut buttons. Modern tablets are all about providing that extra value when you’re using a specialized software, and Huion H610 Pro takes things even further. 8 customizable shortcut buttons + 16 more function keys = a dream-tier beginner’s tablet.
- Solid build quality. I wasn’t expecting much from such a cheap tablet, but Huion H610 Pro managed to surprise me – in a good way. The tablet looks and feels very solid, and its large active area is a huge advantage over other low-price tablets.
