I had the chance to play with this at London MCM comic con in May. I also spoke with the staff, they're very proud of the anti-glare screen. There were strong spotlights at the convention centre, and the glare never got in the way in the 20 minutes I played with the machine. I have spotlights art home, and at certain drawing angles with the Cintiq Pro 16 2021, the glare can be a touch in the way. The pen experience felt nice and didn't feel drastically different to Wacom Pro Pen 2. The big question is how durable Xencelabs is, you hear stories of people talking about their Wacom from 15 years ago still working, my cintiq13HD lasted me 8 years and was fully functional when I retired it.
I think that’s old Cintiq. Granted I’ve had the worst luck with Wacom. My first premium intuos died after year. Just didn’t recognise the pen. Then I had a long break and eventually got the Cintiq companion Hybrid. Honestly I regret selling it. Had it for 4 years, but was moving countries and work supplied me with the Cintiq pro 16. So thought I wouldn’t need it, but when I was let go had to buy something again. Went Mobile Studio Pro. After two years the screen had light bleed and ghosting. Sold it for cheap for someone who doesn’t care. Work gave me a Cintiq pro 24, has discolouration on the top left corner. Work won’t fix it 😅 Honestly for home stuff now I just use an iPad Pro and Surface Pro 8. IPads have been good to me so far, and the surface pro 8 fixed the Pencil issue I had with the surface pro 3 which made me go Cintiq in the first place. I know people that have these bullet proof cintics, but none have the wide screen aspect ratio 😅. I have a huge Cintiq now, but honestly I don’t enjoy it. Prefer my iPad. That 11” screen is the sweet spot for procreate.
Wacom products are hit and miss. I've had a cintiq companion became unable to charge after 2 years of purchase. I've also had an intuos 5 develop a dead strip near the middle after about 2 years. Maybe I've been unlucky, but to say Wacom products still work after 15 years is the exception, not the norm
What @@myfantasie said^. I had to throw out 2 intuos tablets about 3-4 years apart, an intuos 5, and intuos pro. Over time the usb port wore out, and basically snapped internally. Gave the first for repair and it had been short circuited. He also showed me how poorly supported the port was and said "they want these to wear out, so you have to buy a new one". No reinforcement at all. Second one had the same issue develop over time and I'm very gentle with my electronics as a PC builder. I bought an external universal charger, but one day it stopped working at all. I bought a huion for only 30USD during sale, and it's working as well as the intuos for actually 1/10 the price and same size, pressure levels, tilt, buttons, and features. I'm not supporting Wacom anymore.
Xencelabs put tremendous thought and care into their stuff. This thing looks fantastic and if their medium tablet is any indication, you can’t go wrong with this beast.
@@Edinburgh1000 I don't hold much stock in the straight line test unless they use a ruler. So much of that test depends of how steady the user's hand is. The steadiness of my own hand varies depending how tired I am.
@@Edinburgh1000 but how much of that is his hand? That test should be done with a ruler. It’s a good review. It’s a fair review. Huion make good stuff. Wacom make good stuff. Xencelabs make good stuff. I think Brad’s summary was spot on and fair.
All I'll say is that my $200 kit, medium Xencelabs tablet + macro keys, is one of the MOST RELIABLE tech products i own. Genuinely. I can always trust that it will work and work well. Never have to mess with the drivers or anything. It's fantastic and even better than fantastic at that price. I would get that over something higher end just based on my experience with their products I own already. I've tried quite a few drawing tablets and the Xencelabs is the only one I haven't given away. They just work.
I’ve been trying my darnest to get used to drawing on my iPad but I can’t. Tried a Wacom in college and I haven’t experienced something as good since. Maybe I’ll try this, I just don’t want to spend an arm and a leg
I have one as well, but use a cintiq that my workplace gave me as well. The xencelabs has been way more reliable for me as well and the software is so much easier to figure out than wacoms.
Finally! A Serious Wacom competitor for above average pen displays by former Wacom engineers. It looks great and seems to perform as it should despite the apparent slight wobble - something that can be corrected in a future firmware upgrade. Apart from that I imagine it does have support for a VESA mount (not mentioned) or a pen stand? The side command text should really rotate depending on the orientation.
That wobble could be user error, I wish he would use a ruler. As for a reskin though I highly doubt that. Everything with the tablet is a upgrade from anything xp pen and ugee are selling and from hands on users people are saying the only issue that they find with the tablet is actually pen lag similar to a xp pen otherwise everything else is on par with a Wacom. I bought one a few days ago that should be here in a few days, Ive been using a Wacom cintiq 24 pro for 5 years but the fan is slowly dieing, I had a xp pen before that. So I'm excited to see if this will on pair to my slowly screeching wacom. Worse case scenario I just return it and deal with the screeh, but I'm not gonna give Wacom 1300$ just to replace my fans
Just pulled the trigger on a Surface Studio 2 with the 1070 card. More than enough power for my small mischief doodles and light photo editting, but man, that giant floating screen is just tasty, especially at a 50% discount second hand :)
I got the same laptop late last year (thanks to Brad's extensive reviews). The small screen is unfortunate, but otherwise you're going to love it. I'm a photographer (job) and artist (kinda just a hobby) and things have been great!
Thanks Brad for yet another awesome review for us digital artist. It looks like Xencelabs made a winner here. I will pick the white Special Edition version when it becomes available.
Overall decent review, and thank you Brad for reviewing this Pen Display, (you do put out very entertaining reviews), but I think you really missed the mark on a couple of points... 1) You mentioned in passing about noisy fans, which a good chunk of these displays have, but the Xencelabs Pen Display doesn't have any, YET the screen stays cool to the touch of my hand! To me, that's a HUGE benefit. 2) You also briefly mentioned it, again more in passing, but I've noticed that what you should have hammered the fact that it really doesn't matter what your lightsource is behind or above you anymore with the Xencelabs Pen Display. There is no glare. Again, a HUGE benefit that I don't see anywhere else, in any other device, including Huion or Wacom. On my old Cintiq Pro 24, I used to SEE ALL MY LIGHTS around me and when I was working on it, I had to turn my overhead lights off and close my curtains (okay, my curtains were always closed back then) But now, with this new Xencelabs Pen Display, my lights are on and my curtains are now open AND LIGHTING NO LONGER MATTERS! This is more next generation than you lead on, and more of a Cintiq Pro 24 competitor than Huion. I am a prosumer photographer, shot all my life and worked in this industry longer than most, (was Adobe's very first Photoshop Specialist, back in the early days of Adobe and no one really knew what Photoshop was), worked at Apple and Wacom, and I left Wacom after working there for 20+ years. Yes, I do now work for Xencelabs, (my choice), mostly because I see the vision and the changes to the industry that are occurring and Xencelabs is leading the way, not playing "me too". Find me another Pen Display that stays cool without any fans, or has no glare, even with sunlight coming in thru the window behind you!
Fantastic , insightful eview, Brad. I'm so happy to see Wacom having some real competition. It looks like Xenelabs is really paying attention to the small details, especially with the polished drivers. I am curious about two things: warranty and support. Also, will we see a long-term review?
Xencelabs has a 2 year warranty on all their products and their Customer Service/Support for the US is located in Vancouver, WA. They also have global offices and regional support for those areas as well if you are not in the USA.
This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion. But "drawing experience" is more than how well the pen tracks or how bright the display is and the little things matter more and are worth the extra money. So I would say unless you can afford the extra $600 get this or save up for the wacom. And even if you can't save up and buy this or the wacom. I have tried the entire range and there is a reason I stick to wacom and why this is the only one i would consider changing to and that is because in every other option I feel like I am fighting with the drivers and UI to get my work done. Wacom, Xencelabs and IPad with apple pencil are just about the only solutions I have found so far that actually allow me to focus on creating rather than work well enough but frustrate me because I can't figure out something I can do intuitively on the three I mentioned. Those three are a master class in great product design.
If haven't been for Chinese technology, these products you described would not work properly. USA and Japan no longer use their own "technology" anymore because they outsourced everything due to their own greed and laziness!
Xencelabs is a great digital pen vendor. I went ahead and bought the $$$ Wacom Cintiq Pro 27 and I'm glad I did. The Press Keys is incredible and the Display 24 is great but just not enough for me to leave Wacom. Oh, their driver coexists with Wacom's driver (no other pen vendor can claim that). This is a good start and I hope they come out with a killer 2K 13/14 inch that would blow the Wacom One away!
Please forgive me, but I want to very clear about your comment. Are you saying that the Xencelabs pens work on Wacoms? 😮 This opens up other possibilities, if true, so I need a confirmation on what I think I read.
@@PeggyIverson I think what he meant was that a lot of times when you use two tablets one from Wacom and one from another company. The other companies device won’t work because you have the Wacom drivers installed. So you have to always install and uninstall drivers when swapping devices. In this case it’s not an issue. You would encounter this situation if you swap between screen and regular tablet depending on mood, and these things are from different brands. I do think there is limited cross compatibility between the xencelabs and Wacom pens though, but it’s not usable. Just a vague recognition. Aaron Rutten I think showed an example of this on the regular tablet.
Great review. $1900 and line wobble is a huge deal breaker for me. It looks great, but if I pay that kind of money I want smooth lines and no wobbles. That's acceptable when I pay around $500 for a pen display, once we're getting at this price point it needs to be close to perfect. All the bells and whistles are cool, but don't make up for that shortcoming for me. Especially since the wobble is really noticable in your drawing, which normally isn't there. I'll stick to Huion, since that one doesn't give me any wobble at all and nice tight, smooth lines.
At $1900 there is no excuse for line wobble and jitter and no you shouldn’t have to tweak settings like line stabilization in your software to “fix” this.
@@0specgamerdad456 I hope so, but knowing Brad and his thorough tests I doubt it. It's quite obvious that there is wobble, even when he's just drawing and that's not a good sign. I think I stick to Huion, my experience with their latest pen displays is very pleasant.
@@asimian8500 i saw from a previous video but maybe few years back, forgot which xp pen model that there was a setting that needs to be tweaked or something.
They deleted my comment asking questions about it's main features I really cared about: durability (due to how screen is designed) and the drawing experience. All of their marketing is focused on these lifestyle and accesibility features but no mentions on technology and core drawing experience. Basic line making and test demonstrations should have been easy and the first thing they should have focused on.
Its in line with the others Brad mentioned in terms of drawing experience. It has some line wobble when drawing slowly. I'm sure there is an article somewhere talking about the specific tech that Xencelabs uses in their Pen Displays.
@@tristen_grant It's most likely going to be similar to other current Ugee-and-subsidiary devices(Ugee holds both XP Pen and Xencelabs, last I checked). The relationships between the companies are set up so that they aren't just sharing and rebranding everything, because there are major differences, but on my Xencelabs Medium I do see the Ugee name show up when probing the device info, and if there is one thing they'll probably do the same it's the digitizer setup. FWIW I'm satisfied with how the Medium works and don't need an upgrade in this direction. What I want is a stylus that I can grip horizontally for sketching.
Thanks for the review Brad! I pre-ordered this badboy from B&H back in April and I'm chomping at the bit to get my hands on it. I'm upgrading from a Wacom Intuos Pro medium. It's okay, but the drivers seem really flaky sometimes and the touch feature is useless and in the way. I always turn it off. I also hate that the aspect ratio of the tablet doesn't match my screen so I can't draw a circle on it, even if I use a stencil. SO weird. I've heard really great things about Xencelab's products and the user experience, especially their driver, and it seems like they're really focused on quality and not just riding on a known name. *cough, cough - Wacom* I'll complete my comment by mentioning that Xencelabs' sales managers have personally called me on two different occasions now to answer questions that I've posted on their social media about this display tablet. That's pretty great customer service! I have high hopes.
That's good to know. I talked to them and they are really hoping customer service sets them apart. That's not something I could test so I didn't mention it in the review, but it's good to hear they are delivering on that goal.
Hello, I'd really like to know what you think of the Xencelabs pro display once you get it. I'm giving it serious consideration but there are very few user reviews so far... I'm also coming from an Intuos Pro (which I'd continue to use alongside a pen display) though I've used quite a few Cintiqs too (can't stand the fan noise!)
It seems you skipped many points of interest, like showing/talking about the build quality of the display, the presence of the VESA mount, driver compatibility across different OS, plus one had to infer that it does not have fans. Overall, it didn’t seem a well scripted video. Besides this, I am very glad they finally released this display!
I really want to buy the xencelabs, but there are only a handful of reviews. Few of those are from xcencelabs, and who has an x-pen tablet I believe as a display with their logo covering the brand. I’d like to see more input from actual creators. This would be a major purchase, going from a wacom cintiq 13HD w/hot keys I got back in 2012. I just want a more real estate when I draw, and I do like having my hot keys on the side of the tablet, or in xencelabs case mounted. So, idk I’m still debating. I do have their medium pen tablet. But I prefer drawing on a screen, doesn’t cramp my hand.
I’m literally about to buy a huion but this is cool. Gonna take a look at least. In regards to the clicky feel the remotes wheel lacks I’m with you on perhaps their reasoning for the precision aspect. However instead of a mechanical clicks they could opt for haptics electronically maybe? Might add a bit to the cost of it but I’m sure from the quality they seem to be putting out they could make it work sweet Edit. After looking at the site I noticed that the remote will work with other brand displays and tablets. I give them big points for making it compatible with ppl who have a display already and would like to try their products without buying a whole new display etc. I think I’ll pick up the remote at least since it looks a lot nicer then the huion controller.
Hey, after seeing your review I ordered this Pen Display and well I think that was the best choice I did, I love it :D Such a great experience (hobby artist here :D) So far everything is working great, driver has no issues at all, pens feel great, same as the wacom 2... having 330 cd sometimes is great, not using it on max but it's way brighter than huion kamvas 24 4k.. It's indeed pricy imho but I am happy I choose this one. I actually would love to have a touch screen :D maybe in couple years they'll add it... this is my first xencelab product and ye definitly convinced me from the quality... ahh, for those who read comments: This Display has no Fans, so no noise at all, but after approx. 45 mins of usage, it gets warm, NOT hot, just a littler warmer and it doesn't feel uncomfortable, however you'll notice it but it won't get hot even if you use it for couple hours.
Thanks for writing this - there are so few reviews on this. I'd easily trade a little heat for no fans! How is it to draw on? I've read that the cursor can be a little laggy. Do you notice this? TIA
@@tested211 well, i cant speak for 2d drawing, since i am using it mostly with Zbrush; I havent had any issues with lags while sculpting or texturing; not sure if those mentioned laggs are display related or software..
@@AttackOnTitanVengeance weird, somehow my comment wasn't stored: So If you ask me, I would say: Get Xencelabs PD24, it's worth every penny. Like above mentioned the brightness is a huge plus, in some situations I make use of it and it helps a lot. From my POV: Xencelabs has overall a better quality, but this obviously comes with a higher price, unfortunatly xD If it is too expensive for you, get the Huion, it is also a good PD !! But I am pretty sure, if you get the xencelabs pd, you won't regret it ;D
Our artist looked at a few factors when upgrading from a Cintiq 13HD to a 22 pen display. Size almost doubled, cost and relative use. In addition accessories. After seeing several reviews, the plunge was take to the the HUION Kamvas 22 Plus. The ideal pick would have been the Pro 24 4k series, but for 1/3 the cost and the overall use it was price factor for the main pick. Only thing we noticed so far is the delay in the pen, but after a few minutes it does finally stop give the spinning ball. (drivers and stuff have all be updated, looked for conflict none found).
Ooooo.... I like it. I read in some of the comments that Xenceslabs is owned by Ugee so it must be the very premium brand among all the alternatives. Is it worth an extra $600 / £600 over a 4K Huion where the drawing experience is apparently just as good? (I think no - £600 can buy me a lot of ice cream) 🤣🤣🤣
Chevere!!! Great review, as usual, Brad. Thank you very much. Still thinking about what pen display to buy! I'm still confused, ha, ha. You help a lot with your reviews. Take care.
My big question is, do certain Wacom pens work with this the same way to do with the Medium Tablet? I found the Wacom Pro Pen worked with it and actually worked better than Xencelabs own pen since it had no line wobble at all, which was a bit of a trip.
I am torn between Xencelabs 24 and Huion 24 4K. However in my location there is a huge price difference between these 2 devices. Would you say that the quality and accessories (stand and second pen) of Xencelabs is worth additional 1400$ over Huion 24 4K ?
Great Review, Brad. Thanks for your input on this. I've been watching them for about a month now and I was curious to see and hear some feedback on it. Cheers, JC
Hey Brad! You think now that you've had more time with the tablet and that it's available for sale, we can get a vs video between this tablet, the Kamvas Pro 24 4K and the Cintiq Pro 24? All the same size category but vastly different prices, I think it's worth talking about!
To date I have had 6 different Huion tablets and monitors. I love my Huion products. I would one day like a stand-alone drawing monitor like a wacom but the $$$ is a factor for me
Been considering upgrading fro ma old 13inch Cintiq (have it for 8 years or more ) to a 24inch, so this review comes in handy for those who want one but that price tag might be to steep. Tho i have to wonder the durability of Xencelabs, since at least with Wacom i know i am garanteed 10 years on it easily so it does help justify the cost in the long run
Got a tablet from Xen due to my school sending one out as part of the Launch Box program. I like it, however after using a Wacom screen display, its been hard for me to get used to a non display tablet. Glad they finally have a screen tablet as it's been something ive been hoping for.
I’m currently using a kamvas 24 plus, and if this had the touch features that my old Wacom 13hd had, I would jump all over this. But it looks like I will have to deal with both having pinch to zoom for a while till I can get a studio pro lol
Wondering if I am the only one that cares about tip rotation, and I do not mean tilt, but literally the rotation of the brush shape based on the orientation of the pen. I had it on my old cintiq 13hd and thought it was a basic feature, then I switched to a huion 24 plus, pushed by all the good reviews but ended up being quite disappointed since it has no tip rotation, plus the tilt response is almost random. I'm wondering if this one has this feature, anyone can help?
Xencelabs doesn't have the barrel rotation of Wacom's Art Pen. I find it interesting that they (Wacom) have these new Pro Pen 3's which don't have the rotation and they got rid of the eraser. They have made these pens where you can literally tear them apart and change the balanced weight inside, change the buttons, but no eraser and no barrel rotation. It almost appears like they are rethinking what a Pen Stylus should do, what it should include. Xencelabs not having rotation might not be a bad thing if Wacom themselves are rethinking the merits of it.
@@markscungio4388 Yes, I think the last Wacom pen with rotation is well over 10 years old now - are they abandoning it? In Photoshop at least, you can set the brush to use tilt for brush rotation and that works quite well. It's slightly awkward and doesn't work as well as the Art Pen but useable. I suspect the expectations of customers is now somewhat defined by ipad / pencil. I'm guessing Ipencil users outnumber tablet / pen display users by 10 to 1 at least and ipad is likely now most people's introduction to digital art and forms their understanding / expectations of how digital art tools work.
This looks great the only slight concern I have with these and other non Wacom brands is the support and long term build quality. Hopefully time proves me wrong as Wacom need a shake-up.
I was waiting to see your review for this! My husband has the medium Xencelabs tablet (collage bequeathed) and he hates it. 😅 He works all in 3D programs & Xencelabs doesn't work consistently in those programs. But then, the programs don't act consistently either, so I can't say it's the tablets fault 🤔(EDIT: I was talking to him today & he told me the pen he was using was faulty! Luckily it comes with 2, he used the other one and it works great.) Anyway, their monitor tablet looks like another well made product. I think most of what people are paying for is solid hardware (including extras). But I'm really surprised it's got a 60HZ refresh rate. At that price point, why not go for something a little higher? It would help.I think no-line wobble is unrealistic (even Wacom has it) but I'm still disappointed you didn't show your test! Thank for your review! :)
I love the remote with the display. Maybe Wacom or Huion could take from that example. Also love the fact that the pens have an eraser bit as well. PLEASE bring eraser stylus back. =(
Question - If I was to grab one of these to use as a screen tablet and a primary monitor can I use a standard Wacom Pro still to navigate + paint - I have a weird job where this would happen.
I goofed up by getting the Wacom 32" Cintiq while it was available. In some ways it's great, because it's a huge 4K screen that I can run at native res and fit a ton of tools and program UI, as well as open multiple document windows for quick and easy reference and still have plenty of working space. In every other way, it sucks. It's a terrible piece of hardware, with dozenS-plural of dead pixels (which didn't appear right away, of course) and the dark areas of the screen show some sort of red static, almost like dim always on pixels, but only in dark spots. It's like the screen has a rash. The other way it sucks, is I've become really accustom to the size, but no one, not even Wacom is making anything that big anymore, so it's hard to look at smaller screen for when I eventually want to replace the current one. I felt pretty burned by Wacom with this product, so their new 120Hz screen kind of turned me off, but this Xencelabs one looks pretty good. I just really wish there was a bigger one.
Huion's 4K 24" is $1350 (with stand) and Wacom's 24" is $2000 (with NO stand), so this Xencelabs tablet is only $100 cheaper than the Cintiq. To me, it seems like the Huion is a way better deal. Also, the driver for MY Huion 24 Plus driver has almost the same features as you showed for the Xencelabs. And this model (1440p) is "only" $800.
I'd love to get your feedback on how this works with the new Radial menu from Tablet Pro. If you can use the remote to open the radial menu or the pen side button. Some people We're asking if it was possible
I just set mine up and running into an annoying behavior quirk. It appears that the pen button "clicks" only register reliably if the tip of your stylus is a few mm off the surface of the screen, MUCH closer than the range needed for the pen's cursor to activate. This makes is almost impossible to do navigation in programs that rely on holding RMB or MMB to pan/zoom/rotate the view. My hope is that I've received a bad unit that can be replaced since I LOVE this thing aside from this deal-breaker problem. I've made a couple of videos that demonstrate the issue but it appears any comment with vimeo links gets deleted.
now, due to lack of space and a bit of laziness I am not looking to change from my huion 14" any time soon... I have considered the xencelabs remote by itself though as a standalone. is it worth it? is the remote good/usefull enough to warrant a $100 purchase?
will you be able to purchase this unit separately from the pens and remote because I own one of their products already and would love to purchase this when its released but dont want to pay an extra 100 or more dollars for those components.
Brad, I have enjoyed your reviews and content for years now but I have one quibble and it is the wobbly line test. I feel you are doing a disservice to not just Xencelabs, but all of the other brands of tablets and display tablets when you use this wobbly line test. Even when you use a ruler, it is the wobble of your own hand that is more at fault than the device. If I use your review of the Huion Kamvas 24 as an example, where you did use a ruler as you drew the line, what happens if we do motion tracking on the pen stylus as you draw the line with the ruler? In Apple Motion I can do motion tracking, place a crosshair at the tip of what would be the eraser and then watch how when it calculates the motion, the eraser is bobbing up and down and being wobbly. If the eraser end is doing that, then isn't the tip as well?? Whatever, whichever device can only take the input of your hand. If you can't draw a straight line without wobble, then that is on you. Now, I realize we are not robots, we are only human and there will be some wobble depending on the person. I feel like the wobbly line test should be put to bed, axed, eliminated. It simply isn't an accurate test.
It's not oled. As far as I know, no drawing tablet is actually using oled. oled will suffer from burn in, and thats why its not recommended for productivity work that has the same software interface open for long periods of time.
Unrelated to this tablet itself, Finding out that xppen, ugee and xencelabs are all subsidiaries of the same parent company targetying different groups makes things very funny to me
Great and entertaining review, Brad thank you. Can I ask how you found the drawing experience compared with the Wacom Cintiq pro 27? I just got a Pro 27 and it's fantastic, perfect for what I need...except for the noisy fans, which I'm not sure I can put up with all day every day.
I had a Cintiq pro 17 for about a week and now im currently using the xencelabs pen display 24. I would say the drawing experience is very similar, although maybe because the xencelabs is a much bigger screen, it looks blurrier than the cintiq 17, which does bother me. Also there was a cursor offset problem on the xencelabs where the line you drew would appear above where the pen tip was placed, but this was easily fixed in the software by recalibrating the pen. There is an issue with line wobble, at least compared to the wacom cintiq pro 17 I had, the wacom had absolutely no issue in this regard, the drawing experience on it was seamless. I'm hoping the line wobble is something they can sort out by a software update. It's not a deal breaker but it is annoying. So far my biggest issue with the xencelabs is the blurry image, do not know if I'll stick with it. However, considering the new wacoms are twice the price of the xencelabs, this might be the best option at the moment.
Honestly, I felt the Huion Kamvas 22 digitizer (on a model from a couple of years ago) was way too wonky to be usable at all. The driver-level stabilizer was too aggressive. It was hard to get proper accuracy. The tilt doesn't function correctly, both because the values aren't read properly and because of the shape of their pen. If someone calls a tablet "as good as a Huion", I'm tossing it out as a consideration. Seeing a few people already switch from a big Huion to a smaller Wacom screen tablet, and seeing their accuracy, quality and willingness to draw more detailed/complex designs just improve dramatically, just cements my opinion on it. In that light, I was hoping Xencelabs does a markedly better job than Huion did on the base drawing experience, especially at that price. But if it doesn't, I'm not going to bother. Here I was hoping for a proper Wacom alternative but I guess it's not here yet.
I don't think I could deal with only having 8 shortcut keys. I use a Razer Tartarus with my Huion and it has 25 shortcut keys, of which I use 24. I only occasionally hit the wrong shortcut now, lmao
@@StUCaboose Yeah tartarus is awesome. No hand fatigue and great key positioning / muscle memory means that you never have to look at it. I have the pro now (after using the basic one for years) and the scroll wheel is really handy for brush size etc.
I wonder if this could be a little cheaper if it didn't include a second pen or a remote, but it's nice to see more quality tablet brands on the rise. I really haven't heard of Ugee, Artisul, Parblo or Veikk in a while even if some of them are in the same company (or from the same factory as) Huion or Xp-pen.
Xencelabs is part of the Hanvon Ugee group. I think XP Pen is, too. I think at the end of the day almost all of them are either owned directly by Ugee or are buying their product from Ugee and reselling it with superficial modifications. The whole pen display market is basically Wacom vs Ugee.
@Bob Smith Oh yeah I just found out about that soon after I looked up Xencelab, whoops. I did hear about Xencelabs having former Wacom employees but yeah you're right about the Wacom vs Ugee
@@kyb9623 hey there did you just buy it too? So the xencelabs team been back n forth with me giving me different solutions to try and fix it. Nothing worked. So now I sent it back and they are actually sending me another one to see if the same thing happens to me.
@@alfredmanzano680 about to buy. I have been in contact with the xencelabs team asking about this. it seems to be a rare issue, but they're still investigating the cause. Thanks for getting back to me!
The larger tablet footprint is what has me shying away from it as compared to the Huion 24 4k Pro. Is the drawing experience so good that it justifies the size to switch from Huion to Xencelabs?
@@M3K1E I understand that but not sure it helps that much? I've had both Wacom pro 24 and 32 with the large bezels and found I still needed something on the desk to rest my elbow / arm on, especially if drawing from the arm. If I used the pro 24 in portrait mode it WAS big enough to rest on and worked quite well but not when in landscape orientation.
A $1900 display having that much line wobble is quite disappointing. I do have a 22" Huion and even though it's okay with Photoshop, that wobble is much more pronounced in TVPaint so I am forced to crank up smoothing even higher, making animating and cleanup less intuitive and cumbersome unless I draw very quickly. Wacoms have zero issues but are too expensive. Huions are okay but their software does not let me set the front pen button to Erase toggle natively, and the buttons are flimsy enough to miss the toggle 5/10 times. Toggle erase in the drivers is something both Wacoms and Xencelabs do. It makes a huge difference for my personal drawing style unfortunately. Really hoped Xencelabs pen performance was comparable to Wacom, but that line wobble looks significant.
@@doaflamingo3713 I meant they have no issues comparatively *in my experience*. Have been lucky to not get any major problems with wacoms I've owned for a decade. Pens have no line wobble in any program I use, any and all shortcut functionality I personally need is built into their drivers and the durability of their products have been great for me. That said, I've never required to contact their customer service, and have been lucky with the driver updates. I have heard some horror stories so I know how bad it can get, just haven't experienced them myself. With Huion, I deal with the pen wobble at work daily - to the point where it alters my drawing experience. If we had a budget for similarly sized Cintiq, I would definitely switch.
For now, somewhat. Huion do have touch screen models but they're all PC models So I'm hoping when they release new tablets they will include touch since they /have/ some it before.
Lack of touchscreen for that price just kills it (in a bad way!) Xencelabs in their marketing research claim that touch is not used enough to justify as a feature. I have no idea how they came up with that since we all use touchscreen devices. Touch is a feature I use a lot on my Cintiq and it just makes everything smoother.
I bought a Cintiq 24 non-touch because I didn't think I needed a touchscreen(or justify the extra cost for the touch version). I was also aware that the touchscreen on Cintiqs was a little janky. But ...I did buy the new Cintiq Pro 27 and really enjoy using the touch function!
My boyfriend is a professional artist in a top animation studio in the EU and out of the dozens upon dozens of artists in the studio active at any given time, less than 5% of them have touch activated, while everyone else either uses their remotes to navigate or their pen with or without their mouse, and all of them have touch always disabled.
i've had a large wacom... it sucked it took up way to much space... and just got burried by other stuff and then i ended up not using it... smaller is better
I had the chance to play with this at London MCM comic con in May. I also spoke with the staff, they're very proud of the anti-glare screen. There were strong spotlights at the convention centre, and the glare never got in the way in the 20 minutes I played with the machine. I have spotlights art home, and at certain drawing angles with the Cintiq Pro 16 2021, the glare can be a touch in the way. The pen experience felt nice and didn't feel drastically different to Wacom Pro Pen 2. The big question is how durable Xencelabs is, you hear stories of people talking about their Wacom from 15 years ago still working, my cintiq13HD lasted me 8 years and was fully functional when I retired it.
I think that’s old Cintiq. Granted I’ve had the worst luck with Wacom. My first premium intuos died after year. Just didn’t recognise the pen. Then I had a long break and eventually got the Cintiq companion Hybrid. Honestly I regret selling it. Had it for 4 years, but was moving countries and work supplied me with the Cintiq pro 16. So thought I wouldn’t need it, but when I was let go had to buy something again. Went Mobile Studio Pro. After two years the screen had light bleed and ghosting. Sold it for cheap for someone who doesn’t care. Work gave me a Cintiq pro 24, has discolouration on the top left corner. Work won’t fix it 😅
Honestly for home stuff now I just use an iPad Pro and Surface Pro 8. IPads have been good to me so far, and the surface pro 8 fixed the Pencil issue I had with the surface pro 3 which made me go Cintiq in the first place.
I know people that have these bullet proof cintics, but none have the wide screen aspect ratio 😅.
I have a huge Cintiq now, but honestly I don’t enjoy it. Prefer my iPad. That 11” screen is the sweet spot for procreate.
Was there any line wobble?
@@Jaugarez I only use default brushes in CSP, so they had stabilisation on. I didn't notice any wobble in a practical drawing environment.
Wacom products are hit and miss. I've had a cintiq companion became unable to charge after 2 years of purchase. I've also had an intuos 5 develop a dead strip near the middle after about 2 years. Maybe I've been unlucky, but to say Wacom products still work after 15 years is the exception, not the norm
What @@myfantasie said^. I had to throw out 2 intuos tablets about 3-4 years apart, an intuos 5, and intuos pro. Over time the usb port wore out, and basically snapped internally. Gave the first for repair and it had been short circuited. He also showed me how poorly supported the port was and said "they want these to wear out, so you have to buy a new one". No reinforcement at all. Second one had the same issue develop over time and I'm very gentle with my electronics as a PC builder. I bought an external universal charger, but one day it stopped working at all. I bought a huion for only 30USD during sale, and it's working as well as the intuos for actually 1/10 the price and same size, pressure levels, tilt, buttons, and features. I'm not supporting Wacom anymore.
Xencelabs put tremendous thought and care into their stuff. This thing looks fantastic and if their medium tablet is any indication, you can’t go wrong with this beast.
Huion can do straight lines lol
They price their products as if they were Wacom, at least Huion offers a nice price-quality performance on their products.
@@Edinburgh1000 I don't hold much stock in the straight line test unless they use a ruler. So much of that test depends of how steady the user's hand is. The steadiness of my own hand varies depending how tired I am.
@@Edinburgh1000 but how much of that is his hand? That test should be done with a ruler. It’s a good review. It’s a fair review. Huion make good stuff. Wacom make good stuff. Xencelabs make good stuff. I think Brad’s summary was spot on and fair.
@@Edinburgh1000 I have the 2019 20 inch and it doesn't like not even a bit
All I'll say is that my $200 kit, medium Xencelabs tablet + macro keys, is one of the MOST RELIABLE tech products i own. Genuinely. I can always trust that it will work and work well. Never have to mess with the drivers or anything. It's fantastic and even better than fantastic at that price. I would get that over something higher end just based on my experience with their products I own already. I've tried quite a few drawing tablets and the Xencelabs is the only one I haven't given away. They just work.
I’ve been trying my darnest to get used to drawing on my iPad but I can’t. Tried a Wacom in college and I haven’t experienced something as good since. Maybe I’ll try this, I just don’t want to spend an arm and a leg
I have one as well, but use a cintiq that my workplace gave me as well. The xencelabs has been way more reliable for me as well and the software is so much easier to figure out than wacoms.
Am I alone and crazy in that I kinda *don't* want my pen display be a touch screen?
they should at least give us the option to choose. 24 inch is a big screen so touch definitely helps
Yes.
Alone.
You’re not alone.
Bro buy an iPad but it is expensive that's why I hate it
Finally! A Serious Wacom competitor for above average pen displays by former Wacom engineers. It looks great and seems to perform as it should despite the apparent slight wobble - something that can be corrected in a future firmware upgrade. Apart from that I imagine it does have support for a VESA mount (not mentioned) or a pen stand? The side command text should really rotate depending on the orientation.
That wobble could be user error, I wish he would use a ruler. As for a reskin though I highly doubt that. Everything with the tablet is a upgrade from anything xp pen and ugee are selling and from hands on users people are saying the only issue that they find with the tablet is actually pen lag similar to a xp pen otherwise everything else is on par with a Wacom. I bought one a few days ago that should be here in a few days, Ive been using a Wacom cintiq 24 pro for 5 years but the fan is slowly dieing, I had a xp pen before that. So I'm excited to see if this will on pair to my slowly screeching wacom. Worse case scenario I just return it and deal with the screeh, but I'm not gonna give Wacom 1300$ just to replace my fans
@@zachstephens5390 any feedback after using Xencelab? I'm considering buying a Xencelabs display pen or Cintiq pro
I am from the future, have they fixed wobble problem?
Just pulled the trigger on a Surface Studio 2 with the 1070 card. More than enough power for my small mischief doodles and light photo editting, but man, that giant floating screen is just tasty, especially at a 50% discount second hand :)
I got the same laptop late last year (thanks to Brad's extensive reviews). The small screen is unfortunate, but otherwise you're going to love it. I'm a photographer (job) and artist (kinda just a hobby) and things have been great!
I love the little customizable quick key I have one for my set up.
Thanks Brad for yet another awesome review for us digital artist. It looks like Xencelabs made a winner here. I will pick the white Special Edition version when it becomes available.
Overall decent review, and thank you Brad for reviewing this Pen Display, (you do put out very entertaining reviews), but I think you really missed the mark on a couple of points... 1) You mentioned in passing about noisy fans, which a good chunk of these displays have, but the Xencelabs Pen Display doesn't have any, YET the screen stays cool to the touch of my hand! To me, that's a HUGE benefit. 2) You also briefly mentioned it, again more in passing, but I've noticed that what you should have hammered the fact that it really doesn't matter what your lightsource is behind or above you anymore with the Xencelabs Pen Display. There is no glare. Again, a HUGE benefit that I don't see anywhere else, in any other device, including Huion or Wacom. On my old Cintiq Pro 24, I used to SEE ALL MY LIGHTS around me and when I was working on it, I had to turn my overhead lights off and close my curtains (okay, my curtains were always closed back then) But now, with this new Xencelabs Pen Display, my lights are on and my curtains are now open AND LIGHTING NO LONGER MATTERS! This is more next generation than you lead on, and more of a Cintiq Pro 24 competitor than Huion. I am a prosumer photographer, shot all my life and worked in this industry longer than most, (was Adobe's very first Photoshop Specialist, back in the early days of Adobe and no one really knew what Photoshop was), worked at Apple and Wacom, and I left Wacom after working there for 20+ years. Yes, I do now work for Xencelabs, (my choice), mostly because I see the vision and the changes to the industry that are occurring and Xencelabs is leading the way, not playing "me too". Find me another Pen Display that stays cool without any fans, or has no glare, even with sunlight coming in thru the window behind you!
it looks amazing, glad u got your hands on it Brad, I was curious how it pairs up, hope they make a 16in model soon
I hope so too! I'm a big fan of those 16" tablets.
@@thebradcolbow 16" model was released last week. Looks very good.
Fantastic , insightful eview, Brad. I'm so happy to see Wacom having some real competition. It looks like Xenelabs is really paying attention to the small details, especially with the polished drivers. I am curious about two things: warranty and support. Also, will we see a long-term review?
Xencelabs has a 2 year warranty on all their products and their Customer Service/Support for the US is located in Vancouver, WA. They also have global offices and regional support for those areas as well if you are not in the USA.
@@billlindsay4274 Thanks Bill!
This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion. But "drawing experience" is more than how well the pen tracks or how bright the display is and the little things matter more and are worth the extra money. So I would say unless you can afford the extra $600 get this or save up for the wacom. And even if you can't save up and buy this or the wacom. I have tried the entire range and there is a reason I stick to wacom and why this is the only one i would consider changing to and that is because in every other option I feel like I am fighting with the drivers and UI to get my work done. Wacom, Xencelabs and IPad with apple pencil are just about the only solutions I have found so far that actually allow me to focus on creating rather than work well enough but frustrate me because I can't figure out something I can do intuitively on the three I mentioned. Those three are a master class in great product design.
If haven't been for Chinese technology, these products you described would not work properly. USA and Japan no longer use their own "technology" anymore because they outsourced everything due to their own greed and laziness!
Xencelabs is a great digital pen vendor. I went ahead and bought the $$$ Wacom Cintiq Pro 27 and I'm glad I did. The Press Keys is incredible and the Display 24 is great but just not enough for me to leave Wacom. Oh, their driver coexists with Wacom's driver (no other pen vendor can claim that). This is a good start and I hope they come out with a killer 2K 13/14 inch that would blow the Wacom One away!
Please forgive me, but I want to very clear about your comment. Are you saying that the Xencelabs pens work on Wacoms? 😮 This opens up other possibilities, if true, so I need a confirmation on what I think I read.
@@PeggyIverson I think what he meant was that a lot of times when you use two tablets one from Wacom and one from another company. The other companies device won’t work because you have the Wacom drivers installed. So you have to always install and uninstall drivers when swapping devices. In this case it’s not an issue. You would encounter this situation if you swap between screen and regular tablet depending on mood, and these things are from different brands.
I do think there is limited cross compatibility between the xencelabs and Wacom pens though, but it’s not usable. Just a vague recognition. Aaron Rutten I think showed an example of this on the regular tablet.
@@PeggyIverson I think he means the Quick Keys and their driver works with Wacom products... not the pens.
Great review. $1900 and line wobble is a huge deal breaker for me. It looks great, but if I pay that kind of money I want smooth lines and no wobbles. That's acceptable when I pay around $500 for a pen display, once we're getting at this price point it needs to be close to perfect. All the bells and whistles are cool, but don't make up for that shortcoming for me. Especially since the wobble is really noticable in your drawing, which normally isn't there. I'll stick to Huion, since that one doesn't give me any wobble at all and nice tight, smooth lines.
i think brad may have to tweak some settings.
At $1900 there is no excuse for line wobble and jitter and no you shouldn’t have to tweak settings like line stabilization in your software to “fix” this.
@@0specgamerdad456 I hope so, but knowing Brad and his thorough tests I doubt it. It's quite obvious that there is wobble, even when he's just drawing and that's not a good sign. I think I stick to Huion, my experience with their latest pen displays is very pleasant.
@@asimian8500 i saw from a previous video but maybe few years back, forgot which xp pen model that there was a setting that needs to be tweaked or something.
@@benjamina6915 agree that's why though i liked the red dial on the xp pen lol i ended up with a huion kamvas 13
They deleted my comment asking questions about it's main features I really cared about: durability (due to how screen is designed) and the drawing experience. All of their marketing is focused on these lifestyle and accesibility features but no mentions on technology and core drawing experience. Basic line making and test demonstrations should have been easy and the first thing they should have focused on.
Its in line with the others Brad mentioned in terms of drawing experience. It has some line wobble when drawing slowly. I'm sure there is an article somewhere talking about the specific tech that Xencelabs uses in their Pen Displays.
@@tristen_grant It's most likely going to be similar to other current Ugee-and-subsidiary devices(Ugee holds both XP Pen and Xencelabs, last I checked). The relationships between the companies are set up so that they aren't just sharing and rebranding everything, because there are major differences, but on my Xencelabs Medium I do see the Ugee name show up when probing the device info, and if there is one thing they'll probably do the same it's the digitizer setup.
FWIW I'm satisfied with how the Medium works and don't need an upgrade in this direction. What I want is a stylus that I can grip horizontally for sketching.
Thanks for the review Brad!
I pre-ordered this badboy from B&H back in April and I'm chomping at the bit to get my hands on it. I'm upgrading from a Wacom Intuos Pro medium. It's okay, but the drivers seem really flaky sometimes and the touch feature is useless and in the way. I always turn it off. I also hate that the aspect ratio of the tablet doesn't match my screen so I can't draw a circle on it, even if I use a stencil. SO weird.
I've heard really great things about Xencelab's products and the user experience, especially their driver, and it seems like they're really focused on quality and not just riding on a known name. *cough, cough - Wacom*
I'll complete my comment by mentioning that Xencelabs' sales managers have personally called me on two different occasions now to answer questions that I've posted on their social media about this display tablet. That's pretty great customer service! I have high hopes.
That's good to know. I talked to them and they are really hoping customer service sets them apart. That's not something I could test so I didn't mention it in the review, but it's good to hear they are delivering on that goal.
Hello, I'd really like to know what you think of the Xencelabs pro display once you get it. I'm giving it serious consideration but there are very few user reviews so far...
I'm also coming from an Intuos Pro (which I'd continue to use alongside a pen display) though I've used quite a few Cintiqs too (can't stand the fan noise!)
I remember watching Brads videos long ago. Good to see him around, and funny to see it's still Squarespace sponsorship hahaha
Thinking about saving up for this as a good alternative to Wacom's 4K lineup. Hard to beat the price + additional accessories.
It seems you skipped many points of interest, like showing/talking about the build quality of the display, the presence of the VESA mount, driver compatibility across different OS, plus one had to infer that it does not have fans.
Overall, it didn’t seem a well scripted video.
Besides this, I am very glad they finally released this display!
I really want to buy the xencelabs, but there are only a handful of reviews. Few of those are from xcencelabs, and who has an x-pen tablet I believe as a display with their logo covering the brand. I’d like to see more input from actual creators. This would be a major purchase, going from a wacom cintiq 13HD w/hot keys I got back in 2012. I just want a more real estate when I draw, and I do like having my hot keys on the side of the tablet, or in xencelabs case mounted. So, idk I’m still debating. I do have their medium pen tablet. But I prefer drawing on a screen, doesn’t cramp my hand.
I just want that remote. That is a sweet remote.
I’m literally about to buy a huion but this is cool. Gonna take a look at least. In regards to the clicky feel the remotes wheel lacks I’m with you on perhaps their reasoning for the precision aspect. However instead of a mechanical clicks they could opt for haptics electronically maybe? Might add a bit to the cost of it but I’m sure from the quality they seem to be putting out they could make it work sweet
Edit. After looking at the site I noticed that the remote will work with other brand displays and tablets. I give them big points for making it compatible with ppl who have a display already and would like to try their products without buying a whole new display etc. I think I’ll pick up the remote at least since it looks a lot nicer then the huion controller.
Hey, after seeing your review I ordered this Pen Display and well I think that was the best choice I did, I love it :D Such a great experience (hobby artist here :D)
So far everything is working great, driver has no issues at all, pens feel great, same as the wacom 2... having 330 cd sometimes is great, not using it on max but it's way brighter than huion kamvas 24 4k.. It's indeed pricy imho but I am happy I choose this one. I actually would love to have a touch screen :D maybe in couple years they'll add it... this is my first xencelab product and ye definitly convinced me from the quality... ahh, for those who read comments: This Display has no Fans, so no noise at all, but after approx. 45 mins of usage, it gets warm, NOT hot, just a littler warmer and it doesn't feel uncomfortable, however you'll notice it but it won't get hot even if you use it for couple hours.
Thanks for writing this - there are so few reviews on this. I'd easily trade a little heat for no fans! How is it to draw on? I've read that the cursor can be a little laggy. Do you notice this? TIA
@@tested211 well, i cant speak for 2d drawing, since i am using it mostly with Zbrush; I havent had any issues with lags while sculpting or texturing; not sure if those mentioned laggs are display related or software..
Hi, Im a bit late but how is it compared to a huion kamvas 24 4k? I'm considering buying a new tablet
@@AttackOnTitanVengeancethis
@@AttackOnTitanVengeance weird, somehow my comment wasn't stored:
So If you ask me, I would say: Get Xencelabs PD24, it's worth every penny. Like above mentioned the brightness is a huge plus, in some situations I make use of it and it helps a lot. From my POV: Xencelabs has overall a better quality, but this obviously comes with a higher price, unfortunatly xD If it is too expensive for you, get the Huion, it is also a good PD !! But I am pretty sure, if you get the xencelabs pd, you won't regret it ;D
Our artist looked at a few factors when upgrading from a Cintiq 13HD to a 22 pen display. Size almost doubled, cost and relative use. In addition accessories. After seeing several reviews, the plunge was take to the the HUION Kamvas 22 Plus. The ideal pick would have been the Pro 24 4k series, but for 1/3 the cost and the overall use it was price factor for the main pick. Only thing we noticed so far is the delay in the pen, but after a few minutes it does finally stop give the spinning ball. (drivers and stuff have all be updated, looked for conflict none found).
Ooooo.... I like it. I read in some of the comments that Xenceslabs is owned by Ugee so it must be the very premium brand among all the alternatives.
Is it worth an extra $600 / £600 over a 4K Huion where the drawing experience is apparently just as good? (I think no - £600 can buy me a lot of ice cream) 🤣🤣🤣
Okay its time for some competition ❤
Chevere!!! Great review, as usual, Brad. Thank you very much. Still thinking about what pen display to buy! I'm still confused, ha, ha. You help a lot with your reviews. Take care.
My big question is, do certain Wacom pens work with this the same way to do with the Medium Tablet? I found the Wacom Pro Pen worked with it and actually worked better than Xencelabs own pen since it had no line wobble at all, which was a bit of a trip.
I just tested out the Pro Pen 3D and the Pro Pen 2 from Wacom on the Xencelabs Pen Display 24 and I am sad to report they did not work.
I am torn between Xencelabs 24 and Huion 24 4K. However in my location there is a huge price difference between these 2 devices. Would you say that the quality and accessories (stand and second pen) of Xencelabs is worth additional 1400$ over Huion 24 4K ?
Great Review, Brad.
Thanks for your input on this.
I've been watching them for about a month now and I was curious to see and hear some feedback on it.
Cheers,
JC
I wish they had a smaller model like 16 or 20inch, my desk space is pretty filled up XD
Besides of the review ,the artwork looks very cool.👌👌
I thought so too! Very cool character and clothing.
Can u review new xp pen deco pro gen2 pen tablet? The one with 16k pressure
Hey Brad! You think now that you've had more time with the tablet and that it's available for sale, we can get a vs video between this tablet, the Kamvas Pro 24 4K and the Cintiq Pro 24? All the same size category but vastly different prices, I think it's worth talking about!
Oh finally, they have a pen display... I would like a smaller size one though like 20 inch or something.
How does it compare to HUION 24 4K?
We need more videos on second channel about drawing.
To date I have had 6 different Huion tablets and monitors. I love my Huion products. I would one day like a stand-alone drawing monitor like a wacom but the $$$ is a factor for me
Been considering upgrading fro ma old 13inch Cintiq (have it for 8 years or more ) to a 24inch, so this review comes in handy for those who want one but that price tag might be to steep. Tho i have to wonder the durability of Xencelabs, since at least with Wacom i know i am garanteed 10 years on it easily so it does help justify the cost in the long run
Got a tablet from Xen due to my school sending one out as part of the Launch Box program. I like it, however after using a Wacom screen display, its been hard for me to get used to a non display tablet. Glad they finally have a screen tablet as it's been something ive been hoping for.
I’m currently using a kamvas 24 plus, and if this had the touch features that my old Wacom 13hd had, I would jump all over this. But it looks like I will have to deal with both having pinch to zoom for a while till I can get a studio pro lol
Wondering if I am the only one that cares about tip rotation, and I do not mean tilt, but literally the rotation of the brush shape based on the orientation of the pen. I had it on my old cintiq 13hd and thought it was a basic feature, then I switched to a huion 24 plus, pushed by all the good reviews but ended up being quite disappointed since it has no tip rotation, plus the tilt response is almost random. I'm wondering if this one has this feature, anyone can help?
Xencelabs doesn't have the barrel rotation of Wacom's Art Pen. I find it interesting that they (Wacom) have these new Pro Pen 3's which don't have the rotation and they got rid of the eraser. They have made these pens where you can literally tear them apart and change the balanced weight inside, change the buttons, but no eraser and no barrel rotation. It almost appears like they are rethinking what a Pen Stylus should do, what it should include. Xencelabs not having rotation might not be a bad thing if Wacom themselves are rethinking the merits of it.
@@markscungio4388 Yes, I think the last Wacom pen with rotation is well over 10 years old now - are they abandoning it? In Photoshop at least, you can set the brush to use tilt for brush rotation and that works quite well. It's slightly awkward and doesn't work as well as the Art Pen but useable.
I suspect the expectations of customers is now somewhat defined by ipad / pencil. I'm guessing Ipencil users outnumber tablet / pen display users by 10 to 1 at least and ipad is likely now most people's introduction to digital art and forms their understanding / expectations of how digital art tools work.
Oled screen is a game changer from them
I wish they made these thinner (like a tablet) and only use USB C. I can sorta fake it using the Samsung tab 8 ultra with the display app.
I may get it this one.
This looks great the only slight concern I have with these and other non Wacom brands is the support and long term build quality.
Hopefully time proves me wrong as Wacom need a shake-up.
I was waiting to see your review for this! My husband has the medium Xencelabs tablet (collage bequeathed) and he hates it. 😅 He works all in 3D programs & Xencelabs doesn't work consistently in those programs. But then, the programs don't act consistently either, so I can't say it's the tablets fault 🤔(EDIT: I was talking to him today & he told me the pen he was using was faulty! Luckily it comes with 2, he used the other one and it works great.) Anyway, their monitor tablet looks like another well made product. I think most of what people are paying for is solid hardware (including extras). But I'm really surprised it's got a 60HZ refresh rate. At that price point, why not go for something a little higher? It would help.I think no-line wobble is unrealistic (even Wacom has it) but I'm still disappointed you didn't show your test! Thank for your review! :)
I love the remote with the display. Maybe Wacom or Huion could take from that example. Also love the fact that the pens have an eraser bit as well.
PLEASE bring eraser stylus back. =(
I always use your squarespace code lol
Whats the color accuracy between Wacom vs Huion vs Xencelabs?
Waiting for the xp pen review I saw the release video it seems like they just 1 upped apples pen tech but on a drawing display
The only display tablet they seem to have that is "new" is too small. It won't directly compete with these 20-24 inch tablets.
The return of Xencelabs
Question - If I was to grab one of these to use as a screen tablet and a primary monitor can I use a standard Wacom Pro still to navigate + paint - I have a weird job where this would happen.
I goofed up by getting the Wacom 32" Cintiq while it was available. In some ways it's great, because it's a huge 4K screen that I can run at native res and fit a ton of tools and program UI, as well as open multiple document windows for quick and easy reference and still have plenty of working space. In every other way, it sucks. It's a terrible piece of hardware, with dozenS-plural of dead pixels (which didn't appear right away, of course) and the dark areas of the screen show some sort of red static, almost like dim always on pixels, but only in dark spots. It's like the screen has a rash. The other way it sucks, is I've become really accustom to the size, but no one, not even Wacom is making anything that big anymore, so it's hard to look at smaller screen for when I eventually want to replace the current one. I felt pretty burned by Wacom with this product, so their new 120Hz screen kind of turned me off, but this Xencelabs one looks pretty good. I just really wish there was a bigger one.
Same! Would love a 27!
Yo guys I'm looking to get a Samsung S6 tab lite 2022 and was wondering if Clip Studio has a one time payment method or only a monthly method?
Is this standalone? Why can’t i find anything anywhere about it 🤔
It's a gorgeous tablet, but is it worth three times the price of a similarly sized XP Pen or Huion? That I'm not so sure.
Huion's 4K 24" is $1350 (with stand) and Wacom's 24" is $2000 (with NO stand), so this Xencelabs tablet is only $100 cheaper than the Cintiq. To me, it seems like the Huion is a way better deal. Also, the driver for MY Huion 24 Plus driver has almost the same features as you showed for the Xencelabs. And this model (1440p) is "only" $800.
Wacom raised the price it is now $2,199 with no stand
at this price point, you might as well spend abit more for the real deal
I'd love to get your feedback on how this works with the new Radial menu from Tablet Pro. If you can use the remote to open the radial menu or the pen side button. Some people We're asking if it was possible
Bro it's your software, YOU tell them if it's possible
@@AyoSoma I don't have this device😁😁
I just set mine up and running into an annoying behavior quirk. It appears that the pen button "clicks" only register reliably if the tip of your stylus is a few mm off the surface of the screen, MUCH closer than the range needed for the pen's cursor to activate. This makes is almost impossible to do navigation in programs that rely on holding RMB or MMB to pan/zoom/rotate the view. My hope is that I've received a bad unit that can be replaced since I LOVE this thing aside from this deal-breaker problem. I've made a couple of videos that demonstrate the issue but it appears any comment with vimeo links gets deleted.
now, due to lack of space and a bit of laziness I am not looking to change from my huion 14" any time soon... I have considered the xencelabs remote by itself though as a standalone.
is it worth it? is the remote good/usefull enough to warrant a $100 purchase?
Very nice review
Is this no longer available? I can't find it on their website.
When will you do the new 16k pressure sensitivity XP PEN artist 15 pro. Heard a lot of good things about it
and thier drive it's really awesome for IOS!
please review huion new pen tablet and compare it to huion hs611
Is there hardware color calibration?
will you be able to purchase this unit separately from the pens and remote because I own one of their products already and would love to purchase this when its released but dont want to pay an extra 100 or more dollars for those components.
Hi. Thank you for another great video. Question: Have you tested any pen computers? Like the Wacom MobileStudio Pro?
Brad, I have enjoyed your reviews and content for years now but I have one quibble and it is the wobbly line test. I feel you are doing a disservice to not just Xencelabs, but all of the other brands of tablets and display tablets when you use this wobbly line test. Even when you use a ruler, it is the wobble of your own hand that is more at fault than the device. If I use your review of the Huion Kamvas 24 as an example, where you did use a ruler as you drew the line, what happens if we do motion tracking on the pen stylus as you draw the line with the ruler? In Apple Motion I can do motion tracking, place a crosshair at the tip of what would be the eraser and then watch how when it calculates the motion, the eraser is bobbing up and down and being wobbly. If the eraser end is doing that, then isn't the tip as well?? Whatever, whichever device can only take the input of your hand. If you can't draw a straight line without wobble, then that is on you. Now, I realize we are not robots, we are only human and there will be some wobble depending on the person. I feel like the wobbly line test should be put to bed, axed, eliminated. It simply isn't an accurate test.
that slow speed line wobble sort of bothers me at this price point
really cool but a scanner/camera and paper still seems better for most people
Its a bit hard to justify it when here the Huion 24 not only is almost half expensive, it offers the same screen specs plus an Oled screen...
It's not oled. As far as I know, no drawing tablet is actually using oled. oled will suffer from burn in, and thats why its not recommended for productivity work that has the same software interface open for long periods of time.
Thank you
@brad Is the pen nib squishy or firm like a wacom pen? Huion has made strides in that area and that would be a deal breaker for me.
Make a video on ,Try to draw on a Cheap Touch Monitor with a capacitive Stylus and see how it goes ?
Unrelated to this tablet itself, Finding out that xppen, ugee and xencelabs are all subsidiaries of the same parent company targetying different groups makes things very funny to me
Finally, xencelabs display tablet!
Great and entertaining review, Brad thank you. Can I ask how you found the drawing experience compared with the Wacom Cintiq pro 27? I just got a Pro 27 and it's fantastic, perfect for what I need...except for the noisy fans, which I'm not sure I can put up with all day every day.
Cintiq pro 27 does it make a lot of noise? It's too high?
I had a Cintiq pro 17 for about a week and now im currently using the xencelabs pen display 24. I would say the drawing experience is very similar, although maybe because the xencelabs is a much bigger screen, it looks blurrier than the cintiq 17, which does bother me. Also there was a cursor offset problem on the xencelabs where the line you drew would appear above where the pen tip was placed, but this was easily fixed in the software by recalibrating the pen. There is an issue with line wobble, at least compared to the wacom cintiq pro 17 I had, the wacom had absolutely no issue in this regard, the drawing experience on it was seamless. I'm hoping the line wobble is something they can sort out by a software update. It's not a deal breaker but it is annoying. So far my biggest issue with the xencelabs is the blurry image, do not know if I'll stick with it. However, considering the new wacoms are twice the price of the xencelabs, this might be the best option at the moment.
Game changer ❤
I want it!
Honestly, I felt the Huion Kamvas 22 digitizer (on a model from a couple of years ago) was way too wonky to be usable at all. The driver-level stabilizer was too aggressive. It was hard to get proper accuracy. The tilt doesn't function correctly, both because the values aren't read properly and because of the shape of their pen.
If someone calls a tablet "as good as a Huion", I'm tossing it out as a consideration.
Seeing a few people already switch from a big Huion to a smaller Wacom screen tablet, and seeing their accuracy, quality and willingness to draw more detailed/complex designs just improve dramatically, just cements my opinion on it.
In that light, I was hoping Xencelabs does a markedly better job than Huion did on the base drawing experience, especially at that price. But if it doesn't, I'm not going to bother. Here I was hoping for a proper Wacom alternative but I guess it's not here yet.
I don't think I could deal with only having 8 shortcut keys. I use a Razer Tartarus with my Huion and it has 25 shortcut keys, of which I use 24. I only occasionally hit the wrong shortcut now, lmao
I should have mentioned this in the review, but you can toggle through sets of shortcuts, so you can get way more than 8.
I'm not a Razer fan at all, but picking up a used tartarus was an absolute game changer for me
@@StUCaboose Yeah tartarus is awesome. No hand fatigue and great key positioning / muscle memory means that you never have to look at it. I have the pro now (after using the basic one for years) and the scroll wheel is really handy for brush size etc.
you get 5 sets of 8, making a total of 40 per application.
sheesh I wish I could afford those that screen tablet looks good
Cant seem to find a price anywhere online, looks cool
$1800
Hello from Vietnam 🇻🇳
What app you use to draw on mac?
You are amazing man even before i watch the video 😁.. Love from Syria 🇸🇾🇸🇾🇸🇾🇸🇾
...It looks so sexy...and i am somehow drawn to this! ...Man, time to save some good money to get it!
Howmuch is it
I wonder if this could be a little cheaper if it didn't include a second pen or a remote, but it's nice to see more quality tablet brands on the rise. I really haven't heard of Ugee, Artisul, Parblo or Veikk in a while even if some of them are in the same company (or from the same factory as) Huion or Xp-pen.
Xencelabs is part of the Hanvon Ugee group. I think XP Pen is, too. I think at the end of the day almost all of them are either owned directly by Ugee or are buying their product from Ugee and reselling it with superficial modifications. The whole pen display market is basically Wacom vs Ugee.
@Bob Smith Oh yeah I just found out about that soon after I looked up Xencelab, whoops. I did hear about Xencelabs having former Wacom employees but yeah you're right about the Wacom vs Ugee
@@Fricasso79 Does Huion have ugee digitizer or its own?
So I finally got this tablet, but I'm experiencing blurryness on my screen, I'm connecting it to a Mac, anyone else experience this???
did you get any info about the blurry?
@@kyb9623 hey there did you just buy it too? So the xencelabs team been back n forth with me giving me different solutions to try and fix it. Nothing worked. So now I sent it back and they are actually sending me another one to see if the same thing happens to me.
@@alfredmanzano680 about to buy. I have been in contact with the xencelabs team asking about this. it seems to be a rare issue, but they're still investigating the cause. Thanks for getting back to me!
The larger tablet footprint is what has me shying away from it as compared to the Huion 24 4k Pro. Is the drawing experience so good that it justifies the size to switch from Huion to Xencelabs?
Display wise, they're the same size
but physical wise, they did this for an artist to rest their arm after
@@M3K1E Understood. But those huge bezels take up a lot of space. I ditched my Wacom 24-inch for this reason and grabbed the huion.
@@M3K1E I understand that but not sure it helps that much? I've had both Wacom pro 24 and 32 with the large bezels and found I still needed something on the desk to rest my elbow / arm on, especially if drawing from the arm. If I used the pro 24 in portrait mode it WAS big enough to rest on and worked quite well but not when in landscape orientation.
How does the pen accuracy feel as you get near the edge of the screen. The Huion tablets I've tried have been very bad in that regard.
what what Huion tablet did you try?
are we going to get an xp pen artist pro 14 gen 2 review?
yep, that's next on my list of things to review.
huion wobbling a lot less
A $1900 display having that much line wobble is quite disappointing. I do have a 22" Huion and even though it's okay with Photoshop, that wobble is much more pronounced in TVPaint so I am forced to crank up smoothing even higher, making animating and cleanup less intuitive and cumbersome unless I draw very quickly.
Wacoms have zero issues but are too expensive. Huions are okay but their software does not let me set the front pen button to Erase toggle natively, and the buttons are flimsy enough to miss the toggle 5/10 times. Toggle erase in the drivers is something both Wacoms and Xencelabs do. It makes a huge difference for my personal drawing style unfortunately. Really hoped Xencelabs pen performance was comparable to Wacom, but that line wobble looks significant.
wacoms do have a LOT of issues
@@doaflamingo3713 I meant they have no issues comparatively *in my experience*. Have been lucky to not get any major problems with wacoms I've owned for a decade. Pens have no line wobble in any program I use, any and all shortcut functionality I personally need is built into their drivers and the durability of their products have been great for me. That said, I've never required to contact their customer service, and have been lucky with the driver updates. I have heard some horror stories so I know how bad it can get, just haven't experienced them myself. With Huion, I deal with the pen wobble at work daily - to the point where it alters my drawing experience. If we had a budget for similarly sized Cintiq, I would definitely switch.
This looks sleek
Is Wacom the only brand that does touch screen now?
For now, somewhat.
Huion do have touch screen models but they're all PC models
So I'm hoping when they release new tablets they will include touch since they /have/ some it before.
Lack of touchscreen for that price just kills it (in a bad way!) Xencelabs in their marketing research claim that touch is not used enough to justify as a feature. I have no idea how they came up with that since we all use touchscreen devices. Touch is a feature I use a lot on my Cintiq and it just makes everything smoother.
I'm with Xencelabs on this one. Touch screen is kind of pointless
I bought a Cintiq 24 non-touch because I didn't think I needed a touchscreen(or justify the extra cost for the touch version). I was also aware that the touchscreen on Cintiqs was a little janky. But ...I did buy the new Cintiq Pro 27 and really enjoy using the touch function!
@@cheyespejo1112 How do you find the fan noise on the Pro 27?
My boyfriend is a professional artist in a top animation studio in the EU and out of the dozens upon dozens of artists in the studio active at any given time, less than 5% of them have touch activated, while everyone else either uses their remotes to navigate or their pen with or without their mouse, and all of them have touch always disabled.
i've had a large wacom... it sucked it took up way to much space... and just got burried by other stuff and then i ended up not using it...
smaller is better