Introduction

Huion was founded in 2011 with the aim of being a innovator, designer as well as manufacturer of digital ink devices and equivalent solutions including pen tablets, display tablets, touch computers etc. This is a Chinese brand based out of Shenzhen which unfortunately thinks using westerners in the website is a good way to relate their products globally, but ultimately all I really care about how good the product is. A representative from the company reached out after having seen a quick look article on another graphics tablet covered last year. One thing led to another and here we are taking a look at one more graphics tablet at the just the right time, as students start preparing to return to school/college.


The image above helps illustrate what a typical graphics tablet in 2023 looks like. There are three versions in general—those without any display, those with an integrated display but no standalone computing, and those with a full-fledged operating system along with the display. These versions increase in cost as you go up the feature set, and the middle set ends up being a good balance for most people in that you effectively treat this as a second monitor but then use the pen as if it were a standalone system anyway—just one connected to the actual PC via cables. The Huion Kamvas (think Canvas and you get the idea) Pro 13 (2.5K) is an updated version of a previous Huion graphics tablet that maxed out at 1920x1080, hence the 2.5K in the name to indicate this one goes up to 2560 x 1600 in a nice 16:10 aspect ratio for improved productivity. There is also a less expensive Kamvas 13, in case you wanted to know, which doesn't have as good or accurate or bright a display and even loses out on some accessories you get here. Indeed, this Huion Pro 13 (2.5K) is the most feature-rich graphics tablet I have tested to date, let alone also being the largest! There's a lot to unpack and go through here, so let's begin with a look at the product specifications in the table below.

Packaging and Accessories

The Huion Kamvas Pro 13 (2.5K) tablet ships in a sturdy, thick cardboard box that employs a black base allowing the design to contrast better against. On the front is the company logo and product name along with a render of the tablet and salient features listed below. We see more features on the back in a nicely illustrated manner to go with a handy guide on how to go about connecting the tablet here itself. Two seals on the top and bottom keep the contents in place on their way to you. Open the box to see the tablet right away inside a wax paper wrap. Underneath is one of the accessories that helps distinguish this from other, less expensive tablets. Huion includes its $50 ST200 foldable tablet stand which has an aluminium alloy surface and non-slip rubber pads on the side and back alike.


The stand weighs over 550 g by itself and feels very sturdy in the hands. It measures in at 282 x 204 x 7.5 mm and can still easily fit inside a typical 13" tablet/laptop carry case. There are three sections in the working surface which can be pulled out, including a shorter one at the bottom to hold the tablet and two at the top that you can choose to pull out and extend into notches in the base to get various support angles ranging from 14.5° to 45°. This allows you to position the tablet at a more ergonomic angle to better suit your hands and shoulders while also helping get the best viewing angle when working.


The bottom layer contains several different compartments with various other accessories. These include a plethora of cables—USB Type-C to Type-C, USB Type-C to Type-A, a male-female USB Type-A extension cable, and then the actual cable which I suspect most people will end up using if you are connecting this to a PC/laptop that is not too far away. The other cables are only necessary if you are out of USB ports or need the extra length, or you could go with two USB Type-C to Type-C cables if your client device supports video out over Type-C and you have a power connector with Type-C support. Regardless, this last cable goes from a thick right-angled housing with dual USB Type-C (one for power, one for data as marked) on the tablet side to three separate connectors on the source side in the form of USB Type-A for power (if the other USB connection isn't strong enough), USB Type-A for data, and a full-size HDMI cable for video out from your graphics card to effectively use the tablet as a secondary display. I quite like this 3-in-2 cable for easier cable management as opposed to dealing with multiple cables of different lengths with most other such solutions.


We also get a multi-language quick start guide with useful illustrations as seen on the back of the product box, however you may find this online guide far more detailed and useful. There is also a microfiber cloth to keep the display clean over time as well as one of those drawing gloves which you only put two fingers into. Huion also includes a pen holder which unscrews to reveal storage for up to 10 pen nibs. These are pre-filled with five standard nibs and five felt nibs and in the middle is a clip to help remove a worn nib from the pen. Speaking of which, rounding off the unboxing experience is the digital pen itself with a soft touch texture. It is very comfortable to hold and use and has two buttons closer to the active end. The pen can be easily placed into the holder for when you are taking a break, as seen above.

Closer Look

The previous two such graphics tablets I've used have been 12" versions in that they have a display which is rated for 12" diagonal but is usually 11.5" rounded-up. Then there's this Kamvas Pro 13 (2.5K) with a 13" screen that's actually 13.3" in size. It makes for a larger unit overall and a significantly larger display too. The overall dimensions are 373 (L) x 229 (W) x 10 (H) mm, and the entire thing is also built very well, owing to the use of an aluminium casing given a silver frosted finish that is smudge-resistant. Bezels are large enough to accommodate your hands holding the tablet if needed, as well as for branding on the side. The other side on the left houses seven buttons which are effectively shortcut keys that use low profile tactile switches and have different patterns on the top to help identify them easily by touch. The active area for the display ends up being 286.5 x 179 mm in size and houses a 2560x1600 LCD IPS 60 Hz panel, a nice step up from the usual 30 Hz 1080p displays most others use. While the max brightness (220 nits) and 25 ms response time won't win any awards, it does boast a nice 1200:1 contrast ratio and 145% sRGB gamut with 178° viewing angles vertically or horizontally.


Examining the Huion Kamvas Pro 13 (2.5K) from the back shows the aluminium body in closer detail, and this provides for a sense of premium build quality and comfort over the predominantly plastic body tablets in the lower price range bracket compared to what this belongs to. The chassis is actually thinner than average at 10 mm compared to the standard 12-15 mm and has gentle curves all around the sides to make it easy to hold the tablet in one hand. We also see four anti-slip rubber pads applied here for when you will have the tablet resting on a desk, although I imagine most users will have this on the accompanying stand anyway.


On the top left corner of the tablet, facing away from the user, is an indicator LED and a multi-function button that works as both the power and OSD button. To the left are two USB Type-C ports to help keep the product future proof. One comes clearly marked for power and the other is for data. You can choose to have two separate cables or go for the combo cable to connect the tablet, which is what I personally recommend since it makes for a cleaner connection too courtesy the single right-angled housing as seen above. The other end of the cable goes to two available USB Type-A ports and a full-size HDMI port as seen before. If you don't have an HDMI output on your laptop, for example, then see if it supports video out over Type-C in which case you might as well just go with two Type-C cables instead.


Here's a look at the tablet positioned on the provided tablet stand. I found myself mostly using the stand on the smaller pop-out at a 15-20° angle when having the entire ensemble on a desk alongside my PC or laptop. The stand is such a useful accessory that I do think anyone interested in such devices should certainly get it if they do not have one already. There are also dual device stands available allowing you to have your tablet and laptop on the same stand for easier multi-tasking.


Before I talk more about actually using the Huion Kamvas Pro 13 (2.5K), I wanted to better illustrate how large it really is compared to the other tablets I've used before, including the 12" Veikk Studio seen in the photos above. You can see how the Kamvas Pro has a much larger, and far more usable, active working area albeit it's less portable as a result.

User Experience

The Huion website is extremely easy to navigate and I will again give a shout-out to this useful online guide that provides step-by-step instructions for everything. This includes the drivers for the tablet which you can find on this page for the OS of your choice. It's a good idea to remove all other graphics/drawing tablet drivers off your system first although I found the generic Windows drivers did not cause any issues. The latest version of drivers for Windows (v15.6.3.132) are from late last year but that in itself is a non-issue given the functionality is established entirely. The install process is simple, the program takes 60 MB of space, and runs light on system resources too. Once installed, it would only show working options if the tablet is connected and powered on. Here we find remapping options for the shortcut keys that effectively make them macro keys on a keyboard, for example. There is also the expected pen calibration tool and pressure sensitivity slider, and I also appreciated the monitor calibration settings. The buttons on the pen can be re-mapped too similar to the shortcut keys on the tablet, thus giving you effectively nine such keys within arm's reach. Note that the program needs to be running in the background for any of the changes from the default configuration to work.


That button on the tablet also pulls on the OSD (on-screen display) if you press and hold for a few seconds. This then works with the pen to allow you to do some on-the-fly changes to the display too as seen above. In essence, if the display and pen are already working fine for you on Windows, then there is not a lot to gain from installing the first-party drivers. I would have liked profile support to allow for different sets of shortcuts for different applications—that would have made the re-mapping options even more useful. On the other hand, I suppose working professionals already have their preferred software of choice for drawing/editing, so you could remap once and call it a day.


Seen above are just two ways I use graphics tablets, and the Huion Kamvas Pro 13 (2.5K) slotted in nicely—especially with the stand. The obvious use case is with any content editing program, with the Windows Ink compatibility allowing it to work directly with Adobe Creative Suite and Lightroom in particular. Indeed, seen above is an example of me using the tablet to edit one of the very photos that went into this article! The glove is handy to prevent palm recognition, which admittedly the tablet is very good at already, and the shortcut keys are handy too in allowing quick zooms, changing brush sizes, and also hotkeys for white balance and alignment. I set the display to duplicate my primary monitor itself and it's large enough to allow the pen to be used for easy editing compared to, say, a mouse. In fact, the video above showing the software drivers was done with the pen fully replacing the mouse throughout. The system as a whole won't replace more dedicated tools as previously covered, but is also far more universal in use. Another example is simply using the pen to take notes using calls and editing text, such as my own reviews here where I sometimes go through the draft and make comments as needed prior to publication. I also use the pen and tablet combination in online calls to draw attention to something akin to a pointer or even use a virtual whiteboard too.

The Kamvas Pro 13 (2.5K) did not exhibit any noticeable latency in use, and there was also a zero-gap use between the nib and the cursor itself. These are two of the basic minimum things I look for in such devices, and having a bright and vibrant display to duplicate your monitor's contents helps. You can also extend the display to here and have a makeshift second monitor or simply have the primary display showing something else of relevance—say if you are drawing something and want the object/inspiration to always be present. The 8000+ pressure levels worked beautifully when I tried some sketching in GIMP and SketchUp, and the 16:10 aspect ratio with a sharper display also comes in handy.

There's a lot to like here if you are in the market for a graphics tablet, not the least of which is the compact size, build quality, and good software customization too. The Huion Kamvas Pro 13 (2.5K) tablet has an MSRP of $399 but is currently on sale for $369 from the Huion online store as of the date of this article. There is also a back-to-school promotion ongoing with dealers having further discounted the product to $339, as on Amazon right now. The reduced pricing lasts until September 15 for those interested, and keep in mind that this price includes the various expensive accessories such as the stand and the cables.