These days there are plenty of options on the market with pen tablets and displays. For the longest time, there was really only one name on the market for drawing tablets. But for the beginners out there that was just a bit pricey. But fear no more, there are now some really good pen tablets on the market. The Huion Inspiroy 2L is not exactly the cheapest on the market, but it does have a lot to offer. Let’s have a closer look!
Note: Huion sent the tablet to review. However, this is a completely independent review. All thoughts about this item are our own.
This is a pen display, which means you need to coordinate your hand on the tablet and your eyes on the screen. This is something I am very comfortable with, but some people apparently find it a bit difficult at first. Some people prefer a Pen Display which allows you to look at a screen directly, Huion have those too, but they are of course a bit more expensive. These are a terrific alternative to a mouse for editing photos, digital art and retouching.
Pros
- Straight out of the box, it’s easy to use. Plug and play and the pen (or stylus) and tablet work a treat (It does require drivers to be loaded for programming buttons and scroll wheel)
- Has programmable mechanical buttons and scroll wheel on the tablet, easy to set up (Utility app required)
- Smooth and comfortable matte surface to work on
- Pressure sensitive pen
- Minimalist design and comfortable to use, paper-like feel to the matte surface
- Good mid-size to work with and lightweight, the pen fits comfortably in your hand (battery-free)
- Appears to be a solid build
- Good installation guide (once downloaded from the website)
- Can be set up for left or right-handed users (rotate 1800)
- Comes with spare nibs and buttons
- Non-slip feet
- Comes in three colors and three sizes (Color dependent on size)
- It’s also a good size to fit comfortably on my desk without being too big
Cons
I’m going to be honest, there are no real cons with this pen tablet, more a case of things to be aware of;
- Need to go straight to the website and download the manual & driver (granted not a real con, most items do this these days.
- You need to close down all programs (Lightroom & Photoshop etc) to load the drivers successfully, then restart your PC to get it working properly, then it’s easy to use.
Huion Inspiroy 2L — Technical specifications
All of the technical specifications for the Inspiroy 2L are from the Huion website.
- Dimensions: 352.5 x 208.7 x 7.5 ~ 9.5mm
- Weight: 600 grams
- Working area: 10.5″ x 6.56″ (266.7 x 166.7mm)
- Report Rate: 260 PPS
- Resolution: 5080 LPI
- Pen: PW110
- Pressure Sensitivity: 8192 levels
- Reading Height: 10mm
- Port: USB-C
- Tilt: 600
- Compatibility: Windows 7 or later, macOS10.12 (or later), CHROME OS 88 (or later), Linux (Ubuntu 20.04 LTS), Android 6 or later(yes it can work off a phone)
- Color: Black
- Shortcut keys: 8 (with three group keys)
- Scroll-Wheel: 1
Huion Inspiroy 2L — Inspiration and joy
Ergonomics are pretty good. It’s light and comfortable to work with. Nice, fluid smooth matte surface area and pen connection. Adjustable pressure sensitivity.
Build quality
The tablet feels solid in the hand, although it is pretty light. The stylus is also lightweight, solid and has a non-slip matte surface.
Out of the box
Out of the box, there are no batteries or anything, connect via the supplied USB-C cable and the pen worked straight away. The User manual is available online. This manual is quite good and once I shut down Lightroom and Photoshop the drivers were installed quickly and easily. A quick Restart and the Huion software allowed me to program the pen and tablet with ease.
Huion Inspiroy 2L — In use
Controls
You can program the buttons and scroll to whatever function you wish ie; (from top down) Undo [Ctrl + Z], J, Save [Ctrl +S], Rotate, B, Shift, Alt, Space, Scroll wheel – zoom in and out. You can even program the buttons on the stylus, I use left and right mouse click.
Battery life
Refreshingly no batteries are required at all. No charging!
Connection
You simply connect the pen tablet to your computer with the included USB-C cable. Quick and Simple. Bluetooth connection could be an improvement, but for the price the USB cable is plenty.
Setup
Once I programmed my pen and tablet, it was super intuitive to use. The pen feels comfortable and the matte surface feels terrific to work with. Very precise.
Tip: Use some reusable tape and write what you have programmed the buttons for and stick on the buttons or attach a sticky note to your PC until you remember them all.
The Inspiroy 2L is quite good for only US $99.99. Once installed and set up, it is super easy to use. Has nice solid fluid movement and details. The buttons and scrolls are comfortable and the scroll works really well for zoom in and out, I wish it had two (brush bigger and smaller). I was very happy with the build quality and the performance.
