If you are looking for a budget-friendly pen tablet, you must have come across Wacom Intuos, XPPen Deco 01 V3 and Huion inspirory H1060P.

These 3 tablets are quite popular amongst artists. Their low prices and great features make them some of the best drawing tablets for hobbyists, and beginners.

Are you torn between the three major drawing tablet models, wondering about which device is a better and which one should you choose as your next drawing tool?

In this article, I will compare the three models, show their strengths and their weaknesses, and help you make an informed decision.

Wacom Intuos vs XPPen Deco 01 V3 vs Huion inspirory H1060P Comparison

All 3 tablets are very similar to each other but there are some differences that set them apart. Let’s find out.

Key Drawing Tablet Features in-depth comparison

Here’s a more in-depth analysis of the three tablets, These will help us better understand the pros and cons in each case.

Size of the drawing area

Looking at the comparison table at the beginning, you may have noticed that the Wacom Intuos is available in two sizes – small and medium.

The small version features a 6.0” x 3.7” working area that can feel a little cramped, especially when drawing. Having a such as small tablet to map your screen feels imprecise and makes fine selections difficult. Of course, It’s compact enough to easily fit into a laptop bag for painless portability.

The Medium size Wacom Intuos offers a slightly larger working area of 8.5 x 5.3 in, or around A5 size. I personally find that to be a comfortable size to work with. It makes a blance between size and portability.

On the other hand, Both XPPen Deco 01 V3 and Huion Inspiroy H1060P offers a Bigger, generous drawing area of 10 x 6 inch, allowing you to draw more comfortably. And also more precise, since the area ratio is closer to the one’s of the screen.

Stylus Pen

All 3 graphic tablets come with a digital pen uses electromagnetic resonance (EMR) technology, so they don’t need batteries or any wires to function, reducing maintenance and weight for a more natural pen feel.

These stylus looks the same, comes with an ergonomic shape, which are wider towards the front and narrow at the back and have a distinct shape that fits right in your hands like a glove.

Plus they have a good weight distribution which makes them easier to use on longer drawing sessions.

Pressure Sensitivity

The Wacom Intuos features lower 4096 pressure levels. The Huion H1060P offers better pen pressure sensitivity at 8192 pressure levels, while XPPen Deco 01 V3 has highest 16K pressure sensitivity.

Generally speaking, As the levels increase, the tablets become more sensitive to the amount of applied pressure and pick up even the faintest details in your strokes.

However, they have equal pressure sensitivity in practical use. Even though the XPPen boasts 16 K pressure sensitivity, after 4K sensitivity, there is a diminishing return. So it doesn’t matter that much.

According to my test, 8K and 16 K pressure sensitivity is just a gimmick. I never see the benefit of high-pressure sensitivity from Wacom, Huion, and XPPen. 4K pressure levels is more than enough.

Tilt Sensitivity

Just like pressure, these styluses can also detect and measure at what angle you have held the stylus. This allows better control when shading.

Wacom Intuos stylus doesn’t support tilt, on the other hand, both XPPen P05D and Huion PW100 stylus can detect tilt sensitivity up to 60 degrees.

Compared to pressure sensitivity, tilt sensitivity is not that important and most artists rarely use this feature.

But in case you make a certain type of artwork or heavily use brushes such as spray bruh then you should go with the XPPen Deco 01 V3 or Huion 1060P.

Initial activation force

When drawing, What matters is the individual feel of each tablet, and most notably, the starting pressure – Initial Activation Force (IAF).

The lower the initial activation force, the better. High IAF means that you have to press slightly harder for the tablet to register your pen strokes.

The Wacom intuos pen has the lowest IAF at 2 grams, while XPPen P05D stylus and Huion PW100 have more than 10 grams IAF.

Using the wacom pen is more sensitive than Huion and XPPen styluses for drawing. It really doesn’t need much pressure to to register lines.

Drawing Performance

The real-life drawing performance on wacom intuos tablet is still the best. Huion and XPPen are equal in performance – very close to wacom.

What really sets wacom intuos tablet apart is better pen precision, with improved pressure transitions and less wavy diagonal lines than the competition.

Although not as well as Wacom Intuos, Both Huion and XPPen tablets supports higher pen pressure and Tilt Sensitivity, allows you high precision and control as you create strokes with your pen.

You just need to use a little more force than wacom intuos pen when you draw with them. If you’re a beginner, there’s no difference you’ll notice.

Shortcut Buttons

The express keys or buttons present on drawing tablets could save your time and ease your workflow.

The Wacom Intuos only has 4 programmable express keys, while the XPPen Deco 01 V3 provides slightly more – 8 shortcut keys.

Huion H1060p wins in this aspect. It has 12 programmable press keys and an additional 16 soft keys that allow you to customize shortcuts to your favorite go-to functions.

Driver Software

The driver is an important component of any drawing tablet, without the driver, the drawing tablets won’t work.

The Tablet driver helps to establish a better connection with the computer and helps it understand and process pen pressure and location data.

Wacom, Huion and XPPen are the most popular and reliable drawing tablet brands. Their drivers are stable, and updates are quickly released when new bugs appear.

Drivers of Wacom Intuos, XPPen Deco 01 V3, and Huion Inspirory H1060P are all available for both Windows and MacOS devices.

They allow you to customize things like shortcut buttons, pen pressure curve, and work area. They can also be used to switch the tablet from right to left-handed mode for all the artists who draw with their left hands.

Comparing the three drivers, you can say that the drivers of Wacom are slightly better as they offers more user-friendly functions.

Connectivity

Wacom Intuos has an advantage when it comes to wireless connectivity. It supports both Bluetooth and USB-A. You will be able to work without any cable connection.

Both Huion H1060P and XPPen Deco 01 V3 relies on only USB-A cable connections. However, they also comes with an extra USB-A to USB-C Adpater, which offers more flexibility.

Brand Reputation

Generally speaking, Wacom tablets are known for their great drawing experience whereas both Huion and XP-Pen are popular for providing a lot of features at very pocket-friendly prices.

From my experiences, it’s true that both huion and XPPen’s products have been getting better over the years to the point where their products could directly compete with Wacom’s products.

If you want to experience Lower IAF (3 grams) from Huion and XPPen, You can pay attention to the XPPen X3 Smart chip pen tech and Huion Pen Tech 3.0 (or evn 4.0), Check out the XPPen Deco L and Huion inspirory 2 L. The two tablet models discussed here do not equip with this advanced tech.

Conclusion

When it comes to affordability, Huion H1060p and XPPen deco 01 V3 are miles ahead of the Wacom Intuos due to their reasonable price in exchange for the performance they provide.

Thus, if you are a beginner or an occasional user, Huion 1060p or XPPen deco 01 V3 can be your go-to option.

On the other hand, Even though Wacom intuos is more expensive, its cost is well-justified due to their advanced features. It come with better build quality, more precise digital pen, and wireless connectivity.

So, going for a Wacom intuos tablet might be a bit expensive for you, but I believe it will be worth it. But avoid the Intuos small version, Small size of working area will be an issue while using for a long time, heck i cant even draw for 10 mins on it.

At the end of the day, it comes down to your work needs. If you are a serious artist, then you’ll benefit more from purchasing a Wacom Intuos.

But, if you’re an occasional user, you can easily go for a more affordable Huion H1060p or XPPen deco 01 V3. Plus you get a big size that helps with arm movements.