We review the new Huion KAMVAS PRO 22 versus the successful Wacom Cintiq 22HD and versus the Huion GT-221 Pro
The new Huion KAMVAS PRO 22 is the newest model in the Huion pen display drawing monitor range. ¿Is it the best drawing monitor on the market nowadays? Let us go into a detailed review of this graphic tablet and give you all the insights.
The Huion Kamvas Pro 22 is the upgraded version of the Huion GT-221 Pro. Both devices have a 21.5 inch Full HD screen, but the new Kamvas Pro 22 features technological upgrades that are bound to position it as one of the best pen display drawing monitors available.
¿Is the Huion Kamvas Pro 22 the best pen display drawing monitor available on the market at the moment? In this full analysis we strip down all the details to shed light on the matter.
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- HUION KAMVAS PRO 22
- HUION GT-221PRO
► New Huion Kamvas Pro 22:
Impressive
Huion Kamvas Pro 22 is on Amazon at a good price
The new Huion Kamvas Pro 22 is at launch date the most advanced drawing monitor of the Huion offering. The specs are pretty impressive:
- Screen:
- Size: 21.5 inch
- Resolution: Full HD 1920 x 1080 pixels
- Lines per inch: 5080 LPI
- Active area: 476.64 x 268.11 mm
- Full viewing angle: 178 degrees
- Color: 16.7 Million
- Color gamut: 120% sRGB on Kamvas Pro 22 (2019)
- Constrast: 1000:1
- Digital stylus:
- Pressure sensitivity: 8192 levels
- Battery-free stylus: Yes
- Report rate: 266 RPS
- Detection height: 10mm
- Tilt sensitivity: Yes
- Interface:
- Vídeo HDMI / DVI /VGA
- Data USB
- Supply
- 3-in-1 cable: No
- Programmable buttons: 20 buttons and 2 touch bars
- Adjustable stand: 20 - 80 degree
- Compatibility: Windows 7 or later and MacOS 10.12 or later
- Size: 589 x 344 x 21 mm
- Weight: 4.5 Kg
- Price: Check Huion Kamvas Pro 22 price
Brand / Model | Huion Kamvas Pro 22 | Huion GT-221 Pro |
Screen | 21.5'' Full HD | 21.5'' Full HD |
Pressure levels | 8192 levels | 8192 levels |
Report rate | 266 RPS | 233 RPS |
Battery-free pen | Yes | No |
Tilt sensitivity | Yes | No |
Anti-glare | Yes | No |
Price | ||
Review | ||
Deals found? [ We are constantly looking for deals and opportunities and we will share our findings here ] | Huion Kamvas Pro 22 is on Amazon at a good price |
These are all the things that these two drawing monitors have in common:
Things they have in common:
Now these are the improvements and upgrades on the new Kamvas Pro 22 over the previous model:
Upgrades on the KAMVAS PRO 22 from the previous model:
So as you can see the KAMVAS PRO 22 beats the GT-221 Pro particularly on the digital pen, as well as the new anti-glare glass surface.
The KAMVAS PRO 22 (2019) also has tilt sensitivity support, thanks to a firmware update released by Huion (we had been speculating about this possibility for a while, but now the Huion Kamvas Pro 22 driver with tilt support is finally is available for download). If you buy the Kamvas Pro 22 (2019), then tilt sensitivity is already supported.
The GT-221 Pro does not have tilt sensitivity.
Brand / Model | Huion Kamvas Pro 22 (2019) | Wacom Cintiq 22HD |
Screen | 21.5'' Full HD | 21.5'' Full HD |
Pressure levels | 8192 levels | 2048 levels |
Report rate | 266 RPS | Not specified |
Battery-free pen | Yes | Yes |
Tilt sensitivity | Yes | Yes |
Programmable buttons | 20 buttons and 2 touch bars | 16 buttons and 2 touch bars |
Weight | 4.5 kg | 8.5 kg |
Stand | 20 - 80 degrees incline | Incline and rotate |
Price | $ $ | $ $ $ |
Price | ||
Full Review | ||
Deals found? [ We are constantly looking for deals and opportunities and we will share our findings here ] | Huion Kamvas Pro 22 is on Amazon at a good price |
The main competitor for Huion in the 22 inch drawing monitor arena has been for a long time the successful and well stablished Wacom Cintiq 22HD, the reference in the market of professional pen display drawing monitors.
With the launch of the Kamvas Pro 22, Huion takes on Wacom again, as Huion's pen display drawing tablets have been gradually climbing up in specs, keeping a much lower price than the equivalent Cintiq.
But if we were to compare these two models side by side, which drawing tablet is better, the Huion Kamvas Pro 22 or the Wacom Cintiq 22HD?
These are the similarities between the Huion Kamvas Pro 22 and the Cintiq 22HD:
The Cintiq 22HD wins on:
The Huion Kamvas Pro 22 beats the Cintiq 22HD on:
New improved pen on the Kamvas Pro 22: the PW500
As mentioned before, one of the biggest advantages of the Kamvas Pro 22 versus the GT-221 Pro is the digital pen upgrade. The Kamvas Pro 22 uses the new PW500 pen whereas the GT-221 Pro uses the previous version, the PE330.
The PW500 on the Kamvas Pro 22 has significant improvements such as the completely passive electromagnetic resonance technology, which makes it completely battery-free, so it doesn't need recharging or changing batteries, so you will never run out of battery on your pen while drawing.
Additionally, since it doesn't use batteries, it's more environmentally friendly. (Yes, we care about these things more and more).
The report rate has been improved to 266 RPS (reports per second), the highest figure on the market at the moment. This means more responsiveness and less delay. The GT-221 Pro has a report rate of 233 RPS which is not bad either.
The report rate influences the speed and frequency at which the pen sends the information to the graphc tablet, so a higher report rate will make a smoother and more responsive drawing experience. The lines will appear on screen with less delay and there will be less broken lines.
In terms of pressure sensitivity, both the PW500 and its predecessor the PE330 have 8192 pressure sensitivity levels, the current highest value on graphic tablets.
The detection height has been updated slightly, from 12 mm on the GT-221 Pro to 10 mm on the Kamvas Pro 22.
The design of the pen has also been revisited to make it more ergonomic, adding a silicone rubber grip area to enhance comfort and reduce fatigue during prolongued periods of time.
The design of the pen holder looks like a doughnut with a small notch, a peculiar design allegedly aimed at preventing the pen from rolling off the desk.
Does the Huion Kamvas Pro 22 have tilt sensitivity support?
When it was first launched, the Huion Kamvas Pro 22 did not have tilt support, however it did have the PW500 pen which was the same pen used on other Huion tablets that did have tilt sensitivity support, like the Kamvas Pro 13 or the Q11K V2.
Many of us speculated about the possibility of Huion enabling tilt support on the Kamvas Pro 22 via a simple firmware upgrade, since it already had the hardware to support it.
At the end of 2018, Huion released a firmware upgrade and the Kamvas Pro 22 does support tilt sensitivity since then. It does have +/-60 degrees of tilt range detection.
You can download the firmware for the Kamvas Pro 22 with tilt support here.
Tilt sensitivity is a pretty useful feature on drawing tablets, as it allows you to create more realistic and natural brushstrokes, getting closer to the behaviour of a real pencil.
Programmable buttons and touch bars
The programmable buttons and the touch bars on the Kamvas Pro 22 are the same as on the GT-221 Pro, which means they are just as awesome.
With 10 programmable buttons per side and one sliding touch bar on each side, you get a total of 20 programmable buttons and 2 touch bars. Perfect for right and left-handed use and with a vast amount of key shortcuts to work much more fluidly.
The Kamvas Pro 22 weighs in at 4.5 kg, while the Cintiq 22HD weighs in at 8.5 kg. Almost half the weight, which makes it more comfortable to move around.
The weight and dimensions of the Kamvas Pro 22 and the GT-221 Pro are exactly the same. The dimensions are 589 mm wide by 344 mm tall by 21 mm thick.
Color quality and anti-glare screen
The Huion Kamvas Pro 22 screen specifies a 100% sRGB color gamut. Here you should take into account that 100% sRGB is roughtly the same as 72% NTSC, so the color gamut of the Kamvas Pro 22 and the GT-221 Pro are roughly the same.
Huion has also improved the quality of the anti-glare glass that covers the screen. The surface of the glass is processed with what Huion calls "Frosted Technology", giving it a more paper-like finish and make it feel less like you are drawing on a glass.
According to the manufacturer, you don't need to install an aditional screen protector, as the surface of the screen is scratch resistant.
This drawing monitor uses the typical 3 cable set, one for video (HDMI, VGA or DVI), another one for data (USB) and a third one for supplying power to the tablet. It does not come with a 3-in-1 adapter that we see in other tablets like the XP-Pen Artist 12.
The connectors come out of the tablet horizontally on one side, so they don't interfere with the tablet when working with it horizontally on the desk.
To get your tablet up and running you just have to connect the 3 cables to your computer as you see on the following image:
In most situations you will use the HDMI cable for video, although you can also use VGA or DVI depending on what ports you computer has.
The USB and the HDMI cables go to the computer and additionally you plug in the drawing monitor supply cable. This is the standard setup in drawing monitors of this kind.
You can download the latest driver for the Huion Kamvas Pro 22 from the official Huion website, the latest driver found there should be the one with tilt support. You can also download it here.
The Kamvas Pro 22 uses the V14 driver which is a new version and has a new interface as well as some new useful features that older drivers didn't have.
The tablet is compatible with Windows 7 or later and MacOS 10.12 or later.
The new Huion driver has plenty of useful functionalities to configure the Kamvas Pro 22. From the driver utility you can configure the programmable butons of the PW500 pen, the pressure sensitivity, and you can also calibrate and map the drawing monitor to the compuer screen.
On the digital stylus section you can configure the functionality of the pen buttons, as well as the pressure sensitivity curve.
On the same driver utility you can configure the mapping of the work area of the drawing tablet to the computer screen, as well as calibrating it to ensure it works with precision.
Additionally, the new driver has an update notification system that will let you know once there is a new driver version available. This is useful as it guarantees you will always have the latest driver installed.
- Top of the Huion range
See Full Review
Huion Kamvas Pro 22 is on Amazon at a good price
Remember that:
Apart from the aforementioned GT-221Pro and Cintiq 22HD, another strong competitor in ths 22 inch drawing monitor arena is the XP-Pen Artist Display 22E Pro.
Brand / Model | XP-Pen Artist 22E Pro | Huion Kamvas Pro 22 | Wacom Cintiq 22HD |
Screen | 21.5'' Full HD | 21.5'' Full HD | 21.5'' Full HD |
Pressure levels | 8192 levels | 8192 levels | 2048 levels |
Report rate | 266 RPS | 266 RPS | Not specified |
Battery-free pen | No | Yes | Yes |
Tilt sensitivity | No | Yes | Yes |
Programmable buttons | 16 buttons | 20 buttons and 2 touch bars | 16 buttons and 2 touch bars |
Price | |||
Full Review | Full Review | ||
Deals found? [ We are constantly looking for deals and opportunities and we will share our findings here ] | Huion Kamvas Pro 22 is on Amazon at a good price |
If you are thinking of buying a professional or high end pen display drawing tablet, and you are choosing between these three models (Huion Kamvas Pro 22, GT-221 Pro, or Cintiq 22HD):
- The Kamvas Pro 22 is for you if:
Grab the Huion GT-221Pro if:
- Buy the Wacom Cintiq 22HD if:
Wrapping up, is the Kamvas Pro 22 the best drawing monitor on the market currently?
Looking at the balance between specs and cost, and having compared it against other models reviewed in this article, we would argue that at the moment of its launch it is fair to say so.
Want to know what are the best Pen Display graphic tablets of this year?
Looking for a tablet computer?
Hi , I’m hesitant between the huion kamvas pro 22 and the XP-Pen Artist 22R Pro https://www.xp-pen.com/product/541.html . Which one would you recommend? Thanks!
Both are good drawing monitors and they have quite similar specs. The XP-Pen Artist 22R Pro has all the latest features like tilt sensitivity, etc. If you are going to get the Huion Kamvas Pro 22 make sure you get the updated version with tilt sensitivity. Other than that, it may come down to the price or which one you like best. We are planning to release a review of the XP-Pen Artist 22R Pro very soon and we will be comparing these two tablets side by side.