Wacom Cintiq 13 worth it?
Posted by Tsavo 6 years ago
So after spending the last week trying to desperately fix driver related tablet issues, I've started seriously considering a new tablet.
Right now I'm experiencing tablet lag on my pen strokes. That's just the problem I reduced it too. The problem began with the pressure sensitivity disappearing completely.
I've had this problem before. It's always driver issues, and after spending pretty much a week installing, uninstalling, deleting registry entries, etc, and getting intermittent results, I think I'm in the market for a new tablet.
Right now I'm using a large Intuos 3. Great tablet, and it works great when the drivers aren't screwing me.
I've saved up some money, and I was wondering if a Cintiq 13 would be worth it? I must admit, when I see people on YouTube drawing on their screen, I get very envious. But I have no experience with screen based tablets, and I'm sure they have their own set of problems. If anybody who has experience using a Cintiq can lend their opinion, I would much appreciate it.
Posted by Shrabby 6 years ago Report
I have a Cintiq 13 and I don't regret it at all. If you don't want to pay the hefty price associated with the brand name of Wacom, you should check out Huion tablets. Lot more bang for your buck! However, I do enjoy the support I get from Wacom for trouble shooting on such a large investment.
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Posted by KrasnyiKoiot 6 years ago Report
Part agreeing with the above: UC-Logic based digitizers caught up to the long patent-camped sort that Wacom uses. Wacom makes good products, but got a bit 'comfortable' in their pricing model and haven't innovated much at all in the last decade until fairly recently... in part due to suddenly having viable competition.
I've used Cintiqs in the past (school, work) though now use a Yiynova at home and at another at work. It has a similar digitizer to the Huion devices (all of which have the same pressure sensitivities as the Cintiqs). Their higher end models cost about as much as the lower end Cintiqs and functionally perform similarly.
In my experience, Yiynovas are built like tanks and have fairly good support (I can only speak for the USDM regarding such, ThePandaCity on Amazon to be sure) should you ever have to use it. For the price of a Cintiq 13 you can almost get their 22 inch model, which is ~300 shy of their 27 inch model and its better screen.
The 19 and 20 inch ones are 'desk comfortable;' a bit easier to work with, and about half the price of the Wacom mentioned.
That said, there are some differences compared to the Wacom brand tablets (ergonomics, screens being glass and non-textured leading to less feedback but muchmuchMUCH longer-lasting nibs), and you'd need to delete the old drivers to prevent interference. There's also some minor config file changes you'd have to make for Sai, but they run fine in Adobe CC without necessitating changes and their drivers are pretty straightforward.
...And the one pain setting the UC Logic tablets (in general) up is finding which driver your machine plays nice with, though this isn't an issue everyone seems to have. I had to go with an older one to prevent an occasional driver crash at home, then had no issues with the set on the driver disc that came with the one at work. It's not too hard, all in all, and definitely worth it in the end.
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Posted by Vision 6 years ago Report
The only problem I've had with some screen-based tablets (not the Cintiq 13, so it may be void of this) is it'll sometimes mess up with my palm/hand resting on the screen and think I'm trying to select a particular control or rotate the screen. Other than that they're great.
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Posted by Eka 6 years ago Report
You can set up hotkey to disable touch input temporary if that brothers you.
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Posted by F1reDem0n 6 years ago Report
I own the Cintiq 22HD, but the non-touchscreen variant. I don't know if they sell the two different types at this point (Touch Screen and non-touch screen) but the non costs less then the one with touch and it's pretty much the same. I'd suggest the 22HD but it's probably more then the Cintiq 13, so take your pick I'd say. Also of course do your research, anything tech related today (just like when looking to get a new phone) you pretty much HAVE to look it up and see the pros and cons. One thing to be always aware of it nothing will only Pros (ie: No cons) everything has faults but also good things about it.
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Posted by tigercloud 6 years ago Report
I have an other Tablet from Wacom and I just have issues with it.
And since the Import/Export is crap (eq don't work all times) you have to set up all again^^
Like you I can't get the Pressure detection to work. Their driver is pretty bad I think the Product itself is pretty good, they just suck at coding Drivers for it. Maybe you should try an other Company? I read many articles about the driver issues and it seems wacom has an "quasi monopol" on Tablets, they rest on it, because they know there are not many alternatives.
Had just issues with the driver, even funny, that the driver suddenly stop working and import saved config don't work. I don't know why they cant make a proper driver - I was pretty angry after a time, that I switch to linux if i do stuff with it...
On Linux, the Community driver works out of the box (also pressure), sad you can only use GIMP on Linux...
Sometimes the driver works under windows (sometimes it dies -> DRIVER IS NOT RUNNING). Then you can either restart your Computer or Start the Wacom-Service manually or you have if you had really bad luck, you have to install this thing again
I'm pretty good with Computers, since I work in the IT and even I have trouble with that thing oO It's unacceptable, why do you have to mess with Services, thousands of Windows-Configs? I mean an average Artist didn't know what to do there? Wacom need to see that this is an critical Issue...
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Posted by Ashley_Urikoshima 6 years ago Report
I adore my Cintiq 13in and never have looked back after getting it. It just gives such a nicer quality of life towards drawing (Even if I do have to swap HDMI's since I lack the setup on my current GPU, but I digress)
I'd personally state that there is an initially warm-up period to using it after initial installations and sometimes, you may find driver updates required upon starting up and getting ready to draw, which require system restarts to take effect or you pretty much lose pen sensitivity input for the most part, but this is just nitpicking, honestly.
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Posted by Paisho 6 years ago Report
I have a cintiq 13 and I love it. It's different from an intuos, for sure. A friend of mine doesn't like it because he prefers having a much larger canvas and get a better overview. He's also annoyed by how it feels like the pen is "hovering" above the drawing/painting. I don't notice that and I prefer having the 13" since it's much better for doing details.
It requires video in from your computer, an AC/Power cable and it takes up a USB slot, so it's not for travelling if you tend to do that.
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Posted by Journeyman 6 years ago Report
Worth.
Prior to the 13" HD model, the Cintiqs had noticeable parallax due to the glass thickness, but that's improved considerably, and also the accuracy around the corners of the screen has improved.
One thing I should point out, though, is that they are likely going to become cheaper in January '18, and a new series of Cintiqs will be arriving with even greater pen accuracy and practically no bezel. I don't think I can say more than that though >< 2018 is a ways away, though, and the Intuos 3 is out of date enough that I think anything you buy from Wacom will have significantly better driver support, so I think you'll be delighted with it no matter what.
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Posted by Tsavo 6 years ago Report
This has all been very helpful. I've read through all of your opinions and I really appreciate your advice and time.
The price tag on Huion is certainly appealing, though I can get 0% financing on the Wacom, which would be nice as I can use the tablet to pay off itself.
I'm definitely hesitant about Wacom drivers since having so much trouble for so long. I've heard good and bad things here about the newer drivers.
The thickness of the glass would definitely be an issue for me. I was doodling on a Windows Surface at Best Buy as a test, and I found the thickness a bit distracting. I couldn't find the specifications on the thickness of the glass on either product, but I'm glad it was brought up.
I do all of my work from a desktop, so power, outlets, and HDMI ports are all accounted for. My only regret is that this money to be spent on this tablet was being saved to replace my ancient AMD-6300 CPU. Gotta have priorities though.
Cintiq has a small advantage in response time. I'm sure there's a few more small advantages, though I don't feel those are large enough differences to be significant.
Lots to think over. Thanks again for all of the input.
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Posted by Datonenumbnuts 6 years ago Report
I have a wacom 13 myself. Its a wonderful tool. Just wish I was better at drawing to take full advantage of it. Id recommend it.
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Posted by Tsavo 6 years ago Report
Awesome. Since I've gotten my driver issues under better control since I last posted, I'll probably wait it out until January to make a decision. As Journeyman pointed out, newer models means lower prices on the old ones, and while I love my tablet, it hurts to spend around $800 on one.
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Posted by angel2 6 years ago Report
Good luck for plan with it. c:
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