Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I bought this tablet during the launch promo back in October, but I wanted to wait until the "shiny new toy" effect wore off before properly reviewing it. Sooo, here I am, after 200 hours of total use, a rambling wall of user experience that I'm calling a review, and with a couple attached sample photos of pieces done with the tablet. (And one side-by-side desktop wallpaper comparison that was NOT done by me, but was used to better show the color capabilities.) TL;DR version: I love it. Worth every penny--current price included. Usually with art monitors in the sub-$500 range, you will usually find some sort of quirk or shortcoming--such as poor displays with overblown colors or glitchy, defective hardware. Sometimes it will be serious enough to return the monitor and get a refund, and other times it's not serious enough to bother, but noticable enough to bug the shit out of you every time you use it. Fortunately, I've yet to find any faults like that with this art monitor. The colors and values the display throws out are 100% accurate and true. (And if for some reason they are not, they can be calibrated as easily as any other monitor) The screen quality itself is second to my MacBook Pro's retina display. Once everything's dialed in, you have to put your nose 3 inches away and compare them side by side to notice any difference. I've heard some reviewers mentioning the parts that the manufacturers used are actually intended for gaming displays. While that's both entirely hearsay and unverified, I would not be surprised if it were true. Gamers (especially PC gamers) tend to demand a lot from their gear, and I see nothing to fault in the display. As for the digitizer and stylus, both work flawlessly. There are over 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity, and changes in pressure are super smooth. (arguably beyond human sensitivity, but erring on the side of unrestrictive is always good in my book.) The refresh rate is at least 60 Hz, and parallax is entirely nonexistent. One thing to note for those switching over from traditional art or traditional non-display digitizers: There is about 2mm of clearance between the display, and the actual contact surface of the monitor. It's something you may notice when switching over from traditional art or traditional non-display digitizers, but it's a common quirk with any art monitor, and overall pretty inconsequential. You'll get used to it and stop thinking about it within a single session. The display comes with a screen protector. And with t protector removed, the screen's surface is 100% glossy and smooth. With it on, the surface has a matte texture with a tooth not unlike drawing on cold-pressed watercolor paper. The protector has little adhesive tacks at each corner, so it is easily removed and reattached as you pay around and figure out which surface you prefer. As for the stylus: as someone who's used to passive styluses like you see with Wacom, I'm not fond of the idea of having to charge a stylus. But surprisingly, it's not been an issue. I don't know exactly how long the stylus lasts, but I tend to recharge it at the end of every session or two, so I'm guessing at least 10-15 hours of continuous use? It's hard to say anything other than "really high." Probably comparable to the battery life of a Kindle, for all I know. There are two quirks I noticed with the hardware, and a third issue with the driver software. The first quirk is fairly well documented, but the second seems more like a cable issue unique to my setup more than anything. (Or it could just be my cheapo HDMI to USB-C adapter.) Issue 1. The cursor strays about 1/4" / 4mm from the actual pen point when you cross over that final 1/2" / 1cm of screenspace at the borders. That said, it's entirely predictable, so you can still hit corner buttons like "new layer" in Photoshop, and it doesn't impede your workflow after you get used to it.) Issue 2. Sometimes I will plug it in, and the display's colors will look inverted, or otherwise rainbowy. Don't worry, nothing's wrong. Just unplug the cable from everything, and plug it back in. Works like a charm, every time. Issue 3. The driver's hotkey-assignment feature is clunky, and lacks the ability to input hotkeys that involve more than two keys. (Which means no "step forward" for me until they decide to fix that with an update.) This could easily be solved if Gaomon switched to a more orthodox "type the hotkey into the field" system instead of a series of drop-down menus that only offer a limited selection of predesignated buttons. Out of all the legit shortcomings with the product, this is the only one that actually throws a wrench into things. That's all the legit shortcomings I can think of. Aside from that, I only have two little matters of taste that I would change if this were my /ideal/ tablet. And that would be: 1. A weighted base for the stylus. The stand is currently unweighted, and easy to knock over. Minor nitpick, but it's a little touch that a 15-cent metal washer could fix. 2. A little wheel/dial instead of the two middle buttons. Maybe it's just me still being acclimated to my 10-year-old Intuos 5, but when I aim for the middle two buttons (which I set as zoom in/out], I tend to fumble and hit neighboring buttons by mistake when I'm drawing in a dark room. (Which I really shouldn't be doing anyway, but still--why wants to constantly double-check which button they're pressing when they're in the groove?) That aside, I've noticed several subtle improvements to my productivity all around. One bonus I've come to really appreciate over my old Intuos 5 is that this can also be set as a continued extension of your main display--which is a great boon for people who are working on laptops with limited screenspace [like me] or otherwise hate alt-tabbing each time they need to glance at their reference photos. Just put the reference photos on the main display, and drag your Photoshop/Sai/Krita/etc. window over to the art monitor. Bam. No more alt+tabbing. Anyways: I love this tablet. I'm definitely keeping it. Worth every penny I spent.