I spent $45 on a cheap drawing tablet and it burned me on a commission deadline

The screen lag was so bad I redrew the same line 6 times, lost 3 hours and had to refund the client, has anyone else had a budget tablet blow up on a paid job?

3 comments

3 Comments

dylanbarnes1mo ago

Your friend's tablet is now a cat bed" - that's probably the best use for it honestly lol. But I gotta push back a little on the "used brand name tablet off Facebook" advice. I got burned worse buying used because the previous owner never told me the USB port was loose and it would disconnect randomly. @park.iris got lucky with that find but it's still a gamble.

park.iris1mo ago

Lost 3 hours" - oh man, that hits different when money's on the line. My friend had a similar budget tablet situation last year but with the pen pressure going crazy mid-sketch. It would go from zero pressure to full opacity in one stroke and by the time she realized the file was corrupted from all the glitchy layers she'd already sent the client a proof. She spent like two days trying to fix it before just refunding them and buying a used brand name tablet off Facebook Marketplace for the same price. The cheap one is now her cat's nap spot.

phoenixgonzalez1mo ago

Oh man, I actually see it differently though. I get that used gear can be a gamble, but I'd rather take that chance with a reputable brand than deal with a cheap tablet that's basically designed to fail from day one. At least with a used Wacom or Huion you've got a shot at replacement parts and driver support.