Hi, so I got interested in tablets, to see whether I preferred a mouse (which I currently use) or a tablet... as a test of sorts. I know mice can be fine to play with too and I don't believe I will instantly improve with a tablet - I'd just like to try one for a change.

Does it matter whether I bought e.g. Huion H420 (official osu! tablet) or a Wacom Bamboo one? I've heard that Wacom is the best tablet manufacturer, so what is bad with Huion H420 or any other tablet brand then? I read that the Huion one has input lag/delay, is this noticeable?

The main reason I'm curious about tablet brands is because the biggest stores here don't seem to sell Wacom CTL470 or 480 a lot here, most places sell Intuos or something else that costly and I'd not like to spend too much money... and in Amazon they don't ship those here if I saw it correctly. That's why I'm interested about the brands overall.

Thanks in advance, lads and ladies alike.

EDIT: I wouldn't use it in any art or such, maybe sketch a stickman in Paint if I felt like it. It would be only intended for osu!.

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Tricks wrote:

Honestly, there is nothing wrong with the Huion H420. I have the Huion 420 (difference is that you get 3 programmable buttons on the H420) and I've used it for 1 ½ month now. It took a couple of days to fully get used to it and I definitely improved after I started playing with a tablet. Now, about the input lag, I honestly don't feel it, if there is some. I've never read that there should be input lag. If there is, I don't notice it.

tl;dr: If you're on a budget or want to spend as little as possible, buy the H420. If you've got the money and don't mind spending a lot, buy the Bamboo ones.

Thanks for the reply. I saw the "input lag" thing on Reddit, so that's why I was curious. Is there any other differences between Bamboo and Huion (e.g. size, features that would be good for osu, tablet area customisation etc.)? I don't really have a budget, so I could buy Bamboo if I wanted to. I'd still like to get one as cheaply as possible, if I can.

The Huion Tablets are meant for gaming, while the Wacom ones are used for general computer-stuff. I have an H420 and a Wacom Bamboo, but I use the H420 because it's smaller and more comfortable for me. Really, if you want to use the tablet for more then just osu! Buy a Wacom, but if it's just osu! you're using it for, Huion is the way to go.

There's actually a few differences between Wacom and pretty much every other brand in the market... One of the main differences is the technology used. Wacom uses a passive electromagnetic resonance technology where the tablet generates an electromagnetic signal and then precisely positions the cursor based on how the pen returns the signal, allowing the pen to function without any batteries at all. Meanwhile, Huion (and also Turcom, Monoprice, Genius, etc) uses an active electromagnetic technology, where the pen generates an electromagnetic signal and sends it to the tablet.
The downsides to the active technology is 1) it requires batteries to function (generally AAA), which also makes the pen slightly more top-heavy, and 2) the electromagnetic signal of the pen is much weaker than that of a Wacom tablet, making it more susceptible to magnetic interference. The active technology does have its benefits though: most active pens have a higher report rate, making it slightly more responsive, which helps in osu! (less input lag). Not to mention that it's much cheaper to get an active tablet compared to the Wacom equivalent.

Also, what I've found is that tablet drivers, no matter what the brand, introduce input lag. Wacom's drivers are nowhere near as bad as other tablets I've tried, but it has a much slower polling rate compared to the competition, although I'm not quite sure how bad Huion's drivers are since I don't own a Huion tablet. But I've found that most of the input lag can be avoided by finding the process that governs the tablet input (it was called WacomHost.exe on my old Bamboo and gTabletTask.exe on my Genius tablet, not sure what it's called on Huion) and increasing that process's priority. The "Raw Input" option within osu!, as well as disabling Windows Ink also helps to reduce input lag.

tl;dr: Wacom= passive, best driver software, best build quality. Limited to ~133Hz report rate on Bamboo/Intuos non-pro models
Huion/Turcom= active, more responsive (200Hz/233Hz depending on model), cheaper cost, not-as-good software. Tablet area tool is usable.
Genius= most responsive (300Hz on active M508X and passive M912), but has terrible software. Tablet area tool is painful to use.
(can't really comment on other brands since I haven't tried them)

passive= mainly Wacom tablets (since they used to own the patent). Battery-free pens, less prone to interference.
active= pens use batteries, cheaper cost, more prone to magnetic interference (CRT monitors and active pens don't mix )

raw input in-game + tablet process priority set to "high" + disabling windows ink reduces input lag caused by drivers

why do i keep typing long posts on my phone

Wacom doesn't use batteries and synaptics is meh