What small tablet ( without screen) is ok currently?

gnoop · Jan 6 2026

My Intuos start to constantly disconnect with any cable after having spilled coffee on many times and I am looking for new tablet. Whats good nowadays? How long blue tooth ones live? I recall I had intuos pro M 5-7 years ago and got discharged pretty quickly. I got tired to charge it . Are they lasting more now? What about non-wacom models? I once tried ( decade ago) Something starting with HU and it was awful . Had noticeable delays , weird clicks , felt more like a mouse in a form of pen in your hand .

poopipe · Jan 6 2026

ive not tried any of the tablets but in terms of actual pen displays - I've got a 24" huion thats better in basically every way than the 22" cintiq i was using 6-7 years ago at work (it functions correctly on linux as well)
the drivers/software are pretty decent and certainly less intrusive than the older wacom ones

gnoop · Jan 6 2026

Thanks poopipe For some reason I don't like screen displays. Feel somewhat odd and awkward. You still fill lack of natural touch/ material feeling and get sort of arm fatigue accompanied by a neck/spine pain after long hours. So I am looking for just a replacement to my wacom small , maybe just a tad bit bigger and having tilt support . Yet well portable to put next to 15" laptop in a bag . I suspect bleutooth is still one day lasting charge and a waste. So at least having usb-c connector vs usb micro one .

gnoop · Jan 8 2026

chatGPT suggested XPpen Deco mini7v2. Got it yesterday . Feels ok so far . Actually even slightly better than Wacom small. Much to my surprise. More like intuos pro small. Supports tilt quite nicely in Corel Painter and Rebelle . Drivers work fine. Cheap as dirt . Seats well in between bluetooth keyboard and mouse Just in case anyone is interested.

sacboi · Jan 9 2026

Thanks gnoop for sharing, I'm actually shopping around for a decent replacement and XPen (series) does look promising. I haven't used a tablet for ages, well not since my little Wacom 5 drawing stuff with Blender's 2.7x grease pencil.

gnoop · Jan 9 2026

Chat suggests XP Pen Deco 01 too. A bigger one . almost twice . But I have a certain laziness of moving my arm around too much. mini7 is still a bit bigger than wacom S. Wonder what a genius salesman decided to put microUSB Android phone style of cord plug for Wacom tablets. Don't know how long XPPen contact will live but at least USB-C looks like much more firm.

Celosia · Jan 9 2026

I've heard good things about XPen from artists in the drawing and painting side. Affordable and technically good, the only unknown is durability, and for that there's no way to known until enough people use them for a few years.

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread. I'm also shopping around, but for maybe something with a screen if my current tablet is still alive when I get a new one.

I'd love to have something nearly as indestructible as the old Wacoms. Mine is from 2009 and still going, she's almost an adult now. They grow up so fast. 💀

iam717 · Jan 9 2026

Before anything i was very warry bout them at 1st & still might be since i never used the tablet while on the net.

Yea Celosia, i tried to do the same thing though too many drops of the pen terminated my old one.

Yes to XP pen, i managed to jump on XPpen early only because my wacom was no longer supported or a product anymore. 10/10 i used the smallest they had cause that is all i by myself could afford.

Guess it was a win, cause the customer service i got from XPpen was beyond amazing, got a new pen immediately no charge when i thought there was an issue with it an i honestly wasn't saying that on purpose or expecting to get another.

Came with the stand & nubs , cause of this i will be purchasing from him/them again. So if my word is anything to anyone i can also recommend them as the new "wacom", $50 when i got the medium one i think it is, (not sitting at the desk to check atm).

Feel like i am a bad tablet user lol, i do not use those buttons at all.

Just fyi if anyone is curious i "protect" the surface with anything i can to avoid scratching situations so any work around hacks.

I kind of gott'm from the wacom years, 10/10 love not damaging this thing & forever nubs for the win! thou like all things over time, time will decay it but at least i got it till then.

What small tablet ( without screen) is ok currently?

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