Why I Bought One

I’m pretty new to screenless graphic tablets. I've been a long-time fan of my Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, which I have used for around four years. It's chugging along, but it’s not really capable of doing anything more demanding than being a multimedia and online meeting machine anymore.

And ever since I got my new laptop, I have lurked in this product category for a good while. I actually bought a different one before this in January last year. It served its purpose, but it was too small, especially when my workflow had changed as 2D animation and game design became part of my curriculum.

What You Get In The Box

The Frego M comes in a typical white colored box, pretty common with Huion devices in this range, based on what I’m seeing on other reviews. You'll be greeted by the tablet itself, and pulling that out will reveal the accessories to get you up and running.

Do note I already unboxed this four months ago. The pen and cable came wrapped in plastic, but I don’t have them now.

• Tablet
• Charging cable
• Pen
• Spare nibs
• Instruction/Warranty booklet

Setup and the HuionTablet Software

Quite a routine step. Download and install the drivers for the Inspiroy Frego M on the Huion website, then connect the device either through Bluetooth or the charging cable. The driver is important because the tablet would assume you're connecting the tablet to an Android phone and map the drawing area to a very narrow width, regardless if it's a PC, Mac, or an Android tablet, you need that driver!

Looking at the driver software, it looks modern and competent. You get your usual settings on mapping the drawing area, assigning to a monitor, pen pressure settings, assigning shortcuts to a specific program, and even a virtual shortcut panel feature. There really is nothing to write home or complain about.

Drawing Experience

Now I am far from being an expert with the technicalities here, but after watching a lot of tablet reviews, I'll try my best. I am testing this with Clip Studio Paint EX 4.0.0 using the Real G-Pen brush and stabilisation set to 0.

Drawing with the Pen

The tablet comes with the PW550S PenTech 3.0 Pen (what a mouthful). It has an initial activation force (IAF) of 3gf, which is standard according to the Notes from TheSevenPens. In real-world terms, you don't need to press noticeably hard to draw; think of it as drawing with a ballpoint pen. Unless you're trying to mimic the experience of soft graphite and charcoal, you're gonna be fine with this.

Pen pressure is also standard at 8192 levels, transition between light and heavy strokes felt smooth and predictable, nothing unexpected. As for line wobbles, it can pick up wobbles from my hand, but that’s common with other tablets, too. With a physical ruler, I see no mechanical wobbling here.

Surface and Pen Nibs

The drawing surface Inspiroy Frego M is matte. Huion includes a felt nib pre-installed and more spare hard plastic nibs in the box. Felt nib feels grippier and nicer on the tablet surface, sadly it squeaks like chalk-on-chalkboard, and oh sweet Jehovah that gave me GOOSEBUMPS. The plastic nib is less grippy but still decent. It comes down to preference, but I'd recommend swapping to the hard plastic nibs if you don't like the squeaking.

I tried getting used to the noise goodness, no, I couldn't, every few minutes I would feel goosebumps on my skin because the nib would act funny against the surface. I do not like it.

Connection and Latency

For the entirety of my usage, I've always used the tablet in Bluetooth mode, and latency is barely noticeable and is responsive, but the perception of latency will vary with the brush or program. In my testing and for the four months using it, I don't see it as an occurrence. When connected via cable, the latency appears to be equal to when using it in Bluetooth mode.

Android Tablet Support

I haven’t tested this well enough since I never intended to use the Frego M with an Android tablet. But upon my testing, you have to use a drawing app like HiPaint or iBis Paint for this to work, simply pairing the drawing tablet to an Android device would map the screen to a narrow width, as mentioned earlier.

But if you connect the device through the drawing tablet pairing menus of the aforementioned apps, it will automatically map them to the tablet’s full size. I managed to get it working on HiPaint, in iBis Paint however, the device won’t appear in its Settings menu. But even then, the results on my end aren’t to be desired, because the latency is pretty bad. Pen pressure works, but I’m not sure if pen tilt works since none of the brushes in HiPaint seem to have any kind of settings supporting tilt. Android tablet support overall, I’m not impressed.

Hardware

Build

Both the pen and tablet are made of plastic, and they are quite lightweight; the tablet weighs approximately over 500 grams, while the pen weighs similarly to a ballpoint or mechanical pencil. Overall, very portable and pretty lightweight, easy to chuck in a bag and carry on a commute.

Ergonomics

The tablet has a slope on the bottom for ergonomics when you place your hand down there. Honestly, a great addition, and I can't wait to see more tablets do this in the future. The pen is slim and reminds me a lot of my Pilot pen that I use to sketch in my sketchbook; it feels good in the hand.

Battery Life and Charging Speed

Since this is a Bluetooth-capable device, Huion boasts that this device lasts up to 24 hours with a 1,300mAh cell. For my testing and long term usage, I'm getting somewhere around that. I would charge my tablet once, and it would last around two to three days of 6-8 hours of use. For me, it's more than enough. If it gets low, a USB-C cable can charge this device.

Charging takes a good while; for me, it took two hours, from it blinking red to going green. Nothing impressive, but I think it's a bit slow.

Stuff I Don't Like

Half-baked Linux Support

Let’s start with the only con I have about this thing. This tablet supports Linux, but with a comically humongous asterisk. Both HuionTablet on Linux and the OpenTabletDriver don't support Bluetooth connectivity, which is a big reason as to why you would buy this product in the first place.

I don't know why it happens to be like that. You can connect the tablet through Bluetooth in Linux as expected, but as I mentioned earlier, you will need the driver software so that the tablet doesn't map the area to a phone screen’s width. If you are a Linux user and are looking for this device, I recommend looking elsewhere. And maybe look for a reviewer who tests this product category outside of just Windows and macOS.

Unpredictable Cursor Glitch

I’m unable to replicate or pinpoint the cause, nor to determine whether it’s a defect with the device on my end. The cursor would glitch on hover, and even pressing down wouldn’t stop it, but lifting the pen or getting it out of the tablet’s sensing height would fix it. It’s an issue that would appear numerous times.

I’m not sure if a driver update from Huion would fix it, but regardless, it’s not a deal-breaker to me; it’s something I face quite frequently enough that I needed to mention it here.

No Shortcut Keys

This product doesn’t have shortcut keys. But this may come down to preference, I often see in promotional materials that Huion pairs this device with their Keydial K series shortcut remotes. I am not paying PHP 2,300+ for a shortcut key accessory, even though I would want to. (Sponsor me, Huion… Please. 🥺🙏)

Slow Charging

Huion says it takes around 2.5 hours to charge with a 5 Volt 1 Amp charger, which is accurate. Because charging this thing is slow as molasses. You can still use it while it’s connected and charging at the same time, but really, it’s just too slow for me. Just make sure you have a Type C charger or cable with you when you take this thing outside.

Verdict

The Huion Inspiroy Frego M is a solid, competent, and reliable drawing tablet. Including a wireless Bluetooth solution for on-the-go workflows is very elegant, especially when considering the price. Aside from the caveats of getting things working on Android and Linux, along with my nitpicks, if these don’t apply to you, there’s nothing to complain about.

I got mine for PHP 2,950 (or just over USD 50) through a discount sale from Shopee PH. Which I thought was already reasonable, but when looking at other platforms such as Amazon, I see it being sold for PHP 5,772 (or exactly USD 99.99). Price will vary depending on the time or day; here in Shopee PH, it stabilises at PHP 3,500. Just snag one if you get it at a reasonable discount. In my opinion, it’s quite a steal.

If you’re looking for competing tablets in this price range, XP-Pen’s Deco LW tablets are a common recommendation. It’s slightly pricier on Shopee PH, but you do get shortcut keys and multiple colorways, a worthwhile trade-off if the lack of shortcut keys and the no-frills matte black finish of the Inspiroy Frego M doesn’t appeal to you.

For Disclosure:
I spent four months with the Inspiroy Frego M, purchased by me with the allowance I saved up for three months. Huion nor any other third party was not given any copy approval or input. This blog and article are part of a course requirement for BMMA106; opinions are my own.