GAOMON M1220 Tablet Review

Released just in time for Christmas is the new GAOMON M1220 Graphics Tablet – I’ve been looking forward to reviewing this as it has a few nifty features I wanted to put to the test, so let’s dive in…

For those new to the digital art game, this is a 12” Graphics Tablet that you use to draw with (actually, it’s also a 12” Graphics Tablet if you aren’t new to the digital art game, but you know what I mean…hopefully!”)

GAOMON M1220 © Steve B Graphics 2020

GAOMON M1220 © Steve B Graphics 2020

By connecting this device to your PC/Laptop, Mac or even compatible Android device, you can create digital artwork lot easier than by simply using a mouse – you can also use this instead of a mouse – confusing isn’t it haw haw… 😊

In the box: The M1220 tablet, 1 battery-free pen, USB Cable, 2 USB adaptors for Android devices, 8 spare Pen Nibs, 1 Nib Extractor Tool, Pen Sleeve/Holder, Drawing Glove, GAOMON branded String Bag, a ‘Pouch’ for the spare pen nibs, Quick Start Guide, Driver Download/Instructions Card, a handy Mouse Mat with Adobe Photoshop shortcuts (nice idea!) and a ‘Clad Board’ which affixes to the tablet should you wish to change the ‘look’ of tablet. The little ‘extras’ like the mouse mat and bag are a nice touch and a welcome addition, giving you more bang for your buck…

GAOMON M1220 Mouse Mat © Steve B Graphics 2020

GAOMON M1220 © Steve B Graphics 2020

GAOMON M1220 Accessories © Steve B Graphics 2020

GAOMON M1220 Bag © Steve B Graphics 2020

GAOMON M1220 Accessories © Steve B Graphics 2020

The pen: as you would expect these days, the pen is battery-free, supports 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity and needs to be only 10mm away from the tablet to register. It also supports 60° of ‘Tilt’.

GAOMON M1220 Pen Accessories © Steve B Graphics 2020

GAOMON M1220 Pen © Steve B Graphics 2020

GAOMON M1220 Pen © Steve B Graphics 2020

The tablet: the M1220 is a 12” (16:9) tablet with an actual work area of 10” x 6.25” (or ¬6.25” x 3.5” when used with a (Android) phone). Down the left side are the now-familiar shortcut/express keys, from top to bottom, default settings are: (E) Eraser, (B) Brush, (]) Brush Zoom In, ([) Brush Zoom Out, (CTRL+) Zoom In, (CTRL-) Zoom Out, Spacebar and CTRL. These can be reconfigured in the driver software – simply click on the onscreen button and choose from the dropdown menu options. The tablet is very light and portable and very thin at only 7.6mm high.

GAOMON M1220 Shortcut Keys © Steve B Graphics 2020

GAOMON M1220 Multimedia Keys © Steve B Graphics 2020

GAOMON M1220 © Steve B Graphics 2020

Sitting in the middle of these 8 shortcut keys is the Function Dial. Pressing this little white LED button brings up the onscreen ‘wheel’ menu – from here you have access to the following options: ‘Audio’, ‘Scroll’, ‘Zoom’, ‘Undo’ and ‘Brush’ – by selecting one via the outer ring of the dial, then pressing the white centre button, you can then use the dial to increase/decrease volume, Zoom In or Out of the canvas etc – the ‘Brush’ setting also has a few more handy settings like opacity, flow, size etc – pretty handy! Another nice touch is that if you don’t like the onscreen wheel appearing dead centre of your artwork onscreen, you can ‘drag’ anywhere you prefer and it will appear next time where you left it – another nice touch! 😊

Across the top is something you don’t see everyday on these tablets: 13 multimedia keys! I found this to be a great addition and very useful, as it gives you instant quick access to functions you would normally use keyboard shortcuts for i.e., in order they are: ‘New Desktop’, ‘Task Manager’, ‘Show Desktop (Minimise Windows!)’, ‘File Explorer’, ‘Save’, ‘New Document’, ‘Lock Windows/System’, ‘Rewind’, ‘Play/Pause’, ‘Fast Forward’, ‘Mute’, ‘Reduce Volume’ and ‘Increase Volume’ – phew! I found these to be really handy, but I found one niggly issue – it seems you can only use these by using your fingertips; you can’t actually use the pen to press and/or activate these buttons… not a dealbreaker by any means, but would have meant a slightly better/quicker user experience perhaps…

GAOMON M1220 Multimedia Keys © Steve B Graphics 2020

The row of 13 icons/buttons are ‘housed’ within a curved rectangle shape atop the tablet – although this makes for a nice overall design, it does mean you can only plug the USB-C cable one-way round only – it wasn’t really an issue for me, but there are some finnicky creatives out there…! 😊

There’s also a ‘clad board’ provided as a ‘gift’ in the box which you can use to change the appearance of the tablet – it comes with pre-cut shapes to fit over the buttons and wheel! 

GAOMON M1220 Clad Board © Steve B Graphics 2020

GAOMON M1220 © Steve B Graphics 2020

Right, now the important bit – how does it perform?

For this review I used Adobe Photoshop on Windows 10. After creating a new document, I tried a few test scribbles you can see here:

GAOMON M1220 Scribble Test © Steve B Graphics 2020

The pen is nice and light and feels comfortable to hold and use. The lower third of the pen, surrounding the buttons, has a nice non-slip rubber type covering. Speaking of buttons, it has two and by default these are set as Top; ‘Right Click’ and Bottom: ‘(E) Eraser’ mode. Lines tapered out nicely with no lagging, even when quickly cross-hatching. Pen pressure worked effortlessly – by simply pressing down harder and/or lighter, you’re able to produce nice thin or thick brush strokes. You can change the pressure settings in the software to best suit the way you draw.


 

The multimedia keys are a useful addition – you sometimes see these on keyboards, but having them on a tablet is quite cool. As previously stated, it would have been nice to use your pen with them, but its handy being able to control the music volume whilst drawing! 😊

All in all, this is another nice tablet from GAOMON. It’s not too large for your desktop, making it quite portable – especially with the cool bag supplied! The shortcut keys and illuminated ‘Function Dial’ work well together and the whole drawing experience with the pen was great with no issues at all – I was able to quickly knock out the ‘Snowman’ illustration in a few seconds!

'Snowman' created with the GAOMON M1220 © Steve B Graphics 2020

I was unable to test the device with an Android phone (currently being an iPhone owner!), but as I understand it, roughly only the left third of the tablet area would be usable using this functionality. Not sure I’d ever want to draw/create on my phone, but each to their own… 😊

The M1220 works with most, if not all, creative software(s) including the usual suspects: Adobe CC, Corel Suite, Clip Studio Paint, MediBang, Krita etc with Windows 7/8/8.1/10 or above, Mac OS 10.12 or above, Android 6.0 or above (iPhone and iPad are NOT supported!).

This tablet is available now from the usual outlets and should be appearing under Christmas trees everywhere soon…