By Brady Betzel
I think it’s safe to say that the pen display/digital tablet gold rush is here. In recent months, I’ve been asked to review a variety of styles of digital pen products — from tablets with wireless keypads to USB-C-connected pen displays (like the one I’m writing about in this review).
What’s the most common difference? Price. For example, Wacom Cintiq pen displays, which are traditionally the gold standard, start at $649 for a 16-inch version and go into the thousands of dollars for larger sizes. There is a definite, “You get what you pay for” thing with Wacom products, but other manufacturers of pen displays and tablets are upping their game.
The Veikk Studio V2200 Pro Pen Display has high-end functions with a low-end price tag, selling currently for just $399.99. For comparison, the Wacom Cintiq’s most comparable screen size is the Cintiq 22-inch and sells for $1,199.95. And to be clear, I’m not in any way denigrating Wacom — they have phenomenal products that are widely considered the must-have of tablets and pen displays. I just needed to point out that this is no longer a one-tablet town.
The Veikk Studio V2200 Pro Pen Display boasts 1920×1080 resolution and can be connected with one cable over USB-C or multiple cables via HDMI. Just for kicks, I plugged the USB-C cable from the VK2200 into my Samsung Galaxy phone, and it worked as an external monitor!
The Veikk Studio V2200 Pro Pen Display is a compatible, fully laminated display that reaches 92% NTSC color gamut, has eight shortcut keys and two dials, and can be connected via USB-C or HDMI. To connect the pen display, you either need to connect the power and USB-C or the power and the USB-A plus the HDMI cables. USB-C is the better option if your computer can handle it, but I tested both ways and, in my opinion, the tablet responded the same.
First Impressions
I intentionally didn’t do a ton of reading about the Veikk VK 2200Pro Pen Display before receiving it because I didn’t want to be influenced by anyone else’s thoughts. First, I opened the box and pulled out the solid but not-too-heavy display, cables and accessories. For a second I thought they were trying to butter me up by sending me two pens, a drawing glove, 20 extra nibs and other accessories, but then I realized this was the standard package. I love having an extra pen because somehow they seem to grow legs and walk away. Everyone loves to fiddle with digitizing pens for some reason, especially when working from home.
One item that wasn’t included in the package was a protective sleeve or carrying case — I love a decent sleeve for my pen tablets. Since the VK2200 can be somewhat mobile, a protective sleeve would be a really nice addition to the accessory package. Other than that, you get everything you need to get started.
The included stand is heavy-duty and allows for multiple viewing angles, ranging from almost flat at 15 degrees to almost vertical at 85 degrees. The eight keys and two dials are helpful in moving around apps without needing a keyboard. When using the dials, there are buttons in the middle to cycle through modes, such as brush sizes or canvas sizes. But when I was using the VK2200 as an extended display, I would click the middle button of the dial, and the mode indicator text would pop up on the other monitor. This made it hard to see exactly what mode I was using on the actual VK2200 display. If I was working in “Duplicate Display” mode, then it would not be an issue since the indicator text would pop up on both displays.
Digging In
Upon opening, I plugged the USB-C cable and power into the Veikk VK2200 as well as my Windows 10-based desktop tower, which I abuse for reviews. Unfortunately, I discovered my USB-C port wasn’t compatible — probably not enough power — so I used the HDMI, USB-A and power connection. It was immediately recognized, so then I downloaded the from the Veikk support site. After installation I was up and running. Veikk suggests uninstalling all other tablet drives.
The Veikk app is a little clunky. Assigning key functions is easy enough, but it would be great if it had a few button and dial key-binding presets for the main apps — such as Adobe Photoshop. In fact, with an NTSC color gamut, I assumed Veikk would have provided key-binding shortcuts for the buttons and dials to tie to video-editing apps. Unfortunately, they did not, so you’ll need to program them all to your liking by hand. This is not the end of the world, but it would be a nice touch to have a preset button and dial assignments.
Inside of the app, you can also adjust which monitors the tablet can control in the mapping tab. If you use this as an extended display instead of a duplicated display, you can switch the pen to use either monitor. Keep in mind that the VK2200 Pro Pen Display has a 1920×1080 resolution so if one monitor is set at a higher resolution it gets a little weird when dragging windows across. I suggest making all the displays match resolutions for the easiest experience. In the future, I hope Veikk offers higher 2K or 4K display resolutions.
Regardless of the above, my initial install experience was good — it works as it should. I can’t really speak to how long-term use would affect the VK2200, but nothing I saw would indicate anything substandard. The VK2200 comes with an 18-month warranty that covers the product from defects caused by the manufacturer. There is no coverage for consumable items like nibs. The customer is responsible for paying shipping costs of the item to Veikk, but not the return shipping costs.
Working Inside Video Apps
I was a little worried that video-based apps like Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects and Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve would struggle with the pen display, but they worked well. Inside of Resolve, I used the VK2200 as my GUI display, with the Resolve interface and my laptop display as the full-screen monitor feed. The Dell XPS 17 9710 laptop that I’ve been using a lot for high-end finishing work has a phenomenal UHD-/HDR-compatible display, so I can trust it to be color-accurate in terms of color gamut, other than NTSC and resolutions higher than 1920×1080. Using the Dell XPS 17 9710 with the Veikk VK2200 Pro Pen Display was a solid hardware setup and workflow for someone who wants to color-correct and edit on the go. Obviously, color-correcting on the go in a Starbucks with a large pen display is not considered ideal working conditions, but it’s an interesting idea. If nothing else, it allows you to move systems easily between offices.
The pens included with the VK2200 have two assignable buttons and are battery-free, making them good enough. The pen does not have an “eraser,” so if you are addicted to turning your pen over to erase, you will be missing out. But adjusting color curves in Resolve, drawing masks in Premiere Pro or After Effects, and even editing clips in the Resolve timeline are much quicker once you are comfortable with the pen display.
Personally, I love using tablets or pen displays — my wrists have way less stress and pain when compared to constant mouse use. I would prefer the pen to be a little heavier; I love a little weight to my pens. Maybe it makes me feel rich!
When inside apps like Resolve, the dials and buttons on the side of the VK2200 are assignable, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get all my shortcuts to work with the dials. I’ve had this problem with other tablets and external devices, so it isn’t just the Veikk VK2200’s issue — but this is one of the reasons it would be beneficial for Veikk to build preset key and dial bindings for multimedia apps like Premiere Pro and Resolve. It might not even be possible without contacting Adobe and Blackmagic, but it’s worth a shot.
I was trying to assign the zoom in/out of the timeline to the dial inside of the Veikk app, but when I added “control/-” and “control/+” the dials were unresponsive. I was able to get the display to zoom in and out, which is very helpful. On the Color page inside of Resolve, I found it helpful to assign things like adding different nodes to the buttons as shortcuts. I wasn’t quite able to ditch the keyboard, but you can get close. Premiere was similar, and there were some things I couldn’t get to work correctly with the dials, such as the timeline zoom.
Summing Up
In the end, the Veikk Studio VK2200 Pen Display is an amazing value. Even the stand that it comes attached to is solid and well-constructed. Having a fully laminated 21.5-inch display to draw directly on is a real game-changer for anyone looking to speed up their editing and color correcting game, not to mention relieve wrist pressure from using a mouse. And the added bonus of “SilentPress” keys on the side of the display are great when you are working with clients in the room and don’t want constant clickety-clacks ruining the environment.
As far as any improvements go, I would like to see a higher-than-1920×1080-resolution version, improved button preset compatibility, ability to rotate the tablet vertically with the stand, a heavier pen, and an included carrying case. These are just wish list items for me.
For $399.99, the Veikk Studio VK2200 Pro Pen Display is an affordable option for students, someone doing photo editing, or even someone starting out in video editing.
Brady Betzel is an Emmy-nominated online editor at Margarita Mix in Hollywood, working on shows like Life Below Zero and Uninterrupted: The Shop . He is also a member of the Producers Guild of America. You can email Brady at bradybetzel@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @allbetzroff.
