Huion Keydial Remote K40 Review

The Huion Keydial Remote K40 is the company’s most high-tech shortcut remote yet. Featuring dual dials, an OLED screen, and Bluetooth 5.0, this is a significant step up from the company’s other solutions. It’s an interesting shape, too, designed to be ergonomic enough for the user to hold in one hand without it feeling cumbersome. After giving it a thorough testing, it’s time for my review.

Key features

The K40’s feature highlights begin with the 10 hotkeys and two programmable dials. Eight of the hotkeys can be customized, while the remaining two allow users to switch between six groups. The dials add even more programmable functions. All in all, that’s a ton of shortcuts, and all but the most powerful of power users should be catered for here. 

The OLED screen helps wrangle the shortcuts, by showing active shortcuts, battery life, and connectivity. Using OLED means text shows up clearly on the totally black background. This makes it easy to read the different text of the shortcuts without being distracted by a bright backlight, as you might get from an LED. This will be especially appreciated by those who work in a dark room. 

Big moves from a small device

The biggest strength of the K40 is its great versatility, despite its relatively small size. Users who take advantage of the high level of customization will be able to greatly enhance their efficiency while selecting different tools and actions across multiple apps. There’s a lot of potential here for those who take the time to fine-tune the hotkeys.

Another big highlight is the dual dials, which are a pleasure to use. They are smooth and responsive, quickly making changes even while connected wirelessly. These are the highlights of the build quality, which is otherwise just fine. I think a lot of the price goes into the screen, so don’t be surprised that the rest of the device is plastic. 

I’d also like to commend Huion on the symmetrical design, as it allows both right and left-handed users to take advantage of the K40. Symmetrical design often comes at a compromise to ergonomics, but I think Huion has done well to keep the K40 comfortable, even during marathon drawing sessions lasting hours and hours. 

Some nitpicks

When it comes to downsides, the K40 doesn’t give me too much to complain about. Sure, there’s the overly plastic build quality which, given the price, could be jarring to those expecting a more premium-feeling product. But, I don’t think it’s that offensive, and it makes up for the plastic with the OLED screen. 

Another nitpick is the software solution. While it gets the job done, it can be a bit fiddly when trying to configure shortcuts. Again, it gets the job done, but I’d set aside additional time when setting up with many different actions for multiple different apps.

Disclosure: Review sample provided by Huion.