# Upgrading from PW517 to PW550 ## Overview If your tablet came with the PW517 pen, consider upgrading to the PW550 or PW550S pens. The PW550 series of pens are backward compatible with tablets designed for the PW517 pen. And offer a superior pressure range which will help when drawing strokes with pressure sensitivity. I recommend that if you are currently using the PW517 pen with your tablet that you consider buying the PW550 pen. ## Backwards compatibility The PW550 series pens are backwards compatible with tablets that use the PW517 pen, and these PW500 pens offer superior pressure handling. ## Maximum physical pressure and range The key advantage of PW550 pens is that **generally** they offer a higher maximum pressure and wider pressure range than PW517 pens. A wider pressure range is very useful for getting a more smooth and more controlled use of pressure in your strokes. The pressure range improvements with the PW550 pen rival that of the more modern PW600 series of pens from Huion. **There is no guarantee** that every PW550 unit is better than every PW517 unit. * based on my measurements this is a very common tendency * and yes sometimes we find some PW517 units that clearly outperform PW550 units ## IAF It is very difficult for me to measure IAF with my equipment. So I have to rely on a subjective evaluation. Based on my extensive usage of both pence they seem very similar to me in terms of IAF. The PW550 series does not seem to offer a consistent improvement in IAF compared to the PW517. If you're going to upgrade from the PWM 5117 to the PWM 550 series do not do it with the assumption that the IAAF is any better. **Community thoughts** - I have seen varying opinions in the online community concerning the IAF comparison. Some find that the PW550 pens have a lower IAF and some find that the PW 550 pens have a higher IAF. No broad consensus has developed. And no one has published any data on the IAF of these pens. ## Maximum pressure Here are my measurements for maximum pressure for the pens in my collection. | Pen | My inventory ID | Approx. Maximum pressure | | ------ | --------------- | ---------------------------------- | | PW550 | HUP.0006 | 560 gf | | PW550 | HUP.0008 | 223.6 gf | | PW550 | HUP.0009 | 850 gf | | PW550S | HUP.0007 | 735 gf | | PW517 | HUP.0001 | 462.6 gf | | PW517 | HUP.0002 | 164.4 gf | | PW517 | HUP.0003 |
  1. 7 gf
| | PW517 | HUP.0004 | 202.3 gf | | PW517 | HUP.0005 | 152.2 gf | | W517P | HUP.0019 | 229.5 gf | ## Pressure range * IAF - the pens are similar * Max Pressure - the PW550 pens tend to have a higher maximum pressure - and are more consistent between units ## Pressure response charts
## Video {% embed url="" %} ## Related docs * [Huion PW550 series pens notes](/drawtab/catalog/pens/huion-pens/huion-pw550-notes.md) * [Huion PW517 pen notes](/drawtab/catalog/pens/huion-pens/huion-pw517-notes.md) --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.sevenpens.com/drawtab/catalog/pens/huion-pens/upgrading-pw517-to-pw550.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.