i've used this for a full semester now, and it's very high quality. it's super level, and the straightedge being able to be screwed into place or moved around with ease was really helpful. My one complaint is that graphite dust gets stuck to the straightedge as it glides up and down the board, but that's easily fixed by rubbing alcohol and a paper towel. would recommend!

I must admit that I held a healthy skepticism as to what the quality and utility of this board would be. I was very pleasantly surprised as to all that this product offers. It is quite sturdy, well-designed and a joy for me to use as a drawing/drafting tool and as a drawing/painting easel. I am so pleased with this purchase and wholeheartedly recommend it to others who might benefit from it.

It's a great portable table that likes to go around not pretending to be an easel. It's a damn table, only smaller, and that's what great about it. Plus, the rule is attached to strings so if you like drawing and need your hands close to the surface, you don't have the annoying brush holder in the way that those other pretentious easels have.

Looks great, functions excellent (so far), can't find any issues with its stability. That being said, its corners are sharp, and I genuinely had to tape them up due to accidentally splitting my elbow open on one. Nothing serious, but there was blood.

Delivered within 5 days. Very happy with the product. Well designed, easy to use and perfect for drawing large pictures.

The Martin Universal Design Adjustable Angle Parallel Drawing Board was everything I needed, plus a whole lot more. I am incredibly pleased with the design, durability, and functionality. I have no complaints; this drawing board has far exceeded my expectations.I paint with both oils and acrylics, plus I use a multitude of unusual methods, mediums, and accessories. Things can get messy and destructive very quickly. I've chewed through more art surfaces than I can remember over the last 30 years, but this board has been able to withstand some of my heaviest and strangest creations. I am not gentle, but this drawing board likes it rough. We're a perfect match.The main surface:It is flat, smooth, and even. Perfect for all kinds of drawing, painting, and sculpting needs. It's great for smoothing clay and tacky glues, too. I've painted directly on it and then carefully peeled it off to create neat textures for some unique pieces. I have scraped the surface mercilessly with palette knives, pounded on it, accidentally rammed it with carving tools, and rubbed it vigorously with solvents and other paint-melting liquids, plus I ran some gnarly sandpaper over the surface (on accident) and it doesn't show a single sign of wear and tear.Construction:This board is incredibly strong and can hold significant weight without bending, warping, or buckling. I tend to lean in and press against my drawing boards while working on tiny details like hair or pores, and this board doesn't creak, move, slide, or complain. I suspect I could use a jackhammer on it and it would still be standing... alas, I am lacking a jackhammer to fully explore this assumption...Straightedge:The straightedge is surprisingly accurate, though I don't need it for its intended purpose as much as others might. It suits my needs perfectly, however. It's always been straight, strong, and easy to move when needed. The knobs are easy to turn and lock into place in seconds. Once set, nothing seems to move it out of place.Angle lock:The adjustable angle lock is stellar. It's very simple to use and it holds position through all kinds of abuse.I'm including an image of the board holding some of my tamer art to show the size--I always have a hard time visualizing the measurements given online. Hopefully, this will help others like me. This is the "small" board at 21" across. The tiny paintings are 2x2 and 3x3, the biggest is 5x7. As you can see, they all fit very well; I can have three or four paintings of these sizes going at once, leaving plenty of room for me to work. The board is roomy while still being compact enough to fit in a small space. It's positioned on a standard-height desk with a painter's tarp over the whole thing. While the tarp moves if I get too pushy while working, the drawing board never has. In fact, its grippy little feet hang onto any surface tightly.I highly recommend this drawing board to anyone having trouble finding something adjustable, durable, stable, and smooth. The attached straightedge was a nice bonus for me. I would not call the drawing board portable, but I'm not a very big woman. If you don't mind lugging it around, you could pretend it's portable. It does need to sit on a raised surface, however. It's not a full-height easel or stand-alone table. For me, it was just enough extra height with nice adjustable options to turn my regular flat desk into a perfect art surface.

Our daughter was thrilled with this gift. Nice size for desk work. Easy to adjust. Handle for ease of transport. Would definitely buy again.

The face on this drafting / design board appears to be ordinary cabinet grade melamine and it does not respond to needles as the rubberized drawing boards do. The first thing I did was make a small circle down in the corner below the horizontal bar to see what kind of divot my compass would leave. The melamine laminate is hard and did not puncture as deep as I thought it would. It is tough and sturdy in other words. The needle did leave a tiny burr that will catch lead points in the future. The compass needle does not go in very easily or deep, making it more difficult to draw a clean circle, more than it already is to accomplish in the first place, as getting high quality lines with a compass is a pain in the neck to me it seems. I think that compassing for me will be ok because I don't plan on doing much engineering which requires many more circles than architecture does, but these needle marks will still need to be cared about in the future; scraped or filled with something after heavy compass use in order to keep the drawing surface smooth. I am a remodeling designer/ plumber/electrician, and I expect this board to get banged up on job sites anyways so I will probably move on to a better one with a hard carry case eventually. In other words it is a life expectancy tool like a saw or something else I burn up (wear out) on job sites and need to replace.The cable mechanism is more impressive than I thought it would be. The cables are not illustrated very well at all in the Amazon spec page and I was apprehensive about that detail. However, they look stout and well designed except for one thing. I don't think it is going to be user friendly when it comes to keeping the horizontal bar straight. I will follow up this review after a few uses as to how accurate the drawing bar stays during a composition. The same type of drawing boards at school have rubber stops at the bottom of the board, and the bar can easily be re-set (kept straight with the drawing) by lowering it to the stops which resets the cable slightly, and puts them back to their original position so the horizontal bar matches the lines on the drawing throughout the composition of the drawing .I am up in the air about the cost and quality. I wonder if for 86 dollars they could use a rubberized drawing surface, . I do not know how expensive that rubberized face material is. It is definitely possible to incorporate bottom stops for the horizontal bar into the manufacturing process of these nifty little tables, but as it is right now the bar bottoms out by hitting the roller hardware (the wheel bracket) at the bottom side of the cable assembly , and they do not hit in a place that is stable or planned even. It was completely overlooked by the designer, who I doubt has ever used a drafting table.The stand is excellent, It angles the board up high enough for me. The ones at school do not angle up far enough for me and I am going to have to take a stool into class eventually. This board is adjustable to several arbitrary levels. The PEB is sturdy and a well made product. It does not have anything mickey mouse or sloppy. For instance the lamination and trim are tight and the board is straight as an arrow, the carry handle has a very nice large bracket attachment that is secured with two screws. I think this unit will hold up very well with proper care and attention. Ultimately I am giving it a thumbs up.

Functional and portable ...good quality, design and super fast shipping with Amazon Prime!