I got mine today in the mail for the purposes of graphic design. I am aware that the Intuos line is much more advanced and possibly more comfortable/precise but I m happy to say that for 100Euros (including tax) this has been a revelation to use compared to a standard mouse. Applications, such as Photoshop and Pencil (which I use to make cel animations) work as expected with the pen and tablet. The Pen: it's light, it needs no batteries, it has a virtual eraser at the back and a pressure sensitive tip. The Tablet: A) Multi-touch, gesture controls - much like a big notebook touchpad, it allows for more than one finger to be at work in order to perform various (mouse related) tasks - works as expected, not my main draw to the device obviously but it's a nice addition. B) The pen-related input of the Tablet is precise and will read the pen even when it hovers over the tablet - this is useful for using it as a mouse cursor for example. Bottom line, for anyone who's into designing on a computer for fun or for work, I recommend this relatively cheap option - it's miles ahead of anything that you can do with a mouse, very close to how you'd design on paper=) Let me know your experiences with other Tablets/Pens so I can have some point of reference as to the quality and the results!
it depends on the application. for example, results are satisfactory but obviously computer-made in mspaint - even at a resolution of 1280x720 which I use to make some assets. on the other hand, things like Photoshop work extremely well,as expected. You can make a circle of varied thickness (applying different levels of pressure) provided your hand is stable enough. it's harder to draw than using real paper, because you don't look at your hand while you're doing it (but the Wacom monitors go for like 2-3K) so you will invariably need some practice. That said, if you know how to draw you'll adjust and it's very very natural - much better than an Intuos 2 for example.
i used to do a lot of work on a very large wacom tablet, it seemed about the size of a drafting table. i never liked it, i got used to looking at the screen instead of my hand ok enough. i didnt like the angle it forced me to draw at and i always noticed the lag. when i was working on a tablet i allways had to reduce the speed i worked at to compensate for the lag. i think they figured it was a driver issue, i cant remember. a couple years ago i bought a small cheap wacom tablet from circuit city, the latency was much improved, still noticable though... i liked the smaller size a lot better. i didnt like or have a use for most of the tablets features, sometimes they seemed to get in the way. the mice that came with them i found pointless. i still have them somewhere.
I have a USB Graphire1 (entry model before Bamboo), no pen though... NEVER lose the pen, the cheapest component in the set is now "worth" 4x the slate. If this one sucks after I finally get a pen I'm going for an Intuos1/2. I like the old stuff; some deals are to be had and truthfully the improvements have been pretty negligible from the specs.
The input lag is noticeable but not unworkable. I ve done stuff really really fast thanks to it today and it's true, you do need to slow down your sketching to get accurate results but its a fair trade considering the price.
Nice review dude, I been thinking about getting one BTW, does anyone knows if theres an app for the iPad that makes it work like a Cintiq? That would be a good reason to buy one, seeing cintiqs are over one grand.
I had a Graphire2 in College and I loved it. I sold it, as I no longer had any use for it, but when I did use it, it was accurate and quick and really improved the work I needed to do. A couple years ago, I bought a 50 dollar Acteck, just for fun, and It really lacks the Wacom quality but it is really entertaining to use. I saw one of those Bamboos in Costco the other day and was really tempted to relive my college days. I'll get one eventually, even more so if it's multi-touch.
