Graphic Tablet

Posts

• [Deleted User]2 Posts: 3Member

  December 2006 #2

  What kind you get depends on what you want to do with it. I can only speak on Wacom tablets since that's all I've ever used both at work and at home.
  
  If you are a professional artist or designer and need a tablet for finely detailed work, getting an Intuos (what I use at work) would probably be a good idea. If you are more of a hobbyist or if you don't need the fine control (and better pen) an Intuos would give you, then a cheaper Graphire would work great. I use a Graphire at home for general use in place of a mouse as well as for 2D and 3D graphics and I love it.
• Guerrilla795 HelsinkiPosts: 2,868Administrator

  December 2006 #3

  

  I got one of those when my old wacom died. (nothing wrong with the tablet itself, the cable just couldn't take it anymore).
  
  As far as the Trust goes, the pen (the most important bit) is good, pressure sensitivity works great, the big work area is wonderful, and you get used to the weight (there's a single battery in the pen). All that is once you get the drivers sorted. Google for Trust tablets and Photoshop CS2 to get a bunch of stuff about the drivers. The new ones generally work.
  
  The mouse on the other hand is absolutely hideous. It's cheap, unergonomic and generally pretty unresponsive. Furthermore the padding on the bottom will wear off in a few weeks, so the mouse has a tendency to scrape on the tablet every now and then resulting in nasty scratches. They don't really affect the functionality of the tablet, but they sure ain't pretty.
  
  Trust (and the other brands that are exactly the same, only re-branded by stores) tablets do have some issues with the motion detection thingy in the tablet, possibly resulting in the cursor randomly (and frequently) jumping to the bottom right corner of the screen and clicking, which is pretty annoying, since the system tray is usually there on windows machines. These problems are amplified with high system strain (say, rendering) and low batteries (not really a problem, but I'd kill for some sort of a battery indicator). This is mostly and issue with the mouse, since most use absolute positioning with the pen (i.e. the position on the tablet directly corresponds the position on the screen). The issue isn't really fixable (if it occurs), since the cheaper components are the very reason these tablets cost half the Wacom tablets do.
  
  As far as the size goes, A4 is great, if you have the deskspace for it. I've been having to driver problems lately, so I can run the tablet with the pen or with a wheel mouse but not both simultaneously, so sacrificing an A4 chunk of my desk doesn't really seem justified. If I get them both to work simultaneously, I might reconsider.
  
  So in a nutshell,
  
  Pros:
  good pen, large working area and cheap
  
  Cons:
  Mouse, possible motion tracking problems (up to the point of being unusable), driver issues (rare), takes up a lot of desk space
  
  If you're looking for a nice big tablet, it's a good choise, but please make sure you have some sort of a high quality mouse handy, because the one in the package is useless.
  
  And finally, for what it's worth, I'm probably going for the A€250 A5 Bluetooth Wacom for Christmas, mainly to get enough room for my scanner on the desk and to get a good mouse that works with the tablet. What pisses me off is that I got my previous Wacom for A€99 and it was pretty much the exact same one, only without bluetooth, but the old ones aren't available anymore.

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• [Deleted User]2 Posts: 3Member

  December 2006 #4

  I'd say, get a wacom. Zhey are the 1st class on the market and pretty good quality. Been working with the same Wacom now for 4 years and it's still working fine.
• hal192 Posts: 157Member

  December 2006 #5

  

  Wacom! fact!
• [Deleted User]2 Posts: 3Member

  December 2006 #6

  i found a graphire for $90, but i cant say anything on quality not ever owning one
• Forcemaster2000331 Posts: 0Member

  December 2006 #7

  

  One of the biggest variables in price is the "property" that you're getting, so to speak. I've got a Wacom graphire3 tablet that I picked up for under $40, the only downside is it's useable surface area is only 4" x 5"...some people find tablets of this size too small, but I've been quite happy with it.
• limdaepl171 Posts: 0Member

  December 2006 #8

  

  Thanks for the advices everyone especially Guerilla for the extra long test report :thumb:
  
  I'll check amazon and possibly ebay for cheap wacom tablets but given that i'm neither a pro nor want too much money being involved i think i'm going with the trust anyway if i don't find an inviting offering.
  
  Thanks again!
  Regards Roman
• Berticus171 Posts: 63Member

  December 2006 #9

  

  Hey, Roman. I hope I am not too late to comment?
  
  I had a chance today to try a Wacom and I must say that if I ever get the chance to purchase one they are worth it. Definitely worth it. (I don't know what size it was; about 6" by 8"? I dunno...)
  
  -albert
• DarthMaya0 Posts: 0Member

  December 2006 #10

  I would like to add something, I just moved into a apartment. And I got my pc plugged in, then I plugged in my tablet. Next day I come back and its going crazy. At first I thought it was a virus but I noticed that when I picked my tablet up the mouse pointer would go in a different direction. So my brother (he has a wacom too) E-mailed customer support. And they sent back saying that some monitors and sometimes am radio towers can interfere with your wacom tablet.
  Sure enough there is a radio tower next door to me. I can sometimes use my tablet but more times then not it is unusable.
  
  Wacom is a very good brand, but if you have a am tower next to you watch out.:thumb:
  
  (also when I put my finger on the volume control on my speakers I hear a radio station )