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Inexpensive graphics tablet that actually works, December 4, 2009

By 

Michael McKee “mystic cowboy” (Port Townsend, WA United States) – See all my reviews

  

  

  

I bought this to replace an old Intuos 2 pad that finally died. Price was my main consideration, and in that regard, this is a steal. The least expensive Wacom 8×6 pad is $200. You might find it for $180 if you shop, but it’s still over twice as much.

The main question is how does this compare to the Wacom Bamboo, the least expensive equivalent? The most important consideration is accuracy, and surprisingly, it’s an (almost) even contest. With over 1000 levels of pressure sensitivity, it’s more than good enough for photo editing, which is my main use. The pen nibs are not quite as smooth to use but work well enough. Construction quality is not the same. The pad, itself seems more cheaply made, and the mouse is flimsy. The Wacom Bamboo, doesn’t even need a mouse anymore, you can use finger gestures, which are a definite improvement. The Genius pen uses a battery, the Wacom doesn’t need one. That’s not a big deal for me, but worth noting.

For the extra money the Wacom Bamboo comes with full working copies of Corel Painter and Photoshop Elements. The Genius MousePen only has time limited demos. Elements is a version old but still an excellent program. There’s also a set of Photoshop filters that are of good quality. If you don’t have those programs, especially Elements, the Wacom becomes a bargain. I do, so didn’t want to pay extra for duplicates.

The pad works with Macs, but doesn’t have all the functionality that it does with Windows. Boo. You can automatically send handwritten notes to Outlook in Windows but not Mail with Macs. On the plus side there are two dozen customizable keys around the edges of the tablet compared to 4 on the Bamboo. That’s a definite plus.

If you already own your graphics software, this is a bargain. If you are also looking for painting or photo editing software, consider the Wacom tablets.

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Perfect for the money, February 5, 2010

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Ryan P. Blyth “R Blyth” (New Orleans, LA USA) – See all my reviews

  

I’ll start out by saying that I relatively high expectations for this product when I purchased it, and I have not been let down. This is the only tablet I’ve owned, and the only one I’ve used for an extended period of time, and for my needs it works great. The workspace seems to be the perfect size, and has blank space all around it. I thought the blank space would be an issue, but it’s really important for comfortability. The high LPI picks up deft movements quite well, the pressure sensor is wonderful, and the pen feels quite comfortable in my hand. The mouse is decent, but I prefer using the mouse I was using before (and still can with no hassle.) The mouse and pen do feel a little flimsy, I’ll admit, but not so much that it would cause a problem.

I have 4 issues with this tablet – no eraser end of the pen, the pen and mouse require batteries, the shortcuts on the pad don’t open programs correctly (might be my fault) and there is no tilt control on the pen. However, I can grab some rechargeable AAA batteries, select the eraser tool in the program itself, and launch programs the old fashioned way. The lack of tilt is the only key aspect for me.

Overall, I would highly recommend this tablet for newcomers to digital art, even just for touching up photographs in Photoshop. I don’t believe I have the expertise to recommend it to a professional, but I don’t see anything barring it’s use in a professional application. For the money, I believe you get the best bang for your buck here.

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My first Tablet and I love it!, December 5, 2010

I’ve been shopping for a tablet for a while now. For my first tablet I wanted something that had a big enough work space and wouldn’t leave my pockets dry. This tablet fit both. Though I was worried about it not working with my Windows 7 since people reported problems, but that may be because they didn’t download the Windows 7 version from Genius’s website before they pluged it in. It works great with my Windows 7! I also was worried that it wouldn’t work with Gimp (a free program that is similar to photoshop) but it works great with that too!!!! I love this tablet!

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