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A Great Introductory Tablet with a Promising Touch., October 1, 2009

As a designer I have seen Wacom tablets in various shapes and sizes throughout the years. I have only used them a handful of times at colleagues offices however once learning of the Bamboo Pen & Touch and seeing the price, I decided to take the leap.

Overview:

For less than $100 you get an extremely capable pen tablet with a “rough around the edges” yet promising touch device. The shape and form factor is smallish yet works fine with my 20″ widescreen monitor. The long USB cable should accommodate almost any workspace setup.

Pen:

The pen works flawlessly. Using the pen has dramatically increased my productivity particularly in Adobe Illustrator, it’s a breeze to use compared to a mouse for vector work. It’s also very capable in Photoshop and even as a mouse replacement for general use. The shape of the pen could be more contoured however and it’s not easy to move quickly from using the pen to typing due to its shape. Overall I am very pleased using the pen.

Touch:

The multi-touch component of this device combined with the price is what sold me. I wanted a fluid experience much like other touch devices and this seemed, in combination with the pen, like the answer to a mouse-less desk. My initial impressions of the touch capabilities of the tablet were mixed, it was jittery, continually dragging items around my computer screen that I did not intend to move and frustrating. Now I have a touch pad on my laptop and am very comfortable using such a surface which made the experience even more confusing. A large portion of my problems were fixed by adjusting the preferences in the control panel as well as turning off the single finger “Drag” setting. Even after rectifying many of my issues I still feel like the touch experience could use some refinement, however I am sticking with it so far and have not returned to using a mouse.

Conclusion:

The Bamboo Pen & Touch offers a great entry into the tablet world along with a promising touch functionality. I would definitely buy this again with the strong message of adjusting the preferences right out of the box since this solved most of my initial issues.

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Nice tablet, iffy touch, October 28, 2009

By 

Personne (Rocky Mountain West) – See all my reviews

  

  

I’ve been using Wacom products for a long time, going back to the old ADB Macintoshes. When the new Bamboo tablets came out, I picked up one of the large ones for my main workstation, and then the smaller one (the subject of this review) to travel with my laptop. Most of the comments here would apply equally to both. I use the tablets both for their particular capabilities when it comes to art and photography and also as a mouse substitute. I’ve long had tendonitis and I found it helpful to have both a mouse and tablet available, depending on the particular discomfort I might be enjoying.

First a few comments for owners of previous Wacom tablets. The pen itself feels a little different. It’s a bit larger and lighter and feels less substantial than previous versions. There’s no way to know if that translates into shorter life–we’ll just have to see as the months and years go by. The surface of the tablet is different as well. Whereas previous Wacoms had a smooth glassy feel, the Bamboo feels more paper-like. No big deal, but it does feel different. I do notice that Wacom includes spare tips for the pen along with a strange little tool to remove the pen’s tip (you’ll find an unlabeled metal loop in the package. That’s the tool). In my previous experience, the tablet surface always wore out before the pen. Perhaps this new surface is a bit abrasive to the pen tip. Again, we’ll just have to see. There’s also no mouse included with the package. For me that’s not a problem–I never liked their mouse anyway.

Back to the more general reader. You’ll like using a tablet. It’s easy to draw things, and the increased resolution in pressure sensitivity is welcome. You’ll also like the fact that the surface of the tablet has a one-to-one correspondence with screen position. No continued picking up the mouse and moving it. If you have any sort of repetitive motion injury, you’ll also appreciate having the ability to put the load on other muscle groups. If you use dual-monitors or a single monitor 24″ or larger, you’ll want the larger version of this tablet–unless you have extreme fine motor skills.

Over the years, Wacom has employed several methods to keep track of your pen when you’re not using it. They’ve had little stands that are attached to the tablets, and little stands that go somewhere on your desk. This new tablet has the best and–simplest–way of doing it. There’s a little fabric loop on the outer edge. The pen slips easily into the loop–close by and out of the way.

Now what I didn’t like. Touch is awfully finicky and needs a lot more work. I’ve never had any trouble getting used to a trackpad, but I have yet to build any trust with the touch system in the Wacom. There are particular gestures for selecting, opening, and dragging things around. Sometimes, they simply don’t work. Sometimes they work too well. I’ve found myself continually opening files I only meant to reposition. I’ve found myself moving files I didn’t want to move. I’ve found that the slightest inadvertent touch of a pinky makes things happen that I didn’t want to happen. While the four buttons on the keyboard side of the tablet can be programmed to take over some of these functions, they’re too far away for smaller hands. Luckily, the upper button turns the touch system off and on. I’ve found that ‘off’ is my preferred position. I keep going back and practicing to improve my control of touch, but something this critical ought to work right out of the box. The four buttons could be more useful as well. They’re top-level only, with no context sensitivity. I’d love to be able to program them to do specific things in different programs, but I can’t do that. Perhaps future driver updates will remedy some of these problems.

I wouldn’t base my buy decision on the touch feature. There may be some people that love it, but I think a lot of people will be frustrated. But the tablet performance is nice and the overall price is attractive compared to previous Wacom products. So I’m not as disappointed as I might sound.

The software bundle is nothing to write home about. There’s an old version of Photoshop Elements that may not be fully compatible with Snow Leopard or Win 7. Adobe has announced new versions, but you’re going to have to pay full freight on those. I contacted Wacom sales, and they have no plans to offer the newer versions. There also a small filter plugin bundle. The bundle is so old that it’s unaware of Photoshop CS4. You can hand-drag it to the right place (don’t use touch to do it) and it will work, but it doesn’t offer any value that’s not already in CS4. The larger tablet also includes a little Corel draw program that’s cute, but nothing special. If you’re new to computer graphics, you might be perfectly happy with these starter programs. If you’re a repeat Wacom buyer, the extras CD makes nice trivet…

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Good quality product- but it may not be ideal as a replacement for a mouse., October 1, 2009

By 

J. Leigh “jleigh7″ (chicago) – See all my reviews

  

  

Pros:

- The gestures for the pad are intuitive.

- The stylus is pressure sensitive and works as one would expect for a Wacom tablet.

- The package comes with video tutorials for complete novices.

- The device is stylish and is well constructed and packaged.

Cons:

- It was too easy to inadvertently click and/or drag something by accident.

- I tried both placing it on the side where one would normally place a mouse and placing it south of the keyboard where one would normally use a trackpad on a laptop. The latter seemed to cause more of the accidental catches while I was typing. I am not entirely sure how I am able to trigger the tablet in that instance expect perhaps a tiny portion of my palm might be just catching the edge of it.

- After using it for some time I started to miss the hand support offered by a mouse, and began to feel some fatigue. I am not sure how long one can sustain that kind of activity.

- The surface of the pad has some resistance to give the stylus the sensation of writing on paper. However this does not make it as ideal a trackpad since your fingers don’t glide over the surface as easily.

- Using the zoom, rotate, forward and backward page gestures seemed to introduce significant lag. As a result, for example, when you zoom in/out in a web browser it feels like you are lurching in and out. Often I find myself over shooting a zoom level.

- Sometimes you accidentally trigger the right mouse button when instead you are trying to use a 2-finger gesture.

- The placement of the cable should have been along the top of the unit rather than the side. Having it on the side means you can’t cleanly butt it up against a keyboard without the wire getting in the way.

For the price it does what it claims and it is a respectable amount of capability for what you are paying for. I’m not entirely certain however it will ultimately be a successful device to replace the mouse.

I’ll stick with it for a little longer and update my review if I feel differently.

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