Drawing tablet thing

Gorman

Gorman

Author Level
Can anyone link a cheap / good quality usb tablet thing i can plug into the laptop and use to draw. I want to do some drawing again.

As a reward, heres a picture of my dog.

D0B18A52-50EC-4EA2-AE56-274435A8946C.JPG
 
S

Smurfette

Active member
Wacom are the industry leaders when it comes to graphics tablets - they are built to last and have a price tag to match. Expect to pay hundreds of pounds for one. However, they do produce a range of 'beginners' tablets (Bamboo range) which are just as good quality, but without all the bells and whistles of the professional tablets. You should be able to pick up a Wacom Bamboo on Amazon or Ebay for a reasonable price. You'd only need a small sized tablet anyway.

The next best tablets are probably Aiptek, otherwise referred to as 'Ape-tek' by Wacom enthusiasts :D They are ok, but nowhere near the quality of a Wacom. You may also find yourself experiencing problems finding replacement pens and nibs as they are not as readily available.
 
R

rubberhead

Member
Poor wonkasaurus lol

+1 on what Smurfette says

'Cheap' and 'good quality' and don't really go together here. Cheap and useable, yes.

I have a Trust A4, a Wacom Volito2 A5, some other A5 crummy generic brand, and an A4 Wacom Intuos3 ..

There is NO comparison between the Wacoms and the others. Wacom is far superior in practically every way. Build quality, design (battery free etc), functionality..etc

The Trust one is very useable but I've had a fair few driver problems with it. The software that comes with it (for configuring the tablet buttons and screen area and pen buttons etc) was rubbish. It failed to work most of the time. Not a big deal though if I already had it configured to my liking. Wacom, in fairness, can have driver problems too but once you get it working, it should stay working. The software works well too.


  • Wacom (as far as I know/ have seen) are they only ones with battery-free pens. This is a big one for me, mightn't be a concern with you.
  • Some of the newer Wacom tablets are wireless too. Mine connect with USB but this might be a consideration.
  • Not all tablets have the option of changing the pen nibs. The nibs last me months and months (with a lot of use) anyway but on the tablets that don't let you change the nibs, your only option is to buy a replacement pen and that could be expensive and/or hard to come by, by the time the nib is worn down. The ones you can change the nibs on could be hard to come by.

I'm assuming you've never used a graphics tablet before so my advice would actually be to get a cheap one and see how you get on with that. Graphics tablets are initially difficult, awkward and plain weird to use at first so you might not 'take to it' like you'd imagine. You do get used to them fairly quickly but I know a few people who couldn't get used to their tablet quick enough for their liking and stopped using it.

If/when you do get used to the cheap one, then upgrade to a Wacom. They are pricy but I LOVE my Intuos3 and would replace it in a second if anything ever happened it. You wouldn't necessarily need an A4 one of course but I personally prefer the large size and use it across two large monitors. Just feels more comfortable to me but not essential.

Depending where you live, Lidl and Aldi often do good offers on the likes of Trust tablets. Or Amazon, Ebay, Pixmania..

If you want to just go with Wacom straight off, you can buy refurbs off Wacom to save a few quid - that's where I got my Intous3. Mine was in mint condition, had full warranty and was about €100 cheaper than non-refurb. (It's still going strong after about 6 or so years.) Stock is generally limited there though.
I can't get you a URL because the site is blocked here in work but just Google 'refurbished wacom' and it should be near the top in the results. It used to be shop.wacom.eu/used-products as far as I remember.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top