Good tool, but don't get rid of your mouse...
Written: Jan 09 '01 (Updated Mar 27 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Very accurate, and extremely customizable
Cons: Very flimsy mouse and not extremely well crafted
The Bottom Line: Aside from some less-than-average craftsmanship, this tablet is well worth the price and is a very useful tool.
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| Mad-Sci's Full Review: Wacom Graphire Pen & Mouse Set |
I received the Wacom Graphire tablet as a Christmas gift just recently and I have to say that, though it is a very good tool, it seems to lack the quality craftsmanship that I was expecting. The tool is very versatile, however, and is still very useful; I have been doing everything from graphics work to browsing the web with it.
I asked for this particular graphics tablet because it is the best value I have ever seen for such a powerful tool. The Graphire tablet comes with a pen and a mouse, both of which are extremely accurate and well crafted for their purpose (at about 1,015 lines per inch of resolution).
The Pad
When working on art, one great feature is that the pad is pressure sensitive and allows you to press down hard to make large, prominent strokes or glide it gently over the pad creating soft, small strokes. The pad for this tablet has a total of 512 pressure levels allowing you to make smooth transitions from large to thin marks on your digital canvas. The tablet's active area is 4" by 5" which at first does not sound like a whole heck of a lot; but when you take into consideration the 1,015 lines of resolution per inch that I mentioned earlier, you begin to see just what kind of area this thing can cover. The tablet itself is very well constructed and comes with a detachable pen holder for you to stick your Graphire pen when not in use. However, I feel that this holder is pretty flimsy and the pen often falls out if you move the pad around while the pen is in there.
The Pen
Definitely a well-designed piece of equipment. The pen has a point on either end of it that allow you to either draw, or erase when working with graphics. The back of the pen works just as an eraser would and allows you to quickly fix mistakes that you make so that you don't have to reach over and select the erase button from whatever graphics software you are working with (this may sound like little help right now, but it becomes second nature to just flip the pen around and erase your mistakes...it is a very handy feature). Also, the pen has a buttons on it that, along with both tips, are completely programmable. These two buttons are really just one button that moves either forward or backward (this is difficult to explain, but I think you understand what I mean); the buttons are defaulted to 'double click' and 'right click'. The pen itself is pretty tough, and it is also very light. The plastic that is used to make this pen, however, does not seem to be extremely durable, so it could probably break relatively easily.
The Mouse
This is probably my least favorite feature about this product (hence the title). The mouse for this thing seems very flimsy and I am certain that I could break it quite easily. the mouse does not glide very nicely on the pad and it is a pain to stay within the boundaries sometimes. All of the buttons are programmable with the Graphire software but they are so flimsy that I would not recommend using them. The only endearing quality about this mouse is that it is cordless and that does not go a long way. The mouse that I am currently using is my Microsoft Intellimouse with IntelliEye, which I have now owned for about two years. I would recommend getting a mouse like that or the newer Logitech mice if you want an accurate mouse. I actually wish that Wacom had not included this mouse so that they might have been able to lower the price of the unit just a little bit; the mouse is not worth using.
(Note if you wish to read a review on my mouse, go here: http://www.epinions.com/cmd-review-6F7E-268ECE01-3A3BDEDC-prod2 )
The Software
This tablet is very customizable and comes with extremely handy software that allows you to have different settings for the buttons of your pen or mouse in the different pieces of software that you use them with. I think that the people at Wacom did a great job at creating the software for this tool; it is very helpful and user-friendly. Also, the software installation did not take a boat load of my hard drive unlike some software that you get with different products (*ahem, Iomega ZipCD).
The Installation
Straight out of the box this thing was ready to plug in and use. I stuck it into an available USB port and powered up my system; Windows 2000 automatically detected it and all I had to do was pop in the CD and follow the step-by-step instructions. You could not want an easier installation.
Overall
I think that anyone who is serious about doing any kind of computer art, whether it is simple cartoon work, to elaborate digital paintings should definitely take a look at this tool. At the current price that this tool is at, you can't go wrong; if you buy it and only use it a few times a year, it will still be worth that price. However, if you are looking at doing really professional work, or are starting or running a computer graphics company, you might want to take a step up to the Wacom Intuos family; though they are a little more expensive, they are a lot better crafted and allow for better accuracy and end results.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 70
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Epinions.com ID:
Mad-Sci
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Member: Dereck Gignac
Location: London, Ontario, Canada
Reviews written: 38
Trusted by: 20 members
About Me:
No more reviews from me. Epinions.com has lost this customer.
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