Great little tablet, with some limitations
Written: Aug 12 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Price, size, performance.
Cons: Sensitivity with small movements.
The Bottom Line: For the price, you get more than you pay for.
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| horhey23's Full Review: Macally iceCad Stylus |
Should I save up for the Wacom?
I had been contemplating the IceCad for some time now, wanting a new tablet (my old serial Wacom is not supported on OS X) and thought this might be a low-cost alternative. My hesitation lay in the fact that for a few bucks more I could have the entry level Wacom 4x5 Graphire3.
I liked the small footprint of the IceCad, but could not find one locally to test. I finally bit the bullet and it arrived earlier this week.
This thing is pretty cool!
So far, not bad. The pressure sensitivity is fine, and the response is accurate. I did notice some lag in Photoshop CS, but that could relate to my system rather than the tablet itself. I had an issue with my dual monitor setup, and received a reply within the day from tech support which solved everything, nice.
Features
It has tablet mode as well as mouse mode: tablet mode maps the tablet to the screen, corresponding directly so if you tap near the top left, it always goes to the top left of your screen. Mouse mode works like a mouse: you can "slide" the pointer over by moving the pointer with the stylus, picking up and away from the tablet, and repeating. both modes worked fine.
The cord is a decent length, but not too long. The tablet area is small, but if you are like me and use minimal hand movements when using a tablet, moving the image with the hand tool/zoom tool around the screen, this is not an issue.
There is no per-application customization, which is kind of a bummer. But hey, what do you expect from an entry-level tablet like this? You can define the pen buttons for modifier keys and other standard actions.
Very neat, but…
My only real problem with the IceCad? It's TOO sensitive at times! When moving the mouse in small areas with minimal movement, it picks up the slightest twitch in my hands, which is amplified on screen with the pointer. 99% of the time, no big deal, but I use Illustrator a lot, and grabbing control handles & points is tricky. Macally support suggested I zoom in, which I suppose would work, but it's not feasible for any sort of healthy workflow.
But hey, to get things done quickly where a mouse is a pain, this thing is GREAT and I guess I just go back and edit with a mouse for fine-tuning.
For what is is (and what it cost), I like it
Overall, if you were hesitant or curious, this little gadget does the job, but you do sacrifice some features of a more expensive tablet. You do get more than you pay for though, as overall this thing works very nice, more so than you'd think.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
horhey23
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Location: Kent, OH
Reviews written: 12
Trusted by: 0 members
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