What Wacom (or off brand) tablet would you recommend ?

[Some Idiot]

I think I am ready to finally pull the trigger and get a Wacom tablet.......

Anyone have any words of advice to help me with my choice?

[danchez]

I recently bought the Intuos4 tablet and love love love love love it!!! Can't believe I waited so long to buy it.

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by danchez

i recently bought the intuos4 tablet and love love love love love it!!! Can't believe i waited so long to buy it.

+1

[busytexan]

+1 I initially bought the Intuos3..and simply couldn't get properly acquainted with it. I sold it and tried the Intuos4....don't know what happened but the light bulb came on and I'm a happy woman. I love it!

[msabas]

I currently use the Bamboo Fun. its the smallest theat Wacom offers but to be honest I can do a lot with it. Would I rather have a Cintiq 21ux? Hell Yeah...

[srwatters]

I'm very happy with my two Intuos 3 tablets. I have a 6x8 and 6x11. Both perform very well and I picked up the second one barely used for a deep discount. You might give that a try. Aside from the pen nib and mouse, there's nothing to wear out.

[Mosephus]

I've been considering a tablet, how have they helped you and how hard are they to get used to?

[carrbowl]

If you have had and/or used the 3 and 4..what is/are the main differences??

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by Mosephus

I've been considering a tablet, how have they helped you and how hard are they to get used to?

Main thing for me is that I no longer suffer wrist/hand pain. It got pretty bad when I was using a mouse. I don't even use the mouse that came with my tablet; I'm all pen, all the time. In LR and PS, it makes a huge difference for me when retouching an image. The movements are simply more natural than using a mouse. I love it!

[Some Idiot]

Originally Posted by JohnT

Main thing for me is that I no longer suffer wrist/hand pain. It got pretty bad when I was using a mouse. I don't even use the mouse that came with my tablet; I'm all pen, all the time. In LR and PS, it makes a huge difference for me when retouching an image. The movements are simply more natural than using a mouse. I love it!

I get wrist pain too, I am hoping it will help when I have marathon editing sessions

[danchez]

no more wrist pain here either. I tend to hold onto the pen rather tight sometimes, but other than that, it is very natural to use. I think after the 2nd or 3rd image I processed with the tablet I was extremely comfortable using it. The weirdest thing for me to get used to is that where you touch the tablet is where the mouse icon appears on the screen. So unlike a mouse that you move, pick up and replace and move again, you just put the pen on the tablet where you want it on the screen. Kind of a weird explanation, but once you buy one you will understand what I mean. :)

[S-Man]

I have the 4x6 Intuos 3, and used to use the Bamboo. I'm on a Mac.
I LOVED the Bamboo. I used it mainly for general navigation but since I dropped the pen, it no longer works. So now I've moved full time to the Intuos 3. One thing I've noticed is that the Intuos 3 seems to lag a smidge sometimes.
For example, when I'm using the Clone or Heal tool in CS4, I hold command+tap surface to get a source reference. If I do that then immediately go to paint somewhere, it causes the source to be where I'm painting instead of where I put it. Only if I pause for a second to let it 'register' and then proceed to paint will the source reference stay where I put it. This bugs the curse out of me. Anyone experience anything similar?

[srwatters]

Sam, is your tablet plugged directly into the computer or through a USB hub? Another thing to check is your PS preferences setting for scratch disks in the performance pane. If you have an external USB drive attached to the system and PS tries to use it for scratch space, you'll see some lag in the tools. I had this problem in CS4 until I unchecked my external backup drive. One last thing to check is that you have the latest drivers from Wacom and no other mouse modifier drivers in the chain. I know there is some software that can hook the mouse data looking for gestures etc. and that can get in the way for PS also.

I have two Mac Pro systems each with an Intuos 3 and don't see any issues like you're describing, so I doubt it's a generic problem. Good luck!

[S-Man]

Thanks Scott. As a matter of fact, I did have it plugged into a 'hub' so to speak. The monitor I use has some extra USB sockets I plugged it into. I took it out and put it directly into the computer. I haven't had a chance to try it in PS, but it did seem more responsive on the desktop, or maybe it was wishful thinking. I'll let you know when I do a full test :)
Thanks so much!

[d2creative]

I can highly recommend the Cintiq!
All my editing is done on that.