Fabulous and Fun
Great product - love every minute I use it - smooth and accurate. The only thing to be aware of is that the software they include doesn't work. I had to call customer service (delightfully located in Washington, not India for a change). The agent was extremely helpful and told me that the included CD was a dud and I had to download it off the website. While it was somewhat frustrating, that fixed the problem immediately (my cursor was magnetized to the upper left hand corner of my screen).
Wacom is a winner
You can't go wrong with this drawing tablet. If you are retouching photos or creating art work from scratch this will make your life much easier. I had an old Wacom tablet from about 15 years ago and this new one is even better and easier to use. I have the 9x12" actual drawing size and I see no reason for anything larger. It fits my needs perfectly. You might get buy with a smaller size but I think most people would find the 9x12 easier to use.
A dream come true
I have wanted a graphics tablet for years, this is my first. I researched my choice pretty extensively and almost bought the 6x11 size. However, I found the 9X12 for only $50 more and went for it.
One of my concerns, never having owned a tablet, was that it would not be the smooth drawing experience I had hoped for. One reviewer stated that drawing too slowly or quickly produced angular lines and a lot of practice was required to achieve a smooth line. This is not my experience at all. I am a classically trained artist and I am able to "paint", draw and sketch quickly, smoothly and naturally. I am ecstatic with the results.
The size of the tablet is perfect and I couldn't imagine using a smaller one. My next dream is for a Cintiq.
Excellent Product -- Using for software sketching and diagraming
I got this product not really knowing for sure if it was going to work for me. I suspect most users use it in a paint style tool for illustration and art work.
On the other hand, I was going through reams of 11X17 paper, creating freehand drawings and notes regarding designs for software I write.
These drawings and notes on paper were a pain because I'd lose track of them, it was difficult to erase big sections and "move them around" so they made more sense on the page, and to easily delete partial content that was no longer accurate.
So I fished around for some software that looked like it would do what I want. I found NotateIt software, which is a deluxe whiteboard solution.. and I bought the 9 X 12 Wacom board, hoping like heck it would be useful.
Well it has been just marvelous. It is a wonderfully engineered product and has worked flawlessly. I'm no longer generating reams of 11 x 17 paper with things crossed out and arrows pointing around old stuff to new stuff. Instead, I use the Wacom to make notes on the fly, do sketches on the fly, move parts of sketches around, and delete inaccurate notes very quickly.
The feel of the tablet is great, the pen glides easily across the surface, and the front edge of the tablet is curved downward meaning you can rest your wrist on it and not be on a sharp edge.
There are only two areas I struggle a bit with (and that word is probably too strong)
1. Desk space - I use both the keyboard and the tablet, alternating between them, but on one surface there's not enough room for both without moving them back and forth or leaving one in front of the monitor and the other at a less than comfortable angle off to the side. I like the 9 X 12 size and don't think I would be happy with a smaller tablet, so that's not the solution. Perhaps a desk where I can put the tablet on the desk in front of me and have the keyboard in a drawer below?
2. Handwriting - the tablet is pretty high resolution and detects every tiny nuance and wiggle in your handwriting and makes your handwriting look like you were 120 years old and had serious problems with the shakes. I don't know if they could do something in software to programmatically "lessen" the resolution to make it less "sensitive" when using certain apps (in which you might be doing free style handwriting). It is possible that a different pen tip might help, but I tried the ones included and can't say they helped much with this particular issue.
I'm now using the tablet almost exclusively and my mouse is hardly getting and use at all. Once I got used to moving my whole arm to move the cursor across the screen (which took probably a week) I really love the tablet over the mouse - it's actually more intuitive to move your hand from left to right when you want to move the cursor from left to right, instead of lifting up and moving the mouse several times to get the cursor over there.
Highly rated!
Oh the pleasure!!!! Wish I bought it sooner!!!
This is an excellent upgrade for me as a designer who worked on an old Wacom baby 4x5 pad for years. I don't retouch often, but now I have a big project to retouch, I thought I can justify the upgrade and went for it. I am SHOCKED by how much faster retouching with this monster board is!! The Express Keys that allowed me to customize, makes a WORLD of difference. I changed my customization a few times while I worked, until I felt "at one" with the Express Keys, both left and right. I put it on my lap to work, and voila, I am speeding through, moving around, zooming in and out, and changing my favorite tools in a heart beat without touching my keyboard! Productivity went up big time!! I suggest having System Preference out for Mac the first few times, just as you work, to go back and customize your setting more.
Size wise: The 9x12 I initially worried might be too big, turns out to be the same width almost with the 6x11. I was debating hard between the two, budget is an issue, I thought screen ratio might be as well, but when I finally got to the store to compare, I was pleasantly surprised that I prefer the bigger 9x12 (I'm 5', and desk space is prime real estate). Go for the 9x12 if you're choosing between the two. I don't think I was "all over the place" using it, at all. I leaned it against my desk, even though I have space to lay it flat. I think it's more ergonomically correct that way and it really does feel natural as the company suggested. For about the same price, I was happy to have gone for the larger and know that I'm using larger motion. Oh, this tablet rocks!!! I am so happy with this I just want to share with everyone!
