Rating:

1) To edit images. It allows me to refine and clean up images much more efficiently because using a pen to touch up selected areas in an image is a lot easier and precise than using a mouse.

2) To stop using a mouse and reduce the risk of Repetitive Strain injury -I was experiencing wrist fatigue when I used a mouse for extended periods of time, but using the pen as a mouse or the tablet as a touchpad now allows me to keep working longer and wrist fatigue is no longer an issue. I would definitely recommend buying this product if you are beginning to suffer from any sort of wrist fatigue while using a mouse. However it does take a while – (4 or 5 days ) to get accustomed to using the touchpad and you have to configure it through the Bamboo software so it suits your input style.

3) Portability – since this is the small tablet, its easy to slip into most medium or even small sized laptop bags. I can take it with me when I’m in the field without being weighed down. However because of it’s small size, sometimes when drawing on the tablet, you may find that you’re running out of stroke space. It used to happen to me until I got conditioned to the dimensions of the tablet.

4) Because it was cost effective. This is basically the value buy in the line of Bamboo pen and touch tablets. For 85 to 90 dollars, you get a pen and multi-touch enabled tablet along with Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0 Win/6.0 Mac and Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 WE3 photo software.

The next model in the line Wacom Bamboo Craft costs $129, is the same size and has no upgraded hardware features except for being a different color. It has some extra software included (Corel Painter essentials 4 and some scrapbooking software) If you need the extra software, go ahead and spend 45 dollars more but if you don’t need scrap booking software or Corel Essentials 4 – save your 45 dollars and buy the Bamboo pen and touch. There is no difference in the hardware between the two models except for the color.

The final model in the Bamboo pen and touch tablet line – Wacom Bamboo Fun sells for $165 to $170 , is also silver in color but has a larger active surface to work on. Which depending on your work requirements, could be important. It is also more comfortable to work on because of the larger active area. I own this model also and use it for the times when I’m at my desk and have to work on media for an extended period of time.

If you have to choose between these 3 models I would say look at the Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch Fun small tablet for portability and a value for money buy or the Bamboo Fun for the larger active area and comfort factor.

Don’t bother with the Bamboo Craft unless you really want Corel Essentials 4 and the scrapbooking software.

Hope this helps!

Rating:

All I can say is WOW.

Where do I start?

Well, my first impression was that this product has the “Apple effect”. The packaging is very nice, everything is easy to find. The installation and tutorial is also incredibly easy.

The Pen

Then I put the pen to the pad. I was blown away. I had to check to see if I hadn’t picked up a pencil instead; they’re not kidding when they say it’s a natural feel! The tablet feels amazingly natural; I was able to start creating art right away without a problem. The pen has a replaceable tip, a button that can be pressed two ways, and a thicker “eraser” tip. The buttons can be programmed for basic preset functions, or any keystrokes you want to program. The tip and eraser feel can actually be adjusted in System Preferences!

Navigation

Using it to navigate is fairly straightforward, and the two programmable buttons (default Scroll and Right Click) make the experience fairly smooth. However, it’s much easier to use a mouse/trackpad with a keyboard than the pen plus keyboard just because you don’t have to put a pen down to type.

Since I rest my hand on the sensor area while I draw, I usually turn the touch off and I keep it off- If you have a Macbook, you will find that there is absolutely no reason for you to use the touch functionality. While the tactile feel of drawing is amazing, I and my friends much prefer the Macbook trackpad. Also, three and four finger gestures are not supported.

If you’re buying this tablet to draw, I would suggest keying the pen and tablet buttons to photoshop-related functions.

Software Integration

I’ve only used Photoshop, and the integration is amazing! The pressure sensitivity makes random sketching come out with a much more natural feel. Also, you can flip the pen around and it will become an eraser! Very useful. The handwriting recognition is also fairly nice. It works with any program and it’s fairly accurate. I still find that I type much faster, but for people who don’t it’s worth a try.

In conclusion, for the purpose I bought it, this tablet is a definite 5/5. An absolute blast to use with, undoubtedly, the quality of a professional’s precision tool.

Rating:

Cons:

- It was too easy to inadvertently click and/or drag something by accident.

- I tried both placing it on the side where one would normally place a mouse and placing it south of the keyboard where one would normally use a trackpad on a laptop. The latter seemed to cause more of the accidental catches while I was typing. I am not entirely sure how I am able to trigger the tablet in that instance expect perhaps a tiny portion of my palm might be just catching the edge of it.

- After using it for some time I started to miss the hand support offered by a mouse, and began to feel some fatigue. I am not sure how long one can sustain that kind of activity.

- The surface of the pad has some resistance to give the stylus the sensation of writing on paper. However this does not make it as ideal a trackpad since your fingers don’t glide over the surface as easily.

- Using the zoom, rotate, forward and backward page gestures seemed to introduce significant lag. As a result, for example, when you zoom in/out in a web browser it feels like you are lurching in and out. Often I find myself over shooting a zoom level.

- Sometimes you accidentally trigger the right mouse button when instead you are trying to use a 2-finger gesture.

- The placement of the cable should have been along the top of the unit rather than the side. Having it on the side means you can’t cleanly butt it up against a keyboard without the wire getting in the way.

For the price it does what it claims and it is a respectable amount of capability for what you are paying for. I’m not entirely certain however it will ultimately be a successful device to replace the mouse.

I’ll stick with it for a little longer and update my review if I feel differently.

Rating:

First a few comments for owners of previous Wacom tablets. The pen itself feels a little different. It’s a bit larger and lighter and feels less substantial than previous versions. There’s no way to know if that translates into shorter life–we’ll just have to see as the months and years go by. The surface of the tablet is different as well. Whereas previous Wacoms had a smooth glassy feel, the Bamboo feels more paper-like. No big deal, but it does feel different. I do notice that Wacom includes spare tips for the pen along with a strange little tool to remove the pen’s tip (you’ll find an unlabeled metal loop in the package. That’s the tool). In my previous experience, the tablet surface always wore out before the pen. Perhaps this new surface is a bit abrasive to the pen tip. Again, we’ll just have to see. There’s also no mouse included with the package. For me that’s not a problem–I never liked their mouse anyway.

Back to the more general reader. You’ll like using a tablet. It’s easy to draw things, and the increased resolution in pressure sensitivity is welcome. You’ll also like the fact that the surface of the tablet has a one-to-one correspondence with screen position. No continued picking up the mouse and moving it. If you have any sort of repetitive motion injury, you’ll also appreciate having the ability to put the load on other muscle groups. If you use dual-monitors or a single monitor 24″ or larger, you’ll want the larger version of this tablet–unless you have extreme fine motor skills.

Over the years, Wacom has employed several methods to keep track of your pen when you’re not using it. They’ve had little stands that are attached to the tablets, and little stands that go somewhere on your desk. This new tablet has the best and–simplest–way of doing it. There’s a little fabric loop on the outer edge. The pen slips easily into the loop–close by and out of the way.

Now what I didn’t like. Touch is awfully finicky and needs a lot more work. I’ve never had any trouble getting used to a trackpad, but I have yet to build any trust with the touch system in the Wacom. There are particular gestures for selecting, opening, and dragging things around. Sometimes, they simply don’t work. Sometimes they work too well. I’ve found myself continually opening files I only meant to reposition. I’ve found myself moving files I didn’t want to move. I’ve found that the slightest inadvertent touch of a pinky makes things happen that I didn’t want to happen. While the four buttons on the keyboard side of the tablet can be programmed to take over some of these functions, they’re too far away for smaller hands. Luckily, the upper button turns the touch system off and on. I’ve found that ‘off’ is my preferred position. I keep going back and practicing to improve my control of touch, but something this critical ought to work right out of the box. The four buttons could be more useful as well. They’re top-level only, with no context sensitivity. I’d love to be able to program them to do specific things in different programs, but I can’t do that. Perhaps future driver updates will remedy some of these problems.

I wouldn’t base my buy decision on the touch feature. There may be some people that love it, but I think a lot of people will be frustrated. But the tablet performance is nice and the overall price is attractive compared to previous Wacom products. So I’m not as disappointed as I might sound.

The software bundle is nothing to write home about. There’s an old version of Photoshop Elements that may not be fully compatible with Snow Leopard or Win 7. Adobe has announced new versions, but you’re going to have to pay full freight on those. I contacted Wacom sales, and they have no plans to offer the newer versions. There also a small filter plugin bundle. The bundle is so old that it’s unaware of Photoshop CS4. You can hand-drag it to the right place (don’t use touch to do it) and it will work, but it doesn’t offer any value that’s not already in CS4. The larger tablet also includes a little Corel draw program that’s cute, but nothing special. If you’re new to computer graphics, you might be perfectly happy with these starter programs. If you’re a repeat Wacom buyer, the extras CD makes nice trivet.

In conclusion, I think Wacom shows nice progress in making a solid tablet at an increasingly low price. The touch system feels rushed and not ready for prime time. I’m still a happy Wacom customer.

Rating:

Overview:

For less than $100 you get an extremely capable pen tablet with a “rough around the edges” yet promising touch device. The shape and form factor is smallish yet works fine with my 20″ widescreen monitor. The long USB cable should accommodate almost any workspace setup.

Pen:

The pen works flawlessly. Using the pen has dramatically increased my productivity particularly in Adobe Illustrator, it’s a breeze to use compared to a mouse for vector work. It’s also very capable in Photoshop and even as a mouse replacement for general use. The shape of the pen could be more contoured however and it’s not easy to move quickly from using the pen to typing due to its shape. Overall I am very pleased using the pen.

Touch:

The multi-touch component of this device combined with the price is what sold me. I wanted a fluid experience much like other touch devices and this seemed, in combination with the pen, like the answer to a mouse-less desk. My initial impressions of the touch capabilities of the tablet were mixed, it was jittery, continually dragging items around my computer screen that I did not intend to move and frustrating. Now I have a touch pad on my laptop and am very comfortable using such a surface which made the experience even more confusing. A large portion of my problems were fixed by adjusting the preferences in the control panel as well as turning off the single finger “Drag” setting. Even after rectifying many of my issues I still feel like the touch experience could use some refinement, however I am sticking with it so far and have not returned to using a mouse.

Conclusion:

The Bamboo Pen & Touch offers a great entry into the tablet world along with a promising touch functionality. I would definitely buy this again with the strong message of adjusting the preferences right out of the box since this solved most of my initial issues.