Wacom Bamboo Fun Tablet Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've owned a pen-only Wacom tablet before and I think they make good products, but if you get this one you should be aware of several points that I didn't figure out until I started using this one, although, to be fair, there were indications to some problems on the web, I just sort of flaked in my research.
1)The Draw: The drawing and pen functions with the pad are terrific, and unless you're used to high-end tablets, this will probably be fine for you, although the surface is rougher than the older, pen-only tablets and I suspect will wear out nibs fairly quickly. They supply you with three extras.
2)The Touch: While the touch on this, even the "tap to click" works pretty well, I'm not able to use it full time as my interface -- I still use a Logitech track ball. If you're used to one of the glass touchpads on a Macbook or Macbook pro, this will seem a bit sluggish, but if you're used to the trackpad supplied with many netbooks (Like my Dell mini)this thing will be a revelation. Overall it's nice.(There are scrolling issues, see below.) The mouse buttons have a nice, smooth feel, too. Not too clicky, but not so soft you don't know you're pushing them. Mind you, this is after just two days of use. I have no idea about the durability.
3)The Size: This is the larger of the Bamboo Fun tablets. While it should have been blindingly obvious, I suppose, that this was going to be big, it really does take up a lot of room on the desktop. To use it as a touch interface, it's really more than you need. There may people who need the extra space for graphics, but for day-to-day use, the smaller Bamboo Fun or Bamboo Craft touch/pen would have been fine. I'm working on two, 24 inch monitors and this is still way more space than I need. This is about the size of a 13inch laptop, so unless you have room for something that size on your desk all the time, in addition to your keyboard, the smaller Bamboo might be the way to go.
4)The Scroll: The two-fingered scroll function works great until it doesn't. I kept getting a lock up after a couple of swipes in Firefox 3.6, and even my trackball's scrolling would lock for fifteen seconds or so after it locked. This was fixed by turning off the auto-scroll and smooth-scrolling IN FIREFOX. That said, I found that solution in a forum where many people had reported scrolling problems and this fix didn't work for all of them. They also reported similar issues in Photoshop CS2 & CS3 as well. I'm using this with a Mac Pro 2x Xenon processor with 8GB ram, but people with Windows machines reported the problem as well. Wacom didn't seem to address it on their web page other than to respond to users that it, more or less, was the user's fault. I haven't tried it with Photoshop yet, but it seems to work fine in Painter and Art Rage Studio Pro, and I haven't had any scroll problems with the pen, only the touch functions. Your mileage may vary, but I'd be wary of expecting to use this as your only interface until you see a lot of "fixes" reported on the web.
5)The Design: It looks very spiffy, especially if you like the brushed-aluminum look and feel. It's substantial, too - heavy enough to stay in place on the desk. There's a loop for the pen to go into, which is a nice addition my earlier Wacom didn't have. (I use stick-on Velcro to keep the pen attached to that one.)As other's have said, though, the USB cable is permanently attached to the tablet instead of plugging in with a mini-USB plug, as earlier models did. This could become a durability problem if you travel with the tablet a lot, as the connection point isn't very heavily reinforced.
6)In Conclusion: You are more or less in a one-player game. For the price, you can't really get a pen pad with touch from anyone except Wacom, and if this is your first tablet, again, I think you'll probably love it, but do look at the smaller touch/pen tablet first, maybe save yourself some cash, and expect to keep your mouse around for a while, at least, until you iron out any touch navigation problems that you may have with your particular applications.


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Bamboo Fun lets you get hands-on with your creative projects, giving you the benefits of Multi-Touch along with the comfort and precision of Wacom\'s ergonomically-designed pen. With Multi-Touch, you can navigate, scroll, and work with simple gestures in an area larger than on mobile devices or laptop trackpads. For precision work, pick up the pressure-sensitive pen to draw, sketch, edit photos, and add handwritten elements to your creations. The generous size of Bamboo Fun gives you lots of space for creative freedom, making it simple and comfortable to use. Bamboo Fun works with your existing computer: desktop or laptop, PC or Mac. Attach it to a standard USB port and set it comfortably by your keyboard. You can even customize your Bamboo Fun experience by assigning your own shortcuts to the four ExpressKeys. Available in a stylish silver color, Bamboo Fun will complement your current setup. It includes valuable additions that make it ideal for your creative projects.

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