Wacom Bamboo Fun Pen and Touch – Small Graphics Tablet

[David Rowland]

my colleague bought one of the Fun ones… she loves it

few tips

Corel X3, pretty much fails to work with due to problems with how it handles imput devices like touch-pads. X5 is better.

Illustrator works like a dream with it

The software that comes with it is pretty good.

Buy what you can afford and Wacom are the kings

[Robert Lambie]

i had the bamboo one and another… tried them out but never took to them.

the first one i bought was pretty small and cost me about £65 at the time… didnt have allot of features. stopped using it and that was that.

about 12 months later i decided to spend a bit more, my thought was i may have bought "a cheapy". there for limited in performance etc…
bought the bamboo one which i think was £120 back then. again, i wasnt too impressed. but to be honest i think you need to devote a bit of time getting used to how it works as well as its limitations. i have watched programs on TV where the graphic designers solely use pen and tablets, so i guess it might just be me and what i am used to.

anyway, i stuck the two of them on ebay 12 months ago now, or you would have been welcome to them. 😀

[Martin Pearson]

I have a wacom tablet that’s years old and although it never got a lot of use it came in really handy sometimes when having to trace something, I found it easier to use the pen for this sort of work rather than a mouse.

It won’t run off my current system and I haven’t replaced it because it never got used enough to justify the expense although like Robert has said if I had spent more time learning how to use it properly it would probably have got a lot more use.

[Glenn Sharp]

That’s why I can never convince myself I’m doing the right thing Rob.

I used to do a bit of drawing and painting back in the day and every now and then I get the urge to get back into it…..not having half the gear or anywhere to put it for that matter, I keep thinking about getting one of these tablets

It’ll end up in the back of the cupboard with all the other fads but for £60 – 70 I might just take the punt

Dave, If it struggles with X3 I take it I’ve got no chance with Corel 12 then ??

[Martin Pearson]

Glen, you might be right, for 60 squid it might be worth a tryy. I know when I bought my wacom tablet years ago it was over £200.

As for compatibility with Corel 12 you might be better off asking in the coreldraw forum.

[David Rowland]

i cannot advise on corel 12, but X3 does have input problems…

if u use a laptop touchpad on x3, you suddenly find your page blank, this was never fixed in x3. The pen triggers this sometimes and can be unstable.

if you can naturally draw with a pen, i mean really can like our lovelly Jill then it will be fantastic, if your like me who can draw using shape tools then it will be useless.

[John Wilson]

Yeah I got one of those tablets and they are great but don’t use it much anymore due to the apply mighty mouse being so good for control and navigation that I stopped using the bamboo fun

[Glenn Sharp]

Thanks for all the help….

I’ve got some Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket and at the minute I think it’s destined to go on one of these

I’ll let you know how I get on …..and maybe show you some of my etchings 😳

[Daniel Evans]

I’ve got the latest touch one and although i don’t use it every day, it does come in handy sometimes when drawing it does take getting used to though, i’d recommend ditching the mouse for a week and only use the pen, the best way i found.

I don’t use the touch feature though as i have the apple track pad which i find nicer to use when scrolling through web sites etc.

[Glenn Sharp]

what are the drawing features like Daniel…..does it feel real enough ?

[Daniel Evans]

I use it with photoshop on a mac, I have it set to pen pressure and i think it’s great when drawing. It feels good but compared to drawing on paper it does take getting used to as you’ll be looking at the screen instead of the nib (hope that make sense), i think mine was about £90 but that was about 9 months ago i think when they first come out.

At £90 it’s not bad, in fact it’s fairly good for the money but trust me and throw the mouse away for the week otherwise you won’t give it the time of day.

If your using a pc, i’d go for the one with the touch feature, it makes browsing the web a pleasure, if your using a mac, get the standard one if you already have the trackpad.

Hope this helps, any more questions just ask.

[Glenn Sharp]

thanks very much Daniel………I started out just looking for a graphics tablet but I like the idea of the touchpad hoojar

decisions, decisions