drawing tablet - any advices?

[cyanide]

Hello 

Im considering buying a good drawing tablet (the ones like wacom etc). However im completly clueless on wich one is the best or is a good buy etc. I would like to have a quite large one (most ive found are really small). Any ideas or advices from those of you who knows or own one? im looking at a price range to about 200$ as an absolute max price .

thanks in advance!

[Cumberbatch2012]

A year ago I got a Wacom Intuos tablet, the medium size, and I  it!  It was $350.00.  There are two larger sizes and one smaller size.  Even the smallest size doesn't look too small here on their site.  http://www.wacom.com/en/products/pen-tablets/intuos  I can't give you any advice on what brand of tablet might be the best, though, because Wacom is all I have ever tried.  For me, Wacom seems to work great.  Wacom also makes this kind, http://www.wacom.com/products/pen-tablets/bamboo, but I didn't know they even existed until just now.  I would say just pick a size, do some shopping around, and find out who can give you the best price.  Good luck!   

[cyanide]

thanks for your advice =) i will be sure to check those out!

[Cumberbatch2012]

thanks for your advice =) i will be sure to check those out!

You're welcome! 

[ashes]

My husband has a wacom tablet - it's 9 x 11.  But at work he uses a 6 x 8 wacom tablet and he prefers that over the larger one at home (he's a 3D artist and works in the video game industry).  I don't use it enough to have an opinion (I'm mainly a traditional media type person). 

[Yurusumaji]

I have a Wacom Bamboo Create tablet that I'm looking to sell.

It's a great tablet, I just suck hard at drawing. ^_^

[Eviecorn]

I like the Wacom tablets.  I'm currently using a repurposed medical tablet as my drawing station.  No idea how much it costs as it was a gift, but it's worth looking into.

[RAMChYLD]

Can't go wrong with Wacom- they're the industry standard I think. I myself own a Wacom Graphire 4 which is duly hooked up to my old PowerMac (it says Mac OS X or higher only on the box, but well, I works fine with Mac OS 9 and Photoshop 5 for me...)

[kaoskat]

Good luck finding  great tablet!

[DoctorMowinckel]

When it comes to buying anything technical, first thing you should do is ask 'what will I use this for?'. While something that's really sensitive and has a super high level of detail relating to your pen strokes would be nice, is it really something you need? Unless you're a student going to art school, or are making enough money off of what you do you can justify the purchase, you don't need it. Even if you are an art student or a professional, you don't need it. How you use it is far more important than what you're going to do with it.

Monoprice sells some good tablets for less than $80, while they're not 'as good' as something else in another makers 'budget line', like a Wacom Bamboo Splash, they'll do 90% of what the Wacom does for less than half the price. The things you're looking for are 'pressure sensitivity', 'resolution', and 'report rate'.

Pressure sensitivity means how many different levels of pressure the tablet will register. The best ones have 2048, which means there are 2048 different pressure levels that can be read based on how light or had you press down the stylus.

Resolution is the distance between points on the tablet that it will render. The higher the number, the smaller the distance between these points, which will give you a finer 'line'. However, even the budget tablets have adequate resolutions.

Report rate is how many times a second the tablet will respond to have the stylus applied it. A report rate of 800 means that 800 times a second, it's registering the stylus being applied to the tablet.

If I were looking for a budget tablet, I'd look for some with a report rate no lower than 200, a resolution now lower than 4000, and a pressure sensitivity no lower than 512.

This is what I use; http://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-10x6-25-Inches-Graphic-Drawing/dp/B004C4ZT0G/ref=sr_1_16?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1354250235

I use it for photography post production, and not illustrating, so I'm able to pretty much ignore the report rate (200 is a bit low) since I'm not making wide or large strokes with the stylus, in photography post there's lots of little strokes, which is where the resolution is important. This one is adequate at 4,000.

The Wacom Bamboo Splash is a solid buy at $150, the Monoprice I linked is good for $60, but again, it comes down to what you're going to do. If this you're just a hobbyist, and this is your first tablet, I'd go with the Monoprice.

[True]

iv just got a wacom bamboo small and it does what i need it to do lol
iv still got my old wacom graphire that still works, i need to give it away xD but its SOOOOOO old and ocasionally jumps

[Sonata]

I got a medium Wacom Bamboo Fun and I love it ! Not too big, but not ridiculously small either. But Wacom tablets are always a good choice, no matter which you choose. You just can't go wrong with them.

[melodys_angel]

Im actually in the process of thinking about upgrading mine.

Ive had a waccom since about 2006, and its been a good little thing for me...but its starting to break down.  my pen works but it spretty much annihilated, the drawing surface has seen better days, and it doesnt work all the time...im usually stuck having to play bend down and plug it in and out 4 or 5 times to get it to work.

Ive also heard similar cases..with other people, it usually means its going to die out soon, something common with waccoms.  But for casual stuff you cant really beat them out.

I have a 4 by 6 one and find that im constantly drawing off the screen.  I tink I payed about $120 at the time, after a $50 rebate.

I have my eyes set on the next level up.  Once I save up for a new computer ill be saving up to get a tablet that I can draw straight on the screen with.  Im ready to advance, with the work that I do, which means I get to eventually play with the big girl tablets xD  Doubt its in the near future but it will be soon enough^^