Damn - I just read this today or yesterday - they mentioned the brand name and that they were less expensive than Wacom, but for the life of me I can't find the post. Does anyone remember reading it and where it's at? I thought for sure it was here in the Poser forum.... sigh

Attached Link: http://www.publishingperfection.com/catredir.asp?catid=10&src=go+graphic+tablet

Dang, for got the name! It's called a UC-Logic SuperPen Tablet 5540 Series. Sorry 'bout that. Laurie

A warning about cheep tablets, they are not all worth the savings, I have a hyperpen 6x8 which I got for $99 dollars and frankly I'd get rid of it for half that. my new wacom intuos 2 cost over $300 and was worth every penny! much more sensitive, even senses pen angle. and suddenly I feel like i'm using a brush rather then dragging a really skinny mouse around. Wacom IMHO has good reason for charging more for their products, the are that much better.

Someone mentioned CalComp (or something similar to that). tablet

I'm looking at the Intuos 2, and damn, they are nice.

For the money Wacom is by far the best.Bought the airbrush with it. Three years old and no problems what so ever.

The first tablet that I got didn't work. Period. The second one screwed up my computer and their tech department told me I had to registry hack to fix it. It was a known issue. It still didn't work after that, but at least my computer did. I didn't go near tablets for years after that. The only one that seems to work well is the Wacom brand.

I just got my Intuos 2 6X9. It virtually installed itself. Now I am saving for the airbrush...

I myself would rather have an Intuos tablet. But that's more money than I care to spend at the moment. My Graphire tablet works fine for my needs :o). Laurie

:) I own a Wacom myself - but an associate's tablet just took a nosedive due to some soda he spilled on it - he swears he thought none of it got inside, but nontheless it doesn't work anymore. He's low on funds & I remember having read very recently that someone had gotten an inexpensive tablet and that they were happy with it. I was going to refer him to the link so that he could further research it for himself. :)

Well, some brushes in some programs have special responses just for the pen tilt, so cheaper tablets don't work with them. I have a small Wacom-- I don't think it's a Graphire, I think it's intuos and it works well for me-- I had no desk space for the bigger ones no matter how I drew and I adapted to the smaller size. There are some tools it doesn't pay to go cheap on. Emily

That would have been me. Yup, a calcomp. Umm, heh... well, okay queri, if you say so, but I do pretty well with mine I think B^)

Oh yeah, and one of the nice things about it is that the stylus uses no batteries -- it just goes. Alien technology or something. However, it's buffer isn't very big, so smudging in Photoshop goes slowly. And it's not new -- I got it end of '99 actually. I don't know how easy they are to find.

Yeah, all the art I do with my cheap tablet just totally sucks.

Attached Link: http://www.aiptek.com/index2.php

I have the hyperpen 8000 that is the one i mentioned above and while it worked ok in win98 i have never succeded to get the drivers to work properly in XP and it never worked nearly as well as the wacom.

I have an aiptek 8000 on the pc (got a wacom on my old mac, and the wacom is sure better) and the aiptek is definitely NOT as good as the wacom, however... its not a bad deal if you want a cheap big tablet and can't afford a Wacom in the same size (which would be an intuos) But if you have the moolah to spend on an intuos, you should get one.

Even though the specs on the other tablets seem higher on the box, they aren't. I tried two or three tablets and vowed not to get one again, but I got the Wacom and have been thrilled with it ever since. Graphire's are pretty cheap and you can find them on Ebay for $69 brand new. I personally have an Intuos2 4x5 that I love, but I hear great things about all of them. I would definitely recommend a Wacom of some type. Also sometimes Wacom has refurbished ones in their store that have great prices. ShadowWind

I have a graphire and my aiptek 8000 is much better than the Graphire... graphire sits in its little box here unused. I guess I should unload it one of these days. I really REALLY want an intuos... someday :))

my mac has an old ArtZ Wacom tablet, and I wish like hell I could use it on the pc... it senses the pen angle and can variate thickness with pressure... which is what I really really want! :) but for now, the Aiptek is working pretty well, just the intuos is a lot LOT better, and I'll get one eventually (the Aiptek was a gift from someone, so I can't really complain about its price here lol). Finding a cheaper Wacom in Germany is not easy, though.

I've got Genius WizardPen 4x3. Not a Wacom, but for the price it's excellent. Varies size, density and colour with pressure. I paid it something like $25. These guys sell it for 18.99 pounds: http://myahead.com/go/look/product.show_product?v_id=3043

Attached Link: http://www.my-volito.com/

not useful for me, its what I have from Wacom that I never use, the volito is a repackaged graphire with a neato black colour, nothing special. I use a pen all the time, so I need something that is 6x8 or larger, and Wacoms in Europe in that size are untouchable new for less than 600 euro... its a colossal ripoff as they are nearly half the price in the USA. Next time I'm in the states I am picking up an intuos!

bijouchat- thats a good idea. Pricey in the UK too. I've been wanting to upgrade from my Wacom/ Graphire 2 for a while after trying a friends Intuos. The pressure sensitivity was just amazing ! Having said that my 4x5 graphire has served me well for 2 years . But even the smallest size Intuos costs about 140 and the larger ,as you say, a lot . Couldn't imagine using PS or Painter with out one - so well worth the price, either of them. Anything that works less well than the graphire and is cheaper would be a false ecomomy.

Aiptek makes one that is over 8 X 10 and less than $160 and is exactly like a wacom with fill features and sensitivity. Available at CompUSA

Actually anton thats the 12000u its just a larger version of the 8000 it's not close to a wacom intuos. half the sensitivity, no angle sensing, the mouse and the pen still require batterys. and the driver is still hit or miss on xp systems. (believe me Ive tried it on 4 systems with fair to miserable results)

yeah I checked that one out already, actually my aiptek 8000 works very well for what I paid for it (nothing lol), it just doesn't have angle sensing and some other neat Wacom only features, yes the pen requires batteries but that's not a huge problem. It does have 512 levels of pressure sensitivity and I can paint with it well in Photoshop. I just updated the driver on my 8000 recently and its working better than before, crossing my fingers for when I move to XP... Its a good deal if you want a big tablet cheap, but don't expect a lot of bells and whistles that you get with an Intuos... The Aiptek is reasonably priced in Germany, but the Wacoms for some reason are jacked up in price badly over their American versions... I'll have to import one, even with the taxes its still cheaper to import. Crazy but true.

I love my Aiptek. I don't really need more than 512 levels of sensitivity and don't mind a battery in the pen. :)For value for what you get I still think it is the best for the average person who doesn't want a Wacom.