First of all, I'm not a native English speaker, sorry for you reading my broken Engrish. :)
Bamboo is Wacom's lineup for light-users.
This is the second generation of this line, which features multi-touch.
# What's in the Box
A Tablet
A Pen
Three pen-tip replacement
A pen-tip extractor
No more mouse offered. (No one uses Wacom's mouse anyway...)
# Pen
It features Wacom's typical technologies:
No battery needed, No cable, and an eraser-programed tail.
New Bamboo pen has just OK grip. Just OK.
However, if you own an Intuos, it might be little rough for you.
Unlike beautifully curved and rubber gripped Intuos pen, it is simply a plain circular cylinder.
It is about the size of three AAA batteries lined up.
From 2nd generation, Bamboo line features 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity.
The higher level allows you to draw more pressure-sensed line.
This is significant, because Intuos3, one of the professional ones, features 1024-level as well.
(You can draw thicker line when you put more pressure, and vice versa.)
In fact, this is doubled level from 1st generation. This is simply great for the price!
# Touch
The biggest reason I bought this product, despite the fact I own an Intuos4, is the multi-touch.
I had a doubt that how useful it is gonna be, but a tablet with touch-sensors made me sooo curious
that I had to order one right away.
The stinky feeling was right; it wasn't that useful.
For navigating, using the pen is wayyy faster.
For editing pictures, my keyboard works better.
Also the touch does not offer good precision to work with those Adobe programs.
Even though it is not-so-useful function with those professional programs,
it may be useful with scrapping and album-making programs, such as Shutterfly.
# Working Surface
Working on this new surface made me feel like I'm working on an actual paper.
With 1st generation, it was a bit too rough that the pen-tip wears away too fast.
One the other hand, Intuos3's surface was too slippery.
But this new Bamboo line's surface is less rough than the 1st gen, and is rougher than the ice-slippery Intuos3.
I think Wacom found just right roughness.
# Driver
The driver is a little bit disappointing.
I don't really get many options for customizing this product.
I could still program the pen and express buttons, but I couldn't program the finger gestures.
I hope Wacom update the driver, and allow users to add some custom gestures.
# Appearance
The specification of 'Bamboo Craft' and 'Bamboo Pen and Touch' are identical, just different designs.
Also Craft comes with a tutorial DVD, and some more deals (e.g. magazine subscription, Shutterfly, etc.) and picture editing programs.
I didn't want to get those extra stuffs, but I paid 30 more dollars for this design. (The recommended price of P&T is $99.)
I'm satisfied with the design, but I'm still not sure if it worth to spend extra $30.
# The bottom line
The 2nd Gen Bamboo is great product for those who are first to tablet, and those who need a decent tablet for leisure activities.
Though the specification is doubled up, the price is same from 1st Gen. So I would say it is a great bargain.
Though the touch is not that functional, this new technology is fun to play with.
For the tablet's original purpose, pen mousing, I would say it is one of the best. Wacom CTH461 Bamboo Craft Tablet
I purchased the Wacom Bamboo Craft after the Wacom brand was recommended to me by a graphic designer friend of mine. I knew I wanted to buy one to manipulate photos, use with animation software, and paint, but needed clarification of the different packages and sizes available, so I headed to the Wacom.com website to view the videos available for each one and check out the specs. I found the site very helpful in making my decision to purchase this package.
The Wacom Bamboo Craft, is geared towards 'crafty' home users. It has both the pen and the touch sensitivity, but you cannot use both the pen and the touch at the same time. (Easily switch between the two using a button on the pad.) It also comes with three great software packages: Adobe Photoshop Elements 7.0, Corel Painter Essentials 4, and Color Efex Pro 3.0, which all give you amazing creativity for editing photos, painting, drawing and generally 'creating' more for scrapbooks and other craft production.
I also found that ArtRage Deluxe 2.5 works great with this tablet! Lots of fun for people who like to paint and very easy to use. Other software that you may want to consider buying to add to the fun of using this tablet include: Claymation Studio; make your videos 'claymation' videos with this software, Anime Studio Debut 6; animation software to draw cartoon characters, and Manga Studio Debut 4 (Win/Mac); for beginning manga animators.
The size of the tablet included in the Wacom Bamboo Craft package is generous, although it's not the largest tablet available. If you have about 13" in width and 9" in depth available on your desktop, this is perfect. It actually replaces my mouse (works as the pad on a laptop would with bonus features...) for my desktop. I'm very happy I didn't buy the bigger size, as while it would have been nice for drawing to have a larger pad, the desktop real estate it would have taken up wouldn't have been worth it to me.
The included pen also comes with 3 refillable inserts. The pen itself is thicker than a pencil; more like a Sharpie pen with a 'clicker' on it that adds function to the tablet. (NOTE: Be sure to watch the tutorials on how to use the tablet and make adjustments to the set-up. )
I didn't find the pen very comfortable to use. A bit like signing your name on a credit card kiosk at the market. You can handwrite something with the included software and have in inserted into an email (it reads your handwriting and puts it into text - recognizing your handwritten letters) or add a signature to a photo via this method. It will be useful for editing photos, but I wish it was a bit smaller.
Installation took some time; about 30 minutes. Each software package required a reboot before the next one could be installed, with Adobe Photoshop Elements needing to be installed first for the Efex one to be installed. My Vista Premium 64-bit operating system did not start the installation disk automatically, but all I had to do was go into 'My Computer' to double click the drive and it started up.
Following installation I needed to go into my computer's 'Control Panel' to tweak the tablet settings. I needed things to move a bit faster, but found very small adjustments are best, as the tablet is sensitive to them. It was here that I was able to change the links to the 4 buttons on the tablet to do what I wanted them to do.
Overall I'm pleased with my purchase. The included software, size and the ability to use pen OR touch were the deciding factors for me. While I didn't need a free scrapbooking magazine subscription (4 issues), nor Cafe Press freebies, or the included DVD with 'how-to' tutorials for scrapbookers, I think they are a fun addition to the package.
I checked several sites, but the best pricing I found on this item was on Amazon. I think if you are wanting a Wacom Bamboo tablet package, this is an excellent choice! - Digital Tablets - Bamboo - Multi-touch - Tablet'
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