Intuos 3 VS Intuos Art (VS Intuos 5) ?

CT007

Had an Intuos 3 6x8, no problems(sold it). Should I get another 3, and avoid the new stuff, or is the Art and/or Intuos 5 just as good(surface, nib wear)? 

TL;DR - Intuos 3 > Intuos Art/Draw > Intuos 5 > Intuos 4 ?

Thx, bros!


EDIT: This baller grip DOES NOT fit Intuos 3 pens!; only 4 & 5... -sadface-

thomasp

in my experience it's all the same really. even intuos 1 should still be fine. i used to use a series 2 until last week when it broke. as long as you are comfortable with the pen shape and have no need for the tablet-buttons or the context menu stuff (all disabled on my series 5 here anyway), you can go with whatever model you want really.
just pay attention on the wacom site in regards to driver support for the model you end up using. the older tablets do get excluded after a while i think.

the surface on the 5 feels nice but wears more quickly than on the 3, nibs wear pretty fast for me (i never replaced them on the older models basically). the series 5 pen feels a lot better in the hand to me than the series 3 massive rubbery dildo (don't ask... ).

Ruz

I have had an intuos 3 for quite a few years now - nibs last for ages - pen has a nice weight to it.
I used a later model whilst working in house( intuous 4 I think), but did n't like the feel of it.
I have a bamboo also, but rarely use that now as the usb cable keeps coming out

CT007

Ruz said:

intuous 4...didn't like the feel of it.

Ok, so Intuos 4 = JUNK then, amirite?

thomasp said:

the surface on the 5 feels nice but wears more quickly than on the 3, nibs wear pretty fast for me (i never replaced them on the older models basically). the series 5 pen feels a lot better in the hand to me than the series 3 massive rubbery dildo (don't ask... ).

And it sounds like Intuos 5 is NOT an improvement over 4...

So, how does Intuos Art/Draw compare :?

thomasp

all it means is that you can't go wrong with any of the intuos series but that not every new feature they added was exactly a game changer or even necessary. along the way they managed to iterate often enough that nothing on the 5 stands out as really annoying and a few things that were on the 4 have been smoothed over.
but i would prefer my series 2 for familiarity, lack of useless buttons and better placement of the usb cable if it still worked properly...

Ruz

CT007 - I didn't say it was junk, just that it did not really impress me over my current intuous 3. it looked quite nice though:)
my intuous 3 has a really long cable (and who says size does not matter)

Technomancr

To be honest, I've noticed that the nibs on my newer Intuos 5 and Pro pens wear down a lot quicker than my old one (Intuos 3) or my Graphire tablet (my first drawing tablet) - both of which I still have around. The only noticeable difference is the convenience of the new tablets - wireless and touch. I tend to disable the touch right away though, as I find it just gets in the way.

CT007

Technomancr said:

To be honest, I've noticed that the nibs on my newer Intuos 5 and Pro pens wear down a lot quicker than my old one (Intuos 3) or my Graphire tablet (my first drawing tablet) - both of which I still have around. The only noticeable difference is the convenience of the new tablets - wireless and touch. I tend to disable the touch right away though, as I find it just gets in the way.

Another win for Intuos 3 then, sans being wireless. Hm...

Gmanx

I've tried newer Intuos tablets and have to say, the surface on my old faithful Intuos 3 has yet to be bettered. I'll be gutted when it finally conks out (hopefully not for a long, long time).

Nothing 'wrong' with newer tablets mind - but those of us with v3's have been spoiled.

CT007

Gmanx said:

I've tried newer Intuos tablets and have to say, the surface on my old faithful Intuos 3 has yet to be bettered. I'll be gutted when it finally conks out (hopefully not for a long, long time).

Nothing 'wrong' with newer tablets mind - but those of us with v3's have been spoiled.

"spoiled", hm. Not sure I agree with that line of thinking =p I mean, we're paying the same price for current gen, right? Should be just as good, or better..
So, if you could get a brand new tablet, any model of the same size, would you get another Intuos 3..? 

Fuiosg

I'm surprised wacom hasn't come up with texture layers or something to alter the surface you work on, they seem to be allergic to innovating these days.

In any case, the newer small tablets are basically the same size as the old intuos 3 right? They're both ~6 x 8 drawing area? The intuos 3 (medium) just takes up more desk space it seems.

CT007

Yep, new Intuos Art medium is 5.3" x 8.5", $199, but I dont know if I can get a thicker pen for it, or if another Intuos 3 would be best..

Target_Renegade

Was thinking of upgrading from my Intuos 3, nothing is wrong with it apart from sometimes the drivers seem to get corrupted and there's an infinite connection / disconnection loop that is a real pain. Might be the cable, but thinking of getting a new one because it pisses me off. Had it for 9 years mind.

Two Listen

I just upgraded from my Intuos 3 to an Intuos Pro (which I understand are basically the 5's) medium.  Reasons for my upgrade were mostly desk space/convenience - I had an old Intuos 3 large which was a beast that didn't completely fit in front of my monitor on my desk, and a lot of that space was wasted (needing to disable the bottom couple inches of the active area to match modern aspect ratios and such).  I needed something a bit smaller and the wireless feature was a draw.

I haven't used the new tablet much yet but I can tell that the nibs will definitely wear down much faster than they did on the 3.  I think I probably preferred the surface on the 3 as well, but I think I'll wind up working more efficiently with the Pro due to the size and the button layout, which is growing on me.

And I could be mistaken about this, but I don't believe there's any unique tech to the nibs or anything.  Looking at it I'm pretty sure I could even use the leftover Intuos 3 nibs I've got with the Intuos Pro pen...

My biggest hesitation with upgrading was reading about the instability/poor qualify of the USB connection on the tablet itself.  Had read about port breaking and such.  I'm not noticing any problems with mine yet, seems fine, but I'm usually pretty careful with my things.

thomasp

yes, you can use the same nibs across all of the intuos pens.

as for the usb port - careful with that, it's in plain sight on the 5 medium where the arms tend to move around a lot and the connection feels a little wobbly on both of mine out of the box. i don't understand that choice of placement at all when they had it out of the way in the upper corner on 1 to 3 series. you'd think they could place the usb plug somewhere on the underside in a recess and provide a cable tunnel or two to angle it the way you want it, should be pretty secure. like they had it on the old serial ones - if memory serves. or at least use the larger, more secure usb plug, not this flimsy little design.

CT007

Alright, ordered an Intuos 3 6x11" ($75) + Plus Ergo Grip, and I'm gonna make it fit, damnit! =p

beefaroni

Gmanx said:

I've tried newer Intuos tablets and have to say, the surface on my old faithful Intuos 3 has yet to be bettered. I'll be gutted when it finally conks out (hopefully not for a long, long time).

Nothing 'wrong' with newer tablets mind - but those of us with v3's have been spoiled.

Yep. I've been cranking away with my Intous 3 forever now. I've used the 5 and the current model and I love the surface on the 3 with a felt nib. 

Ruz

those felt nibs are awesome, but they wear down fast - re nibs, i think there is some slight variation. i used the nibs i bought
for my bamboo on my intuos 3 and at first it was a bit flakey, but seems fine now

beefaroni

I want to say there are two versions, soft felt (grey), and hard felt (black). The hard felt ones last quite a bit longer than the regular.

thomasp

hard felt? would that be the black one with a white tip? for me nothing beats the spring loaded nib. like the old dedicated stroke pen they used to sell - but you get to keep the side buttons.

beefaroni

Hmm, looking on the store I can't seem to find them . I wonder if they were discontinued. It looks like the hard felt is grey, although I don't think that's right. 

I haven't tried the spring-loaded ones yet. I wonder how they would be for modelling. I really enjoy the felt as they give a bit of resistance to the stroke and for me seem to have a bit more control overall.

Add3r

Spring loaded nibs on my 4 is the best.  Cannot beat the spring loaded.  As for the difference between the 4 and 3, basically all aesthetic and side buttons/scroll pad.  My girlfriend has the 2 and I have the 4, and in all honesty, there is not any difference in actual use when it comes down to it.  She just picked up an a companion 2 on the other hand..... needless to say, I am jealous.  Its quite a step forward for Wacom, haven't found a single thing we dont like about it yet, it just keeps impressing.  

CT007

CONFIRMED! - Ergo Plus Grip does fit the Intuos 3 pen! (I X-Acto'd a tiny chunk of the grip, at the front end of the button hole.)


Apologies for $20 camera phone pic quality ,_,

pior

While you are at it I'd also recommend you to give the opposite solution a try - that is to say removing the default round grip ... and even removing the rocker button(s) if your tablet usage doesn't require them. For a few people it feels better than the default setup, as it makes the stylus feel more like a pencil and also removes the need to avoid pressing the buttons. Definitely not for everyone, but worth a try.

CT007

pior said:

While you are at it I'd also recommend you to give the opposite solution a try - that is to say removing the default round grip ... and even removing the rocker button(s) if your tablet usage doesn't require them. For a few people it feels better than the default setup, as it makes the stylus feel more like a pencil and also removes the need to avoid pressing the buttons. Definitely not for everyone, but worth a try.

The buttons are too small IMO. I put some rubber putty on them last time, to make them bigger. I would actually like a grip even fatter than this Ergo thang. So like, a giant pencil =p

beefaroni

pior said:

that is to say removing the default round grip

Alternatively you can buy one of these. I've been using mine for a few years now and love how it feels.
https://www.wacom.com/en-us/store/pens/classic-pen