Anyone know anything about these tablets?
Looking for a cheap tablet to use at home/travel.
I've looked at a variety of the budget options (non-Wacom) and this one looks decent. The reviews are positive around the web, but sporadic. Thoughts?
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Ugee-Graphics-Tablet-Drawing-Inches/dp/B00J2SEM1Y"]Amazon.com: Ugee EX07 USB Graphics Tablet for Drawing 8 x 5 Inches (Black): Computers & Accessories[/ame]
I've looked at a variety of the budget options (non-Wacom) and this one looks decent. The reviews are positive around the web, but sporadic. Thoughts?
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Ugee-Graphics-Tablet-Drawing-Inches/dp/B00J2SEM1Y"]Amazon.com: Ugee EX07 USB Graphics Tablet for Drawing 8 x 5 Inches (Black): Computers & Accessories[/ame]
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However, if you do need to go cheap... Wolthera is right on the money as far as UC-Logic digitizers. UC-Logic is one of the cheaper taiwanese components thats vying for Wacom's market. N-Trig is another one (Israeli) but they were acquired by Microsoft and seem to be focused only on the Surface series of tablet PCs.
While I do not know if Ugee uses UC-Logic, I know the current Huions and Monoprice tablets do and I would generally recommend a Monoprice tablet if you go the non wacom route. Better yet, just buy an older intuos used... The intuos 3 lineup still kicks butt and I personally still use one due to the design/comfort/build quality of the tablet.
The Ugee has a drawing area of 8x5 inches, the Wacom you suggested is 6x3.7 inches. Also, the Wacom has about half the resolution and half the pressure sensitivity. That's why I asked about the Ugee for the price.
I'm actually not really impressed by the cheap Wacoms though. I had one and it had a lot of issues. My Intuos Pro was much better (obviously for the price), but I'm looking for something relatively cheap that I can take with me and not worry about.
I looked at the Monoprice tablets but there was a lot of talk about them not working with the latest Adobe products fully.
The pen that comes with my Huion feels pretty springy, rather than what you'd feel planting a pencil down on paper and pressing harder to get darker values, nor is the light to medium pressure response as smooth as i'd like. The (mother-bleeping) button on the pen sticks out so much I can't rest my thumb on it and I must re-adjust my grip to press the buttons most of the time, then re-adjust back to draw again. Not always, but its so bad i just shake my head and wonder if they are trying to go easy on Wacom by inhibiting sales because its such a simple fix...
I have heard that huion is "of" the same company that makes some other brands, like maybe Ugee, Monoprince and/or Huion.
This all said, i would not shy away from trying a non-Wacom tablet and utilize one of the few good aspects of this competitive system we have by helping potentially great product find its way into the limelight.
IMO non-Wacom means a better pressure curve out of the box, and Wacom means better tracking but a generally worse pressure curve, along with usually slightly better build quality.
Thats interesting...
I have actually never had the issue you talked about regarding the uptime. I have a cintiq and intuos 3 with a 3 monitor setup (including cintiq) and never had issues. Also never shut the PC down (sleep only).
The drivers are probably a hit or a miss for some users.
Regarding the pressure curve, Wacom tablets (pro version) usually come with a nib with a spring attached, which gets you close to the same curve as the non wacoms (just in case people dont know about it). TBH I really hate the soft springy feel which feels more at home with 2d illustration work than general purpose use.
Never had a single issue with my intuos 4. Still have the same nib too, which is pretty strange since i've heard they're the first thing to go. Worth every penny as far as i'm concerned. I've used some dodgy cheap tablets in the past, anything that requires a battery in the pen should be ignored (in my opinion/experience).
If you uninstall your Wacom drivers and remove the wintab.dll file correctly it can be a pretty smooth transition. Works well in all of my software though if you have a usb mouse plugged in at the same time there are some small quirks that can happen, like you might need to open a program with your mouse to get pressure sensitivity with a pen. But I'm using an older driver too (since it works well enough for me.)
On the bright side, I've never had the driver randomly give me problems later that would require me to reinstall the driver which was a common issue that plagued me and a few friends for a long time when I used my Bamboo tablet. Still happens to my friend on his Intuos 4.
It seems like more newer software is actually working to ensure comparability with the non-wacom tablets more since they are being used by a larger amount of people.
Also for my Huion tablet, while the pen needs to be recharged, I'm on about my 4th month with it I think and haven't had to do a second recharge yet. Tablet was only about $80 and has an sd card reader with a small SD card in it. So I like storing random sketches and stuff on the tablet itself.