A dead Wacom tablet and a valuable lesson

[carloswebcomic]

So my Wacom Bamboo tablet decided that it didn't want to live anymore and committed ritual suicide. The bastard.
To make matters worse, I don't have the disposable cash to buy a new one.

Knowing that this moment would arrive some day, I kept my old XP-Pen 8060B tablet I bought a few years ago stashed in my closet.
So I brought it out and started to use it.
Now I remember why I replaced it with a Wacom.

To start off with, the pen needs a battery to operate, so compared to the Wacom, it feels very heavy.
The drivers are another issue. They are atrocious. The last update was in 2013 and the control for the pressure sensitivity doesn't work, you can't choose which monitor to use (if you have multiple monitors like me), the screen area ratio is messed up, so what you draw on the tablet does not translate very well on screen and the software installation doesn't even give you an accessible way to uninstall it from the control panel.

So, yeah. There's a reason why Wacom is king.
If only they didn't charge an arm and a leg.

Pictured above: The anti-Christ of tablets.

[AnnaLandin]

I feel your pain! My very first tablet was by a company so minor I don't even think they put the logo on the tablet - probably because there wasn't space for it; it was the size of a stamp and while the pen wasn't battery-powered, it was no better than a blunt stick. It felt very much like chipping away at a plastic block with a chisel.

As for getting another Wacom-tablet... Buying a new one is expensive, yeah, but you could always look around to buy one used?

[carloswebcomic]

I've been looking around and there aren't many I could find. Funnily enough, I find plenty of used one which are the same price as brand new ones.
I think most people just keep theirs till they die.

[AnnaLandin]

I know I am! My Cintiq 21 UX turns 12 years old this year, and it's still going strong. You'll have to pry its cold, glassy corpse from my hands when it finally does die.

[J.Lovelace]

Mine's Pentagram Thin Type (yeah I am summoning Satan to draw)
It has a battery powered pen too. I didn't use any other tablet before so I can't tell how good Pentagram is.
But one thing is for sure - it suffered a lot of falls and bumps, pulled cords and the pen had a relationship with the cold solid ground enough to fall apart a few times, but somehow it still works more or less.
crossed fingers not to jinx it

[Mharz]

I used to have a Genius pen tablet. It lasted for a good couple of years and it was bearable even though the pen also requires the battery. The thing is though is the wires inside the cord somehow got broken and it stopped functioning anymore. Now I've been using my good ol' Wacom Bamboo (which I got at an estimation of $100-$120) for years now. Though it's having some minor issues but it's bearable to use and hopefully it'll stay for a long time.

[RewindLabs]

.... umm.. what is the valuable lesson here? Couldnt find it..

[cylmill]

I bought tablet from Xp-pen last year,the silly thing lasted for only six months.

[carloswebcomic]

.... umm.. what is the valuable lesson here? Couldnt find it..

Slaps the back of the head
DON'T BUY CHEAP TABLETS!

I bought tablet from Xp-pen last year,the silly thing lasted for only six months.

It did you a favour.

[Gaspode12]

Eurgh. .. Yeah my first tablet was super chappy. Think the pen might actually have been attached to a cable and the whole thing was about the size of a letter. It was horrible! Praise be to wacom!

[SpavVy]

A couple years ago I bought my Wacom Bamboo Splash tablet for about 38 bucks on Amazon (brand new too) and I see a few cheap ones on Ebay too but a lot of them seem to be used and bids :/

[zetina]

I used to have a Genius pen tablet. It lasted for a good couple of years and it was bearable even though the pen also requires the battery.

whenever I say I use a Genius pen ppl go "???" so it's magical to see someone else did lmao

I still use mine. I have no idea whether it's crappy or not? It's literally still going on its 7th year. I'm always curious about how them expensive ones work but the only ones I've gotten to try were smaller than mine so I just end up feeling frustrated with controlling them, haha! BUT YEA THE BIG WACOMs ARE EVEN PRICIER AREN'T THEY
//i pray mine lasts another 7 while i still don't know how badly i actually have it//

[APM]

At the moment I'm using a Trust Design tablet FLEX. It was the cheaper tablet I've found to buy one year ago (Wacom is too expensive, it's like buying 3 "Trust tablets" for 1 simple and small Wacom >.<). It need batteries to work, is small but actually works very well. (Or maybe I don't know but I'm actually suffering to draw. Wacom is as good as they say? Maybe I have found a tablet with a similar quality?)

Here's an image of it

[Kamikaze]

Oh noooo! I feel your pain!
I while ago my husband broke his old wacom so I had to hand mine over to him (as he was working on a deadline and needed it more than me). I ended up replacing my big wide space with a tiny little thing that had less surface area than a flash card. It bummed me out hardcore. Thankfully my hubby got me a new tablet that christmas! Much wider surface area and works like a dream~!

[KreativeConfusion]

I've always had a wacom...my first was a used one I got from a friend that bought it from best buy used, then when i got my new one, I sent it to a friend in art school. I swear wacom's are built to last as long as you're not too rough with them.

I have heard that Yiynova's are good though? I also heard Ugee too? I don't know much about the brands but people seem to like them enough. Granted were Cintiqs so who knows what basic tablets are like.

[Mharz]

@zetina I think there are still some stores here that sells Genius tablets much cheaper than the cheapest wacom.

@apm we have something similar to this here but it's a different brand.

[gremriel]

I have a Yiynova MVP22U+RH and it is very good. It has it quirks and the drivers are a nightmare (the one provided and the one I downloaded from their site refused to work, no matter what I did. Had to find a beta version on some 3rd party site to get it to work)

Works flawlessly with Clip Studio Paint, but has issues with Photoshop and SAI.

I don't regret getting it instead of a Wacom.

[cylmill]

I guess it did...Thank you for waking me up..

[carloswebcomic]

whenever I say I use a Genius pen ppl go "???" so it's magical to see someone else did

I always heard the Genius was the go-to brand for Wacom alternatives. I've never been able to find one in the wild in Sydney, only online.

[zetina]

I didn't know I actually own something decent O: