Genius MousePen 8 x 6-Inch Graphic Tablet for Home and Office
by Genius
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List Price: Our Price: $59.95 You Save: $40.04 (40%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Buy Used: from $50.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Genius MousePen 8 x 6-Inch Graphic Tablet for Home and Office
Customer Review: Low cost alternative to Wacom
Summary: 3 Stars
I purchased this unit for two reasons. First, it's very affordable compared to the Wacom. Second, it has a mouse, which should help reduce the clutter on my desk. If you are a professional graphic artist who needs to turn out quality work, then this unit is not for you. This is more for the casual artist or someone who rarely uses a tablet, and quality is not an issue. Here are some reasons why:
1. The pressure sensitivity is inconsistent. One second you're drawing great lines with the pen, the next second, the lines will seem very light. So, you increase the pressure more an more, then suddenly you have a dark, fat line. This seems to be related to the angle of the tip. You need to keep it vertical to get the pressure sensitivity to work right. It's not as natural to draw that way.
2. Sometimes, the performance gets very sluggish after a while with Photoshop. When you first use it, the performance is fluid and smooth. After a few minutes of use, the cursor jumps or skips around. The lines are still drawn, but the responsiveness is poor. My PC has 4GB RAM, and the image size was small, so it can't be due to a lack of memory. I can't pinpoint the reason why it happens. It could be the driver, Vista 32, or another program I have open at the same time.
Here are some addional things you need to consider:
A. If you only use the tablet mouse, the driver will cause some software to crash (blue screen of death) You will need to keep the regular mouse.
B. The mouse is tiny, similar to a miniature notebook mouse. It's pretty much useless for everyday use. You also need to raise it fairly high above the tablet in order to stop the cursor movement. Much higher than a laser mouse. Invitation for wrist injury.
C. The USB cable is short, so you'll need to get a hub. If your PC has a port in the front you'll be OK.
Overall, it's not a bad deal if you're a casual user. I had an old Wacom, but I only used it a few times. Not worth spending a lot for such little use. Since I didn't want to spend a lot of money for something I rarely use, this was the next best thing. The mouse was a complete disappointment, and is useless. I can live with using the pen in the vertical, but the occasional jittery performance is frustrating.
Customer Review: What's up with this tablet, pen and mouse set?
Summary: 1 Stars
I consider myself computer savy, and installed as instructed. It said it was vista certified. First thing I noticed is when instructions said I would have icon in systems tray. Guess what no icon. 2nd no PenStudio Pro to install, so the instructions where wrong? 3rd no Pen commander, not even Pen Annotator: on disc but did not install automatically per instructions and Annotator insisted on Word being run as Administrator! And that was from the disc. According to the manual pen should act similar to mouse insofar as when you drag across surface it should move cursor also across surface. My pen doesn't. It just sits there until I depress lower 'button' on side of pen then it jumps irratically to almost anywhere it decides it wants to go. It is supposed to work like a mouse so I should not have even needed to depress the equivalent left button on mouse to move that's normally for drag and drop. Out of box I was very disappointed. Went to website and found driver for vista and downloaded but it only had the pen drivers not the table software. Free valuable software is a scam as the only software I got was trial software for photoshop CS3 and Corel Painter X. I just don't need any more bloatware that runs out in 30days. If they were not trial editions then it would have been a good deal. One good point is that the mouse works flawlessly but hey I had a great bluetooth to start with and I can't use it to do a signature. I am seriously thinking of sending it back; as for me so far this is a bunch of useless objects. Wouldn't work at all with word, couldn't get it to the bar to choose anything as it was too irratic to pinpoint anything to use or do anything with it. May try again in morning but it doesn't look good so far. What a shame I was looking forward to using this and was encouraged by the reviews here at the success of some folks. Batteries for mine were still wrapped and worked fine. There just has to be something out there that doesn't cost an arm and a leg but is nearly as good as the champs 'Wacom' at this size??? If not there certianly might be a market for it.Customer Review: Great tablet
Summary: 5 Stars
This was my first tablet and it far exceeded my expectations. I'm really happy with it, best purchase I've made in a long time. I think most has already been covered in other reviews.
The tablet and pen itself work superbly. I haven't tried the included tablet mouse, however it seems all but useless since a regular mouse still works normally while the tablet is connected.
I'm using Windows XP and use it primarily in Photoshop. In short, it works great. Works with everything else just like a mouse does, the pen pressure may not work in programs not designed to take advantage of that feature (such as mspaint). I've experienced no jerkiness at all. Make sure the battery is good, it doesn't hurt to try a new battery if you aren't sure.
If you've never used a tablet before(like I hadn't), the basics of it are that you tap the tablet once with the pen to activate it then you can hover over the pad to move the cursor. You only make contact for actions. Positioning the tablet itself is important so it feels natural.
Most important, as others mentioned the included disk is not very useful. This is the cause for the majority of the bad reviews and why some couldn't get it working I think. I installed the drivers off the included disk(don't worry about the drivers not being signed etc) then plugged in the tablet. This doesn't make it work tho. Immediately after it's plugged in, windows will say it found new hardware etc and ask if you want to look for/install new drivers/software. Let windows do its thing and after that it will work perfectly. You may or may not have to reboot.
If you are computer literate and know what drivers and such are, you should have no problem with getting it up and running in minutes. If you are not so handy with computers, just do what i did and it should work. If it doesn't work, it's not because the tablet itself doesn't...it's because something isn't installed properly.
no clue if this does or doesn't work on linux/osx, sounds like it should work in vista.
Customer Review: Not the Best, but still good
Summary: 4 Stars
Here are some things I'd like to say regarding...
It's compatibility with Vista: The tablet works with Vista, but take note that the programs in the CD do not ALL work with Vista. There's this program where you can write directly onto word documents. However, this does not work on Vista. So you're pretty much stuck with programs where it "freezes" the whole screen for you to write on.
Also, for some reason the handwriting recognition aspect of the tablet is a bit glitchy. When my friend plugs the tablet into her pc (Vista), the program appears at the left hand side of the screen. However for my Vista PC, the program NEVER appears.
The actual Hardware: I actually had to returned my first purchase for a replacement because the first one I got was highly defective. The mouse did not work, the CD was scratched, and eventually my tablet became a foreign device on my PC. Luckily, Amazon was a great sport when I asked for a replacement despite the fact that I've thrown the original box away already (I was hoping these problems will eventually fix themselves--bad decision).
By the way, if your tablet gets glitchy, sometimes reinstalling the driver can help.
Using it: It's fairly easy to use, and the short-cut "keys" on the tablet are pretty convenient sometimes. Especially since I like to use Photoshop a lot, I program the keys to summon up common demands like 'image size,' 'deselect,' etc.
The only thing I really have to complain about using it is the fact that if I'm sketching something, there's this annoying scratching noise. Also, sometimes the little narrow button on the pen can get annoying, but it's tolerable and it's something to get use to.
Overall, it's a pretty good deal compare to the bigger brands that offer a tablet this size at more than twice the price. Also, since it's my first tablet, I really don't mind the cons too much. But if you're looking for the best and are willing to pay more for it, then getting a Wacom is probably a better idea.
Customer Review: If you are not a world famous artist (which means every one on amazon pretty much) THIS IS FOR YOU!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
This product is perfect for any one that wants to draw or paint on the PC.
PROS:
Cheap - it was only 29.99 when I bought it.
Quality - Very high quality for the 30 bucks you lay down for it. I would think it is close to Manufactures cost since it is such high quality.
Color - Its a very good color aka does not clash with anything in your studio or room.
Slim - From the picture it looks like a very weird tablet, but it is extremely thin and not stupid looking!
Accurate - the POP (Points of Pressure) is very accurate and I would say I prefer to use then an actual paint brush.
Fast - I have this thing plugged into a keyboard (so its not even directly connected to pc, which usually makes things slow) but this is still fast! any lag you will have from this is your PC and it will be from the software! so just upgrade your pc and stop blaming this tablet!
Cons:
Pen - the pen has cheap buttons for clicking with, but for the 30 dollars you paid for quit your crying!
READ THIS IF YOU BOUGHT ONE!!!!
Setup: if you accidently plug in the tablet because of pure excitement and try to install the drivers it will not work!!! (if you did this, like i did lol then this is what you do)
Step 1: Go to your start menu and find the folder called "PEN TABLET" and click on it
Step 2: Click uninstall (make sure you have the tablet unplugged by now)
Step 3: Restart your computer
Step 4: Download the newest drivers from [...]
Step 5: Click Setup
Step 6: When it says plug it in, thats when you plug it then, then click next and click yes I want to restart. (Dont lallygag around, do this kind of fast, or windows will try to install there own drivers over it)
Step 7: You should jump for joy, it should be working!