Aiptek HyperPen 12000U Graphical Tablet

by Aiptek

Product Details

• Item Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00007FS1Y
• Item model number: HYPERPEN12000U
• Batteries: 1 AAA batteries required. (included)
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (34 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 9, 2002

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Aiptek's HyperPen 12000U gives you the control you need to quickly and easily edit your digital photos. It works great with any software available for your PC. Draw, paint, create artwork, sign your name, and annotate documents directly in Microsoft ® Office XP keeping it in handwriting or converting it to text. Whether it be graphic design, handwriting recognition, or simply photo editing, the HyperPen 12000 is an extraordinary value that is unmatched anywhere in the graphical tablet market. Product Features:

• Giant 12" x 9" Drawing Area: The Ideal Choice for Professional Computer Artists. The Large Drawing Area gives you more Freedom for your Project!
• HyperPen's Many Uses: Ideal for Document Annotation, Desktop Publishing, Internet Communication, Electronic Presentations, Adding Signatures, Photo Retouching, Creating Original Artwork, CAD/CAM... and much More!
• Cordless Stylus Included: Wireless Pressure Sensitive Stylus offers 512 Pressure Levels for Highly Accurate Rendering in Painting, Touch- Ups, or Writing!
• Cordless Mouse Included:Wireless Mouse to Handle Everyday Mouse Tasks such as Double-Clicking Icons, Selecting Menus, etc. with Ease!

Product Description

Aiptek Inc (HYPERPEN12000U) HyperPen 12000U

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Tablet, Cheap Price., May 12, 2003

By 

J. Decelles (North Chelmsford, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aiptek HyperPen 12000U Graphical Tablet (Personal Computers)

I have been going to school for Graphic Design and Fine Art for the last 3 years or so. I nearly have my bachelors and will soon be moving onto my masters of Graphic Design.

With this in mind its obvious that I have been looking into graphics tablets for quite a while. Wacom's Intuos 6x8 tablet is what I had been looking at, longingly for a few years. Unfortunately the price was too far outside what I could possibly afford (and still pay for school, car, bills, etc). I had used the less expensive "Graphire" 4x5 tablets from Wacom and I was not too impressed. The build quality was good but the size was too small to do anything detailed.

A friend who also does a lot of artwork on the computer turned me onto the Aiptek Hyperpen 12000U, which he had just bought for $ from CompUSA. A tablet of this size (9x12) for only $ definitely caught my attention, so when my birthday came around and my mom asked what I wanted I emailed her a link to this page here so she could buy it for me :).

The build quality of the Hyperpen is good. Its a solid unit over-all. The pen feels a little flimsy and the mouse is almost a negative buying point due to its odd and uncomfortable shape, but it is useable. Who buy a graphics tablet with the intention to use the mouse anyway? I have a very nice optical that I wouldn't give up even if the Hyperpens mouse were more comfortable to my hand.

I have been using it for a few weeks and I am impressed with the quality and value for the money. The pen is very accurate and the pressure sensitiveity works well with Adobe Photshop and Illustrator. The setup and control programs are both intuitive and easy to use.

I have used the Wacom Intuos 2 6x8 and this tablet and I can tell you that there is no noticeable difference between using the two except for the shape of the pen and the size of the tablets (the Hyperpen is 9x12). The Hyperpen has a slightly thicker pen because it needs a AAA battery (included) to work.

The only downside to the Hyperpen is that its mouse and pen need a AAA battery to work, but the need for a battery is a small trade off to saving $340.

-->Added 05/04/2007

I recently had to buy a new pen for my tablet, which is $10 from the Aiptek website (much cheaper than $60 for a Wacom stylus). I find the new pen to be a bit more sturdy than the pen that came with the tablet. I have had this tablet for about 4 years now, and it still works well. I had gotten to the point where my pen movements would get jerky, or suddenly the pen would jump to a somewhat random point on the screen. The new pen solved this issue, and in fact I beleve the newer pen is actually more accurate than my old pen ever was.

In fact, the whole tablet works even better than ever with the new pen and also the release of driver version 3.15 which is also available from the Aiptek website. Using driver ver. 3.15 and my newer pen, I have not had my pen jump unexpectedly a single time, and I use this tablet nearly every day (I work for a growing company in the Graphic Design/Creative dept.) The positioning of the pen and the cursor on the screen is very precise, and it detects even very slight movements.

I would, as I did before, highly recommend this tablet to anyone who either cannot afford a Wacom, or doesn't want to spend the money on one. For the money, this tablet is an incredible value. I only wish that it could detect pen tilt, but for about $300 less than a similar sized Wacom tablet, I don't feel that I am missing out much!

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars How to make piece with your Aiptek Graphics Tablet: It's the Drivers!!!, September 3, 2006

By 

J. D. Wayne "arctic_fox" (NJ, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aiptek HyperPen 12000U Graphical Tablet (Personal Computers)

First off, I do not recommend this tablet if your serious about graphic arts. However, it works well for light to medium use, doing picture retouching, and simple graphics. See the bottom of my review for other good/bad/ugly-ness.

OK, so, here is how I got the best possible performance out of my Aiptek 12000U:

1. Uninstall the Aiptek drivers, shut down the computer, unplug the tablet. (no, not a joke, just keep reading)

2. Start up the computer and install adesso's driver for their "12000" graphics tablet:
YES! Adesso, Aiptek, Trust, Medion and another company are all distributing the same graphics tablet, just rebranded! So far, Adesso seems to have the most recent driver developments (version 3.09 vs. aiptek's version 3.08), so I used Adesso's (right from their website).

3. After install, SHUT DOWN THE COMPUTER AGAIN. turn it back on, plug in the tablet, complete the install, and use.

Other Recommendations:

A) Make sure you have the newest pen model. Aiptek recently redesigned their pens, and the newer ones seem to work better. I'm still using the old pen, and its not bad, but the buttons are kind of...sucky.

B) DO NOT use the automatic pen offset settings. "Adjust" them. Also, reduce pressure percent to 3.

C) I have found that the "relative" tracking setting gives the best performance, with little to no jumping around or submarine-ing (the "disappear here, reappear there, trick") by the pointer.

D) TRY VERY HARD not to modify any of the other settings. I know, that's lame, but you already bought it, right? So make the best of it; leave the other settings alone. If you change any settings, RESTART your computer BEFORE using the tablet. Otherwise, things get wonky.

Pen pressures in Microsoft Paint do weird things. You get sort of springy-shaped lines. All you have to do is not press hard. Its not a pressure-sensitive program, so, don't bother applying pressure.

Adobe products slow the pen down slightly, but I find this useful... it helps keep me from accidentally drawing crazy stuff all over the screen.

This tablet is not as good as Wacom, but it costs... what, half as much? What do you expect? It's not for the heavy duty, "earn a living through graphic arts" crowd.

Follow my advice, then practice with it, and learn how to use it for what you need.
You can go very far with this tablet, and sometimes, the performance can even be surprisingly good.

One other negative: it needs a battery; I dunno about you all, but I'm sick of batteries.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Product, does all you need from a Wacom but Cheaper!, May 8, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Aiptek HyperPen 12000U Graphical Tablet (Personal Computers)

I got this Graphics tablet about a week ago for my birthday. I had been looking at Graphics tablets for a while since I am in school for Graphic Design, but the only real manufacturer of Professional Quality tablets out there until recently has been Wacom. If anyone is looking at this product then you have probably already checked out Wacom's products and noticed their extremely (almost ridiculously so) high prices...

The tablets are very comparable (except in price!):

Hyperpen:
Active Area: 9"x12"
Pressure Levels: 512
Resolution: 3048 lpi
Accuracy: .42 mm (.017 inches)

Intuos2:
Active Area: 9"x12"
Pressure Levels: 1024
Resolution: 2540 lpi
Accuracy: .25 mm (.01 inches)

From the specs I have listed above, which I got from the Aiptek and Wacom Product websites respectively you can see that both tablets are very similar. The Wacom has a slightly higher accuracy and more pressure levels, but the Hyperpen has a higher resolution. Having used both of these products (the Intuos2 at school) I can tell you that you won't notice a significant difference in the way they handle.

The Wacom does have on slight advantage (slight to me anyway) in that its pen and mouse do not need batteries. The Hyperpen's Pen and Mouse both need one AAA battery, which is included and that you are told in the manual will last approximately one year. The battery makes the pen for the Hyperpen a bit heavier than that of the Intuos, but I like that so it's not a concern for me though it might be for others out there. It is not terribly heavy, but it is a little bit heavier than the Wacom pens. The battery-less pen and mouse do not for me justify the ...difference in price.

...Also one thing to mention is that the mouse that comes with the Hyperpen 12000u is not very comfortable. I think they were going for some kind of ergonomic right/left hand design but it doesn't turn out too well. The mouse is useable, but I am not planning on throwing out my M$ Optical mouse any time soon. This is a minor bother to me because I did not buy the Hyperpen with intentions of using it for its mouseing qualities, and I don't think anyone here is looking at this product as a direct replacement for their mouse either, although the pen is quite comfortable to use to navigate your desktop once you get used to it.

All in all this product is superb. I have even convinced one of my instructors to by one after he used it for only 5 minutes!

This tablet beats any Wacom product into the ground. Don't get me wrong I am not saying Wacom makes inferior quality parts (they both feel about the same quality to me) its just that Aiptek really has the Price/Performance think going for them with the Hyperpen 12000U. It's an excellent product and a good price and I really cannot recommend it more!