Customer Reviews

Aiptek HyperPen 12000U Graphical Tablet

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

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!

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.

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!

I received the HyperPen 12000U as a Christmas present this year and was delighted. It comes with a 12x9 inch tablet, a pen, and a wireless mouse. Although, I recommend using another mouse because the one it comes with is not very comfortable. But the pen is great. You can use the pen as a mouse and is very comfy. The installation was simple and easy. Just plug the tablet in a USB port, install the software included and your ready to go.

The software it comes with, though, is not the best. If you're getting this tablet for drawing purposes you may want to invest in buying Photoshop 6.0 or higher. It comes with a program called Art Dabbler and in my opinion this program just doesn't cut it. It's just a little too complicated, not very user friendly. Although this program does offer a lot of the functions of Photoshop it's the matter of finding the tools that makes this program not worth it.

However the other programs it comes with are pretty interesting. The other programs are: Ulead Photo Express, Cadix signature verification software, Office ink, Photo Impact 5, and Free Notes. Ulead Photo Express is most like Photoshop 5. It offers a text insert, painting, and a few added effects to make your photos a little more fun. Free Notes allows you to send e-mail using your own handwriting. Nice if you don't know how to type.

The size of the tablet may seem a little large to some people, however I think it's great. It allows you to make large strokes and also offers a place to rest your hand. Just make sure you have a place to store it safely.

The only other thing I did not like about this product is that the end of the pen does not function as an eraser as the WACOM pens do. A little disappointing but I do not see this as being a major scar on the usefulness of the product.

All in all I think the HyperPen 12000U is worth buying.

The pen pressure feature works with Photoshop CS1 and earlier, but not CS2. Aiptek and Adobe point fingers at each other, so no-one is going to fix it. There havent been any driver updates for eons either. Also causes PC to spontaneously reboot from time to time. Waste of money. No wonder there are so many available 'refurbished' even from Aiptek's own web site. AVOID.

I bought this tablet with the intention of using it quite often and for the webcomic my friend and I have been working on for two years. I was told that it had drivers for Mac OSX operating system, so hey, for $150, which was not nearly as expensive as its WACOM counterpart, why not? I'm not terribly rich so saving money is always good.
Unfortunately, it was a bad decision.
The tablet came in good shape, everything worked fine. Except for the lack of drivers. After researching, I found that AIPTEK was owned by Trust, so I went to their site and lo and behold, there was a Mac OSX driver. I downloaded it but when I opened the Hyperpen application it told me that "This trial program has ended. Please contact the product distributor for a newer version." This is odd, considering under the driver information it said that it would never expire.
So my dad called AIPTEK and the man sent us another driver. It did the same thing. He called again, and again the man sent another driver. It did the same thing. So all in all it wasn't good.

PROS:
It was cheap, and when used on a PC, it works very well. A WACOM has better pressure sensitivity, however.
It was a good price, even without the driver.
CONS:
Was unable to be supplied with a proper driver for Mac OSX.
Doesn't seem to be correctly scaled to the desktop.
Cursor jiggles a lot, and sometimes plugging in the tablet causes my computer to shut down. This is highly unusual for Kon-chan (my Mac laptop).
After attempting to draw a picture, and having the pen jump around and not make proper lines, I gave up. I spent 2 hours just trying to get the rough sketch down, something I can do within 10 minutes tops on my school's WACOM Cintiq.
Pen slightly uncomfortable.

All in all, I've decided to throw in the towel, after only three days of struggling with this tablet. It's aggravated me enough that I'm going to pay $100 more for a new WACOM 6x8 instead. It's a good tablet if you have a PC, that makes up for its lack of mac drivers, but its hell for an OSX user. WACOM, here I come.

This tablet brings to your graphics toolbox the advantage that only a jumpy, intermittent and unpredictable cursor can provide.

Once you bring bring this impressivley sized resource to bear on any one of your projects, ambitious or just doodling, you'll quickly be thinking to yourself "I sure hope I didnt buy this on eBay so I can get a refund without being stiffed on the overinflated shipping charges shysters who sell there, charge."

When asked, via email, the question "Hey what gives with the spastic cursor? How am I supposed to use this product of yours for anything other than another junk drawer asset?" they couldnt fail to respond fast enough.

Could it just be me and my system? Apparently not. Google: cursor problem "Aiptek HyperPen 12000U "
and see for yourself!

First of all, I bought this product with only moderate ambitions, realizing that for about the same cost, I could only get a 4X5 Wacom Grapphire III. So, I convinced myself that if the product even worked reasonably well, it would be worth it. The first one came but was damaged. The writing surface had holes all over it so you couldn't draw on it. There was no pressure sensitivity either, and I tried to trouble shoot for hours but nothing worked. I promptly returned it and had Amazon ship me a second one, confident that I had just run across one of the few lemons in the bunch... but I was wrong.

The second one came in the same condition: No pressure sensitivity, lots of shaky operation (the cursor will jump all over the screen for no reason at all), and it also had holes all over the drawing surface. This time, I was able to discern where the holes were coming from though... some moron is punching staples in the top of these boxes (for no reason at all) and ruining the tablet surface. It seems unlikely that these staple holes are what is keeping the pressure sensitivity from working, so I'm giving up. Can't afford a Wacom, but this piece of junk is costing me WAAAAAYYY more time than it's worth.

On the bright side, build quality seems solid. So as a 12X12 paper weight, this can fit the bill.

Your mouse will work better than this tablet. Don't buy it.

I own several tablets. 2 Wacoms and 2 Aipteks. The 12000u is a good tablet but wacoms have a more solid feel and more features. Overall a the 12000u is a good value. I did have trouble after a few months of use. My pointer would jump around and was unresponsive at times. Being a tech head, I opened the tablet to see if I could fix it. I turns out that the ribbon contacts that connect the sensor page to the circuit board were oxydized so I just used an eraser to cleaned it and reconnected it. Works fine now.

I bought this product thinking it was good value; amazing specs for a 5th of the price of its nearest competitors. Well, let me tell you, with Aiptek you get a hell of a lot less than you pay for.

It was dodgy right from the beginning: skipping, intermittent detection. These got worse the more I used it. Other problems arose: erratic cursor jittering as though the pen was switching in and out of relative working area modes; the buttons switched functionality occasionally; pressure sensitivity gave up. The thing was useless. I had it replaced. Little did I suspect that this was just the very beginning of my troubles. The replacement displayed its own personalised set of problems. As did the two iterations of pens after that.

Right now, I'm not sure what are hardware and what are software/driver problems. I suspect it is a hefty serving of both. The software manager they provide is utter crap - shoddy design in terms of usability, chock full of bugs. Also, because of the way they have integrated the drivers with the installation program, it's impossible to do it manually. Which means if Windows XP decides to install its own, incompatible, generic tablet drivers, there's nothing you can do about it!

And, as has been mentioned, the support team for Aiptek is useless. Aiptek America did't reply, Aiptek Germany wasted my time with idiotic "have you plugged it in?" questions then forwarded me to Aiptek Taiwan, to whom I had to explain everything again (several times), with whom there was a significant language barrier, who knew nothing more about their product than Aiptek Germany, and who finally stopped replying to me altogether.

Summary: Don't buy this product. It might work, in which case, good for you... but in my experience: I wasted £100 and a lot of time and effort.