Customer Reviews

Genius MousePen i608 Graphics Tablet (Silver)

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this to replace an old Intuos 2 pad that finally died. Price was my main consideration, and in that regard, this is a steal. The least expensive Wacom 8x6 pad is $200. You might find it for $180 if you shop, but it's still over twice as much.

The main question is how does this compare to the Wacom Bamboo, the least expensive equivalent? The most important consideration is accuracy, and surprisingly, it's an (almost) even contest. With over 1000 levels of pressure sensitivity, it's more than good enough for photo editing, which is my main use. The pen nibs are not quite as smooth to use but work well enough. Construction quality is not the same. The pad, itself seems more cheaply made, and the mouse is flimsy. The Wacom Bamboo, doesn't even need a mouse anymore, you can use finger gestures, which are a definite improvement. The Genius pen uses a battery, the Wacom doesn't need one. That's not a big deal for me, but worth noting.

For the extra money the Wacom Bamboo comes with full working copies of Corel Painter and Photoshop Elements. The Genius MousePen only has time limited demos. Elements is a version old but still an excellent program. There's also a set of Photoshop filters that are of good quality. If you don't have those programs, especially Elements, the Wacom becomes a bargain. I do, so didn't want to pay extra for duplicates.

The pad works with Macs, but doesn't have all the functionality that it does with Windows. Boo. You can automatically send handwritten notes to Outlook in Windows but not Mail with Macs. On the plus side there are two dozen customizable keys around the edges of the tablet compared to 4 on the Bamboo. That's a definite plus.

If you already own your graphics software, this is a bargain. If you are also looking for painting or photo editing software, consider the Wacom tablets.

I'll start out by saying that I relatively high expectations for this product when I purchased it, and I have not been let down. This is the only tablet I've owned, and the only one I've used for an extended period of time, and for my needs it works great. The workspace seems to be the perfect size, and has blank space all around it. I thought the blank space would be an issue, but it's really important for comfortability. The high LPI picks up deft movements quite well, the pressure sensor is wonderful, and the pen feels quite comfortable in my hand. The mouse is decent, but I prefer using the mouse I was using before (and still can with no hassle.) The mouse and pen do feel a little flimsy, I'll admit, but not so much that it would cause a problem.

I have 4 issues with this tablet - no eraser end of the pen, the pen and mouse require batteries, the shortcuts on the pad don't open programs correctly (might be my fault) and there is no tilt control on the pen. However, I can grab some rechargeable AAA batteries, select the eraser tool in the program itself, and launch programs the old fashioned way. The lack of tilt is the only key aspect for me.

Overall, I would highly recommend this tablet for newcomers to digital art, even just for touching up photographs in Photoshop. I don't believe I have the expertise to recommend it to a professional, but I don't see anything barring it's use in a professional application. For the money, I believe you get the best bang for your buck here.

I've been shopping for a tablet for a while now. For my first tablet I wanted something that had a big enough work space and wouldn't leave my pockets dry. This tablet fit both. Though I was worried about it not working with my Windows 7 since people reported problems, but that may be because they didn't download the Windows 7 version from Genius's website before they pluged it in. It works great with my Windows 7! I also was worried that it wouldn't work with Gimp (a free program that is similar to photoshop) but it works great with that too!!!! I love this tablet!

Setup on my windows 7 laptop was very messy, hard to find the right drivers online, the ones that came with the installation CD caused the system to crash. The construction appeared cheap, and the stylus fell apart after some use. Overall I avoided using the product because both the mouse and the stylus were not that precise in moving the pointer on the screen. The price was good, and I have little to compare it to, so it may still be worthwhile for folks on a very tight budget. I returned mine.

I've owned past designs by Genius, and they haven't let me down yet. This tablet is no exception. I basically paid over $10 LESS for a better, more improved product than its predecessor. I originally used a tablet that still exceeded my expectations for such a low price, but it had a few outward design flaws, though it worked perfectly fine. This model improves on any problems I had with the last, and I couldn't be happier (unless there was a screen included or something... I won't hold my breath, haha).

I've used Wacom a lot in the past, and I do admit, if you're not very computer savvy you might wind up having a problem here and there if owning a Windows 7. I have had no such problems as of yet, but that hasn't stopped the complaints of others.

On a side note, people usually complain about the fact that the pen needs a battery to have it working. I might have seen this as a hassle, but the battery it came with outlasted the tablet (it worked perfectly for over 3 years). Also, it actually provides good weight to the pen as well; it gives it that certain feeling that makes you think you're holding a real a pen or mechanical pencil.

The only thing I have left to say is: If you plan on buying this to replace a $1000+ Wacom, DON'T expect it to be on par with quality. I can say for certain that this just about exceeds a $100 Wacom Bamboo, especially when it comes down to pressure sensitivity, but that's it.

This tablet is interesting. It's not that it's lacking in features, but it just takes some getting used to. I am used to a trackpad (like on a laptop). No matter where you PLACE your finger, the cursor on the screen will not move until you start MOVING your finger. Well, on this pad - where you place the pen on the tablet is where the cursor will go. So if I touch the top right corner of the tablet - the cursor jumps to the top right. Then when I go to the bottom left, the cursor jumps to the bottom left. ALSO, one wierd thing is that the pen does not actually have to be touching the tablet - a good 2 inches of hover will still get the cursor on the screen moving.

It has customizable buttons all along the sides of the tablet - however I cannot customize them to do what I want them to do. There is only a list of commands to choose from, and for me they are all worthless. It would be hard even if I could customize them however I want, because there are SO MANY that you could easily forget which buttons do what, as they are not labeled at all.

Like I said earlier, these aren't bad observations, they just take some getting used to. And make sure you read the other reviews on this product - this does not come with drawing software. And this product DOES work with a Mac, in case you were wondering!

ok this was my first tablet, it's pretty good
when i first got it, didn't take me too long to get used to it
and its perfect for those who are just getting into digital art.
What kinda bothered me alittle was that when you wrote on the tablet
with the pen, it was alittle loud in my opinion
but besides that it was good.
But the real downside is that the pen broke twice,
but i was able to fix it but it broke a third time
and i cant get it to work, the pen is easy to break
but the nibs that came with it don't wear down as easy
as other people say.
Besides that, it's a good starter tablet
i plan on buying a replacement pen soon
because the tablet is still in good condition
but for future records i think i'll buy a wacom tablet instead

This tablet is something that i didnt have great expectations for. Once I opened it, the first thing i did was check the mouse and pen to see if the other reviews were accurate about their description. They were right, the pen feels a bit on the cheap side and the mouse i didnt even bother with because the look just threw me off. The pen and the mouse need AAA batteries but that wasnt a problem since the box already had 3 batteries packed inside. The pen has these 2 buttons on the rubber grip that are poorly calibrated meaning it isnt always detected when u push it.

Now to get to the important part, which is, the tablet! The tablet looks better in person than in the picture. It has 29 buttons on the side that can be customized to do anything that you want them to do. 13 of the buttons are already preset to things like save, print, copy, etc. but you can change them if you please. It does get kind of hard to remember what you programmed them to do because they dont have any way to mark it. The software part gets kind of difficult. You have to go to their website and find your product to get the right software because the ones on the Driver cd that it comes with has only old drivers without any programs that help customize the buttons and pressure. The pressure is another thing. It is very accurate and slick. When u push harder on the pad, your line gets thicker but once again, you need the right software. Once again this is a great product and the price makes it even better!!! A+

Pros:
Very affordable price
Plentiful hot keys
Active area is spacious
Pen Storage

Cons:
Bundled Mouse looks very cheap

I am an artist and use this tablet for creating art with a program called "Artrage" so it is used alot/daily for hours. This is my first tablet and I have had it for about 6 mo. now and really love it.

I don't find the pen at all odd to hold as compared to real tools for art. The tablet installled on windows xp and windows 7 quickly and no problems.

I am not expereinced with tablets so I deducted when my pen was skipping across the screen and writing dotted lines instead of smooth and changing the batteries didn't work to fix this I then changed the tip and it was back to writing solid lines and very smooth. The pen tip lasted for about 5 months before I had to change it and again I use it alot.

I have found the tablet is very sensitive to dust so if you are writing and all of a sudden the tip of the pen stops or feels like it is rolling through sand ( hard to explain, but I have seen some neg. reviews making reference to this feeling and thought I would address it) it is more than likely dust on the tablet. Seems just even a small little fuzzy will do this.....for those of you who have ever roller skated or skateboarded it is like going along smoothly and one of those little pebbles gets the way and your wheels hit it and skid or stop tossing you on your can :) So wipe it often as you are working.

The batteries last a good amount of time also.

Now to the very small neg. of this tablet. I would advice you to find another place to store your pen. The place that is at the top of the tablet itself, like a notched out storage space, is very tight and it seems you have to be very careful when pulling it out as it is so tight it is hard to get out without really having to tug on it.....so much for me that my pen came apart pulling it out once and would not stay back together without tape....still worked fine, but with tape....something must have broke from trying to wiggle it out. I called the customer support and sent a couple of pictures of the pen and where it would not hold together and they were very quick to send another. So just be warned about pen storage.

When I have worn this tablet out I will have no reservations about purchasing another.