Once again I purchase another Intuos to see what improvements have come along. Since I also help beta test software, I wanted to see the capabilities of this tablet.
This is the first Intuos I've owned that the first impression is not great
[EDIT - 9/1] Decided to update the review with a new edit. A Wacom rep contacted me over this review and has been working with me since to help keep fixing issues I've mentioned previously. I still get Tablet orientation problems when installing new drivers. I also have gotten a crash sometimes. If you get "TABLET NOT FOUND" There are two services that you need to restart in Windows.
TabletServiceWacom
and
WacomProfessionalTouchService
The HUD is no longer lagged and I have to wait a moment for the switching between wired and wireless mode. I had it crash in Sketchbook Pro 6.
Touch is much better in programs that have actually taken the time to utilize it vs the default. Painter 12 and Sketchbook Pro 6 work much better with it.
[EDIT - 6/19] There is a new driver on Wacom's site 6.3.2.w3 that will finally allow your Windows computer to sleep. I did run into the problem where the icons on my taskbar and start menu were broken but since fixed the icon cache.
[EDIT - 3/24] I finally got the wireless kit, which is an extra 40 dollar purchase, and there are some problems with it too. I placed it up top of my review since people haven't seen much on the wireless performance. When the wireless is installed on Windows 7 it causes the device to lose preferences and won't respond. If you go to hit your tablet preferences it will say "Driver not found" I had to go to the Services - TabletWacom and restart it. Then it launched with my preferences. It took more than 6 hours to charge. You'll often see the indicator saying it's at 97 percent. I finally got the "Charged" icon this morning. I plugged it in at 7pm last night and it's now 8:45 am the next day.
...Well I take that back a bit. Apparently when you plug the tablet back in to USB, it completely loses your preferences. What in the world? This is aggravating! It sometimes comes back, but it looks like I have to use my trackpad or mouse to get it to launch with the preferences again by opening the Wacom control Panel Preferences. It also looses my mapping orientation when navigating through touch. That completely defeats the purpose of this tablet being touch!
Some things I noticed. There seems to be less lag with the on screen popup and buttons in wireless mode than USB. Interesting... There is a problem with navigation in wireless mode it appears. When I have to full screen a document in programs, it stops navigating. I don't expect it to draw, but I see no reason why it should stop causing cursor movement. So sigh...frustration again.
So apparently when plugged in and I try to navigate through touch, this tablet looses my mapping preferences, so what am I supposed to do, flip the tablet around each time? This is ridiculous!
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I still have my
Wacom Intuos3 6 x 8-Inch Pen Tablet and you can also see that I own the
Wacom Intuos4 Large Pen Tablet. I have to say this is the first tablet that has me frustrated upon first impression. I love the Intuos line of tablets from Wacom, but I find while there are some improvements, there are some shortcomings that almost had me returning the tablet.
So many people want to know... "has the surface improved? Is it still a nib eating beast?"
Answer is yes. I actually find the surface worse than my intuos4. The intuos4 had a nice paper feel where it was a good comfortable sketchbook. This feels like you're using a quill pen on newsprint. It just feels a bit more irritating and rougher. I at first thought I was scratching the tablet when trying out the touch portion, but it was actually filing my fingernails. Here's a bigger thing to consider. This is a touch tablet, and if you scratch the surface be prepared to send the tablet back in for repair. There is no overlay sheet for this tablet though I have seen some surface protectors (not sure how it fares), the touch surface is integrated into the tablet. This is why you simply can't replace a scratched surface with an overlay sheet.
Have the USB ports improved. Answer, not certain. The medium tablet has one usb port, and when I used the cable with the tablet it still felt wiggly. So I do feel a bit of unease. I feel they took a step back with the ambidextrous setup the intuos4 had. I'm left handed, and their solution was "here's a clip on the side, make a loose loop" That just encourages a kink in the cable, and eventual break in the connection. I ended up just packing away the cable since it didn't seem to fit snug and replaced it with my
AmazonBasics USB 2.0 A-Male to Mini-B Cable (6 Feet / 1.8 Meters) Sorry, but Wacom needs to really make better cables.
Gone are the OLEDs for the express keys and due to your personal preference this may be a good or bad thing. I actually liked the previous design and had fun with the OLEDs. The layout of the express keys are an improvement. I can understand why people didn't like the previous setup, I just didn't have an issue with it. I liked the hard surface vs the gel/rubber. Rubber has a tendency to dry out and crack over time. I hope this doesn't happen because the appearance isn't so bad. It also seems to like to show more greasy/oil stains where smudges are easier to wipe off other kinds of surfaces like the previous intuos. There are LEDs on the surface of the tablet now to tell you where the active area is. I do agree that this is an improvement for users who kept butting their stylus into the corners of the tablet. I didn't have the problem because the proportions of the tablet were always a bit smaller when in proportion to my monitors.
While the express keys are an improvement in layout, the touch ring and center button takes a step back. This touch ring is hard to get to respond. It seems that it's too sensitive to me touching the ring when I am pressing down on the center button to cycle through the settings. It lags and I tested my intuos4 on the same computer and don't have this problem. Absolute frustration! This may have to do with what makes the tablet so frustrating.
The touch is hit and miss for the express keys. If you have it on, sometimes the express keys lag like crazy. I haven't experienced crashes, but I can certainly see the lag. So much for "EXPRESS" keys if it's this slow to respond. It can be downright intolerable. If you barely touch the surface of where the express keys are sometimes you get a response of an on screen display of which buttons you're pressing. I'd be fascinated if it weren't so laggy.
The touch part which is what this tablet is about, is not so great. While I concede to having to adjust a bit when you have touch and you're trying to draw the lag bothers me greatly. I've been able to however, see some interesting gestures in action. I've been able to get the rotate gesture to work on Photoshop CS4, CS5 and CS6 (beta), Corel Painter 12, Art Rage Studio Pro. I couldn't get it to work on Open Canvas 1.1, Easy Paint Tool Sai and didn't appear to work on Sketchbook Pro 2011. So just know touch gestures are not a complete replacement for express keys because of limitations on not only software that will recognize it but the gestures themselves. Just to be clear it seems you can navigate fine as a trackpad, but the gestures are a bit buggy.
There is also a bug, as I'm a Windows7 user where as long as the tablet is plugged in regardless of wireless or USB, it will mess up your power functions and keep your monitor on. - This bug has been fixed since the 6.3.2.w3 driver update released Jun 14
I just can't seem to love this tablet like I have with my previous intuos I have purchased over the years.
I usually pride myself as a Wacom Fangirl, but not this time :/ I can't totally dismiss the tablet because I can see how an intuos user from models 3 and below can see a lot more improvement, but that's for the drawing. It's the touch part that is really interfering with the "professional" experience as well as the bad reaction time for the express keys and touch ring.
I'm sorry, but anyone who thinks I should be giving a five star review for a tablet that lags where it's supposed to function reasonably is crazy.