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In all fairness to Wacom, the Inkling does do what it is advertised to do. It is a "tool for capturing ideas and concepts for later refinement on your computer using Wacom Intuos pen tablets." I just didn't expect that the line art would need as much "refining" as it does.
I have drawn over 40 sketches with the Inkling and I've found that it works at an acceptable level of accuracy when I draw relatively close to the receiver (a couple inches below it). In fact, a few drawings have been remarkably accurate--but many have been way off, especially when I draw near the lower portions of a letter size sheet. If you watch the video you can see this.
The pen is wider than a normal pen or pencil. The lower grip area is almost identical to my Cintiq pen, but the weight and balance is different and it will take me a while to get used to it. Also, I normally sketch on paper with a pencil or sometimes a marker, so sketching with a ball-point pen is a big change for me.
The Sketch Manager software works well on my Windows 7 (64-bit) computer and I can easily export images to Photoshop and Illustrator. However, when I export layered images to SketchBook Pro things looked terrible--the layers don't line up. It is possible to use the Inkling Sketch Manager software to first save your image and then open it directly in SketchBook Pro rather than "exporting" it. However, when you use this approach all of the layers are flattened even if you save it as a tiff file. Inkling images without layers open fine in Sketchbook Pro.
As for pressure sensitivity--I've done several tests on this by drawing rows of parallel lines with various pen pressures. I've found that there is only a slight difference in the darkness or the thickness of the line between drawing very light and pressing quite hard.
From the very beginning I have been extremely careful about making sure that nothing was blocking the pathway between the pen and the receiver. I feel confident that the inaccuracies I am experiencing are not due to a physical obstruction between the receiver and pen.
An unexpected feature is when the Inkling is connected to the computer it is able to control the cursor on the computer. This feature is included so that you can adjust the "Click Threshold" of the pen. The "unadvertised" benefit of this is that the Inkling pen can be used in a way very similar to how Wacom's digital tablets work. I can use the Inkling to draw directly in Photoshop. Unfortunately, the pressure sensitivity of the pen doesn't seem to be active when it is being used inside a program. I was unable to control the thickness of my lines or the opacity of the stoke by applying more pressure when drawing directly in Photoshop or Sketchbook Pro. If the pressure sensitivity did work inside Photoshop--I would add an additional star to my review.
Bottom line: The accuracy of this pen ranges from fairly decent to poor depending on the distance from the receiver, the use of layers (layers seem to throw the accuracy off a bit), and if you add lines to previously drawn areas. I just wish it was more accurate.
Updated 11/28/2011: I have now drawn over 90 drawings with the Inkling. I've added a couple minutes to the original video. I've found that if I attach the receiver to the left side of the paper (I'm right handed) it works better than at the top because no area of the paper is farther than 6 or 7 inches away. Make sure you change the Inkling setting when you do this.
Updated 01/01/2012: I've added another few minutes to the original video that shows the accuracy of the Inkling when drawing some simple faces. In addition, I have included a short section on how the Inkling's drawings compare to drawings produced by the Livescribe pen. I purchased a Livescribe pen after my initial disappointment with the Inkling. For me, the Livescribe pen has been much more accurate, and since I don't use vectors, and I can live without layers in my line art, I actually prefer using the Livescribe pen (sorry Wacom).
Updated 2/17/2012: My Inkling stopped working properly at the beginning of January after it froze up and would not respond for several minutes. The next day it started working again, but I still contacted Wacom about it. They offered to replace it and I took them up on the offer. Unfortunately, the replacement works terribly. It is only accurate within a very small area near the receiver. Anything drawn farther than 3 or 4 inches from the receiver looks terrible with so many missing lines and misalignments that the drawings are almost unrecognizable. Fortunately, I still have my first one which I intend to keep. I had been wondering if perhaps the accuracy of the Inkling varied from pen to pen. That might explain the wide range of reviews here. Based on my experience the accuracy does vary and that is unfortunate.
Updated 4/17/2012: I never use this. It just isn't accurate enough for my type of drawing. I'm going to list it for sale on Amazon for half price ($99) and at least get some of my money back. There was one time in January where it froze for about 15 minutes but other than that it has worked the same as shown in my videos. The reason I'm selling it at half price is that the 2-year warranty only covers the initial buyer.
Update 4/18/2012: Sold!
