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WACOM Graphire2 : Pros & Cons
The Good Stuff
The main reason to buy a graphics tablet is, of course, the pen. Like all of the WACOM tablets, the Graphire2 pen is accurate to within +/- 0.01in, allowing for very precise movements and detailed drawing. In addition, the Graphire2 gives you 512 levels of pressure sensetivity for smooth drawing, coloring, blending and shading. In addition, the pen's ereaser tip (so why don't they call it a pencil?) allows youto easily correct mistakes.Small enough to fit on any desk, the Graphire2 is no bigger than your average mousepad, and has a built-in (removable) pen stand, the pen itself, and a 3 button mouse with scrolling wheel, which works on the tablet. This si very handy, if you're lmited on desk space, or just don't want to be reaching across your tablet to get to the mouse, or vise versa. You can also use the pen to navigate your way around your operating system, but performing these standard movements is really better suited to the mouse. -- Leave the pen for what it's made for; drawing.
The tablet and its accessories are very durable. I've lost count of the number of times I've accidentally sen the pen for my old tablet flying across the room, knocked the mouse off the desk, or dropped something on the tablet itself. It's rugged, and really holds up, though, like any piece of electronic equipment, really should be treated with more love and affection than I showed it.
Price -- Graphics tablets have a tendancy to get very expensive very quickly. The Graphire2 is a reliable tablet from the best brand on the tablet market, at under $100.
Replacement parts for the Graphire2 are relatively expensive. The two most common ones, the transparent overlay and the pen nibs, are both available for under $10, and the tablet comes with three additional nibs. The Graphire2 also comes with a 1 year warrenty.
The Bad (Hey, nothing's perfect!)
The biggest downfall of this tablet is its small active area. 4x5 inches, while it does give you enough room to work, may leave you feeling a little cramped and crowded, particularly when using the mouse.
Speaking of the mouse, the Graphire2 mouse is very light-weight and feels cheaply made, despite its stamina. The plastic feet on the bottomof mine came off within a few months of use, and while this didn't affect the performance of the mouse any, it made it feel a little less smooth when moving it across the tablet.
The tablet comes with a transparent overlay to protect the tablet and to allow you to place drawings of photographs under it for tracing, however, due to the tablet's small size, this isn't very practicle, because your pen movements have to be scaled proportionally.
Up Next, the final notes and conclusion...
Author: Kelli
Last edited on: 18th Jan, 7:13 pm
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