Tablet choice - Used Intuos 4 vs new Bamboo?

Hi all.
I’ve started to paint some more in Blender and Gimp, and want to try out using a tablet/pen solution and see how I like that.
So I dont want to spend very much on it, and have been looking at my options.

Option 1: A 2 year old Intuos 4 Small, thats in really good shape. Only been used a couple of times, otherwise it’s just been laying in a closet.

Option 2: A brand new Bamboo Pen and Touch small.

The Intuos is about 30$ more than the Bamboo, and there is no warranty on it anymore. But is those extra features worth the added risk of breakdown and higher price, or should I just stick with the basic Bamboo because I wont really notice the extra features because I’m all new to this?

Heya, I own 2 wacom cintiqs and 3 intuos tablets.

Here’s the thing, both sizes are not really ideal for painting in my opinion. Too small. I would recommend saving up to at least get a medium, or ideal around the 8 x 11 range. If you cant do that, I would recommend maybe looking into a larger monoprice tablet which will be cheaper. They use a UC-logic digitizer, and while I dont like recommending non wacom tablets… the size difference makes a difference.

Smaller tablets are fine for things like rotopainting in nuke, or general modeling with a pen (pens > mouse, better for hand), but once you start the texture painting process, or sculpting, the medium range will give you the right balance.

That said, if you want to stick with wacom, then either one is fine. Both are great tablets, you can still get work done with them, even painting. I would say go for the intuos though, if that was your only options. Far better built, better pen, and better drivers.

Hello, I have bought a Trust tablet 4 years ago and served me well.
http://www.techkeyla.com/unboxing-trust-widescreen-slim-tablet-tb-7300/

The working area is big like A4 sheet the strokes are superb even in Photoshop which lacks cursor smoothing cababilities. I have not a single complaint about the precision or pressure.

I had used Bamboo Wacom One (it was that silver edition back in 2007) and it was worthless for me, because it was unusable due to it’s size. I don’t know if small working area is a good thing, I have watched many youtube videos about people making awesome paints (better than mine) but for me personally feels like tying my hand with handcuff.

Also another important thing is that when Bamboo pen tip worn off I threw the device away because it was extraordinary to spend 40 euros to replace it, with 60 dollars I would get the whole (the same model) package again. Trust on the other hand, gives you 1 extra plastic pen tip, so you don’t have to throw the pen away if the tip wears off, very handy and clever design.

My first pen tip lasted about two years, now I use the second pen tip that seems to last forever (now the surface is smooth there’s no friction at all).

I have not used expensive Wacom tablets neither I used the new Bamboo touch tablets so I have not opinion about them so I can’t say for sure if they are good.

I had one of those Trust tablets a couple of years ago. I raged on it daily.

I myself have a new Bamboo Pen, I am not using it for anything more than a little painting and simple sculpting but for that it works very well. I have not tried any of these myself but if anyone has I’d be interested to hear what you thought about them. http://bosto-tablet.com/models/

I would advise to get at least medium size tablet for wider strokes and less wrist sprain (due to bigger movement area). Also I`ve had problems with non-wacom product drivers on Win7, actually the model is exactly the same that user const linked but under another manufacturer - Aiptek. If I remember correctly Trust (and a bunch of others too) sell rebranded Aiptek tablets.

EDIT: Wacom>all. Yes, they are overly expensive due to pretty much having a monopoly. But no one else brings the same quality and support as Wacom in the tablet world. Unless there are some new players in the market that I havent noticed yet. Havent read much lately about tablets.

That was dumb. For starters the tips are replaceable, secondly if you have a normal wacom tip get worn (at least without lasting a long time) then you were pressing down way too hard and didnt clean the surface of the tablet. Third, the tips are cheap to replace, and if you dont want to go through wacom you could get replacements from a number of sources. Heck there are even guides on how to make your own for practically nothing.

I have not used expensive Wacom tablets neither I used the new Bamboo touch tablets so I have not opinion about them so I can’t say for sure if they are good.

They are amazingly good, especially the intuos and cintiq lineup.


I would avoid the Bosto. It is the same as the Yiynova. Basically they are very cheap chinese made LCD panels with a UC logic digitizer behind them. While the UC logic digitizer isnt bad by itself, there are issues when you try to get them in cintiq form.

For starters you deal with a bad screen, vga connection, bad color range, slippery glass panel, and a very squishy feeling pen.

The UC Logic digitizer can be found in the Monoprice tablets as well, but there they are actually used ok for those on a budget. Any screen based tablet, I would have to always recommend people stick with wacom.

You can also find wacom digitizers in other screen based devices such as the microsoft surface pro and some fujitsu lifebooks (which go for cheap these days), but its better just to save up and get at least a 13hd, a used 12wsx or first generation 21ux.

Thanks a lot for your comments :slight_smile:

The seller of the Intuos needed an answer, and at that time SaintHavens first reply was the only thing in this thread. And based on the last two sentences from that post, and myself leaning towards it, I went ahead and bought the Intuos 4.
I believe that you guys is right about the size, but I need to try using a tablet, and figure out if it’s even something that I want to use. Then if i like using it, I should be able to sell the Intuos with minimal loss, as it’s already bought used. Also I will learn the workflow of the Intuos instead of the Bamboo, so I dont have to learn a new workflow if i upgrade later on :slight_smile:

I’m exited about my purchase, and I cant wait to get started with it :slight_smile: I guess it will take some time to get used to, and to set it up for both Blender and GIMP :slight_smile:

Any suggestions for nice setups?

You’ll be able to compensate for the size with zoom. The bigger sizes are a bit nicer because you can draw with the shoulder, which is useful for perspective drawing and other cases where you need long freehand lines, but for general texture painting/sculpting and things you’ll be tumbling around the view so much the physical size won’t be much of a barrier.

Setup is pretty trivial. Plug it in, install the driver, might need to reboot. GIMP you have to configure it in the preferences. Most applications it’ll just work though. Blender, MyPaint, Krita, Photoshop, etc.

I used to have a bamboo, i used it for everything, including 3D, then I upgraded to a 2nd gen intuos 2 A4. It was really cheap, but is tons better than the bamboo. No regrets.

Ok Blender is working great, I’m already pretty sure I’ll be able to make better results when I get used to working with it :slight_smile:
GIMP is giving me some problems though, like adjusting brush size via the Touch Ring is very laggy, but I’ll have to mess around with it some more.
Here is my first MASTERPIECE (:p) that I made yesterday.


This is the second time in my life that I work with a tablet, so I’m quite happy with it lol. Not that I could have done it with my mouse, but I’m glad that I’m getting a good feel pretty fast.

Thanks for your help guys :slight_smile: