Wacom Bamboo Fun Tablet
Review by Steve Skinner : Love it! Wish I had gotten it sooner.

I love everything about the Bamboo Fun! For my desktop it's far better than a mouse. I do web development, graphic design, and photography so for my type of work it's sort of a no-brainer. There's so much more control with photo and graphics work using a tablet than there ever could be with a mouse.

As I've used it more, I've gotten more used to the pen, which is probably the fastest way to work with your computer. When I first started, I used finger touch since it was something I was already familiar with from working with the touch pad on my laptop. That's what the tablet is like when used with your finger - a giant touch pad, but it's so much better because of the space you have to work with for motion. Plus, there are certain usability things that make using your computer and software so much easier - like finger gestures. You may have heard of mouse gestures, which are in some web browsers that have add-on software that allow you to swipe left and right to perform a back or next click in your browser. Well, with the Bamboo tablets, you can navigation backwards and forwards with a finger swipe left or right in any software on your computer. It's not just isolated to web browsing. This one thing makes a tablet really convenient for computer use.

The more I use it the more I find that certain types of activities are best done with the fingers and some are better with the pen. Surfing the web, for example, is definitely a finger touch activity. Photo manipulation or working with files in my web development apps is definitely a pen job. Every user could have their own style of using a tablet but that's what great about it.

There is definitely a learning curve with this thing so if you decide to give it a try, be patient and make yourself use it a lot for at least a week. The first day I had mine I was already thinking of returning it. It felt awkward and slow. Now though... I wish I had gotten one a long time ago. I now dislike having to use a mouse for many things.

This isn't for everyone though. If you are just a casual computer user, you may not find this as valuable as someone who edits photos, does graphics, etc.

Wacom Bamboo Fun Tablet
Review by Matthew K. Morgan : Good tablet but not for everyone

I will preface this review by stating that I am not a graphic artist and I did not buy this tablet for graphic work. I use tablets as an alternative to keyboards and mice as I find them more comfortable.

I am relatively new to working with tablets but I have quickly become very dependent on my Intuos4. I like being able to write instead of type, which is in many ways easier on my hands. When I saw the Bamboo Fun [Pen and Touch], I had to try it. What better way to work with the computer than to use a touch pad and still write like I am holding a pen and writing on paper? I researched it out, watched any demo I could find and made the decision to commit. Though it's a fine tablet and it works as advertised, it does not suit my needs. There are some things I would change with the design, too, which I will discuss below.

The Bamboo Fun [Pen and Touch] is a pleasant-looking device, very thin and taking up a modest amount of desk space. It follows a design look-and-feel of Apple devices, very smooth, simplistic and masking its real potential.

My first observation - the USB cable is a permanently attached cord, which is a design decision that really should be changed. If the cable fails, the tablet fails. Most USB devices have a detachable cable, so I am not sure why Wacom elected to make this device with a permanent cable. I suspect (rather, I hope) that this will change down the road on future versions, but for now it is what it is.

The install did not go well, and I realize I am the exception to the rule. Because I had previously attached and installed drivers for the Intuos4, I uninstalled the drivers before trying to attach the Bamboo. The uninstall did not work as I expected, as Windows loaded up drivers without hitting the installation media when I plugged it in. As a result, the touch portion of the pad allowed me to move the cursor but tapping and dragging did not work at all. I ended up uninstalling and reinstalling the tablet, and on the second attempt it installed properly. The tutorial loaded and I was able to practice some of the new hand gestures available to me.

Most intriguing of the features available is the ability to use two fingers on the pad simultaneously to zoom in and out and to rotate images, but there is a catch - it is application-dependent and does not work the same with different applications. Also, at one point I tried to scroll and I got a zoom action instead.

Digging deeper, I discovered that the device simply maps the hand gestures to the same events that would be associated with a good mouse and in fact the documentation suggests making sure the actions that would be associated with mice should be mapped the same as if using a mouse instead of the tablet. In a nutshell, this tablet is a glorified laptop touchpad with scroll wheel events mapped in. Properly mapped, this tablet performs very well.

As I worked with the touch portion of the Bamboo, I had some trouble with the two-finger gestures. I closed a lot of Windows inadvertently and the events were not mapped uniformly (as mentioned above). However, the most frustration came because of the way I rest my hands on the desk (which affects the way I rest my hands on the tablet). I found I frequently would have more than two fingers on the tablet simultaneously just because of the way I rest my hands, and as a result I was working against myself with this tablet. Also, because I would hold the pen while trying to use the touch features, the pen would disable touch and I would get nothing.

Using the pen with this tablet worked as expected. It has 1024 pressure levels, which is fine for the average user like me or someone who is a little more creative. Wacom offers more sensitive tablets with more pressure sensitivity which is more in line with professional artists' needs. That said, I can see the difference when doodling with the pressure levels. Some upgrading from a simpler tablet will be thrilled; someone downgrading from a more sensitive tablet will be unhappy.

I uninstalled the Bamboo and went back to the Intuos. Most of the problems I had with the Bamboo are personal preference, though some of the issues are design related.

This really is a good tablet and I can recommend it to people who want to completely get rid of mice and other pointing devices. There are a lot of good features in this tablet and it works as advertised. Unfortunately in my case, it did not suit my needs.

Wacom Bamboo Fun Tablet
Review by Jarod Whiting : Best possible tablet for the money

This tablet is an excellent purchase and the best thing you can get before jumping up to the much pricier Intuos4 line. It's thin, sleek and stylish, the surface feels great, and the pen is near perfect.

My previous tablet was a Genius brand, which wasn't bad for $60, but this has many improvements. First off, obviously, the Bamboo Fun has touch sensitivity, making it a lot more versatile. The Genius tablet also felt a little cheaply made, and sure enough, the pen started breaking after a few months. Speaking of pens, Wacom is the only brand that requires no battery or cord to power the stylus, so there's that. Wacoms are also compatible with just about anything, whereas the Genius needs obscure workarounds for Macs or Linux.

Install was easy, with one hiccup. At first the pressure sensitivity didn't work, but I uninstalled everything and reinstalled it, and then it worked great. According to what I've read on the Wacom forums, most problems can be fixed that way.

I've read comments from some, wishing that the eraser on the pen could be mapped to different tools in Photoshop. I use GIMP, and it lets you map separate tools and even separate color palettes for pen, eraser, and touch. It's really handy to just flip the pen around for the fill tool and then use a finger to select, and feels very natural.

All right, now for the reason I didn't give this product 5 stars: The USB cable is permanently attached. Cords like this are notorious for failing well before any other part of the hardware, and instead of being able to buy a $5-20 cord you have to replace the entire tablet. One flaw in an otherwise excellent package.

Wacom Bamboo Fun Tablet
Review by PD : For the Price Point, This Is Best In Class

I've read some of the other reviews on this Bamboo Fun bundle and I suggest you do the same if you're starting on a tablet for the first time (or coming back to it after many years). I won't go to that lengthy detail, but I will point out why I think this is a great package mostly everyone.

The main selling points on this tablet are the resolution and the size: it offers 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity which would have cost 5x the price a few years ago. This means that drawing lines and shapes with good responsive pressure sensitivity is a breeze. The higher end tablets used by graphic artists in the industry used to be 1,024 for quite a while! so this is nice. Also, this tablet is BIG, about 13"x9", quite a nice size! You can trace from practically a whole sheet of paper. For the selling price, this is a hard deal to beat. BUT--then you add in the bundled software and it's a no-brainer. I do own Photoshop already so I don't need the bundled Photoshop Elements, but it's great for those starting with nothing. Plus you get Corel Painter Essentials and a REALLY nice Photoshop plug-in called Nik Color Efex which the pro version costs more than this tablet bundle!

No brainer--if you want to start on a tablet and want something better than "rental skates", start here. YES, I did aquire this through Vine, but I will be buying another one in the near future, and it's going to be this tablet or whatever might replace it in the future.

Wacom Bamboo Fun Tablet
Review by Ray E. : Intuos4 Medium vs. Bamboo Fun

After writing this I was afraid of TLDR issues. Here is the short and sweet - if you are going to get a Wacom tablet, and you know you are going to use it, save your lunch money and get the Intuos4. End of story - if you get a Bamboo and later try an Intuos4 you'll kick yourself, I guarantee it. Higher accuracy, higher resolution, higher sensitivity, tilt recognition, higher data rate (more responsive), better construction, better warranty. If you want to know how I came to this conclusion, read on.

Please keep in mind: I have worked in the IT industry for over 13 years. However overall I am not a pro user of these products. I have about two weeks of use on each. I used the tablets on a Mac Pro with photoshop, corel, and sketchbook pro 2011.

I spent close to two weeks trying to decide on a Wacom tablet for Christmas - Bamboo Fun vs Intuos4 Medium. I kept reading about the pros of each. I could not find a comparison review, nor a single product review that pushed me solidly one direction or the other. Should I spend the extra money on the professional level product?

In the end, I started with the Bamboo because:
I didn't want to waste money. The Intuos4 medium was another $150 - almost twice the cost of the Bamboo. I am not a professional and people said the Bamboo had the same levels of sensitivity as the previous professional model (Intuos3). I wasn't 100% sure the kids would keep using it or get full value from it. If I didn't think it was for me, I could always trade up and try the Intuos4.

Initially we were very happy playing around with the Bamboo. There is nothing blatantly wrong with it at all. It has deservedly positive reviews. People make wonderful works of digital art with it. After playing for about 10 days, and watching youtube vids of people using Wacom tablets, I ran across a comment against the Bamboo that finally broke me. Someone pointed out that the USB cable was attached to the tablet, and cannot be replaced if it breaks. Toss it straight into the trash. Hmmm - bad news. If you look closely at the construction, you can also tell it would be very easy for the cable to wear out. I cannot believe I hadn't noticed that flaw myself. We have two lefties and two righties in the house and we are constantly rotating the tablet. I don't want to be replacing a 200 dollar tablet over a 10 dollar cable. I boxed her up that day and returned it for the Intuos4 Medium.

Let me tell you what people, the Intuos4 is worth more than the extra $150. Any day of the week. Even removing it from the box was a pleasure.

USB Interface:
Bamboo - Cable is attached, thin shielding, and not replaceable.
Intuos4 - Cable is removable, very well made, thick and several feet longer than it needs to be (2.5 m). TWO USB inputs on the tablet, so the cable can always be situated at the top. Also provides a spare port in case one breaks! As an IT guy, this alone was worth an upgrade. Well played, Wacom.

Buttons:
Bamboo has 4 buttons. One button is used to turn the touch functions on and off. Touch Pad functions can be used to pinch zoom, rotate, scroll, etc if the app supports touch.
Intuos4 has 8 buttons with LEDs plus a touch ring wheel. The touch ring can be assigned 4 functions for all applications. Fully programmable. The kicker - the touch ring can be used for all the touch pad functions that the Bamboo did, and does them better. Rotate, Zoom, Scroll, Undo, change your pen size - you name it. Spin the ring with your off hand while drawing. Another upgrade that was easily worth the 150 bucks alone.

Pens:
Bamboo accuracy .02 inch. A very light, plastic toy feeling pen. There were a couple extra nibs in a plastic bag.
Intuos4 accuracy .01 inch. Pen is noticeably heavier. It reminded me of picking up a very well made tool after using some crap made in China and getting that sudden realization that you've been doing it wrong all this time. The pen recognizes tilt - the angle you hold the pen at. The cool "ink well" stand is classy and holds 10 extra nibs and the nib replacement tool. You suddenly start signing your name with a flourish. It just feels right! The Intuos4 also includes a wireless mouse that can be used on the pad if you are not using the pen.

Pressure levels:
Bamboo 1024
Intuos4 2048
People said you can't tell the difference, but let me tell you I could, and so did my wife. It may not be the ONE thing you need to upgrade for, but it's one more reason to spend the extra cash, for sure.

Resolution:
Bamboo 2540 lines per inch
Intuos4 5080 lines per inch

Software packages:
Are basically the same, Intuos4 software package must be downloaded though - Bamboo has physical media.

Tablet itself:
Basically same review as the Pens, the Intuos4 is heavier and feels much sturdier and like a professional tool.

Warranty:
Bamboo - 1 year
Intuos4 - 2 years USA and Canada

Although I highly rate the Bamboo Fun, I do not regret moving up to the Intuos at all. I hope this comparison review makes your decision on a Wacom product easier.

Thanks for reading,

Ray E.