in the previous version of 2draw there where millions of questions about tablets, but here i can't find any information on them...can anyone advise me a good tablet to start or just say wheather or not you're satisfied with the one you own (and why)
thanks

Any post that was on the old 2draw is available here as well, just look through the general forum archives.

I used to use the Wacom ArtPadII, roughly equivalent to the Graphire2, although that was before they bundled them with mice. I believe it had better specs than graphire2, as well. It was a great tablet, and I really had no problems for the however many years I used it, except for the fact that it was only 4x5" big. Graphire2 list price is $100 but can be found for $80 (amazon.com has it for $85).

I recently shelled out for an Intuos2 6x8 tablet for $315 off of amazon.com. They had this nice special where they gave me $50 credit after I ordered that, so I also went and bought the Intuos2 airbrush for half off. The tablet is great, it's very slick, and I've had no problems with it so far (thought I don't expect any). So far I haven't really used the function strip at the top much, but the tilt stuff is great in photoshop7/painter8. I have plans for a new drawing applet that'll take advantage of tilt and whatnot.
The airbrush, at the moment, I'll say isn't really worth it, basically it's the same as the regular stylus, but rather than having 2 buttons on the side, it has a little throttle control (it can be turned from min to max, not continuously, plus it doesn't spring back to one position).

The only other brand I know of is the AipTek's, they're definitely tempting pricewise, since the largest one, Hyperpen 12000U (9x12"), is only $150. (4.5x6 is $62, 6x8" is $95)0I personally haven't used one, so I can't vouch one way or another for the quality, but from the 5-6 people I've talked to, a couple of them hated it and thought it sucked, one of them loved it and had no problems with it (albeit, he wasn't an artist), and the other two had recently got them so didn't know one way or the other (although they had no problems so far).

If you read the user reviews for the aiptek, you'll get mixed messages. I should note that I unplugged my optical mouse and only use my intuos2 mouse now (plus now I don't need room for my tablet, and a surface for my mouse), so the fact that everyone is complaining about the mouse in the aiptek would bother me.

One concern is tablet size. I mentioned earlier that my first tablet was 4x5". I personally find that a bit too small, but 6x8" is just right. I really wouldn't want a larger tablet, simply because there's also a large margin around the actual size, and I'd have no room on my desk. Plus you have to move your arm more! I mean, you shouldn't get exercise from drawing. ;-) Size is really personal preference. I don't really like drawing on huge paper, and I guess the same goes for tablet. I haven't used larger than 6x8, so I can't really say any more than that.

So take it all into consideration, with Wacom you probably won't go wrong, but certainly look at the choices (there are other brands as well, that I haven't looked at). It's really a matter of what you want and how much you're willing to spend.

heej thanks alot... now i have at least some kind of direction to start looking... whiha and it probably wont be long before i actually have a tablet...