Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I've been using the intuos family line for 6 years now. I'm a digital concept and 3d artist so a wacom tablet or cintiq is the only choice. I've owned 2 intuos2's(6x8 & 9x12) , 1 intuos3 12x19 and 1 intuos4 XL (which i returned because of major design flaws).
Note, I'm a heavy user so I spend 6-10 hours per workday painting in Photoshop, modeling in Maya, and concept design in Painter. This review is to help artists decide if it's worth upgrading to the newest intuos for their workspace. Money is not an issue since this is used extensively in my career field.PROS
- More sensitivity, doubling from 1024 to a whopping 2048 levels. It's a nice improvement when sketching very light construction lines, ie "ghosting". Not a huge help for painting in Photoshop, since I use opacity and flow to adjust my paint layer applications.
-Scroll wheel is a nice addition and offers good control when zooming.
-OLED screen for shortcuts is also a nice addition in case you forget the express key assignments.
-Like it's intuos3 predecessor, the pen is ergonomic and comfortable.
-Pen holder has good functionality because it now holds your spare nibs. Convenient, since you will need to replace nibs like crazy.
-Widescreen formats now for all sizes.CONS
- The nibs wear out to an annoying chiseled point within hours, and completely gone in days! If you continue to paint with a worn out nib, you will scratch the surface so don't be cheap. This has been the most common problem since most forums have very disgruntled artists spending extra money stocking up on overpriced nibs. $1-2 per plastic nib that costs them 1 penny to make. Just type "intuos4 nib wear" and you can read for yourself. This is due to the new paper-like friction surface, which is nice but not necessary. I've never worn out my intuos2 or intuos3 nibs in 6 years!
- As a result, the surface sheet also wears out. Depending which area you use the most, you'll soon get uneven surfacing throughout. So while one side has the friction feel, another area is worn out smooth. So you'll have to replace the sheet within a year. I've yet to replace my intuos2 or intuos3 sheets.
-The express keys on one side is a great idea, but they are TOO FIRM. They also are placed awkwardly, are too small, and sizes are too similar. I find them uncomfortable and useless since I rarely look down while working since it's about speed and productivity in the motion picture/gaming industry. Plus having wrist issues in the past, these buttons are not ergonomic at all.
-Express key area is a fingerprint magnet. If you continually clean off that area, you will slowly produce little scratches.
-If your unlucky, you'll receive a defective pen. Check out YouTube, there's a lot of customers that have received defective pens. Such as "Tip triggered without actual pressure problem" and "Tip looseness problem"
-Bad customer support for intuos4 from Wacom. The design flaws i mentioned above have been reviewed by Wacom forum reps on their Wacom Europe forums. It seems they are in total denial of any design flaws. They have offered cheap ploys that blame the customer for the nib wear and bad advice such as taping paper onto a $400-700 piece of hardware to cover up their mistakes. SAD but true.FINAL THOUGHTS
-I like the intuos4, don't get me wrong. But I feel the major design flaws negate the upgrade from intuos3. If you are a heavy user, this can get annoying and tedious to deal with. If you are a new or light user, this will not affect you as much, since most positive reviews I've read are from new or light users.
-However if you are thinking about upgrading from intuos2, an intuos3 or intuos4 is a must. The ergonomic intuos3 or intuos4 pen alone makes it a necessary upgrade.
-With the intuos3, they EVENTUALLY fixed some issues. My intuos3 12x19 is widescreen and the surface surrounding the work area is completely smooth, as opposed to the tacky plastic from 1st generation intuos3's. I pray Wacom will address these intuos4 issues realistically. Until they do, I'll be using my intuos3!!
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Wacom Intuos4 Extra Large Pen TabletWith a new design and features inspired by members of the professional creative community, Intuos4 redefines the pen tablet experience. Featuring Wacom¿s new pen tip sensor technology and 2,048 levels of pen pressure sensitivity, the Intuos4 pen captures the most subtle nuances of pressure, allowing you to dynamically adjust exposure, brush size, opacity and more. User-defined ExpressKeys activate frequently used shortcuts and modifiers, while the accompanying, illuminated ExpressKey displays on the medium, large and extra large models, provide a constant reminder of each key¿s function. The finger-sensitive Touch Ring quickly controls up to 4 different functions such as canvas rotation, zoom, scroll, brush size and more
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