Anyone had to use their Wacom tablet warrenty?

[DesignStudio]

I apologize in advance for posting yet another tablet thread onto this forum, I know we're crowded with them already.

I have the opportunity to buy an intous 3 9x12 tablet for about half retail price. It's new, never used, and in the box etc, but it's been purchased over a year ago and the warrenty is expired. So I'm curious if anyone who uses a Wacom or Intuos tablet has ever had to use their warrenty, or finds it a well enough made product where the warrenty isn't really necessary. For the same price I can get a new 6x8 tablet with warrenty, but I'm assuming the rule of thumb is the bigger the better?

Anyone have any issues with theirs? Is the warrenty neccesary? Any feedback would be great. Thanks everyone.

[Silence04]

no issues at all, a couple friends i know that have them haven't had issues either... they are well built, from my understanding...

[frankster]

They are very sturdy. I've had my 6x8 intuos 3 for a while and it's even stood up to a couple of toddler attacks and being knocked off the table and left dangling by the cord. I've found a safe place for it now when I'm not using it, but there have been no ill effects from those accidents.

[DesignStudio]

Thanks for the quick replies you two. Unfortunately it looks like I dragged my feet too much and just missed out on the opportunity to get the larger one for cheap. Almost everyone I've talked to though seems to have the 6x8, probably because it is the least expensive one that's still a workable size- but I haven't talked to anyone who's said they find it too small and wish they'd gone bigger. So maybe I'll just go that route and get a new 6x8.

[DesignVHL]

i've got two and nothing has happened to either...i don't treat em like glass either. :p

One of my pens broke a few yrs back...but it was my own dumb fault....

I have the 6x8 at work, and the biggest one at home...which is sometimes TOO big....6x8 really is perfect for most things....esp if you have a laptop.

[DesignStudio]

I have a 20" Mac monitor. My only concern is that if the tablet screen assumes perportion with the monitor, that with only a 6x8 tablet (which has a ten inch screen) I'd have to draw half size to get things to appear correctly on my computer screen. Though I suppose I generally work zoomed in anyway, so maybe it would be a moot point.

[DesignVHL]

huh? I am not sure what your getting at. are in the 9:12 ratio? If so, I would get this....

Size of your document to the size of your wacom shouldn't matter...but I can see ratio might. Though, I'm on a 27" widescreen hd dell display, and my wacom is the 9x12. I don't notice any bothersome issues with it at all, and I use it daily. If I was going to buy one today, though, I would probably go with the 6x11.

[Virgo Nightingale]

the biggest one at home...which is sometimes TOO big
I have a 9x12 that a friend sold me for dirt cheap last fall. Haven't even used it yet. Reason? It doesn't fit on the desk. :D

[mojoprime]

has anyone used a cintiq? i'm wondering if i should squirrel money away and save for one of those, or get an intuos.

[DesignStudio]

mojo i started a thread about that exact same question, and from both the forum and all the checking around I've done I can't find a single person actually using a cintiq. Seems like everyone's comment is that it seems great and if money were no issue they'd get it, but it's not worth spending 4 times as much. Because of lack of feedback I'm giving up on the cintiq myself and going for the intuos.

[mojoprime]

whups. knew i should have looked. that's what i get for highjacking. *cowers*

yeah, i was looking around and the 12" is almost a cool grand; you can get a 9 x 12 for less than half that. i've got a 9 x 12 here at the office, but like virgo said, it's damn big and hard to fit on the desk. i was thinking maybe the 6 x 11.

[DesignVHL]

lol oh virgo! put it in your lap then! :P

Those cintiq's are perty tho i have not played w/ them...my friend uses it at her work and loves it.

anyways while on this topic...i have a minor rant, lol....i put my keyboard behind my tablet...and the scroll bars on the side of the tablet are customized....my left one increases/decreases brush size, and softness/hardness (it rocks)...lol but whenver i'm NOT really using the darn tablet, my arm will almost always graze over it...and I"m always finding stupid typos with these characters in it: [ and ] so annoying to deal with...but meh, what can ya do. *ok end mini rant*

[Silence04]

as long has you set your tablet area size to the same ratio as your screen's dimensions, it will feel natural even though it's smaller... I'm working on a 9x12 intuos3 on a 30" apple. Feels just as natural as the 17", 20", and 23" monitor's i've used with it.

[DesignStudio]

There seem to be alot of people on the forum with tablets and equiptment they're not using. Maybe we should start a classifieds section for goods in addition to the one for services. I know I'd feel better buying or selling something used from someone on the forum than from a stranger on CL. Just a passing thought, but I figure if I'm going to every achieve 15,000 like Buda just celebrated, I'm going to have to start posting more thoughts as they pass by.

Oh and mojo, I wasn't trying to admonish you, just letting you know what I found out when I was asking around, cause I've been trying to get an answer to that question for about a year.

[mojoprime]

hee hee, no worries, mate. i gotta remember that i share wavelength with the folks on this board; most likely, someone's asked the same question i'm putting up.

by the by, the classifieds are more like help wanted; i'm with DS. maybe we need some sort of garage sale section. i know i might have some ram to sell at some point, and i've got a closet full of older equipment.

[DesignVHL]

I think a section to sell used stuff is an excellent idea! That would be great!

Imagine for example, being a design student, and having a need for say, a pantone book...but cannot afford to spend $ on a new one while in college. Perhaps when one of the long time design pros want or need a new one, because they CAN afford it, they can get a new book, and sell their old one to a student, which would really help them out.

Also, maybe even a section for giving away free stuff, or recyling! I have some old printmaking tools from college that i probably don't want to sell, but would be willing to list them to send to someone (tho of course they would pay for shipping). Just a thought....Tho, that was inspired by this site:

http://www.freecycle.org/

which was recently covered on my local news. Thought it was a really neat concept.

Anyways, sorry I know this has gone a bit on a tangent..but still good ideas!

[DesignStudio]

All I ask is that if a used equiptment classifieds section gets started and is succesful, it be named and dedicated in my honor. And if it flops, I not be given credit for the idea.

[DesignVHL]

Yeah and maybe if your lucky, Virgo will give you one of her avocados.

[Silence04]

i own a cintiq and they are way over priced, imo. I think i'm happier with a larger screen and a regular tablet.

I also think the scroll bars are too sensitive and there aren't enough buttons to fully function without a keyboard. so i used double sided tape to mount my keyboard on top portion of my tablet. fits perfectly in a keyboard shelf, Covers the buttons and scroll bars, making the tablet area the same ratio as my screen and it give my arms a spot to rest when i am typing:

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/3315/img0556xl7.jpg

:D

[John G]

I dropped my 6x8 on pavement, nice big crack on the clear plastic and the front and back have separated a good portion. Still works just fine.

I was thinking about a cintiq 12wx, but I thought it was a tablet PC... I guess it's just the monitor part bleh. Maybe after I get a laptop then (decent laptop plus a 12WX is still cheaper than a lot of regular tablet PCs).