Wacom Intuos Pen Small review.

[minibois]

This tablet was purchased .. Wow, it has been 11 months or something already. A new version of this has come out, which looks a bit different, but my points will probably still be relevant.

Anyways, I bought it because I got more into graphics designing and wanted to draw some stuff too (which is not as good with a mouse). The software I used with it is Gimp (version 2.8) and also a little bit of Photoshop (Creative Cloud version). 

The tablet on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Wacom-Intuos-Tablet-CTL480-Version/dp/B00EN27TCI

Except I bought it for 50 euros if I remember correctly. (the price on Amazon can't be correct, the pen only version is 150 dollars, while the pen and touch version is 55 dollars???)

This is what my review will be mostly based on.

TL;DR included below.

Spoiler

 

The most important info is that the drawing surface is 15,5CM x 9,5CM, while the tablet itself is a bit bigger, because there is some more surface area, a lower bezel and the bezel with the buttons up top.

 

 

Speaking about the buttons, there are 4 on the tablet and 2 on the pen. You can configure them to different things yourself and for the tablet buttons you can also configure them for different actions in different programs. I have for example set up two of the buttons to zoom in and out in Photoshop, but in Gimp I have set one to Ctrl and don’t use the other. More about all the functions and stuff in the software section.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

I don’t have pictures of unboxing the thing, so I will just describe it:

 

 

Very content with the packaging. Bought it in a physical store, so no shipping, but when I came home and unboxed the tablet I was very content. Everything was packed very well, the tablet was protected inside a kind of microfiber meets soft cloth feeling bag, the cable was neatly wrapped, the manuals were packaged well (although I didn’t really use them) and the pen was safe inside of a piece of cardboard.

 

 

Nothing to complain about, but nothing you wouldn’t expect from a company like Wacom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

When first plugging the tablet in, Windows installed some drivers, but the tablet wasn’t really functional until I downloaded the latest software from Wacom’s website (they included a CD with the software.. But really..).

 

 

The software download page was easy to find, but you needed a bit of knowledge about your product to know what to download (so you don’t accidentally download the Bamboo, Cintiq or older software), as opposed to the software detecting the tablet.

 

 

Other than this, the software was downloaded fast, easily installed and after a reboot the tablet was set up. After this I was able to change some of the settings (which I will talk about in the “Actually using the tablet” section).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

The software for the tablet is good. You can change enough things, like what the buttons do, how hard you have to press to make the software think you fully touch down (it has pressure sensitivity), you can change buttons depending on what program you are using, you can change what screen or even how much of the screen gets used (really helpful, since with two monitors it feels weird to draw with both monitors active. moving horizontally is twice as fast as vertically, if that makes sense to you) and being able to set if you are left or right handed is of course great too. You can set the tablet to pen mode or mouse mode (pen mode means the middle of the tablet is the middle of the screen, while mouse mode acts more like a mouse: if you lift the pen up and place it somewhere else it retains its position)

 

 

They do need a language setting though IMO (since my Windows is Dutch, the software is Dutch which is just annoying (At least the Dutch translation is not bad, but not everything seems to be translated). This is very nitpicky though and I can’t think of any other issues really except for: the stability.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

 

I have found if Gimp hickups: the cursor just starts to lag when using the tablet. Googling for a solution seems to show this lagging is a common issue and you can restart the driver software and it used to fix this issue, but it doesn’t seem to fix it for me anymore.

 

 

This doesn’t only happen with Gimp, as it sometimes happens with Photoshop CC too.

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes the tablet software just doesn’t start up, meaning:

 

 

The pressure sensitivity doesn’t work

 

 

I disabled my second screen for the tablet, but without the software it just uses both displays (this doesn’t always happen)

 

 

It just lags all the time and restarting doesn’t help

 

 

These are all deal breaking things, which make the tablet unusable for the stuff I do.. That is just a real shame.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spoiler

I will first detail some experience with the tablet and after that with the pen.

Tablet:

The tablet has an almost fully smooth feeling surface, which not fully mimics paper, but at least tries to come close. It in my opinion feels better than what it would have felt like if it was smooth. It is big enough for what I do, but a little bigger would have been better. It is also annoying, that when I draw on the right side of it, my hand actually pushes against the edge of the tablet (I am right handed), which seems like a small design fault. 

As a right handed user I used the left buttons more (keep my hand with pen on the surface while clicking on them with my left hand), but the right buttons were still comfortable to use too, so seems like a good design.

 

Pen:

The pen feels good in the hand, has two buttons, sadly no eraser and the tip can be changed out (if used up). I have not changed the tip of it though (4 of them are included though).

In Gimp I have set the buttons to nothing (because I accidentally pressed it sometimes), but Photoshop had one of the buttons to make you be able to pan around the document which was pretty helpful (and it doesn’t matter if you accidentally click it), so they can be useful for stuff like that.

The pen does not feature an eraser on the back, but I guess I can just set one of its buttons to the eraser, but as I said.. I sometime accidentally click these buttons.

Other than that, not much to say

Spoiler

It’s a very nice tablet, with a good pen for beginners.
The software is kinda iffy though and makes me not want to recommend it as much. The pressure sensitivity is very nice, you can change quite a bit through software and it works with a variety of softwares (I can confirm Gimp and Photoshop with pressure sensitivity, but it just replicates a mouse to it should work in everything).
I would recommend this to anyone beginning to pick up drawing on the PC and it seems nice for a game like OSU too.
Wacom’s software is a bit meh though, as it sometimes crashes. Which is annoying.

If you have any more questions, be sure to ask me.

This was my first written review here too, so I appreciate all feedback

EDIT:
Some things I made with it to get an idea of what can be made with it

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some stuff I made in MS Paint, don't take these as serious as the other ones:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[The Official Czex]

Noice review, mate.

[ThinkWithPortals]

 

Nice in depth review, very good. Thanks for posting

[Mohenjo]

Wish i had 150 bucks to pick one up. The lenovo yoga is not that good at drawing even with the pen and tablet mode 

[minibois]

Noice review, mate.

Nice in depth review, very good. Thanks for posting

Thanks guys

 

Wish i had 150 bucks to pick one up. The lenovo yoga is not that good at drawing even with the pen and tablet mode 

I don't think the price on Amazon is correct, as I said I bought it for a lot less..

 

This is the new version of it too: http://www.amazon.com/Wacom-CTL490DW-Digital-Drawing-Graphics/dp/B010LHRFM2/ref=dp_ob_title_ce And it's 70 dollars.

[Ridska]

I remember you talking about continuing a review that you were making.

And i guess this was the review that you were talking about.

 

and BTW dont mind me , just going to take notes on how you packaged this review.

[Ialyrn]

Very nice review, fairly well detailed as well. I have the Pen and Touch version, but my pen also has the eraser on the opposite end of the pen. I also have the wireless kit with mine, which is great as it gets rid of the cable while drawing.

[minibois]

I remember you talking about continuing a review that you were making.

And i guess this was the review that you were talking about.

 

and BTW dont mind me , just going to take notes on how you packaged this review.

And in the end with all the notes I took over the past couple of months: it only took me about an hour to write all this down (not a fast typer and get distracted fast )

 

Very nice review, fairly well detailed as well. I have the Pen and Touch version, but my pen also has the eraser on the opposite end of the pen. I also have the wireless kit with mine, which is great as it gets rid of the cable while drawing.

Thanks

 

At the time when I bought this I didn't have the funds for the Pen and Touch version, so just took this one. The touch is not something that I miss, but the eraser would have been nice.

Do you often rotate your tablet while drawing or not? Because with the cable that I use and the spot it's in I don't often do that. Just wondering.

[NeatSquidYT]

Nice. I really wanna get a CTL-480 at some point for osu!. My Huion tablet is annoying me with its ugly looks and small area.

[Ialyrn]

And in the end with all the notes I took over the past couple of months: it only took me about an hour to write all this down (not a fast typer and get distracted fast )

 

Thanks

 

At the time when I bought this I didn't have the funds for the Pen and Touch version, so just took this one. The touch is not something that I miss, but the eraser would have been nice.

Do you often rotate your tablet while drawing or not? Because with the cable that I use and the spot it's in I don't often do that. Just wondering.

I do rotate fairly often, but that is because I used to always draw with a sketch pad and a 2b pencil. Plus I am left handed, so I do have some really awkward hand movements while drawing which rotating helps with. I also use the touch control to rotate the canvas in Photoshop, which is an absolutely awesome feature.

 

[SoundFont]

The pen looks so weird without the eraser LOL. I have the pen and touch and the issue of the drivers not working (sometimes even just committing Sudoku halfway through a project) happens nearly every time I use the thing. Still though, I'd rather be using the tablet than a mouse or touchscreen. Great review btw :>

[RoyalGamer1]

On 5/3/2018 at 6:15 PM, SoundFont said:

The pen looks so weird without the eraser LOL. I have the pen and touch and the issue of the drivers not working (sometimes even just committing Sudoku halfway through a project) happens nearly every time I use the thing. Still though, I'd rather be using the tablet than a mouse or touchscreen. Great review btw :>

ayy way to comment on a 3 year old post, on a new profile, how did you even end up in posts from 2015? 

[SoundFont]

On 09/05/2018 at 2:04 PM, RoyalGamer1 said:

ayy way to comment on a 3 year old post, on a new profile, how did you even end up in posts from 2015? 

No Idea lol