Wacom Intuos5 Touch Pen Tablet - $249.99 AR for Medium & $369.99 AR for Large @ TigerDirect Retail Outlets
 

Hey guys,

IMPORTANT UPDATE: TigerDirect has modified this rebate offer. Now you can only get this price if you have a "TigerDirect Retail Outlet" in your area. Thank you! :)

Wacom PTH650 Intuos5 Touch Medium Pen Tablet
LINK [tigerdirect.com]

Item Price: $349.99
$100 Mail-In Rebate [4myrebate.com]
AR Cost: $249.99

Wacom PTH850 Intuos5 Touch Large Pen Tablet
LINK [tigerdirect.com]

Item Price: $469.99
$100 Mail-In Rebate [4myrebate.com]
AR Cost: $369.99

NOTE: This tablet gets an "Excellent" rating from PC Magazine [pcmag.com]. The medium model sells for ~$320 at other retailers, whereas the large model sells for ~$419.

PTH650 Dimensions & Weight:
The tablet measures 9.9 by 14.96 by 0.453 inches (H x W x D) and weighs 2.18 pounds. The pen and touch active area measures 5.5 by 8.8 inches (H x W).

PTH850 Dimensions & Weight:
The tablet measures 12.51 by 19.18 by 0.472 inches (H x W x D) and weighs 3.97 pounds. The pen active area measures 8 by 12.8 inches (H x W), and the touch active area measures 7.5 by 11.8 inches (H x W).

This post can and should be edited by users like you :)
 

This post can be edited by most users to provide up-to-date information about developments of this thread based on user responses, and user findings. Feel free to add, change or remove information shown here as it becomes available. This includes new coupons, rebates, ideas, thread summary, and similar items.

From Wacom Site --
Wacom Large Product Link
http://www.wacom.com/en/creative/...ouch-large
Wacom Medium Product Link
http://www.wacom.com/creative/pro...uch-medium

AAAhh been tracking this forever and this is the first good deal I have seen and its when I have absolutely no money and AR as well :(

Looks like my Wacom Graphire 4 and me are destined to stay together for a long long time.

Sweet, replacing my Intuos4 medium. Guess that puppy will be going on eBay.

I bought the medium in September.

I am pretty much broke starting after Thanksgiving. I wouldn't have extra cash to buy this now either.

What are your impressions? Do you like it? Is the learning curve up there?

How much did you snag one for in September?

Bought it for $320 at Amazon.

For me very easy to get used to. You can customize the hotkeys any key combination you want. I research a lot to determine what size I want, from what I read Large is too large for most people's desk. Small is good if you travel a lot. Medium is probably large enough for most people, and not take up too much desk space. So, I got Medium, and I can't imagine getting Large either, I don't have a super large desk. And I didn't get small because I used to have small size tablet, now I want a little larger size.

Key thing I read about this 5th model is, some people draw too hard on it, and their tip get worn out quickly. I don't put a lot of pressure on it on my old tablet, but just in case I went to art store and bought a sheet of Dura-Lar (I think that was what it called, basically a sheet of plastic smooth sheet) and cut and stick it on tablet, so the surface is now totally smooth instead of hard texture, and I dont' think my pen tip will get worn out anytime soon.

Other than this addon, the tablet is fantastic, you can do hand gesture on it to activate hot keys if you want.

im still using my intous 2 at home..haha.

I have the medium one and have been using it for about a year. I originally had a Bamboo tablet of some type. This was a pleasant upgrade and I'm glad I bought it.
I have my own cartoon series and it gets quite a bit of use. The drawing surface has gotten pretty worn and there have been times I pressed too hard which caused permanent indents and scratches. The good thing is that they sell replacement drawing surfaces for super cheap online so when it starts to cause an issue for me I'll just replace the surface.
One thing I felt I should note. I'm left-handed and in order to have the menu buttons on the right side (so I can use my right hand to press them), you need to flip the tablet 180 degrees. The issue comes from the Wacom software. The CD it comes with asks you in the very beginning if you're left-handed or right-handed and configures the tablet based on your answer. That's great and all but as time goes on, you may need to reinstall Windows or something along those lines. You'll NEED that CD. If you download the drivers from their site, it simply "installs". No option to choose left-handed or right-handed. Can you guess what it defaults to? ...I made sure to place a copy of the CDs contents on my NAS as I've already had to go back to it numerous times. Of course after you install from the CD, you can download and install the NEWEST drivers from the Wacom site and it saves your configuration (ex: left-handed).
I had a Cintiq at one point as well but I returned it as I got so used to drawing "off-screen" with the Bamboo tablet that drawing directly on the screen was overwhelming...and I had deadlines to meet so I didn't have time to get used to it.

The software isn't a bad entry level / quick edit software set. I need it for lightroom but will defiantly find use for most of the free software.

How is this compared to a hacked ps3 udraw for $10

Ditto.

Would love an Intous 4 or 5.

wish it were a deal on the "lower-end" bamboo tablets, like the Bamboo Capture because thats all im willing to spend on this stuff right now. (Just a hobbyist, not a professional)

I have one of these and I can't say enough good things about it. If it breaks I guarantee you I will buying another one. Anyone that has done their research and knows an Intuos is what they need rather than a Bamboo, should buy this. You won't regret it!

I highly recommend BetterTouchTool [macupdate.com] for anybody running OSX. It will take a little while to go through all the settings and get it working the way you want, but it adds a TON of features and it works really well with the wacom tablets. don't forget to go through the wacom tablet settings in your system preferences and disable any gestures that you're going to have BetterTouchTool control or you may get some weird results.


slightly unrelated, but does anybody ever see any deals on the cintiq?

So what does this do?

Too bad there's no CircuitCity.com to avoid tax for some of us :(

This is on my watch list but I just can't pull the trigger. All I want to do is play around with Photoshop, nothing professional. I think I may try one of these http://www.monoprice.com/products...largeimage

Remember that you can currently download the older Creative Suite 2 version of Adobe Software right now - https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/ent..._downloads (after creating an adobe.com account). Great way to test drive Photoshop if your brand new tablet to figure out if you want to purchase the latest versions.

A big touch pad with stylus, for graphics editors, cartoons etc.

Check the product demo:
http://syndicate.sellpoint.net/Sy...UT1-419600

tempting, double the sensitivity of my intuos3 and has a wireless kit

hmm.

For background, I'm a graphic artist of about 12 years. I probably don't do as much illustration as people that truly get on these things and make fantastic pieces, but I got a Bamboo Capture recently (around $85), and it's fantastic. I can't imagine what bells and whistles you can get out of this that you can't get out of a Capture, but if it works for some people, high five. I used an Intuos when I was at the last job, and I don't know if it was just too large (I think it was 12x18 or some unGodly size like that), or if I wasn't knowledgeable enough on it to use it to full capacity, but it just seemed like a more expensive, clunky tablet that just didn't work for me as well as pen and paper.

All that said, I'm certainly not saying this isn't a great deal or anything since I don't use these on a daily basis; but for the people on the fence, that aren't necessarily doing this daily for their income, I don't see why something much cheaper (Capture) can't be fine for you. Also, a small size is nice. I have a 27" Graphics monitor from Dell and it's pretty sweet, but there is no need for me to move my pen the entire length of the screen. Even if I felt there was, it's a feature on the tablet to allow it to act like a mouse, or movement is mirrored from tablet to screen (left side tablet=left side screen, same with right).

Option 2, spend money on a kick-butt scanner and just draw it on paper, scan it in, and color it in Illustrator or Photoshop. Photo editors, however, you may want the tablet.

Just my humble opinion.

actually, this was one of my first tablets. As long as they keep the drivers updated, you are all good. They stopped caring about the knock off that I had. If you wanted to get one that would be backed for a while, and you are just a tinkerer, try something a bit cheaper, but still brand named.

Much cheaper, and so far, I have enjoyed mine I got a month or two ago.
http://www.amazon.com/Wacom-Bambo...16034531_2

thank you for the insight. exactly what i was looking for. i will stick to finding a deal for the bamboo capture for now.

Wish this deal was around for christmas when I bought one. Oh well, recipient is happy with it.

Thanks! I was just about to ask how this compares to the cheaper Bamboo alternatives (in real use, not just specs) like the Capture and Create. Repped.

Does anyone else have an opinion on this?

I moved from a non-touch intuos to a bamboo capture and while it's definitely not as luxurious it more than fills my current needs. along with BetterTouchTool it has completely replaced my mouse and is what I use all day for animation, design, photo editing, painting, slickdealing... I also prefer the smaller size compared to my larger intuos as it requires smaller movements to move from edge to edge... so while I can't imagine the capture not being good enough for most people the Intuos line is definitely a step up.

If I wasn't saving for a cintiq I definitely would have gone with the intuos 5, but I'm quite happy with the Capture and I highly recommend it.

These monoprice units perform effectively identically to Wacom tablets, and I say this as a professional, not a hobbyist. Wacom has quickly become the Apple of tablets, with companies like Yiynova bringing in "budget Cintiq" and Monoprice bringing in "budget Intuos" units.

Is the rebate site reliable? Never heard of them before.

but the monoprice units arent as compact and look bigger than the bamboo units. i need a slim design tablet to fit with the laptop and cooling pad already in my backpack.

also the monoprice pens need battery and the bamboo's do not.

Doesn't tigerdirect always show the price after rebate on the page for the item? I'm just a little worried the rebate isn't gonna work. Awesome price if it does!

The monoprice units come in different sizes too, just like Wacom's, to suit different needs. As I said... the Wacoms are basically "the Apple of digitizer tablets" nowadays, between Lenovo convertible tablets and Yiynova to compete with Cintiq, and Monoprice ones to compete with Intuos models.

One AAA battery every several months of daily use is hardly a real issue. They cost about 12-15 cents nowadays.

I'm amazed to see that my $40 Monoprice tablet is actually bigger than that $250 Wacom by a pretty decent margin. It also works perfectly with Photoshop and such.

Wacom really is the Apple of graphics tablets.

There's a more compact version without the 8 hotkeys, and the battery that came with my tablet is still working fine after a good week of use.

There's really no reason to put a dent in your pocket for the Wacom models unless you don't mind spending extra money for better build quality with the same or less functionality.

Bigger isn't always better, haven't you learned?

Seriously, your analogy comparing Wacom to Apple is literally comparing Apple to Orange. Most people won't use an Apple product for 4 years, they trash it way before. Most Professionals keep their Wacom for years and years. Plenty of people are still using Wacom Intuos3 to make art. You can buy some cheap tablets and it'll work fine, but most professionals use Wacom, and they last years. I used my last Wacom low end models for 7 years at least.

If you are in the market for a drawing tablet, do you own research at graphic design forum instead of cheapo deal forum here.

I never said it was better. I said it was a crapload cheaper for a slightly worse tablet. I haven't looked but I'm pretty sure the Wacom has a bit better resolution for its smaller size.

If you want to pay an extra $310 or 775% more for slightly better build quality and/or functionality, go for it. I personally can't think of anything else that I need my Monoprice tablet to do and I've been using it for ages.

The rebate will definitely work. The form just hasn't updated to the product page yet.

No worries, this does happy occasionally. :)

Just did a quick review search for "4myrebate . com" Some people have had issues with them and some have not. Still don't know about this but it's such a great deal and just like others said, this has been on my radar for some time now. I want!

I don't disagree with you. I think it depends on the individual. People here looking at tablet are probably not professionals, and no sense in them in buying a expensive Wacom when they might play around with it for a few weeks. So a Monoprice one probably is good start.

If they want to get deeper and even make it a hobby, they might look into other brands, not necessarily Wacom as you pointed out. I am not a Wacom fan, I actually almost go for other brands.

Instead of Apple analogy, I'd use a car analogy. Most people can get their feet wet with a cheaper starter model Japanese/Korean car, and it'll be fine. But if you plan to keep the car for long term , you can't go wrong with better tech and comfort of higher end Japanese/American or German car (don't want to offend anyone here xD).

For what it's worth, I've done hundreds of rebates with 4MyRebate and rarely had a problem. As long as you follow the rebate instructions, you should receive your $100 AMEX card in the mail without issue.

Make sure to sign & date the form, attach the original UPC from the product box, and print a copy of your INVOICE from the TigerDirect.com Order Center online.

They are usually pretty fast at processing too. Even with standard submission, I usually receive my rebate back within 4 weeks.

Don't waste your money on expedited rebate processing, as it's not worth it. Most people report that it doesn't come back any faster.

Good to know. Thanks for your personal input.

The monoprice tablets last for just as many years, it's the same tech. The monoprice ones are far less expensive but have excellent build quality while offering same/better specs and performance. As I said, I am a professional who uses and has used these kinds of tablets (including Wacoms) for many years. Other than stuck-up Apple-lovers, you'll see the same comments I'm making on artist or game development forums. Also the reason many people use Wacom still is because these types of competitive alternatives only came out a few years ago, and because these types of tablets last so long, the upgrade cycle is naturally very slow. Both pro user and professional reviews bear out that the monoprice ones are excellent, as are the Yiynova monitor digitizer tablets (which are regarded as BETTER than the cintiq).

Same tech? Same drivers function and hot keys? From same exact manufacturer in Asia? It's possible. But you'll have to backup your claim.

Again, people should go to Adobe's forum or whatever graphic forums you google on internet and ask around for advices instead of me or some guys here for feedback.

I said same tech as in same type of digitizer technology. Obviously hot keys vary based on what's physically on the tablet you choose, and drivers vary because they're different brands/manufacturers. I'm not "some guys here", as I said I use and have used these things professionally for around a decade. The monoprice ones perform no worse yet are around 1/7-1/10 the price... Wacom is the Apple of digitizer tablets. Overpriced for the same/about the same thing, while offering no more performance. Additionally, just like Apple, many people will buy into the brand hype and defend their choice rabidly... there's nothing wrong with people doing research (I'd also encourage it) but it's something to keep in mind which is why I brought it up.

p.s. I do think it's good all these competition is around to put pressure on Wacom. Their quality is top notched, there is a reason why they dominate the professional market for so long. But their price is a bit high, god know how fat the profit margins they make.

I don't disagree, their quality is great and the performance is top notch, but the pricing is way out of whack with comparable devices in my opinion.

I agree with GoldenTiger. Go to DiviantART and ask any of the professionals on there which tablet - considering price and build quality - they prefer.I think you will find the overwhelming majority will say Monoprice.

Tablets are not unlike software. You have those who defend Photoshop to the end. However, for the money, a lot of professionals are starting to trend toward programs like PaintTool SAI since it's a fraction of the cost and does somethings better than PS and 85-95% of the remaining things almost as well as PS.

Thanks OP!

I received mine today and though it looks new.. it was quite dusty, As if someone kept the box open next to a highway.Could be because of gaps in the packaging, god knows. I bought the large and it was MUCH larger than I was expecting (never seen it in person before)

lol funny cause your name is dustbyte.

Consider getting a smaller one. The bamboo I had was the smallest they had, maybe 5in and it was a good size.

What happens is it becomes the size of your screen, so when you move across it, its like using a mouse.

And I highly recommend PaintToolSAI. It is a great drawing program, better than photoshop.

That is why I said in my posts Large is too large for most people. Just make some space on your desk for it.

We can debate what is "a lot" about which tablet or software is being used, and it's all meaningless unless me or you can show some real numbers (but hey that is what internet debate is about sometimes just throwing our 2 cents out...). But Wacom is the industry leader for a reason. If Monoprice one is exactly as good as it is, and of course much cheaper, Wacom would be in big trouble now. And they are not. I am not a fan of Wacom, they charge too much IMO. But they target different users with different needs, just like you can buy a Kia, or a Toyota, or Mercedes to drive. They all get you where you need to go, but obviously they are very different, target at different people.

You said DiviantART is a site that professional uses it, I am sure there are professional uses the site. But it's got a lot of Amateur to average users as well. Even my friends are on it with various art skills. I'd recommend anyone check out sites that profile artists and describe what software they use and gather inform from that. If you check out DA, also check out Adobe forum.


Photoshop is out of range for most average user. But it's the industry standard for photo correction and imaging software.

And no, most professionals don't use Paint Tool. Not even close.

Maybe if you freelance, you can use Paint Tool or any other software you want. But if you work in a professional environment, you have to know Photoshop. You might be able to use Monoprice tablet and get away with it, but not if you need to exchange files with other people who uses Photoshop format file works in Illustrator, Premiere, InDesign, where Adobe dominates the market.

If you go to an art design school and they don't teach you Photoshop, you shouldn't expect to get a job unless you freelance.

Just for the heck of it, I tried searching for jobs at Monster.com, and see how many jobs each software employers look for.

For Photoshop, there were 13 jobs open.

For PaintTool, there is none.

"Sorry, no "PaintTool" jobs were found that match your criteria other suggestions".


I also tried elance.com for job results that each software shows up.

For Photoshop, I found 44,088 new jobs in the last 15 days.

For PaintTool, there are NO job results. I tried "Paint Tool", and I found 2 results:


Sales - Reserve Study Firm
50 Photos For Home Related Tips & Tricks Website

None of which are for jobs.

At Amazon.com I search for how many books Photoshop and Paint Tool Sai has.

Photoshop books: 10,624
Paint Tool Sai: less than 5 books.


Paint Tool seems like a more cluttered version of Photoshop, and if you just edit photos or graphics at home, it might be fine. But as the job searches numbers and book searches numbers show, Paint Tool doesn't even exist in employer's eyes out there in professional world.

I find it pretty entertaining reading these kinds of threads about what is better or not, or worth it.. everybody has an opinion and back up their opinion with more opinions...

I say.. if you want it and can afford it, get it.. If you can't then don't. If you want an Apple, get an Apple! If you want a Strawberry get a Strawberry... is it better? Who knows..! Depends on how it was grown, location, blah blah and your taste buds...

For me?.. I have an intuos2! Its purple, its ugly but I like it.. I would get another one.. Apple? I have a MacPro, I like it... I have an iPhone, don't like it very much.. wait.. why are we talking about Apple?..

That's a flawed analogy. The tablets are both tools that do the same job, but one is far less expensive. Similarly, an Apple computer is the same guts as a PC, but is far overpriced for the specs comparatively. Both are wastes of money compared to other similar/exact tools. I work as I said, as a game developer. I do everything from sculpting to modeling to texturing to animation to coding. I'm not speaking as a hobbyist, but a knowledgeable professional.

togostuff: Debate can be fun. Political debate is more stressing though. Intuos2 is oldies but goodies. Keep on rocking with it!

GoldenTiger: You do CG too? Nice. Sounds like you use Maya since you code too? I mostly use ZBrush myself nowadays.

LOL!.. Thumbs up on your buddy!.. GoldenTiger... no comment man... just a.. :confused:

Yep... zbrush/max + photoshop are my tools of choice for art.

Repped you and togostuff!!! :)

4myrebate
 

Can someone verify the rebate for this?
It almost looks like it's for BM as some of the rebates on 4myrebate state :
Resellers:
TigerDirect.com Website
TigerDirect.com Retail Outlets

Whereas this one says TigerDirect.com Retail Outlets

It now says Retail Outlets.

It said both TigerDirect.com and TigerDirect.com Retail Outlets before.

They changed the terms. I have asked the mods to move it to Deal Talk.

That means website purchase would not qualify for rebate right? I am new to rebate offers. I am in CA. No Tigerdirect stores here.

thanks for this. had to cancel an order and then found this. bought through tigerdirect.com without tax in CA and rebate has been reviewed and processed. just waiting for card now.

The $100 rebate for Medium size must purchase through Tigerdirect, or its online store?
Thanks!

Stopped by the Miami, fl store and couldn't get the $100 discount.

Any suggestion?

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