Home > Consumer Reviews > Bamboo Fun (Small) White Tablet with Pen, Mouse & Graphics Software

Wacom has brought this technology a long way. Many shopping for Wacom tablets probably have owned similar products in the past. This product is more affordable than the higher end Intuos3 models, yet powerful enough for many pros.

For me, the small size is perfect. The "medium" sized tablet is suited for hard core graphics people who need to work at the pixel level for large images. Those using this for the mouse also may prefer the medium size. However, most users will find the small size probably fits their needs. Either way, the tablet maps to your screen size for any of these models.

This unit comes in a variety of colors and configurations. I prefer the look of the black tablet, but there are silver, white and blue ones also.
Bamboo Fun (Medium) Silver Tablet with Pen, Mouse & Graphics Software
Bamboo Fun (Medium) Black Tablet with Pen, Mouse & Graphics Software
Bamboo Fun (Medium) Blue Tablet with Pen, Mouse & Graphics Software


Upon plugging in the device, the mouse worked immediately! The pen also works as a mouse or as a pen/brush for drawing applications.

The mouse is nice because it allows you to free up a USB port if you're using a USB mouse. Power users will need more from a mouse though. If you're anything like me, you prefer a mouse with many more options than this one provides.

Installing the drivers and software allows you to access the settings and tools that make this device versatile and customizable. The Bamboo software also allows you to customize the buttons. Left-handers will greatly appreciate this! Be prepared to spend some time tweaking this unit to your likes.

The software included with this device is a nice to have. Many people who buy this will already have or need full blown Adobe Photoshop. Adobe Elements gives you everything casual users need. The Corel application is nice to play with. But other than a few "macro" type functions I have yet to find anything I can't already do with Adobe. Perhaps newer users may find the Corel product more user-friendly.

Pros
+ USB connection
+ Works on XP and Vista almost plug and play - before software installation
+ Nice customizable software
+ Nice bundled applications - Adobe Elements and Corel Draw
+ No additional power adapter needed
+ Traditional or pen mouse for casual users
+ Small size is perfect for users not using the mouse

Cons
- The scrolling zoom function does not work uniformly on all applications
- The mouse with this model will not suffice for power users
- Default settings require a lot of adjusting for graphics editing
- The tablet would have been ideal with several additional USB ports

Overall, the graphic artist or visual junkie NEEDS one of these. If you are a casual user, it is worth getting one on sale. The small model with pen only will meet most users' needs.

Enjoy.

i just got this little toy, and believe me, it rocks!! i've used digital tablets before, but the bamboo fun is definitely the best value i've encountered.

what really impresses me is that you can actually WRITE using the pen and tablet. most people discover that writing on a tablet is a little harder than it looks, not least because there's a lag of a few microseconds between the pen movement and the actual screen response. at first this is a bit of a problem, but the trick is to concentrate your attention on the movement of the pointer on the screen rather than your hand motion. once your brain syncs to the screen movement, you'll soon be writing naturally using the tablet.

the included software is excellent, and getting up and running is also unbelievably easy. i think this is a wonderful gift for anyone - even if you're not an artist, you can still spend hours fooling around with the bamboo fun and the Corel Paint software. oh, and this might sound irrelevant, but i think it's a revealing detail about the quality of this product (and wacom, in general): the packaging (the box) is really aesthetic, a small work of art in itself.

This is my first drawing tablet and I have to say I'm surprised how easy it was to use. The software installation was fairly quick, and the tablet was working as soon as I plugged it in, even before I installed anything. The pen itself works very smoothly, and you get a different line depending on how hard you push on the tip. I was surprised at the level of sensitivity since it is one of the cheapest tablets on the market. Since it is very intuitive to use, I probably won't use my mouse anymore. Bamboo Fun is worth every cent.

This particular Wacom was pretty cool. It works right when you plug it into your computer. I only wish I bought a larger one. The size was a bit of a challenge for me to get used to. I am still learning alot of other features from it.

The Wacom® Bamboo Fun graphics tablet is easy to use. Since I am running Mac OS X Leopard (v10.5.2) on an Intel Mac mini, I downloaded the latest drivers from the Wacom website. The driver version is v. 5.08-2 as of this writing.

I did a few test drawings in Photoshop Elements 6 for the Mac. It worked wonderfully, with the pressure sensitivity of the pen working. The eraser also worked as described.

The function keys are programmable and so are the mouse and pen. Since I am left-handed, I kept on accidentally pressing on the pen buttons -- I disabled them to avoid this.

Now, I just have to work on my "artistic" skills. :-)