Tell me about Wacom tablets as mouse-type input devices

I’ve been feeling some hand strain in both hands from mousing recently (I’m an ambidextrous mouser), and I’m thinking of picking up a Wacom tablet to use as an input device. I’ve kinda wanted one anyways for photo editing and drawing, but couldn’t really justify it for those (infrequent) uses. So, three questions:

1)How well does the pen work as a mouse replacement?

  1. Does a dual monitor setup complicate using it as a mouse replacement? I can always modify my desktop setup so that most mouse needs are on the primary and just use a mouse when I need to get the pointer over to the other one I guess.

3)Are the Wacoms lefty-friendly? While I mouse with either hand, I only write with my left. I don’t expect to be able to use the pen effectively with my right hand.

Oh, actually I have one more question:

  1. If I decide to go past the small Bamboo Fun, is the additional size of the medium Bamboo more worthwhile than the additional features of a small Intuos?

I have the Wacom Bamboo. I don’t really use mine as a mouse replacement that much (I mostly use it for drawing), but I can say that it generally works very well, it’s extremely responsive and smooth. The pen isn’t geared toward handedness and I can’t imagine it would be any harder for a lefty than a righty. The pen itself isn’t the most ergonomic, and the buttons are a bit clunky, but once you get used to them they work fine.

The tablet lets you work in either ‘pen mode’ or ‘mouse mode’. In ‘pen mode’, the position of the pen on the tablet maps to the position of the cursor on the screen. This is the most intuitive mode and it’s very powerful to be able to move things around at will this way; the main drawback is that reaching extreme positions on the screen requires fairly big hand movements. In ‘mouse mode’, the tablet works like a touchpad in the sense that the cursor stays put after each movement, so you can go to extreme positions with several small movements. It feels weird doing this on the tablet, but I suppose it would be fine after a short adaptation period.

One great thing for navigating is that the tablet offers some very powerful and efficient scrolling modes.

Finally, the controls are extremely programmable, so you’re almost certain to find a mode that works for you.

I’ve been using Wacom tablets at home for the past oh, ten years or so.

They work splendidly for left-handed people. I guess they’re equally good for right-handers as well. :cool:

Sadly, it’s well-known that Wacom tablets are kinda spotty on dual monitor setups. You can set the tablet to be proportional - its full horizontal space maps directly to the width of your two monitors, but roughly half of the tablet’s vertical space is dead. There are also various third-party utilities that let you leave the tablet proportioned for one monitor (using all of its space) and via hotkeys or pen gestures, it pops over to the othe monitor. I’ve also heard of people that keep a mouse attached so they can draw full-screen in Illustrator, AutoCAD or whatever, and use the mouse on the other monitor to control palettes and functions.

I use a tablet. You can set it up so that the entire desktop, both screens, maps to the active drawing-tablet area. There’s a button on the side of the pen; mine is set up so that the top end is a right single click and the bottom end is a left double click. I don’t see why the tablet couldn’t be used by the left hand. I suspect that a larger tablet allows more precision in drawing.

A little tablet should be enough if you just want to use it as a mouse. Even as a drawing tool you don’t really need to go larger than 8x6, because the larger sizes are increasingly ungainly. They’re good for detail work but since the tablet is mapped to your screen if you go too large you’ll find yourself moving your arm around like a windshield wiper.

As for how well it works… well, I still prefer a mouse for mouse-related activities. But if holding a pen is easier for you than holding a mouse then I’d say it’s a worthwhile investment.

Brilliantly for general use. Not so good for games.

It’s a bit trickier, but doable. I switched to a trackball.

Absolutely. They’re just like an ordinary pen. The only problem I have with the pen itself is that the buttons are a bit low and a bit small. But I have largish hands.

Edit: don’t use mouse mode. IMHO it sucks royally.