Input needed on pen input

Howdy,

I have quite a bit of image analysis to do here at work that requires a lot of freeehand drawing. A mouse is serviceable for the job, but I was wondering if anyone here has any comments (good/bad) about pen inputs in general. Any recommendations for a specific model would also be greatly appreciated.

Your buddy,
letdown

Having a pen is great, although it's not going to be this magical panacea. You need to be able to draw reasonbly well in the first place, and even then it takes some pracitce, but it is far superior to a mouse or trackball.

As far as a brand goes, the WACOM Intuos 2 is the best. Period. Their hardware and software are both far superior to anything else out there. That being said, I actually own an Aiptek 12000u, and it's not bad. The biggest drawback is the functionality of thier drivers, followed a close second by the fact that the pen requires a battery and is not as sensitive as the wacom (512 levels of pressure vs. 1024, and it is not tilt sensitive either). Also there is a bigger range of tools to use with the WACOM for instance the "Airbrush" pen is pretty cool, but you have to pay for them. Still my Aiptek has functioned flawlessly for the couple of months I've had it, and it is 1/4 the price of a similar sized WACOM, and still far cheaper than even the smaller model.

If you can afford it buy the WACOM, you won't be sorry, if not even the Aiptek seems to be a pretty good device.

-Jason