Opinions before purchase.

[Jayne Cobb]

Hey guys!

I am looking at buying this monitor to assist me in Photoshop mapping. Any feedback you guys could give would be awesome!

Thanks!

[waldronate]

As a artistically-challenged individual, I offer my standard advice: make sure that you can already do on a piece of paper with a standard writing implement what you want to use the expensive device for. My experience (argued against by some individuals here) is that new hardware won't magically make things better; it's the practice that makes things better. I offer this advice mainly due to my own intolerance for frustration. I have spent a great deal of time and dollars looking for a tool and toy that will help me to improve the appearance of my output. So far, it hasn't worked for me (again, others have had different experience because the fancy toy has made them push past where I would have quit).

Having said that, I would also caution about the size of such a device. If you don't have a solid way to mount it to your working surface. Monitors are often trickier to rotate to get a good working angle than is a pad of paper because they are usually fixed to a stand in some way. At 11 pounds, this beastie is something that you are likely not going to be picking up and moving around lightly. As always, it depends on your style of use. If you're used to working on similar-sized pads on a easel, this would probably work well. If you're more of a sketchpad sort of person, it might take some getting used to.

This particular device has a battery-powered stylus, so you want to make sure to keep those things charged at all times (and possibly invest in an extra one or two that you rotate through the charger to keep everything charged). It really sucks to have the device stop working when you're fully engaged in your task and have to stop in the middle of it and recharge something.

The reviews are pretty good, but it's new enough that there's not a lot to say about longevity. If I had some of that artistic talent stuff, I might invest in one of these.

[Falconius]

When purchasing a professional tool, what I look for is: Will it help me do what I want faster and cleaner? Will it earn back it's cost? For expensive tools with cheaper versions of it available, another set of questions is: Will it be easier to work with, will it pay for the avoidance of running back and forth replacing cheapos when they fail (this is always a yes, but still worth thinking about), are the features and ease of startup compared to the cheapo version actually better. (I've gotten to the point were I vastly prefer quality to cheap, so usually the answer for most of these for me is "Yes" (a caveat: more expensive does not always mean higher quality))

Another point is that it is the service it is put towards which is making the money. For instance I have a halfway decent welder and by far it has made me the most money of any of my tools, but that is because welding is what I'm selling (sometimes), not because it's a good tool (it's only ok). If this is the case, ie you are selling illustrations, it pays to have good tools from the start if you can afford the upfront costs, but really it is the product you are selling that matters most.

Probably not the sort of opinions you were looking for but Waldronate took it that direction first so blame him :p

[waldronate]

but Waldronate took it that direction first so blame him :p

Negativity is one of my most advanced products.