About
Reviews (1)
05 Feb, 2020
Favorite Pen/Tablet ever. Just as good, If not better than modern day tablets.
First tablet I ever had, and probably the best... that's why I just bought a vintage one here on ebay.
More recently, I've been using an Intuos 5 (medium) and I just do not like it. I always bump the buttons (which I never properly learned how to use anyway), It's too big and bulky to sit, relax, and comfortably draw with, the cord always falls out on me (I currently have a big fat rubber band holding it in at the proper angle, and sometimes even that doesn't work), and the nibs (tip of the pen) wear down ultra fast on me because I naturally press hard all the time.
So, in frustration, I remembered my very first tablet and how hassle free it was. The ET-0405-U is so durable, the cord never falls out (doesn't detach), It's compact and easy to relax with and hold, and travel with, and best of all, the nib, which has the same pen-pressure features and all, never wears down or needs replacement. If you've got kids that wanna play around with digital drawing, definitely grab one of these. My old one held up to many drops unlike the intuos 5, and I only ended up replacing it because the pen accidentally got crushed while moving and was unfixable.
The only small hassle in acquiring one these days is finding a working driver, but I can guide you right through finding it!
When you search for this model number on Wacom's official website, it comes up with a page of outdated drivers [They stopped updating at Windows XP]. The driver will install okay and the tablet will light up, but the pen never actually worked for me (I have Windows 10 64-bit).
So, after hours of online research and reading, and trying different drivers (even from scary external sites), I figured out that a working driver is on the Wacom official site, but it's listed in the Customer Support forum, not their driver download page.
To find it, go to the official Wacom website, Click "Support," and then search for: "What is the latest driver for the Graphire 1 & 2 (ET) tablets?"
When that exact question comes up in the results (first result, most likely), click on "read more." THAT is where you will find the most recent drivers (and they worked for me). These drivers work for USB and Serial and Windows 7, Vista or XP (32 & 64 bit) and Mac OS X v. 10.7, 10.6 & 10.5 (Intel). The name of my file was WacomTablet_6.2.0w5 (exe). So, just download, then open the downloaded file to install the driver and follow along with any instructions, and I believe you need to restart your computer before it works, but that should work on any modern PC/Mac operating system. Good luck and happy drawing!