Equipment Tablet for animating in Flash

Hi guys not sure if this is the correct section.. If not sorry
Basically I was thinking of a tablet to use for Flash animating. My mouse just does not cut it! Perhaps I would use it for 3D modelling in Maya too.

I don't know anything about tablets I am a student and do not have huge funds but if you can recommend me good brands I am sure I will be able to find a product in my price range. I would prefer it to be wired USB too.

Thanks

EDIT: Wacom seems to be the only name I am hearing for tablets. Went to their site and took some little question air and it recommended me the Bamboo pen & touch. Any opinions on this item? Looks a tad small but what do I know

 

The intuos tablets are the best to go for, a small intuos 4 though is about £160 from Amazon, compared to £65 for the bamboo. You can sometimes pick them up a bit cheaper on ebay, but there's never loads of them on sale and they do hold their value.

If you're not doing "art" with the tablet, just want what is effectively a pen based mouse, then the bamboo will probably do what you need (Though do you need the touch?). But...

The intuos range are so much better, I've got a medium (though would have got on fine with the small) and it's a wonderful bit of kit. The intuos 4 is also miles better than the 3.

If you can push the budget to a new or used intuos 4, then get one. If you can't justify the cost, or want one sooner then get one of the bamboos (I can't advise on which one)

My advice, don't look at any alternatives to the wacom's. They are all cheap and nasty in comparison.

 

Those tablets seem to be aimed at professionals, and are quite a bit pricier, ill have a look for second hand ones though.

I was planning to get the pen & touch due to the software being bundled with it (photoshop mainly, as it saves me having to buy it separately) also the pen has only 512 pressure levels compared to the 1,024 on the pen & touch.

Just signed up to the site and sent off a request to get a student discount so ill wait and see if there is a major price drop to sway my choice.

Thanks for the help

 

Intuos 4, hands down. The programmable soft keys alone are worth it. If you are planning on working with a tablet in multiple programs, it's a massive time saver.

 

I have a Intuos4 Medium tablet, and it's awesome. I wouldn't recommend anything else.

 

thanks for all the suggestions. Gone for the pen & touch bamboo. the intuous4 were out of my price range and I am not too sure that I would need the touch keys either

 

i have a bamboo and its not too small to be honest, its a bit tricky to get to grips with at first as its all about hand-eye coordination. im still getting used to it. if you can afford it i'd suggest a cintiq 12" it costs around £900 and theres always the 21" if you have £2000 lying around lol