Pen tablet by every other name...

[Voixdelion]

I recently found a neato thing at the second-hand store on top of a bookshelf (I would normally have missed it since I'm only  5'2", just happened to have looked up right then as I was beneath it) - A 12"x9'" Aiptek  USB hyper-pen tablet 12000u (without the cordless pressure sensing pen, tho) for $15 bucks.  Pretty neat thing, but finding a replacement pen to try it out was a real chore since this is a discontinued product  - ended up getting from the UK for almost twice the cost of the tablet!  However, I recently discovered that it is exactly the same tablet that is currently available through adesso as the cybertablet  12000a or some such, which does have more available replacement pens!  Cool! Got two more on sale under the adesso name when I couldn't barely locate it under the aiptek label.

After that (and a further google for confirming the aka), a search on ebay revealed several of these devices going for 150 buckish new and some good prices used too.  And this damn thing has been rebranded more than anything I have ever seen - exactly the same harware with their own drivers :adesso cybertablet 12000,  aiptek hyper-pen, trust ,Tooya PenPower,  genius wizardpen ,vistablet, Medion (MD 9570), Pentagram (O’Pen XXL), some Nissan or Nissin or something like that but not those, CECompass, and at least a few more I can't remember - supposedly all manufactured by a company called Waltop.  Its a pretty nice tablet, very large,  and really excellent if you want one and are on a budget.  Most reviews have been favorable if you don't need the bells and whistles of the comparably sized Wacom at twice or thrice the price.  I just snagged a second one off ebay for $10 bucks under one of the other names, WITH pen!

Seems like this should somehow be unfair marketing practices or something though - kinda like a monopoly in disguise.   This is a little ridiculous for that many different stickers being slapped on the thing.   I'm curious just how many times this tablet has changed names and nothing else? Anybody know about this thing as any other name or what models of the ones I've listed?   I'm really liking it, but I never had anything to compare against.  How come it's having such an identity crisis?    

USB tablet looks like this and comes with a cordless pen and mouse (which is apparently useless according to commentary on all counts no matter which alias its using):
 

So if you see one that looks like it for peanuts and aren't sure about the risk because its uncommon, read about the ones I mentioned cause they are all identical
Let me know any other aka's if you find em, too.  Just in case we need any more replacement pens.  They seem to be the most likely failure point, especially since its wireless.  I can just see me standing up, taking a step and hearing crunching plastic before I realize what's happened.

[wellington1869]

I had a similar looking wacom tablet hand-me-down from sister, and I sold it on ebay for like $120 or so (another one of those items that I was very suprrised what it sold for). But that was like 5 years ago, prolly they're not worth nearly as much anymore.

[Voixdelion]

There are new adesso cybertablet 12000 right now going for that much.   I was just surprised that this was sold under so many different labels without even a change of color!  A lot of people are dumping them because they can't find a replacement stylus for it under whatever name, but I think they'd keep em if they knew they could be purchased - and none of the rebranders is forthcoming with that information.  

I think people like these because they are so large a surface area.  Most of them now are hard to come by larger than 8x6.  The active area on this thing is 12x9 - making it at about 14x16 or more in actual real estate.  It is a pain in the butt to store.  Wish they'd stuck a hole in the top so I could hang it on the wall or on the side of the desk (and had some way of tethering the cordless pen when not in use) .  From a value purchase standpoint, though, a tablet that size with pressure sensing pen for under $25 bucks to your door is pretty hard to beat.  Especially since many of the used ones are barely so - some haven't been opened at all that were bought for projects that didn't ever mature to the active stage.  We may not even end up using em for more than a slightly more portable mousing surface, but I think I may toy with it a little bit and see if I can't do some of my other more ambitious photoshops a little bit better, and some tasks are easier using the stylus instead of my expert mouse even!  I just couldn't resist getting another one at such a low price after the first one kept migrating between computers in the house whenever someone wasn't using it.

[wellington1869]

lol! I think its a bot...

[Voixdelion]

Spam = tool of the devil.  The plan is to annoy us into capitulation.  
   
When I click a link telling me there is a reply to a thread I started, and there is no such reply but instead a reference to a reply that may have been there but inappropriate, I tend to get confused.  

I typically dislike being confused.

Ergo, spam bots piss me off.  

Dammit.

I just sent the advertised site an FYI that such advertising techniques are  not likely to win favor since I tend to get vocal about things that piss  me off.  If I see another such type of thing with their name attached I begin a negative advertising campaign on FB.