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.