Genius MousePen 8x6

Can you tell what it is yet?

Admittedly, I haven't exactly sung the praises of the Genius MousePen thus far, but it has one trump card to play: value for money.

Unlike many other areas of IT, there isn't exactly lots of competition in the graphics tablet market to drive down prices. The undisputed leader is Wacom and in the equivalent A5 form factor, they have the Graphire4 Studio XL and the Intuos A5. This is where Genius has a case: the Mousepen 8x6 retails at approximately £35 inc VAT, where as the Wacom Graphire4 is about £160 and the Intuos a whopping £235. There is no doubting that the Intuos is a damn fine tablet but it is over six times the price of the Genius.

Yes, the Genius feels cheap, it takes batteries and it's noisy to use, but if you're buying your first tablet, the MousePen is a capable and affordable foot in the door. For what you get for your money, you really could afford to buy one and just chalk it down to experience if you don't like it. Conversely, if you can get on with it then you have a truly remarkable budget piece of equipment here.

Would I buy it if I were a professional artist? No.
Would I buy it if I wanted a comfortable, portable graphics tablet? No.
Would I buy it if I wanted a cost-effective, basic graphics tablet which is larger in usable space than any other tablet in it's class? You bet.

The only possible caveat here would be the Trust Wireless 400 tablet, which is similar on features but still falls crucially short. Whilst I've not had chance to play with the Trust, on specs alone I'd side with the Genius.

As long as you know and accept you're not buying a Wacom, I have no hesitation in giving the MousePen 8x6 our Best Value award.


The Genius Mousepen 8x6 retails at approximately £35 inc VAT and is currently in stock via Microdirect and CCL Computers