I received my Parblo Island A609 a few days ago.
I have some drawing monitors from a different brand, but I wanted a graphics tablet I could take with me with my laptop, bigger than my Wacom Intuos Draw.
The item itself looks really great, I really like the fact that the pen is battery free, and it's also very light.
The tablet has four programmable expressive keys, and the pen has two, even though you couldn't choose exactly what key you wanted for the pen.
Unboxing: It came in a box right for the size. When you open the box of the Parblo Island A609, you'll find: The Graphics Tablet in a plastic sleeve, the pen, 5 replacement tips, a tip remover, the USB cable tied to the Graphics Tablet and the User Manual. You have to download the driver from www.parblo.com
Set Up and Expressive Keys:
Like I said before you have to download the driver from Parblo's website (www.parblo.com)
FYI: I have installed in my laptop two drawing monitor from a different brand and my Wacom graphics tablet, the drawing monitors and the Wacom can work with my computer without erasing their drivers. They all have been working well together!
Let's see the issues that I had with this Parblo: When I installed it the driver which you have to download from their website, I thought it looked good, never asked me while installation that it was gonna delete my other Tablet's Drivers, BUT..... IT DID.It deleted my drawing monitors drivers without consulting, and still without the other tablet's drivers, the Parblo never worked well, the pressure sensitivity wasn't there! I tried everything and it never worked the pressure sensitivity with Sketchbook Pro, the program I always use.The worst part is that, when I tried again to install the drivers of my drawing monitors, it was a disaster, now they're not working like they used to before. I had to make a system recovery, but it's not the same!! They're not working the way I liked it....And the Parblo, well, it depends, if you're willing to work without the pressure sensitivity, it will be fine for you, if you're not, well it might be a problem for you. I thought I was not gonna have problems with my other Drawing Monitors because they're from different brands, but it was a total disaster, and the Parblo even though the drivers from different tablets were deleted (by the Parblo's driver), the Parblo never worked well.
BUT...after fighting with this graphics tablet with my computer, I finally was able to tested it in my Dad's computer, it WORKED!
I installed the driver from their website, deleted old tablet's driver, and started working.
You find the installation driver in your Start Menu, and it opens a window where you select you can map your tablet's 4 expressive keys, I selected my favorites short cuts for these. Then, you choose Pen, and map the 2 buttons, I couldn't choose exactly the short cuts I wanted, I kept one button to the Right Click, and the other one does nothing. (I wanted the eraser for that button, but there wasn't for option), which was kind of a bump.
Drawing with the Island A609:
The pressure sensitivity worked like it supposes to, and again... the pen feels really light and smooth. The surface of the tablet is very smooth, and it feels really good.
I opened the software I use, Sketchbook Pro, and I started to draw, the pressure sensitivity worked really well and the tablet just felt great with the pen.
I also use the tablet with the software ArtRage, and worked also perfect with this software.
OVERALL: Still, after having issues with my laptop, I think this a good and affordable graphics tablet for amateurs or artists who are beginning with the digital art.
Parblo's Technical Support: cs@parblo.com
Parblo's Facebook page: http://bit.ly/1T6Aky9
Learn More: : https://www.amazon.com//
Parblo's Website: www.parblo.com
