Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Cintiq 24HD: current situation.

As readers of this blog may already know I am experiencing some problems with my Cintiq 24HD. Don’t misunderstand me: I really like the Cintiq 24HD and how it feels to draw on it, but the problems I have are compromising my experience with this nice piece of hardware. 

The first problem is a  fan noise that maybe will require my unit to be changed, but I don’t know how much it will take. I am waiting for a confirmation from Wacom. 

Then a problem with the Art Pen that is not working properly (for me is not usable at all). I have been told (it was the supposition of a YouTube user, nothing from Wacom) that my problem is only a driver problem. I really don’t know if this can be true, I am waiting for an answer from Wacom. 

Other problems that have been reported by user are:
 
1) Bad pixel (2500€ but no 0 bad pixel warranty, that nowadays you find on many monitors. I got my Eizo replaced for one bad pixel in 2006 (5 years ago) and it was a mid-level monitor (S2410W). On my blog I got one comment from an user with a bad pixel and I know about one more case. It seems that there are no standards for bad pixel. Read this topic on Wacom European Forum.

2) Driver problems in “remembering” settings: read this topic. I reported this in the Wacom Forum, I hope that they can do something. At the moment the solution is to use the preference utility to backup and reload setting each time you restart the computer. Not a very user friendly workaround. I had also some problems with the driver (the Cintiq 24HD a couple of times was not recognized correctly) but this could be a problem of my computer (also if other user have reported a similar problem and I am not experiencing problems with all the other hardware that I use, including the Wacom Intuos 4 Wireless).

3) UPDATE 6th October 2011: Some user reported a flickering problem of the screen. You can read here and here (two different link). The problem is described in this way: the display flashes off and on again for about a second at random intervals. 

In Europe getting customer support seems a bit tricky. I wrote to the support on the 30th and I got incomplete email as answer. In Wacom Europe they are all very kind, maybe they are busy because all the 24 HD are sold out, but the service starts to seem to me slow. You can read the story here.

On my blog you will find more information and a review of the Cintiq screen review of the Cintiq 24HD screen and a review of the moving and locking mechanism.

Other things that I need to say (some of them where already described in this blog) are:

The screen is hot (maybe related to my fan issue). I am working in an air conditioned room and I can feel that the screen is a little bit too hot for my taste. After some hours of work I started to really hate the temperature of the screen. Very sad, because otherwise working with this product is a fantastic experience.

If you scratch the screen you will have to pay several hundred euros to get it replaced. It is recommended to clean it only with soft cloths, using only water,  no solvents. But you never know. I was more than one picture of a ruined Cintiq 21UX. Consider that is suggested not to use screen protector because they will compromise quality.

I love felt nibs, great feeling, but you will really need many of them, they seem to consume even faster than on the Intuos surface.

I bought the product because I always loved Wacom products, I hope that they will quickly solve my problems. I will keep you updated. Any comments are welcome.

3 comments:

  1. Im sorry you got all these problems with your cintiq :(

    You said on Conceptart.org that the screen has anti-glare.
    I have a Dell 2209WA with pretty bad anti-glare.
    If im looking at a website with white text on black background the text sparkles.
    I believe this is a common problem.
    And of course i might just have sensitive eyes.
    White on grey is ok. But not white on black.

    Have you noticed this on the Cintiq?

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  2. You can read my comments on the anti-glare surface of the Cintiq 24HD here: http://managingcolors.blogspot.com/2011/09/cintiq-24-hd-monitor-calbration-and.html

    I can see that an image reproduced with the Cintiq 24 HD has generally a lower perceived sharpness. I think that the anti-glare surface is very “evident” on the Cintiq, but this is very subjective, you may or may not like it. My suggestion is to try and see with your own eyes.

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  3. Hi Vittorio,

    I've a very different and unusual problem. My Cintiq 24 HD wasn't showing any display. Every time I switch it on the display will come for just a second and disappear. After begging the wacom I had to send my monitor for service from Bangalore to Singapore. And after few months they return it saying there is no problem in the monitor, but it could be because of weather! yes they said moisture could be cause of the problem. Turns out it was right. I installed AC in my room. Now every rainy season or whenever humidity is slightly higher I need to switch on the AC and keep the room cooler for about 20 minutes for this heavy luxury monitor to switch on.

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