I heard about this fancy tablet/pen from Sheri Bell-Rehwoldt over on the FLX board and asked more:

It's the best tool ever! No more wrist pain from dragging that damn mouse around! My laptop sits in a stand, and my Wacom tablet sits to the left of my ergo keyboard. Once you get used to the pen, it's no more "inconvenient" than picking up a mouse. I love the little button on the pen that allows me to click/doubleclick. And the eraser end is mighty cool.

The Wacom pen glides across the pad like silk -- you can even hover it in the air, without making contact with the pad. When you use it that way, you tap on the little button with your thumb to drag/click, or you can press the tip onto the pad. I just click the pen on the tablet and it matches up with the corresponding point on the screen. Plus, you're not holding it all the time. There's a little plastic "well" you stand it in when you're typing or doing commands on your keyboard. You can move the well around anywhere you like, as there are no wires attached to it. Very cool! Just drag it along whatever text you want to delete and Poof! It's instantly gone. Highlight, drag, erase, scroll! It sounds labor intensive, I know, but after you've gotten used to it, it's simply a matter of scoop and drop, scoop and drop (into the well).

I got mine for $85, I think. Money well spent. I wish I had sprung for the larger one, but that one was $200--and I didn't want to spend the money on something I didn't know I'd like. Now that I KNOW i love it, I wish I had. It's 8x10, I think, instead of 4x5.

Here's what's so great about the pen: IT DOESN'T HURT YOUR HAND! My mouse caused my hands/wrists to ache -- no matter which one I tried. The pen just flows....no pain, no tension, no ache! And I will admit that I occasionally grab the mouse that comes with the tablet/pen, if I want to highight big sections of text, for example. It, too, glides across the tablet. No pain, no tension, no ache. I love that I get no wrist pain from the pen -- and being able to sign my documents is TOO COOL! You'll just have to try it to believe it.

I also know a lot of illustrators who use it. They adore it, too -- though they all use the bigger one.

LOVE IT! LOVE IT! LOVE IT!