My stay-at-home vacation kicked off Friday night with a trip to Fry’s to pick up a Wacom Bamboo Touch to try out. I planned to post a review after using it for a week, and hearing it mentioned on MacBreak Weekly reminded me I still had some writing to do.

A co-worker and I were discussing Apple’s new Magic Mouse, and we agreed it would be neat to have something like our MacBooks’ touch pads, only desktop-sized. I immediately thought of the Wacom devices I looked at the last time I went to Fry’s. The online reviews of the Bamboo Touch were mixed; people either loved it or hated it. How did it work out for me? Read on.

I got the smallest Bamboo Touch, a 8.2″ x 5.4″ pad that’s only 1/3″ thick. There are four ExpressKeys along the side, and a white LED lights up to show it’s connected to your computer’s USB. The LED glows brighter when you touch the surface.

The packaging has the coloring and design from the Bamboo Fun line, and the inside of the package was laid out really well. You could tell this box was designed by someone who loved the feeling of opening up a new Apple product. This unboxing video from leopardsoup on YouTube walks you through the box and its contents:

My Mac Mini recognized the Bamboo Touch as a mouse right away, and the drivers supplied with the tablet enabled the two-finger multitouch features. The Bamboo Touch supports a fixed set of gestures: left click, right click, drag, scroll up/down, scroll left/right, zoom in/out (pinch), rotate, and back/forward. Some reviewers found the absence of three or four-fingered gestures confusing, but my 2006 MacBook doesn’t have them either, so I don’t feel like I’m missing much. On the contrary, I get annoyed by my MacBook’s primitive gestures now (just clicking & scrolling).

The Mac drivers install a System Preference pane where you associate each of the ExpressKeys with an action (such as “Switch Application” or “Show Desktop”) or assign a custom keystroke. They also let you pick left or right handed operation and adjust normal mouse settings like pointer acceleration. And, trust me, you’ll want to keep this preference pane open for the first day or two as you get used to using and adjusting the pad. I think a lot of the complaints about the pad’s accuracy could have been fixed by adjusting some settings.

I still keep a wired optical mouse around for gaming. I think Quake Live forces the pointer speed all the way up, because even the lightest touch sent my character spinning. But, the Bamboo Touch excels at all the other tasks I use my computer for. Be careful highlighting text, though. It can be tricky. And, with “drag lock” turned on, I sometimes forget to click the pad a second time to release the text or icon I’m dragging.

A couple of other reviewers complained about arm fatigue, since you can’t rest your hand on the pad like you would a mouse. You do have to hold your hand above the pad, or rest your fingers outside the pad’s active area (outlined in gray). A $10 beanbag from Allsop gave me a handy place to rest my hand, and I haven’t had any problems with strain or fatigue. Rather, I feel more relaxed using it since I don’t have to grip a mouse.

One of my reasons for wanting a new pointing device was that a wireless mouse would let me rid myself of Turing’s favorite cord to sit on. It’s hard to move a mouse around when there’s a cat keeping you from moving more than an inch. The Bamboo Touch is corded, but it doesn’t need to move. You’d think this would be an improvement, but Turing just sits on the pad now. His furry butt registers as a finger, keeping me from getting any work done. So, be careful using this around cats. Also, I don’t know how much weight this pad can support, so be careful around big kitties and dogs. Children should probably be watched around this thing, too. In fact, why don’t you put it away in a drawer when you’re not using it?

The Wacom Bamboo Touch might disappoint folks used to Apple’s current multitouch offerings, but it’s a great addition to my computing arsenal. At only $69, it does everything I’d expect a desktop touchpad to do. Budding artists out there may opt for the Bamboo Pen (also $69, but no touch features) or the Bamboo Pen & Touch ($99).