I purchased an Wacom Artz tablet about 10 years ago and it still works flawlessly with the original tip. At the time I tried a few other brands, but most were cheap imitations - not very well made, used batteries, pens were tethered by a cord, or just not accurate (you can't really appreciate how good Wacom is until you've tried a cheap brand.)
Here's a link to a thread discussing the various tablets.
http://www.thejemreport.com/phpbb2_index1319.html
For the record, I recently upgraded to an Intuos2 - 4x5, for the added features like the programmable menu strip and the grip pen. Note: I also didn't like the mouse that came with it.
Vikki