Eno Whiteboards

[ricki]

Hi Everyone

We have several whiteboards at the moment including smartboards, cleverboards and some corner mounted detectors that I forget the name of.

One department is wanting to buy ENO WHITEBOARDS and I have never heard of them. Does anyone have them and what are the boards and the software like in comparison to the smartboard software which is very good.

Thanks for all your help.

Richard

[hullpete]

looks like a simple idea with the bluetooth connectivity and the ease of installation, although you still need to install a projector and speakers if required, looks about on comparison with costs of smartboards and the like, but still i dont think the whole package would come in any cheaper than any other whole class teaching solution after installation costs, your only loseing a usb cable at the end of the day and a faceplate, if you require speakers then there would still be cables to run, looks like it also has a high gloss surface so projectorbility or surrounding like could be an issue possibly, im only presuming my points as ive never installed one of these yet, seems like a simple enough idea but i wouldnt fancy it by the looks of it, another thing to maybe bear in mind is that i personally as an installer discourage the use of board markers on any interactive whiteboard surface, from what i see polyvision seem to encourage use of markers on the eno board, weve all seen it before the boards will eventually stain,

[ninjabeaver]

Hi Richard,

We purchased 12 of these boards last Summer and I must say that they are pretty cool. Magnetic boards that have a Vitrous Enamel Coating on them (I think) that makes them exceptionally tough. The sales guy was beating the pants out of it and it was undamaged. Even if you do manage to damage it, it just keeps on working.

They pens are BlueTooth based and cost around £99 to replace. I've replaced none so far. All software works on them, including SMART software as the pen acts as a mouse more than anything.

The boards also come with a massive guarantee for coming up clean each time as they can be properly used as a whiteboard with marker pens. If not, Polyvision will replace or clean the board for you.

They are heavy though so make sure they are mounted on a decent wall.

Fantastic product all in though and well worth the investment. The reason we went for them is that they are so durable and can be used in different ways. e.g. magnetic, whiteboard, and interactive. Also excellent value.

Compared to the cost of a repair to a SMART / Hitachi or Promethean I can see these saving money in the long run.

[AVShopper]

I will definitely be adding these boards to our portfolio. I used to install a similar surfaced product called EBeam Complete, which also had a steel/vitreous surface but used an ultrasound pen. The ENO boards apparently use a form of camera which picks up on invisible marking in the surface of the board (as you can tell, I only got the sales material and not the tech info so far).

The interesting aspect for me is that many schools want to retain their dry marker boards in addition to the interactive boards and this will do the job of both. At first look, these are looking to be cheaper than SMART and Promethean (The 77" board is coming in similar to the 64" competitors).

It will be heavy, and depending on the bracketry, you need the wall to be strong and flat, but it's not a real barrier to using these.

But the pricing, robust construction and bluetooth rather than USB sounds good news to me.

[ricki]

The ebeam was the other one we have that has problems with the lights in the room because they broadcast a fields that interferes with the pens connection. The teacher has to turn off the front row of light to get it to work 100%

Richard

[hullpete]

yes there is interference with light sensors, but a firmware upgrade cures this, i discovered this installing them at a school in newcastle a while back, was driving me nuts!

[Techead]

The surface of the board is indeed intended for Drywipe pen usage, hence the reason that it uses the finish that it does. It comes with a forever warranty on the surface so really it should be a one time purchase of an iIWB. These boards are best used with Ultra Short or short throw projectors. Software will always be updated and I believe the manufacturer is not far away from releasing a new function created from the demand of teachers/lecturers. Magnetic pen holders for the Stylus will be shipping with new boards from April 1st also.

[Akritas]

Most likely we will buy some of them in our school, during the next two months. I had a short look at them today, in a small public exhibition. Anyway all IWBs have their goods and bads, but at the end is what you get for the funds spent.
Writing is fast like the promethean boards, but with this slippery feeling (again like the prometheans) as the surface is hard. Sometimes makes the lines lapse if you write with speed. Smartboards and polyvision TS have soft membrane over the base surface, so they feel less slippery (so you do not need to press, or to care about the pen being in big angle), but therefore they also have a slower response (polyvision TS more than smart - tested). Eno boards are fast indeed.
Glare of surface I think not very different from hitachi and not far from the good standards of promethean.

[Akritas]

The bad thing with enos, like the prometheans again, is the single form of input. Stylus. Hitachi boards are durable like the enos, but they also offer touch control (through infrared technology) and they also are marker compatible. Yay! But with inferior software and they are more expensive here (about 300 euros). And they asked over 200 euros to make them wireless... And the wide format eno (with same height) is cool for portable computers. Soon all will use them and they will get very affordable.

[Akritas]

The polyvision eno boards are the definately most durable, marker friendly (saves projection lamp hours and money), and reasonably priced and they take any software! I believe good for 12-18 years old students and flying object, antiteacher mine infested classrooms.
But dont loose the stylus. Most likely we will buy polyvision eno for the high school students and hitachi for the kiddies. No good price ifm you buy from two sources though.

[Akritas]

Remember that we have not used them yet in the long run. What we have seen from presentation. A good practice is to be fairly tight with the budget and use the computer-projector-screen solution and buy IWBs with consideration. Or whiteboard, or chalkboard. Makes people think more.
We sum up to the point that for all the expense you must have some flexibility. Stylus-touch, or stylus-marker. You get the point. Plus good software (smart and prom are best) and durability. These few from me.