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Hi guys,
Have you seen these? They're awesome.
We had the guys in the office yesterday doing a demo and they look great. It's a very popular alternative to Smart & Promethean.
See the attached for more info.
Plenty of different sizes available and these will last longer than Smart or Promethean.
Let me know what you think and if you need any quotes or questions answering :)
Luke
I wouldn't say cheaper and from my experience, they're not quite as good.
They're not as user friendly and the software's no where near as good. You don't get the same choice on size and they don't use commercial screens.
What i would recommend for anyone looking at replacing a few Smart or Promethean boards, is let me know and i'll arrange a demo of the Clever LCD for you so you can see for yourself how good they are :)
This is exactly the sort of technology I have been waiting for so that we can get rid of the bl**dy projectors...and the laptops as well...
...but, how do the prices compare to IWBs?
They do use commercial panels, and although they dont advertise it they do offer an 82" version. My understanding is that the Sahara models use a now discontinued panel anyway. :thumb:Quote:
Originally Posted by Millgate
It depends which IWB you go for but they are similar if not cheaper. Prices are generally done on a deal by deal basis so if you're after a few, you'll get quite a heavy discount.
Honestly, they are very impressive. I'm not slating the Genee product but once you've seen and used the Clever LCD, you'll see the difference
As i said in another post i saw a wonderful demo of one of these units with guy tapping the screen saying how strong it was and resistant to knocks,....yes you guessed it ,...it cracked !!!
They are OK but, till the price equels the less than £2000 same as projectors and boards i dont see the point, also what is the half life on the screen?
But if your in a class can you read normal text on the screen as you can on a whiteboard (the answer is no) so their use is limited in a classroom till they get bigger in size and also lower in price.
Marc
Projector Engineer
Prices depend on which size you're after and how many as with everything else. Quite a few schools have replaced their Smart boards with these after having demos and trials so they must be doing something right.
It's not just schools either, the NHS, MOD and other bodies have ordered these by the truck load and these guys do some serious testing
The primary school we support had one on trial, we then noticed it and took it up with @Millgate and are now buying 3 of them.Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc-Engineer
The LED mesh touch panel thing on them i think has a 50,000 hour life on it (I think thats what the bloke from Sahara said, am sure @Millgate can check this and confirm), he smacked the front of our demo one with his fist a few times and it was fine. They had a 60" in a classroom and my manager and i stood at the back of the room and watched the lesson for a little and it was no worse to view than the smart board and projector that they had in the room as well.
The software that comes with it was nice to use and some of the other bits of software were nice as well (google earth for example looks great on them as they have pinch to zoom in / out).
Like i said, we've ordered 3 of them, plus brackets, plus installation from @Millgate and they'll be installed in January to replace 3x promethean boards and 3x projectors. Will let you know how we get on but i dont forsee any issues. The feedback from the teachers at our primary was very positive (they also had theirs on a movable electronic stand and used it for small meetings, conferences etc).
:)
Whilst the screen, bracket and installation is more than the £2000 you mentioned Marc for a projector and board, the life of the clever LCD from what Sahara told me should be a lot greater than a projector bulb so once you start throwing £200~ a go at bulbs, over the life time of the items you might end up saving. It's one of those things that you can't be sure of until you have a like for like test i suppose.
Edit; just seen the PDF flyer Luke attached and it does say that the CleverLCD life is 50,000 hours. I knew that number stood out for some reason to me! :) If that is right then 50,000 isn't at all bad in comparison to a standard bulb projector, granted some of the LED projectors now are saying they can stretch to 50,000 hours, how accurate that is I dont know but your paying around £750 for a Casio LED projector with that sort of life span......
I think most projectors are now around 50,000 hrs and tghe life of the LCD seems odd i think they mean the back light life as screen are normally rated as half life meaning how long till its only half as bright, brightness on a screen is constantly reducing so half life is important but often not mentioned half life on a typical laptop screen is around 5 years normal use so around 4,000 hrs i would expect these large screens to be better.
Yes if they are readable from the back of the class they are a good tool no shadowing etc. But i like to see them in action first i rember Casio saying our projectors have 20,000 life they have now halved that.
We are currently fitting 89" boardsas boards are getting bigger and cheaper but i think screens will be a while catching up to price and size, but hey its all in the right direction.
Marc
Projector Engineer
Projectors are 50000 hours yes, however bulbs are at the point where you are lucky to get them to last 2000.
Why have the added cost of bulbs (excluding casio projectors) when you can do away with the projector (and the god awful cabling that goes with it) and have a brighter and more durable system. Not to mention teachers won't draw on something that looks like a TV with marker (whereas they do on smartboards/promethian boards).
Assume these or ones similar will be at BETT?
Agree with @nephilim that doing away with all cabling and staff not drawing on them would be a good cheeky bouns.
They more than likely will be at BETT. Opposite the edugeek stand last year was a table that was interactive, so they more than likely will be there.
There's no reason people can't organise demo's of the product through @Millgate and let Sahara come out and show you for themselves. It costs nothing except a bit of time and you never know, you might be impressed (we were) :).
I dont think Sahara are at BETT, from memory (and i could be wrong, i've been off for 2 weeks on paternity) the guy we spoke to said the reason is Sahara don't sell directly to customers but only go through re-sellers. They want the re-sellers to do the leg work not them (sort of makes sense, its the re-sellers who have the end user contacts to make the sales and they have to do something for their cut of the money).
I think that's how it was described to us........like i said, @Millgate can sort trials out and someone from Sahara comes out to setup and give a demo of the product :)
They aren't listed on the BETT site as a supplier exhibiting :\ @Millgate might as well do some work and check for us all :pQuote:
Originally Posted by Max_Power
Ha, thanks Ross.
I've just spoke to Sahara and they're not officially doing a stand themselves but they'll be a few screens down there so you can have a look.
If you're interested, send me your details and i'll arrange for you to meet our guy from Sahara and he can give you a demo on our behalf. Just tell me who you are, where you're and what day you will be there.
Cheers