Smart Board 600i

[alan-d]

Anyone here using the Smartboard 600i system?

LINK

If so, are they any better than a standard install of Board & projector?

Running costs of the inbuilt projector?

[alan-d]

Mmm I take it that's a No then?

bugger - it looked nice anyway

[monkeytoffee]

Has anyone used one of these recently?

I saw one yesterday and it seemed to have a glare spot on it when sat centrally?

Thoughts?

[Jake]

We put up a 680i version of this at Easter. Havent really decided yet whether I prefer it over a seperate proj/smart. There was less cabling required in the install, but then I never really minded doing the cabling for the standard proj/smart. The kids seem to prefer it though, as it looks like a Dalek head.

Its certainly handy for keeping the light out of the teachers faces, other than that, I havent noticed much difference yet.

Havent noticed any glare on the board.

[enjay]

We're getting two next week, so ask me again after that!

The ones we've gone for are height-adjustable too, which is especially useful for our Junior School where there is a vast height discrepancy between pupils and teachers, and of course pupils at either end of the school (an 11 year old is much taller than a 3 year old!).

They look good on paper though - less cabling, more mobile if needed, no huge pole in the middle of the room. I'm optimistic :-)

[Pumaedition]

We have just had one installed in our 6th form.

I think it is an ugly thing, but actually works really well. A really good feature of it, in my opinion, is that it is not neccesary for a laptop to be connected, as they have a pre-loaded (dumbed down) version of Smrt Notebook called ScratchPad. This allows you to write on the board using the pens, so it can be used more often.

The 600i also has a USB port, so memory sticks can be plugged in to it...as long as you have the right drivers from Smart.

[Chafftech]

I did look at these but I have concerns:

Is anyone worried that they are breakable by students swinging on them?
Fixing costs what happend if the projectors duff how do you swap it out?
How do you replace lamp?

Please share with me your thoughts if you have one of these because I am actually quite interested in these

[Jake]

I did look at these but I have concerns:

Is anyone worried that they are breakable by students swinging on them?
Fixing costs what happend if the projectors duff how do you swap it out?
How do you replace lamp?

Please share with me your thoughts if you have one of these because I am actually quite interested in these

Students swinging on them is definately one issue, the projector arm which sticks out is awfully tempting for someone to take a running jump at.

The lamp can be replaced via a little hatch

[enjay]

Is anyone worried that they are breakable by students swinging on them?

Do you think that's any more likely than them swinging from the ceiling-mounted ones?

[davyboi]

from an installers point of view they look a brilliant idea, i did 8 months installing them, and it can be a real pain getting the projector on the ceiling, trying to find something suitable to fix to and still getting it where the teacher wants it,

Then you have to get the vga loom from the projector to the breakout near the board witch usually involes trunking across the ceiling or if its a suspended ceiling trying to get trough insulation, with this its just a bracket on the wall that is held on with 5 screws, the projector is allready at the right throw distance so no messing about tryin to measure it all out.

Another thing is that it can easly be moved, if needs be and you wont be left with trunking stuck the ceiling and holes all over, jus the 5 on the wall,

[TechMonkey]

Sorry for the bump but how are peoples opinions forming up about these? Looking at getting a whole swathe of these in and the usual points are popping up (swinging on the bar, what happens about speaker replacement, etc).

Good, bad, indifferent?

Ta

[enjay]

We haven't got ours yet - we wanted the height-adjustable ones, and SMART kept delaying the release date...

[Busybub]

Nick, have you got a price and part number for the height adjustment widget? Looking into this for one of our rooms next year...

Saw a pic of it last month but neglected to take a note of the info at the time as I wasn't expecting anyone to start throwing funds my way!

[enjay]

@Busybub- another £400 or so on top of the board price, I think. Don't hold me to that though...

[Busybub]

Cheers Nick!

It's amazing that they can get away with charging this on a bit of moulded metal...