Popular Post paulellam Posted February 10, 2015 Popular Post Posted February 10, 2015 We are currently looking into the replacement for our Smartboards and projectors etc and arranged demo,s of the differing brands. We have been to neighbouring schools to see units in action and to get feedback. This is our early days findings..... So far so good they are all similar do the same job but with varying price, looks, screen type, multi touch points, inputs, warranties lol so not so similar after all. I have not got embroiled in the software that comes bundled with the board or the inbuilt speakers as we have decent wall mounted ones in place. My first concern is the hardware, build quality, picture, warranties etc. Also not going to compare price yet, concentrate of finding the right board for us. Smart E70 (I know its end of life this year) Has loads of inputs, covering VGA, DVI, HDMI (all bases covered) Unit is very sturdy, boxy looking but I,m after robust not pretty. Picture quality was great, video was lovely and of course full HD material superb but most importantly every day stuff i.e old school text was good too. Not much glare on the screen and a strong surface to boot (not that i would want to 'boot' the screen). Multi touch was nice but not used much but would be I guess eventually. Great unit, staff loved it (we had it a few days) and tempted but for it being end of life, now is the problem that the replacement board by Smart has only an HDMI input as a 4k board, this in my view would limit our use but others may disagree. 3 year warranty can be extended to five. Genee board 65" visited a local school who had a couple, the boards looked nice seemed strong and the picture was sharp and clear. Inputs etc all covered, touch was good and responsive and the staff had no problem with the board, they had issue with the bundled software. When pressed on if they would roll the genee out the rest of the classes they in a round about way implied they would choose another brand. Will get a onsite demo of this I think. Infocus Jtouch 65", onsite demo by rep. Very impressed with picture quality of all media, input covered etc sturdy build and strong screen, rep hammered it quite literally with his fists. One down point is the glare, when it is off the screen is like a mirror and may distract students. The glare is not that bad when the unit is on but until we get the unit on loan for a few days we will not know for certain, will update when loan completed. Clevertouch 65" onsite demo by installer company. lovely antiglare screen, great clear images and strong build quality with every input we need and more. The screen feels the strongest so far in the evaluations and my colleague from a SEN school was impressed with that. We shall get this in for a few days to test also. Our findings so far!! If any of you people have these boards up and running in your school we would love to hear your opinions and experiences. Paul 5
dhicks Posted February 10, 2015 Posted February 10, 2015 Thanks - that was a very useful post, we're considering which touch boards to look at at the moment, too. I have not got embroiled in the software that comes bundled with the board or the inbuilt speakers as we have decent wall mounted ones in place. That's the approach we're going ot take, too - I'll assume we're either going to license Smart's software for the board or use something else, the hardware is the thing to look at. I suppose the thing we need to check is whether the touch screen acts as a standard USB human input device, or whether it needs dedicated drivers. Genee board 65" visited a local school who had a couple, the boards looked nice seemed strong and the picture was sharp and clear. Inputs etc all covered, touch was good and responsive and the staff had no problem with the board Infocus Jtouch 65", onsite demo by rep. Very impressed with picture quality of all media, input covered etc sturdy build and strong screen, rep hammered it quite literally with his fists. One down point is the glare, when it is off the screen is like a mirror and may distract students. The glare is not that bad when the unit is on but until we get the unit on loan for a few days we will not know for certain, will update when loan completed. Very good to know, thanks. Both the GeneeBoards and the Infocus screens are near the "more affordable" end of the market, but I haven't had much direct experience of either (although we did get good value for money out of Infocus' projectors). Sounds like they are both decent bits of hardware. We have a demo of a Prowise board coming up in a couple of weeks. I was impressed by both their hardware and software at the BETT show, although the details of both don't really become apparant until a teacher actually starts using the screen with a class.
paulellam Posted February 10, 2015 Author Posted February 10, 2015 Hi David, I will post further findings as it happens and would be great to hear how your demo pans out. It has been painless to get a demo unit of the boards and is actually nice for staff to get a chance to actually teach with the device before we purchase. I have feedback forms from staff which will help with the selection process.
ColinP Posted February 10, 2015 Posted February 10, 2015 (edited) Hi Paul we have just done what you have done, we had a number of demonstrations and loans which we narrowed down to 3 Genee, Ctouch and Clever touch Making our decision based on the software side we chose the Genee screens - not as pretty as the other two but the usability was more familiar. things we looked for was ease of changing back ground style and screen recording to save lessons for revision later. We also like the infinite white space on the Genee All the screens we tried worked fine with existing smart notebook software Edited February 10, 2015 by ColinP 2
paulellam Posted February 11, 2015 Author Posted February 11, 2015 Thanks Colin, I hoped people would join the thread and let us know what they found and which way they went with the desicion. Many thanks!!
paulellam Posted February 11, 2015 Author Posted February 11, 2015 Update, We have also contacted IIyama who will demo a board and a potential loan unit. They dont get involved with software but the board is multi-touch and anti-glare so looking forward to this in a few weeks time, will post the verdict.
localzuk Posted February 11, 2015 Posted February 11, 2015 We've got 4 of the CleverTouch screens here and they've provided us with zero issues in the 3 years we've had them now. The only "issue" we ever had was when a teacher reported that the mouse kept jumping about on his laptop - turned out that a LSA was leaning against the screen. The touch interface on the ones we have continues to work even when the display itself is off. 2
MYK-IT Posted February 11, 2015 Posted February 11, 2015 All the screens we tried worked fine with existing smart notebook software Yes, I agree that Touch Screens are the future, and the most cost efficient solution long-term. We thought this, and purchased 2 Philips Touch Screens last year but sadly, were not up for the job. Maybe because they were possibly 1st generation??? (2 touch, no-anti Glare, only 2 cameras etc). Other issues were cosmetic, slightly smaller than the SB680s they replaced (different ratio) and the depth. As mentioned, the SMART Notebook software installed and worked, but the main caveat was that the InkAware function would not work (activate) and this is by design; due to this functionality only (currently) working with SMART branded Touch Screens. This is primarily the main functionality that our staff use, being able to annotate over anything currently being displayed on the screen (not just with SMART NoteBook). I am sure that once this functionality is finally enabled (for all makes/models of Touch Screens) and improvements to the Touch Screens advance we will finally make the transition over. As replacing bulbs (~5000hrs), cleaning filters, and electrical/installation costs for Projector/SB can then all be eliminated! 1
jcs808 Posted February 11, 2015 Posted February 11, 2015 Update, We have also contacted IIyama who will demo a board and a potential loan unit. They dont get involved with software but the board is multi-touch and anti-glare so looking forward to this in a few weeks time, will post the verdict. I have a 65 inch IIyama in on demo at the moment. I'm getting positive feedback from staff and while I haven't got a confirmed price just yet it is looking good compared to those manufacturers already mentioned. 2
ColinP Posted February 11, 2015 Posted February 11, 2015 I have a 65 inch IIyama in on demo at the moment. I'm getting positive feedback from staff and while I haven't got a confirmed price just yet it is looking good compared to those manufacturers already mentioned. funny, that's what started our project into the touch screens , we purchased a 65" IIyama for a hospitality suite. and everyone loved it
Tezza88 Posted February 11, 2015 Posted February 11, 2015 (edited) We are looking to roll out 16 Interactive Screens over the Spring break to get rid of our oldest projectors. After having the top 3 interactive displayed demoed to us over that last 4 weeks which were CTouch, CleverTouch, Iboard. After some significant trailing and testing we have plumed for the Iboard all in all we found them to be the best units in all aspects of testing. We liked the way that all software hardware and installation would be done by the same company. This meant upon request we can get little niggles sorted out instantly. As with the other boards software and hardware was all separate which meant continuous nagging between companies. Also they had a smaller bezel than the others and looked great with and standard VGA input compared to the others which images looked a little grainy. You really have to try it to feel the difference between the other 2 but honestly can say we really liked them. Pricing was very competitive as well and had all the features that the others had. All in all it is a complete product which looks and feel smarter than the other 2 boards and will report more once we have them installed and up and running for a few months. Edited February 11, 2015 by Tezza88 2
paulellam Posted March 2, 2015 Author Posted March 2, 2015 Infocus Board is arriving today for a week long stay, will post findings soon..... 1
dhicks Posted March 2, 2015 Posted March 2, 2015 Infocus Board is arriving today for a week long stay, will post findings soon..... We had a demo of a 42" Prowise board on a motorised lift stand last week. This was to follow on from me having a look at their equipment at the BETT show. We've decided to buy one 65" Prowise board, the 4k display version, with the infant-sized motorised lift stand that can turn through 90 degrees and be used as a table. This isn't a demo unit, it's staying put, so we should get some really good usage information out of it - we might buy more in the future, but we want to try it out in one classroom first. Both the classroom teacher and the bursar saw the demo unit and were impressed, hence we're buying this screen. The sound from the built-in speakers seemed loud enough to cover the room, and being on a table there's no installation cost - we just wheel the whole thing in and plug it in to some power. 1
OxfordBlue Posted March 2, 2015 Posted March 2, 2015 (edited) with the infant-sized motorised lift stand that can turn through 90 degrees and be used as a table. . would suggesting getting it in writing specifically that their warranty covers table use. if there are no (or inadequate) fans the heat will disperse upwards through the panel, not where it's meant to... probably explains why the SMART tables cost quite a bit more than a budget 42" screen. Edited March 2, 2015 by OxfordBlue 1
smidsy Posted March 11, 2015 Posted March 11, 2015 We have had a Clervertouch 55" in the school since last summer on a movable stand so that the young children and staff can use it. I haven't had any problems with it and no issues have been reported by the staff that use it. I am not sure if they have used the speakers a great deal so I can't comment on that. The main teacher has just continued to use her old version of SMART as all her slides were already in it. We will be looking at getting a couple of larger models for 2 new classrooms being constructed this summer so any recommendations would be appreciated before then. We are going to have to think about what to do software wise soon due to the SMART licensing changes. What kind of price ball park have people found 60-70inch models to be in (budget setting hat on)?
ColinP Posted March 11, 2015 Posted March 11, 2015 I had this a few weeks ago - not sure if its still valid 1
paulellam Posted April 15, 2015 Author Posted April 15, 2015 Update: we have the Smartboard 4065 for a few days next week. Will post review!
Joanne Posted April 15, 2015 Posted April 15, 2015 I've got 11 CleverTouch boards and will be getting another 4 within the coming months so the entire school will be kitted with them. I had an issue with a dead pixel in the middle of one. Sahara came and replaced the entire unit within a week. Very good warranty service. They are a bit more expensive, but I truly believe you get what you pay for with these screens. Cheap ones will degrade faster and have issues later on. These ones are super sturdy and you can smack them as hard as you can and there will be no damage to the screen! Urgh I sound like a salesman!!! Also we've found the Lynx software suits us. Not so much the snowflake software though.
BlueSkies Posted April 16, 2015 Posted April 16, 2015 I've got 11 CleverTouch boards and will be getting another 4 within the coming months so the entire school will be kitted with them. I had an issue with a dead pixel in the middle of one. Sahara came and replaced the entire unit within a week. Very good warranty service. They are a bit more expensive, but I truly believe you get what you pay for with these screens. Cheap ones will degrade faster and have issues later on. These ones are super sturdy and you can smack them as hard as you can and there will be no damage to the screen! Urgh I sound like a salesman!!! Also we've found the Lynx software suits us. Not so much the snowflake software though. Hi Joanne, would you be able to tell me what the licensing arrangements are the for the Lynx software that comes with the CleverTouch boards? Are you free to install it on all teacher laptops, or do you need to purchase additional licenses per seat? Thanks in advance.
Joanne Posted April 16, 2015 Posted April 16, 2015 I've been told that it is OK to put it on 5 machines per board... so effectively for me - all teacher machines. You get 1 key per screen but this key works on multiple installs. 1
Ian_Cooper_Printware Posted April 16, 2015 Posted April 16, 2015 The new generation of 65in Iiyama screens are 10pt touch (up from 2pt on the models that were discontinued before Easter) and I believe come with a 5yr warranty for education. I've seen a few different manufacturers offering trolleys that convert to tables; some mechanically, others electrically. One of the manufacturers recently told me that 2014 was the first year that more units of these devices were sold than interactive whiteboards. I can certainly say that I'm seeing this as a huge area of growth as we head towards the summer.
Nadnerb Posted May 4, 2015 Posted May 4, 2015 Really useful post. Thanks guys. Anyone used the JTouch boards? Also, what's changing with the SMART licensing?
paulellam Posted May 5, 2015 Author Posted May 5, 2015 Hi, We tested the Jtouch board, was really nice but was so shiny it was like a mirror. The manufacturer said that the anti-glare version will not be released till later in the year which is a real shame and this one point meant we have taken it out of our equation. If they had an anti-glare board we would have had it in our shortlist. Getting an onsite board to play with for a few days was easy and if you require the details of the chap who sorts it let me know. He works for the manufacturer, not a reseller so you dont get hammered by phone call etc. Hope this helps 1
PotNoodleTech Posted May 5, 2015 Posted May 5, 2015 Yeh great thread I'm also looking at the possibility of trialling a couple of these interactive screens as an alternative to promethean board & projectors.
gsk Posted May 5, 2015 Posted May 5, 2015 I got a c touch screen and a smart e70 in for teachers to test and they all preferred the C touch. I was convinced that they would go for Smart because it's what they know and it it was bigger and it was cheaper. I also had a play with everything i could see at the BETT show to compare responsiveness and image quality and ended up putting in 10 C Touch 65" Leddura 4 point touch panels at £2500 each including delivery. 1
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