Smartboard or Clevertouch

[Sheridan]

We're looking to replace our old style whiteboards with some new Smartboard or Clevertouch 65" interactive screens. I know the technical stuff and pros and cons of each type, but I would be interested in anyones real life opinions of how they're working in the classroom?

 

Stuff like the screen quality, brightness/susceptibility to light/scratch resistance, connection to PC/ipads etc. How do you find the software? Our staff are familiar with Notebook, and notebook still seems better than Lynx (but not much!)

 

Do you find the built in speakers are enough, or are they too weak in a 'lively' classroom?

 

I'm visiting to evaluate them soon but would be grateful for your shared experiences!

[RichP]

To throw another option out there, having just done this, we've opted for iBoardTouch screens. Quite impressed by there software (which works with Smart and Promethean files) and the fact that they write it in-house and are open to improvements. The screens are well built, with MOHS 7mm glass (impress staff by walking up to one and watch their face as you try to scratch it with a coin!), have Android (with Google Play store) and a whole host of other goodies. If you're in the North London area you're welcome to come by and have a look!

Also, found that none have decent speakers but we fit £50 soundbars that do the job far better.

[Sheridan]

I know some people favour the clevertouch etc because of the android, but does anyone actually use that? I found the clevertouch OS a bit clunky when flipping between a Windows PC and the android system?

[Sagima]

We had teachers try both. They preferred the 65" Smart 4k board running at 1080p. We've found the speakers to be fine - we set them to full volume on the board and let the teacher adjust the level from their desktop.

The default brightness settings are a bit dim but easily changed.

[snagrat]

Also look at VividTouch which we seem are better and cheaper than the Smart ones. Also comes with a Notebook license.

[DaveVlad]

We have a mixture of C-Touch (about a year old) and CleverTouch, and I think the Clevertouch boards are far better. They are all pretty robust these days in terms of front of screen impact etc. Any light scratches could probably be taken out with Brasso or similar, but we have not experienced that problem. In terms of build quality there is little to choose. In aesthetics, I think the Clevertouch screens look nicer, but in terms of the software, the bundled stuff you get (and the ease of use) with Clevertouch blows the C-Touch out of the water. We even had a demo of the new release for CV-Touch, which looked worse than the original! As for the built-in android, it is a little early to say how useful it is, but certainly it allows the user to work on the screen straight away without having to log on to a computer, and if you have a Wi-Fi dongle plugged in, you can download stuff from Google Play. I agree with RichP and in answer to the OP, sound can be a little quiet in an active classroom, so a sound bar should be considered. One for the CV-Touch is 500 quid!

[northeast_technician]

neither, prowise all the way for me, i think its superb and the software is all web based so works on any system and links to ipads / android or even windows tablets / computers. best of all its free

[ReverentCreature]

Its Smart all the way here. We recently got some Clevertouch TV screens but the staff hated Lynx. Ended up putting Smart Notebook everywhere and going down the route of Phillips TV screens for the classrooms (the license for Notebook allows the software to be run on third party boards).