SMART board supplier, fittings and options

[ZeroHour]

Hi

We are looking into possibly moving to SMART based boards from Promethean due to problems with the drivers and general board reliability issues (posted in the forums previously) and I was wondering what schools were doing as a standard configuration for rooms.

E.G. which board model?

With rails (for moving the board higher or lower)?

Extra speakers?

etc...

 

We like the idea of the corporate boards as they have the integrated non-pc mode which seems like a brilliant thing to have for us. I am just not sure what options are available for the board. We really need to have them rail mounted but it appears on the educational boards have this ability.

Is it possible to rail mount it?

What limitation/issues have you found with the corporate edition?

What limitations/issues have you had with smart in general?

How have you found the software?

 

If anyone has both SMART and promethean, feedback would be good as well.

 

Also where you do buy your from? locally or direct? and if so who does the installation?

 

Cheers

[Oops_my_bad]

We used to get all our smart stuff from roche (http://www.rocheav.co.uk) but now use IDNS (http://www.idns.co.uk). I don't see any reason a competent installer wouldn't be able to put a smart board on rails, not sure why you'd want to but if you want it then they should be able to do it. We have all 680's and apart from teacher stupidity they are fine.

[Michael]

In my experience, Smartboards are much better than Promethean. The Smart software/driver isn't perfect, but I've had far less problems setting them up.

 

Here's some info about the boards I support in schools. The most common is the 660 which is 64" across. From memory, it's the best price/size ratio. They're also very easy to setup. In all schools I have the boards permanently fixed to the wall at an appropriate height (primarily) for the age of the pupils. As regards to speakers, you can use/buy anything really.

[ZeroHour]

Cheers for the info.

 

Teddy: We want rails primarily for the junior kids to use (aka the board can be lowered to their height)

[Elemtech]

The SMART Board Unifi product you refer to can be mounted on a height adjustable bracket.

If you are not bothered about being able to height adjust, I would personally go for a seperate projector and board as the projector supplied with the SMART unifi is DLP and the image quality isnt great.

[enjay]

Teddy: We want rails primarily for the junior kids to use (aka the board can be lowered to their height)

 

We've got some that do that, and they're really useful - wouldn't bother in our Secondary, but they're invaluable in Primary.

[Domino]

we have used roche in the past, but some of their installs here are ropey as hell.

 

Recently found infacom to be absolutley brilliant with the stuff they've put in - even in some really tricky rooms

[ZeroHour]

The SMART Board Unifi product you refer to can be mounted on a height adjustable bracket.

 

Does that include the corporate version though as its that Unifi that we want for the standalone part?

 

Cheers for all the feedback all

[Elemtech]

Does that include the corporate version though as its that Unifi that we want for the standalone part?

 

Cheers for all the feedback all

 

I am not quite sure what you mean by the corporate part?

 

The smart 600i comes either with a fixed projector & boom or an optional height adjustable bracket makes it all height adjustable:

 

SMART - 600i for educators

[speckytecky]

we used MaypaceMaypace Systems Limited : Quality-based IT services gave us a good deal and did an excellent job with the installation.

[ZeroHour]

I am not quite sure what you mean by the corporate part?

 

The smart 600i comes either with a fixed projector & boom or an optional height adjustable bracket makes it all height adjustable:

 

SMART - 600i for educators

 

SMART - 600i for corporate users is the "corporate" edition.

[enjay]

Not sure exactly what the difference between the 600i for educators and 600i for corporate is, but for what it is worth, when we bought some we apparently got some of the "corporate" ones (based on those pictures, anyway).

[Elemtech]

I see what you are saying!

 

The SMART web site is a little mis-leading.

 

The corporate version is available whilst stocks last. The "education" version will then supercede this model.

 

The education version has a better quality projector (not difficult as the old one on the corporate version was awful!) and an improved arm.

 

The height adjustable bracket is optional & I am being quoted 1-2 months lead time.

[Elemtech]

Not sure exactly what the difference between the 600i for educators and 600i for corporate is, but for what it is worth, when we bought some we apparently got some of the "corporate" ones (based on those pictures, anyway).

 

The education version was launched at BETT in Jan, before that they all looked the same.

[ZeroHour]

Corporate boasts standalone ability the education does not.

Or thats how it pushes it on the site.

[Elemtech]

Corporate boasts standalone ability the education does not.

Or thats how it pushes it on the site.

 

Well you wont be able to get the corporate one soon;)

[enjay]

The height adjustable bracket is optional & I am being quoted 1-2 months lead time.

 

Yeah, the lead time on them stinks! We had to wait something like 6 months for our ones last year :-(

[ZeroHour]

Well you wont be able to get the corporate one soon;)

 

Damn so I take it they are not replacing the standalone functionality with anything else?

We really loved the idea of the board not being dependant on the pc.

[enjay]

Damn so I take it they are not replacing the standalone functionality with anything else?

We really loved the idea of the board not being dependant on the pc.

 

It isn't all its cracked up to be, IMHO. It is a VERY limited version of Notebook, and is lacking nearly all the features you would take for granted. It is really just a glorified piece of paper stuck to the wall!

[ZeroHour]

Yeh but I liked its use in scenarios such as if the Pc does not work or they are a teacher without an account, they can just use it in that mode and save the drawing for use later to usb stick.

[Elemtech]

Yes scratchpad is limited. It was very much for corporate world where they couldnt reply on Notebook being installed on laptops from guests

[vikpaw]

We use Smartboard 680 over here. With separate speakers usually with built in amp. connections at board side for phono video+sound, rgb, pc speaker. No rails.

 

Smartboards are cool and if you lose the pens, you can replace with a smarties tube. Some people say that when primary kids use them they have a tendancy to put their hand on the board to support themselves or they lean on it, but we only deal with 11+. Can't imagine it's a big issue.

 

Haven't been able to fault this company to date in the last 3-4 years and they also do installs for some of our feeder primaries: http://www.avnetwork.co.uk/

 

Prices can sometimes be higher than competitors, but there's room to negotiate and for the service it's worth it.

 

The last lot we had done i just got them to do the fitting for us, we supplied the projectors from ebuyer £250 ea. (as Dabs had run out of the £199 ea. models) and then got the boards from laptopsdirect (yes they sell more than just laptops), they cost around £1050 each.

 

We got a very good setup from them to put a projector in the hall with a motorized screen.

 

I'd defo recommend them. Luckily for us they are fairly local so can do any repairs if need be as they are passing but it's very rare we need that.

[enjay]

Some people say that when primary kids use them they have a tendancy to put their hand on the board to support themselves or they lean on it, but we only deal with 11+. Can't imagine it's a big issue.

 

Maybe, they soon learn not to do that though! In my experience, leaning on the board is only really an issue when they are writing - if they are drawing or moving things, they easily hold the pen a bit further down so their hand isn't on the board.