ViewSonic Interactive Projector

[glennda]

Did anybody see these? I think they looked really good when compared to an Interactive whiteboard considering the price - they are retailing between £900 and £1k ex vat.

 

For anybody who missed this they are Short throw projectors which come with an interactive pen which is also a Gyration Mouse for use.

 

I'm seriously considering these for our next round of projector replacements - whats everybody else's thoughts??

 

There is a link Here

[glennda]

no thoughts?

[Guest Guest]

As a short throw projector they seem a good price. But if you dont care about that ability the numbers just dont add up. Given that we have promethean boards which are 10 years old and show no sign of dieing anytime soon, and projectors having an average life of around 3 years without expensive internal cleaning plus a new bulb (which generally adds up to more than a new projector); so for arguements sake if we say a total life of 9 years,

 

Sanyo education projector @ £320 * 3 = £960

Promethean 78inch board = £1050

Total = £2010

 

Viewsonic interactive projector @ £900 *3 = £2700

 

 

The viewsonic is DLP where as the sanyo is LCD so on the cleaning issue is may be that a DLP lasts longer, but so far my experiances don't seem to support that, eitherway you could always buy a normal DLP.

 

Then you have the fact that the viewsonic is only 1000 ansi lumens where as the sanyo is 1500 (which personally I dont think is enough, really you should be looking at 2000+ imo)

By the looks of it you wont be able to use the promethean software with it so all your resources go in the bin.

Then you have the problem with batteries in the pens, and potential availibility of the pens themselves when they get lost. I can't even find a price for one in the UK but it looks like they will be £50+

 

The lamp price for the viewsonic does seem alot cheaper mind, which given that you do get the occasional pop (be it through teachers leaving the projector on all holidays or plain old bad luck) will help balence it abit. The Gyration mouse would also be handy but not really worth the price; you could buy the teacher a seperate Gyration mouse every year and still break even.

 

 

As said, short throw it seems a very good price, but as a replacement for a fleet of 50+ projectors could get very expensive very quickly.

Edited January 15, 2011 by Guest

[teejay]

Don't know what you're doing with your projectors to only get 3 years out of them, we have NEC's still going strong after 9 years. We only clean them when the bulb needs replacing and then it's just a quick blast with the air filter, plus we only replace the bulbs when they completely fail.

[Guest Guest]

Don't know what you're doing with your projectors to only get 3 years out of them, we have NEC's still going strong after 9 years. We only clean them when the bulb needs replacing and then it's just a quick blast with the air filter, plus we only replace the bulbs when they completely fail.

 

You must spend alot more on projectors than us then, or your schools alot cleaner! (Which is probably the case). It comes down to costs for the most part. New projector £320. New bulb £180. Professional clean £100. It doesn't make sense to buy a bulb at those prices.

We do have a couple of expensive projectors which are around 6 years old but even with a new bulb they are no where near as bright as a new projector, nor do they give as good colour representation; yellowing all over and blue at the bottom seems to be the norm. These are the exeption rather than the rule. 4 years seems to be the maximum we get.

 

Obviously I can only go on my own experiances and the use/abuse of our teachers, but at last count I believe we have 60 projectors... Besides, viewsonic arn't a brand I would assisiate with quality so I can't see them being any different. Then you have LED projectors with the promise of many years of life (but then from what Ive heard thats up for debate)

Edited January 15, 2011 by Guest

[glennda]

I have just written a long reply twice and accidentally deleted it both times so i'm going to make it shorter this time in a hope i don't delete it.

 

To be honest I would expect they to Last 5/6 years which outways the cost of a promethean board. and multiple rubbish projectors which come bundled - all ours have the short thrown sanyo fish eye projectors which are about £700 each to replace (i didn't choose all this was done before my time). My the thing about cleaning them - I wouldn't say our school was very clean but again we only clean them when the bulb is being replaced (once every 18 months or so) but i wouldn't pay £100 to get it cleaned when it takes at a max of 10 mins!

 

Not all our classrooms have IWB's (about 30 out of 75/80) in them hence the reasoning behind this. Most of our teachers just have projectors but tend to have gyration mouses aswell.

 

The projector I have linked above is 3000 ansi lumens so ourbeats pretty much all the projectors i have here ATM (benq's, sanyo's and some NEC'S).

They salesmen said it should work normally with other software but they where pushing there product (they are salesmen after all!)

 

on your comment about viewsonic not being a very good brand - I have lots of monitors from them and cannot fault them - alot better then some others i have purchased.

 

obviously this is just my opinion but i actually thought they where very good price considering the features it can provide in comparision to other projectors

[Guest Guest]

The projector I have linked above is 3000 ansi lumens so ourbeats pretty much all the projectors i have here ATM (benq's, sanyo's and some NEC'S).

 

obviously this is just my opinion but i actually thought they where very good price considering the features it can provide in comparision to other projectors

 

No its 3000 "viewsonic lumens", 1000 ANSI lumens.

 

Theres nothing wrong with viewsonic, but would I assoisiate them with quality? Well no, I'd take sanyo or NEC over them any day of the week.

 

Like I said, they are a good price for what you get, but if you dont need short throw...