Visualisers: can anyone help me with what to look for?

[Andie]

I've been tasked to look into the purchase of some visualisers by a teacher who has used them successfully before (ie. not a "wow these look good let's buy some" request!). But I have never dealt with these before, and have no idea what features to look for, what brands are good, etc. We have SMARTboard 660 IWBs and laptops that are mostly XP Prof SP3, though we have a few Win 7. I can find companies who sell them, but don't know if they are any good. Anyone had to purchase these before? Help would be very much appreciated.

[RichCowell]

We got a couple of fairly low spec models through the Tesco Computer Vouchers last year for the Maths Department - they loved them, and bought other cheap models for the rest of the department...

 

Never used the more expensive ones, but assuming they're just for use in well-lit classrooms, the cheap models should be fine...

 

Primary Visualiser | Tesco For Schools & Clubs

[Andie]

We got a couple of fairly low spec models through the Tesco Computer Vouchers last year for the Maths Department - they loved them, and bought other cheap models for the rest of the department...

 

Never used the more expensive ones, but assuming they're just for use in well-lit classrooms, the cheap models should be fine...

 

Primary Visualiser | Tesco For Schools & Clubs

 

Thanks. These are the TTS brand, yes? I would normally avoid those as the software for other stuff they produce can be a pain on a network, but you've obviously not had any problems...? Our staff laptops are standalone at the moment anyway, but may be networked in future.

[Birchy]

We have a couple of different models in use. A couple of pricey Genee Visions which have very good zoom lenses and we have found these to be great and worth the extra investment for demonstrating science experiments and things like soldering circuit boards in tech. All the others are cheaper (£400 ish) Smart Document cameras. These are fine for Maths, humanities, English etc and as w use Smart notebook a lot the staff really like how well they integrate with this and that they can control the cameras from within Smart notebook.

 

Hope this helps.

[RichCowell]

Can't remember what brand they are tbh, and I know there was no way of deploying the software, so it had to be installed manually... but wasn't really much of a problem, and never had a problem with them since...

[sparkeh]

One of my schools went with the TTS Easi-View and they were a nightmare and sent the lot back (you get what you pay for with TTS).

 

They then moved onto the Ladibug range and plumped for the DC120: Lumens Document Cameras which have decent software and drivers to deploy.

 

Another school went for the Genee Vision option: Effective Presentations, Presentation Tips , Visual Presentations Visualiser - although more expensive they are a good bit of kit and I would recommend them and can plug straight into projectors if you don't want to mess around with drivers and software.

[icttech]

We use Smart SDC-330.

 

Visualiser are really good, camera quality is great. Also has a SD card solt.

 

They come with warranty, seems to be durable, we havent had any problems with them.

 

Hope this helps

[Guest TheLibrarian]

If you use ActivInspire the visualisers by Promethean are the ones to get; or so one of our Maths teachers tells me and to be perfectly frank about it I would trust his word if I were choosing visualisers for us.

[sted]

id avoid tts easiview about 1/2 the ones i know of wont focus reliably and you cant install the software unless the camera is plugged in

 

avermedia ones msi out happily and do the job

Edited February 8, 2012 by sted

[Oaktech]

I draw the esteemed gentleman's attention to the folllowing thread... http://www.edugeek.net/forums/hardware/89144-classroom-visualiser.html

[MYK-IT]

id avoid tts easiview about 1/2 the ones i know of wont focus reliably and you cant install the software unless the camera is plugged in

 

I agree, avoid these models. We had one faulty one, was advised to just bin it and a replacement was sent out.

 

Much better quality image/software can be had by a good quality (HD) webcam to be honest.

[LeeBirdptinstalls]

IPEVO's are pretty good. Do the job really well and dont cost the earth

[Andie]

I draw the esteemed gentleman's attention to the folllowing thread... http://www.edugeek.net/forums/hardware/89144-classroom-visualiser.html

 

I did do a search first, honest! Thanks anyway.

[gshaw]

We've got an AverMedia, quality is nice enough but needs good room lighting to get the best out of it