Learning and Leading - November 2012

Students and teachers can annotate and interact with projected images simultaneously using the BrightLink’s two wireless pens.

Epson’s network-ready BrightLink 485Wi projector and
wireless pens integrate interactive functionality into one
machine without the constraints or expense of an
interactive whiteboard.

at all. You can project a camera input and use one of its special pens to annotate what is on screen. Likewise, you can use the pen to point and draw on the screen while it shows a DVD or Blu-Ray movie. You can even freeze a frame from the movie and point out details for your students.

The 485 is not self-calibrating like most DLP-based projectors, but it has a fairly simple two-button auto-calibration feature on the remote that works well—and, provided you don’t move the projector, you will not have to recalibrate. You can also manually calibrate the display pretty easily.

tially taken aback by the lack of manuals, start-up brochures, and other printed materials. Virtually everything is on a couple of CDs, but they aren’t the easiest to navigate. It was a snap to install the software on my laptop, but accessing the user manuals, start-up guides, etc., was enough of a mess that I quickly gave up. Fortunately, you really don’t need that stuff.

In the “no-computer mode,” you do lose use of its second pen. When connected to a computer, you can use both interactive pens (both using supplied rechargeable batteries). Having two simultaneously active pens opens up many possibilities for both collaborative and competitive activities, as well as giving teachers the ability to actively mentor and annotate while a student is still operating the other pen.

The pens are chunky, but that is pretty common. The on/off switch on the pens also feels a bit flimsy. I did find the response quick and natural, and the projector seemed to have no problem locating the pen even when I repeatedly moved it in and out of connectivity.

The cool “no computer” features, the two pens (in computer mode), and the included mounting kit (either a wall-mount or table-mount kit) more than make up the difference in price between the 485 and comparable interactive projectors. You’ll probably end up paying as much or more to add a pen and mounting hardware, and you’ll still be hard pressed to equal the display quality. I even found the built-in 15-watt speaker adequate, if not ideal for a noisy classroom (there is audio out so you can tap into a more powerful sound system if available).

If you’re the tech responsible for installation, you’ll want to know that the maximum recommended display size is 100" (pretty big!), and the projector needs to be just more than 12" away to display an image that size.