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Product Review
ezFrame
INTRO:
Normally I concentrate on projectors for my "reviews". However, I am
always open to checking out other exciting products. Enter the Elite
EzFrame fixed frame screen. I was contacted by them a short bit ago
and asked if I would take a look at a couple of their screens. "Sure", I
replied. This is the first of the two I will be looking at (the other is their
Cinetension Electric). Both of these screens are part of the new higher
end line from Elite. They are designed to meet the needs of the more
demanding consumer, while still maintaining a lower price point for the
budget conscious.
I received the box from UPS. The unit they sent was an EzFrame 45"x80"
HC White (retail is $619). The box the screen came in was surprisingly
small. I have done my fair-share of screens and never seen such a thin box. It measured about 3.5"x10"x84" or so.
Weight was decent; more than one would expect looking at the size of the box. Despite the size, it was very well
packed. Once I opened it up, I found 2 cardboard wrapped "square tubes" along each side, and a round, plastic tube
down the middle (PVC believe it or not!). The 2 cardboard squares held the frame pieces...1 with the top and bottom,
and 1 with the sides. All were wrapped in a padded foam material to protect them. When looking at these, I realized
how they made the box so small. The majority of manufacturers ship the screens with the corner brackets installed in
each end of the top and bottom. Elite doesn't do this. Rather there is a final small accessory box that they ship in (along
with the bolts needed to lock it together). Because of this, the frame pieces are extremely small and the outer box
doesn't need to be made to fit the corner pieces, thus saving on shipping. I should also mention the round tube that
holds the fabric was quite small. They roll it on a small 3/4" PVC tube and there are no snaps to add thickness (more on
that later).
I took everything out and laid it out on the floor. This frame is a nice 2.5" wide, with a beveled edge towards the screen
surface (this helps off angle viewing and "shadowboxing". In addition, the frame is covered in a velvet type material,
just like the higher end companies offer. This was a very nice surprise considering the price point on these. The frame
is a relatively heavy duty machined extruded aluminum so plenty strong enough to support the material and its own
weight. Assembly was easy. You simply took the corner braces (which slide into the middle of the frame) and put them
onto the top and bottom pieces. Then slide in the sides and you are assembled. There are 2 screws per corner to hold
the unit together. One thing that is slick is they screw holes are slotted. This means when one is assembling the unit, they
can slide the brackets in and out slightly on each of the joining corners, in order to make sure they line up perfectly.
One thing I found strange was that the hangers for wall mounting were on the sides. There was 1 on each side,
centered vertically. Though this is plenty strong to hold it, most companies have a top and bottom bracket so it was
not something I was used to.
You will notice that there are no snaps. Elite uses a rod tensioning system to secure the fabric. If you look closely, you
will see a thin rod on each side of the frame in a grove, and then little "clips" along the frame. To match up to this, the
fabric comes with a loop sewn along each side instead of snaps. To assemble, the thin rods are removed and slid
through the loops on all 4 sides. I started with one of the sides of the frame, and tucked the rod/material loop into the
channel, and then simply rotated the clips to secure. Though the clips are only plastic, all the strength of this system is
in the channel, and the clips merely keep the rod from coming out of the channel. Moving on. I then pulled the material
on the opposite side. Man this was tricky. The problem is that they make it tight as to make sure there are no
wrinkles/waves. The hard part was getting a good grip on the fabric as it is thin. I found I had to start at one end of the
fabric rod, and lock it in. Then it made it easier to move along to the other side. After I had the opposing sides done, I
did the top and bottom. This was a bit easier since the majority of the stretching was done already. You may be asking
"what are the pros/cons of the rod system vs. the snap system". Well the snaps are easier for the installation, and generally
since the companies that use them sew a thicker border on, they tend to be very strong, especially if the screen is
removed and reinstalled frequently.
The drawback to snaps is that they are hard to get perfect, so sometimes one will find 2 subsequent screws are, say,
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