Elite QuickStand 5-Second Series Projection Screen Review
After being part of a group that planted Strong Tower Church, an inner city multicultural church in Lakeland, Florida, we quickly needed a solution to allow the children’s ministry to set up and take down a screen every week. The church uses the facilities of Parker Street Ministries, a non-profit ministry that caters to residents living in the local neighborhood. When the QuickStand 5-Second Projection Screen was announced late last year, I knew this was our solution. The QuickStand 5-second series takes the original QuickStand concept and adds even more functionality, resulting in a free-standing “pull-up” stage projection screen that can be taken up and down in—you guessed it—under 5 seconds. The screen is available in various sizes and aspect ratios that are perfect for for large group presentations. The screen utilizes innovative dual cross spring scissors that lift the screen, a Greenguard Gold Certified Maxwhite FG material with a 1.1 gain. The entire screen mechanism is encased in an ATA wheeled aluminum stage case and a drape kit is included for when you need a truly clean presentation or you place the screen on a raised platform.
Elite QuickStand 5-Second Series Projection Screen Features
Most screens take a long time to set up. That’s where the Elite QuickStand 5-Second Series projection screen thrives. Since it’s completely self contained and rises right out of its road case to the desired height, it presents a very direct and simple solution for most large group venues. Elite isn’t kidding about their setup time either. Even with unlocking the clasps on the case, the entire setup time is right around 5 seconds.
The Elite QuickStand 5-Second Series projection screen is completely free-standing, so you don’t need to assemble any sort of folding frame structure like many snap-on presentation screens. The portability of the design is facilitated by the fact that the entire system—including the drape kit—are included within a rolling aluminum road case that’s built to take a beating.
The QuickStand 5-second series screens use an innovative dual cross spring mechanism that is similar to other pull-up screens, except that there’ two of them. You manually pull the screen out of the stage case design to the desired height, and the mechanism keeps in in place—right where you want it. Since these screens can be purchased at sizes up to 185″ diagonal, it may be easier to use two people to pull it out of the case (and you may need a ladder if you’re raising it far overhead.) The standard screen material is a 1.1 gain Elite Maxwhite FG matte white that has a 160º wide diffusion uniformity—perfect for larger groups. The screen borders are black, catching a bit of overscan, and a black backing is provided to prevent the projector from penetrating through the screen and reflecting off anything that may be behind the screen.
Screen Material
- MaxWhite FG flat projection surface
- 160° wide diffusion viewing angle
- Black masking borders
- Black-backing to eliminate light penetration
Design and Setup
- Built-in ATA stage case design
- Fast-operating portable presentation screen
- Sets up in seconds
- Free-standing and does not require additional support
- Wheeled case with handles
- Includes Drape Kit
Quality and Reliability
- Durable aluminum stage case
- Dual-scissor support system
- Indoor Air Quality Certified
- GreenGuard Gold Certified UL 2818
- Standard 2-year premium warranty
- 3-year ENR-G warranty for Education, Non-profit, Religious, and Government
Elite QuickStand 5-Second Series Projection Screen Testing
We loved reviewing and using the Elite Screens QuickStand 5-Second Series projection screen. For one, the screen truly did set up and pack up in around 5 seconds—10 if we were dragging or hadn’t had our coffee. The setup process was simple: Roll the case into position (a great feature as we could put the screen completely away on the side of the stage after each service), flip open the clasps and raise the lid on the rolling case, and lift the screen from the middle until it was at the proper height.
We were using the screen with an Optoma HD 161X DLP projector, and the pairing was perfect for our use. The lumen output on this projector was a great match and we were able to hit the screen from just over 15 feet away—perfect since we were projecting from the front of a gymnasium stage to the rear wall of the wood stage. The screen can be purchased in 4:3, 16:9, and 16:10 aspect ratios, so flexibility isn’t a problem. See the chart below (click for larger version):
In terms of color reproduction and detail, we felt that the MaxWhite FG 1.1 gain screen did a great job at bringing out the colors in movies when played back with light control (In addition to daytime use for Childrens church and Sunday School, we were able to test it for some movie nights with the lights off). The slight gain helped when trying to get every bit of light out of the system for use when light control was more difficult. Overall, this is a great multipurpose screen material to pair with this excellent portable screen, and it does it justice.
One thing to note about this screen is that it is most definitely an indoor solution. The nature of the road case and integrated scissor lift makes for a very unstable structure should there be anything blowing back against the front of the screen. For this reason, you really want to ensure that you have some stability indoors and don’t place it in front of any fans or air conditioning vents that might get a little overzealous and topple over the screen by turning it into a large sail.
The Elite Screens QuickStand 5 Second Projection Screen starts at just $1367 (USD) and can be purchased in both 150″ and 180″ (diagonal) sizes with a 16:10 (PC) and 16:9 (HDTV) aspect ratios. You can also grab it with a 4:3 aspect ratio as a 163″ diagonal screen. The screen comes with Elite’s 2-year manufacturer’s warranty and a 3-year ENR-G warranty for educational, non-profit, religious and government/military organizations.
