Favorite Solar Calculators – Six Years Later
Favorite Solar
Calculators – Reading that Blog Entry Today
On June 10, 2012, I
listed some of my favorite solar calculators of all time:
I still love the
TI-25X Solar, I wish the screens weren’t so damn fragile! I went through two of them.
I have two fx-115 ES
Plus calculators, one gray and one black.
The black looks much better!
Maybe one day I’ll
get the BA 35 Solar again from eBay.
Maybe I will give the Casio FC-200V a second shot.
As of March 2018,
Casio fx-3650pII is the current edition of the fx-3650P. The fx-3650PII is in the shape of the
fx-115ES/991ES/300ES/82ES Plus. That’s
about it from what I can get from research:
still four program areas with 360 steps and 7 variables.
Info on the current
fx-3650PII: http://www.casio-intl.com/asia/en/calc/products/fx-3650PII/
No, Casio still
currently sells the fx-3650PII only outside the United States, which means for
us Americans, we have to order online. An
open invite to Casio to stock the office stores and university stores with this
model in the States is extended.
The current Sharp
EL-W516 edition, the EL-516WT, eliminated the formula storage, eliminated the
catalog, and reduced the definable keys from 4 to 3, I am not happy about that.
My review on the
EL-W516T: https://edspi31415.blogspot.com/2017/07/review-sharp-el-w516t.html
Three More Inductees
I have three more to
add to the list I posted in 2012:
Casio fx-991EX Classwiz – 2015 – Present
The Classwiz model
is the next step in Casio solar powered calculators. They have an icon menu, like their graphing
calculators, and there is an [OPTN] key that allows users to specific
mode-specific functions. Modes includes
computation (COMP), complex numbers (arithmetic, polar/rectangular conversions),
base integers, matrices up to 4 x 4, vectors, statistics, distributions, basic
spreadsheets up to 5 x 45, equation solving, inequalities and ratios. The newest feature is the QR function that
will take a screen shot of the calculator, or in some cases, statistical
graphs, which can be retrieved from the Casio QR Website or app.
See my review of the
Classwiz here: https://edspi31415.blogspot.com/2015/11/casio-fx-991ex-classwiz-review.html
I can only hope the
next iteration the Classwiz and the fx-3650P or fx-50FII merge so programming
will be included.
TI-30 SLR+ – 1987 – 1990s
This is a bigger
version of the TI-25X Solar (TI-30X Solar internationality). This calculator completely runs on solar and
light power. What I look about this
better than the TI-25X are the keys and the fact the display isn’t so fragile. See my detailed blog of it here: https://edspi31415.blogspot.com/2014/09/ti-30-slr-and-memories-of-school.html
Casio fx-260 Solar II (we can included the
Casio fx-260 Solar, fx-82 Solar, fx- 82 Solar II)
Original fx-260
Solar/fx-82 Solar: 2000s – present
Current fx-260 Solar
II/fx-82 Solar II: 2017 – present
I don’t know what I
was thinking when I skipped this model last time. The fx-260 offers a wide variety of
functions: trigonometry, logarithms,
fractions, degrees and degrees-minute-second conversions, polar/rectangular
conversions, and one variable statistics.
This is great calculator for those who want a small, compact, calculator
that attacks the basics. The fx-260
series is completely solar powered.
Pictured is the newer fx-260 Solar II, which the mode markers have been mode
to the back of the calculator case. Can’t
beat the classics.
Eddie
This blog is
property of Edward Shore, 2018.