Recently, I found I needed a simple 'four-banger' calculator with an easy to read display. Something that can easily and quickly do addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, with maybe a few storage registers, square root and exponents. Nothing too complex, just a simple scientific calculator.
I checked my pile of old HP calculators, and nothing fit the bill (plus most of my old HPs have achieved collector status, and I don't want to use them as daily drivers). Checking HPs website, nothing is on offer that's reasonably priced. There's the HP Prime, which is way too complex for what I need, and a commemorative edition of the classic HP-15C, which is way too expensive for my tastes. A very good calculator, but just too pricey. I want something cheap - in the $10 - $20 range, so if I lose it or beat it up I can replace it and not feel bad. HP does offer the 300s+ Scientific Calculator model for $100, but that's too much for what looks suspiciously like a re-badged Casio.
Alas, it looked like I'd need to go to the Dark Side, and consider a non-RPN (reverse polish notation) calculator. There's plenty of them available, probably over 50 models from various manufacturers. Amazon has page after page of them. A few weeks back I took the plunge and ordered a Casio fx-300es calculator. It's inexpensive, just ten bucks on Amazon, and billed as a 'standard' scientific calculator. It's anything but 'standard'. The darned thing is so frustratingly complex that after just 10 minutes of poking the keys I put it aside. I'm sure it's a crackerjack calculator - it gets great reviews - but if I can't figure out how to use a calculator for a simple equation, say 25 x 60, within two minutes of opening the package the problem isn't me, it's the calculator.
Back to Amazon. After a bit more shopping I decided to take another $10 chance on a model that's been on the market, in one form or another, for almost 50 years (!), the Texas Instruments TI-30. I've had a natural dis-inclination for TI calculators for decades. They were HP's major competitor, and I much preferred HP's RPN operating system. Plus, EVERY early TI calculator I owned or used exhibited quality issues. In the late 70's, TI made a conscious corporate decision to go cheap on their calculators. The TI algebraic operating system was solid, the calculators themselves were not. Keys would stop working, LED displays would start dropping character segments. battery packs would crap out at the worst time, like during an exam (ask me how I know).
I owned at least two early-ish TI calculators, an SR-51 and a TI-59. I bought the SR-51 while I was in college. I couldn't afford even the cheapest HP calculator, so I had to settle for the SR-51. The TI-59 was my father's (he much preferred the TI algebraic operating system), and he gave it to me when he retired. The SR-51 is long gone, but I still hold onto the TI-59 for nostalgia reasons.
Anyway, back to the modern iteration of the TI-30, the TI-30Xa. I figured I'd swallow my pride and give TI another chance. Hey, it's only a ten buck gamble, so if the calculator is a complete fail I'll give it to my grandkids to play with.
To my surprise, and reluctant delight, this is a great little calculator! The keypad is well laid out and the selection of functions is remarkably complete, to include DMS < - > DD conversions. It has three storage registers (I rarely use more than two), the display is a multi-segment LCD and readability is great (by comparison, only my HP-11C comes close in terms of contrast & clarity), the build quality is quite good, and the keys have an almost (blasphemy alert!) HP-like 'snap' to them.
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| Comparing displays. The TI-30Xa is the hands down winner. |
Drawbacks? Just one that stands out. The printing of the 2nd key labels can be a bit hard to read, but that's about it.
I'll go out on a limb and say this is the best general purpose scientific calculator on the market today. The $10 price tag is just icing on the cake. Why does it work so well? Simple - it doesn't try to be more than it needs to be. The display is clear and crisps because it doesn't have to display complex equations or symbols. The keypad is well laid out. All critical functions are 'first key' operations. The feature set is limited compared to more advanced calculators like the HP- 11C, but I'm not going to be doing matrix functions or advanced statistics on this little TI. Again, it doesn't try to be more than it needs to be.
Sadly, for HP fanboys like me, this is a calculator that HP should be making. HPs last foray into the general purpose scientific calculator was the HP-35s (above). It was a very good calculator but HP stopped production on it about 3 years ago. There is still a strong demand for a simple and inexpensive scientific calculator that uses RPN. C'mon HP, you can still do it if you try!
Until then, it's the TI-30Xa. I've never said this publicly before, but here goes - great job, TI!
W8BYH out
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