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Author Topic: Do you still use stand-alone ("pocket") calculators?  (Read 24943 times)

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Offline SiliconWizardTopic starter

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Re: Do you still use stand-alone ("pocket") calculators?
« Reply #150 on: May 23, 2023, 08:21:28 pm »
SwissMicro products are very good. I do not like the keys as much as with the old HP's, but I guess no one else has really managed to do better anyway.
 

Offline SiliconWizardTopic starter

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Re: Do you still use stand-alone ("pocket") calculators?
« Reply #151 on: May 23, 2023, 08:34:45 pm »
Yes. I spend a few hours a day in an environment where we can't have any radio signals, static, etc. So I take in a HP 35s.
Is HP35s in a metal enclosure, or do you just turn it off during measurements?
It has a plastic enclosure. I usually turn it off after use, more of a reflex/OCD thing than anything.

You can have a look at the internals here: http://www.finetune.co.jp/~lyuka/interests/calc/hp35s/

There is relatively little doubt it has very low emissions. There is an internal shield, no sign of a switching power supply (that I can see at least) and the external oscillator is 32.768kHz.
And the display is simple LCD, no TFT, no OLED.
 

Offline blacksheeplogic

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Re: Do you still use stand-alone ("pocket") calculators?
« Reply #152 on: May 24, 2023, 01:25:12 am »
I switched to the new TI-30X Pro. It is a lot faster than the older TI36X Pro similar to the Casio 991EX/991DEX.

I don't need anything more than the TI30X Pro provides, sits on my bench, takes up little space, is quick & convenient.
 

Offline Conrad Hoffman

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Re: Do you still use stand-alone ("pocket") calculators?
« Reply #153 on: May 24, 2023, 03:00:08 am »
I love scientific calculators and RPN rules, but I mostly use an app on the PC these days for RPN. "Calculator.net" was the one, but the website is gone. You can still find it if you search around. I keep a TI30 in the machine shop because you always need one there and I don't care what happens to it. At the desk I have several classic HPs but also like the Sharp EL506W or similar. In my briefcase I keep an RPN and a Sharp EL-W516. The Sharps are inexpensive and do just about everything. Also have a few slide rules for backup.
 

Offline Mr.B

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Re: Do you still use stand-alone ("pocket") calculators?
« Reply #154 on: May 24, 2023, 03:00:38 am »
I have an HP50g for when I need it.
Otherwise normally use “RealCalc” in RPN mode on my Android phone.
Where are we going, and why are we in a handbasket?
 

Online Smokey

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Re: Do you still use stand-alone ("pocket") calculators?
« Reply #155 on: May 24, 2023, 06:15:36 am »
Daily. 
1) Casio fx-991MS on the desk (but I have to admit I almost never use any of the fancy features).
2) Huge size basic calculator in the machine shop.  Nothing like huge keys when you are wearing gloves.

anywhere else = phone.
 

Offline CosteC

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Re: Do you still use stand-alone ("pocket") calculators?
« Reply #156 on: May 24, 2023, 06:43:03 am »
I get used to SHARP, now EL-W506.
I particularly like engineering notation, physical constans and equation mode. Often faster than any math software/excel for quick calculations. BIN/DEC/HEX conversions also are nice.

Phone ones are almost always garbage written by amatour softeware developer without understanding what calculator shall do.
 

Offline dcbrown73

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Re: Do you still use stand-alone ("pocket") calculators?
« Reply #157 on: May 24, 2023, 11:00:27 pm »
I keep a Casio fx-300es plus at the bench. 
Why exactly do people feel I should have read their post before I responded?  As if that was necessary for me to get my point across.
 

Offline Infraviolet

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Re: Do you still use stand-alone ("pocket") calculators?
« Reply #158 on: May 25, 2023, 07:22:55 pm »
No calculator which can't handle expressions with brackets is any use for anything important. And ofcourse basic calculators, and the sort which come preloaded in phones are even worse, many lacking not only bracketing but lacking square rooting, trig functions and exponentials.

I can agree the Casio fx-whichever types are good for physical calculators when you don't want to turn a PC on, or when you need to type in a calculation without taking the cursor of the computer off something so as to use an on-screen calculator (can happen when doing CAD if you need to check something during a click-and-drag operation).

I find the best option most of the time to be SpeedCrunch (on Linux) though, all the advantages of a casio type scientific calculator, but you can also copy and paste numbers or expression to and from whichver other program you're using them in. The only advantage the physical scientific calculator has is that you sometimes have to guess what letters to type in SpeedCrunch for the more rarely used functions, whereas all the function calling keys are simultaneously visible on the physical calculator.
 

Online Zucca

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Can't love what you don't know. Zucca
 

Offline Sal Ammoniac

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Re: Do you still use stand-alone ("pocket") calculators?
« Reply #160 on: May 25, 2023, 09:32:53 pm »
No, I gave up using standalone calculators. Now I use an app on my iPhone that emulates an HP-41CX. The look and feel (except for the tactile feel of the keys) is identical to the real thing. The app is much faster than the real calculator, which is nice.
"That's not even wrong" -- Wolfgang Pauli
 

Offline Benta

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Re: Do you still use stand-alone ("pocket") calculators?
« Reply #161 on: May 25, 2023, 09:44:05 pm »
No calculator which can't handle expressions with brackets is any use for anything important.
I think the long series of HP RPN calculators will nullify such a sweeping statement.

 
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Offline tooki

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Re: Do you still use stand-alone ("pocket") calculators?
« Reply #162 on: May 27, 2023, 09:24:17 pm »
No calculator which can't handle expressions with brackets is any use for anything important. And ofcourse basic calculators, and the sort which come preloaded in phones are even worse, many lacking not only bracketing but lacking square rooting, trig functions and exponentials.
I can’t speak for Android, but the iPhone calculator becomes a reasonably complete (single line) scientific calculator when you rotate to landscape orientation. (I wish it were algebraic entry, though… I’ve long since forgotten how to use non-algebraic calculators, since it’s been almost 30 years since I had to use one…)
« Last Edit: May 27, 2023, 09:26:50 pm by tooki »
 


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