Calculator recommendations, anyone?

Thread Starter

pdehli

Joined Jan 16, 2008
2
Hello there! Fist time for me to join in a forum like this. I live in Norway and are planning to take up my old profession as an electrician ashore (v. my background as a ships electrician some years ago.)

I am now in the process of reviewing much of the basic electro theories long time forgotten and I was wondering if anyone here in this forum may recommend me a good handheld calcualtor available on the market today? Nothing too fancy, but perhaps with graph capabilties and linkable to PC? Brand name and model number, please.

Any suggestions are appreciated! Thanks!
 

FredM

Joined Dec 27, 2005
124
I bought a Casio CFX-9850GC+ and I dont reccomend it! Mostly one needs a calculator for quick portable calculations - the menu system for the CFX-9850GC+ is too complex and inflexible to allow this.. Also, the color coding on the multi-function keys is virtually unreadable (yellow on off-white) - An expensive calculator which was a big mistake.

I now use a cheap Sharp EL-506W (non graphic) which is suitable for most simple stuff*, and use a PDA (good calculator programs, and Excel are available) when I need more power on-the-move.

I think a PDA is a better option than a stand-alone calculator, as data can be up/down loaded to a PC without having to use special interface programs on the PC.

*this calculator is particularly quick at moving between number systems - Dec,Hex,Bin,Oct with just 2 key operations
 

scubasteve_911

Joined Dec 27, 2007
1,203
I use only Sharp "Advanced DAL" calculators with the solar cell. I'm in engineering and I need a great calculator like this! As for a graphing calculator, I don't recommend it for school because they do not allow it. If you need graphing done, you can use a variety of computer programs to get the job done.

Steve
 

Thread Starter

pdehli

Joined Jan 16, 2008
2
I bought a Casio CFX-9850GC+ and I dont reccomend it! Mostly one needs a calculator for quick portable calculations - the menu system for the CFX-9850GC+ is too complex and inflexible to allow this.. Also, the color coding on the multi-function keys is virtually unreadable (yellow on off-white) - An expensive calculator which was a big mistake.

I now use a cheap Sharp EL-506W (non graphic) which is suitable for most simple stuff*, and use a PDA (good calculator programs, and Excel are available) when I need more power on-the-move.

I think a PDA is a better option than a stand-alone calculator, as data can be up/down loaded to a PC without having to use special interface programs on the PC.

*this calculator is particularly quick at moving between number systems - Dec,Hex,Bin,Oct with just 2 key operations
- - -

I'll certainly look into the PDA alternatives. Seems more up-to-date given interface options. Any particular web site you know of to download nice pre-loaded spreadsheets with electric formulas etc.?
 
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