EEVblog #1093 - Casio FX260 Solar II Calculator Review

[EEVblog]

Review and teardown of the Casio FX260 Solar II pocket scientific calculator. How good is a $9 scientific calculator?

https://amzn.to/2LwMbFE

[mathsquid]

Thank you Dave for mentioning the lack of 1/x as a primary (non-shifted) function on the fx-260. That is my primary complaint about an otherwise terrific calculator.

This is the best calculator review I've ever seen.

[malagas_on_fire]

Hi nice review of the compact casio scientific calculators.

This was my first equivalent calculator that was stollen:

Texas Instruments Ti 25x solar


https://www.ithistory.org/db/hardware/texas-instruments/texas-instruments-ti-25x-solar

It had 1/x but no hyperbolic functions and we didn't use them at all.

They have a nice solar panel.

[tszaboo]

Nobody gives any love to sharp. It is a beauty.

[canibalimao]

I whish I could by one of those for that price here in Portugal, but it's impossible. That price is for a shitty basic calculator And I can't even find that same model here 

[Teuobk]

I love a good calculator! Here's my TI-89, which I bought 19 years 10 months ago and still use daily:

[Fungus]

Calculator war!

Is it just me or isn't the "pocket" calculator much smaller than the ordinary ones? What is it, 10% smaller...? Hardly worth the effort. Looks thicker then the full size ones, too.

(what's the exact dimensions?)

Can't argue with the price though...

Also: Is it just me or is the red text on the fancy Casio fx-991 unreadable?

My vote: HP-20S. Doesn't look like much but it's a beast when you start drilling down into it, eg. it can do 253!, not just 69!, and it has soooo many useful functions at the press of a button, eg. convert inches to cm. It also puts "hyp" as a shifted function. 

Are you with me, joe?

[Fungus]

The Swiss Micro is interesting but there won't be much in it. I think it's just an ARM chip running an emulator (using the original HP ROM).

More interesting would be their credit-card size version: 

[DrMag]

For my money, the best calculator is and has always been the TI-36X from the mid-90's. There are only two things I've ever wished a calculator to have that this didn't: more memory registers and more scientific constants. And in reality, those aren't really critical--when I really need that kind of functionality, I'd rather be working in Python anyway. It's too bad the new version of this calculator has the typical "modern" calculator idiocies; this will probably always be my favorite.

[MT]

Nobody gives any love to sharp. It is a beauty.

Shure we do, besides my old trusty casio FX82 i have this XH version (no solar).

[FrankBuss]

I wonder if the non-fraction version of the Casio uses just the same hardware and maybe a jumper resistor inside to configure it. And a smart pupil could just swap the keys and cover

[firewalker]

For 20+ years I use this one:



Alexander

[saturation]

I saw these at Walmart almost a year ago for $6 each.  I was so surprised they updated it and it was so cheap I bought 4.  I just leave them anywhere I remotely could use a calc.  What Dave didn't mention is the calc is slightly shorter because the strip with "MODE" command info is now just engraved at back.  So the size is much easier to shirt pocket than before.  Its slightly lighter too.

In workshops I leave the older black bodied FX 260, as it hides dirt better, albeit both are easy to wipe clean.  For all plastic calculators both I & II are very well made and my "I" have held up for >> 10 years, all working and intact.  Plastic has not deteriorated, delaminated nor the labels on the keys fade, even those we field use and are exposed to sunlight.

[Zad]

Normally, I use my HP-35S or in extreme circumstances, if I really must, a Casio fx-85GT. Which is nowhere near as good as my old fx-3600p I got in the early 80s but gradually wore out. I do, however, also have this little baby calculator. It doesn't seem to have a name or manufacturer, as is the way with cheap Chinese crap. Only this one isn't actually crap.



A closer look at its dinky 65mmx120mm



69 factorial in half a second or so, complex numbers, polar <-> rectangular, Hex / Octal / Binary, D/M/S, Scientific / Normal, stats. Well, you can see really.

Two of your English pounds, at your local cheap book shop! No doubt available for under $1 if you look hard enough.

[Peabody]

I still use an earlier Casio solar cell calculator, the fx-115, from at least the 1990's, maybe earlier.  Normally I'm an RPN fan, but this one does binary, octal and hex, and does AND, OR and XOR.  Pretty handy for coding, and still going strong.  Think how much I've saved in batteries.

[Howardlong]

Nobody gives any love to sharp. It is a beauty.

Au contraire, here's mine, it's the goto calculator on the bench. I particularly like the way the persisted ENG functionality works on this one, no messing about having to repeatedly press the ENG button. Fannying around looking for 1/x, pi, square root not so much. The same hunting for common functions applies to the FX-61F, hence I have a permanent yellow post it note in the sleeve.

[malagas_on_fire]

Ok here are some calculators that i have:

- Catiga CS-121 bought in promotion ( 10 euro) . Scientific / graphic , bad typing. 2 years
- Casio fx-570w : Used from college to university back from 1998. It's now on my current job and working good
- Ti-89: An offer from a friend if i could repair it and another computer.  it is old has 18 years Its repaired and working.
- Casio SL-1000TW. Compact, basic ,big 10 digits, dual power easy to type and calculate percentages ( from measurements), has well H/M/S feature for calculating charging times of batteries . A couple of mounths .

[FrankBuss]

I used to use a Casio fx-61F, bought it when I was in school 30 years ago, still working. But can't remember when I used it last. Usually I'm near a PC using any calculator that is on it, or my iPhone. For simple formulas I like to use Excel, and if it gets more complicated then some programming language like Python, or Scilab.

[mathsquid]

For my money, the best calculator is and has always been the TI-36X from the mid-90's. There are only two things I've ever wished a calculator to have that this didn't: more memory registers and more scientific constants. And in reality, those aren't really critical--when I really need that kind of functionality, I'd rather be working in Python anyway. It's too bad the new version of this calculator has the typical "modern" calculator idiocies; this will probably always be my favorite.

My TI-36X is a slightly different version, but it's also one of my favorites. It sits on my desk at the office and I use it all the time.

[Dubbie]

Very disappointed to see that you're not part of the the RPN chosen ones Dave.

Currently using this one..

Not quite as nice as the original 42s but not too bad!

[m12lrpv]

Battle of the calculators!!!

HP-32SII for me until the planet stops spinning.

[Fungus]

Very disappointed to see that you're not part of the the RPN chosen ones Dave.

Currently using this one..not quite as nice as the original 42s but not too bad!

If you're going for RPN then the sideways format of the HP Voyagers (10C/11C/12C/15C/etc.) is the way to go, surely.

I love sideways calculators. This is the calculator HP should have made...



Maybe Swiss Micro could step up and release an open-source version of something like that. What does his 15C clone feel like in the hand, Dave? The original HPs are as solid as rocks.

nb. YMMV but I prefer algebraic notation to RPN. There's no reason a calculator like that couldn't switch between the two, just use the "Enter" key as "=" in algebraic mode. It's what I'd do if I was boss.

I have the official HP15C app on my smartphone. It's cute. When you rotate the phone to portrait mode it changes from HP15C into an RPN 6-banger (4+reciprocal+square root), complete with RPN stack manipulation keys .

[Dubbie]

I hate the sideways calculators for some reason. Maybe it’s just because I went through school with a 42s that I grew to love it.

[NivagSwerdna]

Calculator porn; so complicated I have to read the manual whenever I use it.

I also have fx-991 (slightly upmarket one of what the kids use) and fx-83 (what the kids use)... quite like Casio as well as HP.

The reviewed calculator looks really nice for pocket use... might be another one of those EEVBlog impulse purchases that clutters up my house.   

[meeder]

Ah calculators

My daily beater is a Casio FX-991. This one gets a lot of work in industrial environment.



For more advanced work I use a HP Prime. And I have to admit that it is a bit of a toy for me to otherwise I couldn't justify buying it.



At home I always have my trusty Casio FX-115 within reach. I have this one since my school days and it was a replacement for the FX-82 I used before this one.