Calculators come in all shapes and sizes. Some fit comfortably in your pocket while others can be the centerpiece of a massive desk. But size isn't everything. Sometimes people require other features that aren't quite standard. Today's calculator is for the person who works in an area with lots of dust or debris, but still needs a device that is reliable.
Casio WM-320MT.
The Casio WM-320MT is the modern calculator for the hard workers of the world, and it does a fine job of working as good as it looks.
Rugged is the word that comes to mind upon first glance. The yellow will stand out in a dusty environment, yet doesn't come across as tacky or gaudy. The entire device is framed by extra thick plastic that won't bend without considerable force. If you were to drop this calculator, it would probably be just fine.
The WM-320MT feels as good as it looks, too. There are no cheaply made rough edges. Everything is nice and rounded, making it a pleasure to hold. The display is simply massive, featuring 12 digits that contrast unbelievably crisply no matter what angle you're looking at it from. Of course the buttons are great too, with each press more satisfying than the last. No matter where you're using this calculator, you're going to look and feel great with it.
This calculator features a detachable key pad for easy cleaning.
What makes this already fantastic calculator soar above the rest is a feature you never knew you needed: a detachable key pad. By pulling a piece at the bottom down, the key pad pops out and can be cleaned separately from the rest of the device. It's only going to come out if you want it to, and you'll be able to keep this calculator looking as gorgeous as it is all the time.
Casio absolutely nailed the design of the WM-320MT, and they did it without making the device super expensive. You can buy one from the Casio website for $12, and it will probably be the best $12 you've ever spent. This is a calculator designed in so many ways to last.
If I were forced to point out just one flaw with this calculator, it would be that not every other calculator is as good as it is.
Here it is, the final Facebook review. From this point forward, all calculator reviews will be completely new. The video review is a bit different this time, so check it out and let me know what you think of it.
I'm not the only calculator enthusiast. I'm not even the most enthusiastic enthusiast. In my research, I've discovered some very detailed online calculator museums that have lead me down multiple rabbit holes to learn more about unique designs. Because of this, I've acquired some very interesting devices that I'm looking forward to reviewing.
Casio HS-8V,
The Casio HS-8V is not one of the unique devices. It's about as standard as you can get, but that doesn't make it a bad calculator. Featuring only basic functionality, its compact size doesn't prevent it from displaying the standard 8 digits.
It also looks great. The brushed aluminum face plate provides a beautiful contrast to both the screen and buttons. The recessed screen is deep enough to prevent severe scratching if you leave this in your pocket, but I would have preferred a cover of some sort. For some reason, the super small calculators tend not to bother with a cover.
Casio introduced this model back in 2001, and it still sells for the MSRP of $3.99. Just because they made an inexpensive calculator doesn't mean they made a cheap one. It's sturdy with nice responsive buttons. If you need something for basic operations, you really can't go wrong with this device.
The HS-8V uses solar cells and a single internal LR54 battery. The picture attached to this review shows mine next to an Aldi quarter. This calculator came in the same bag as the Ft. Detrick one that I found at Goodwill for $1.50.
Monday's calculator review was about a gimmicky device, and I believe I've made my stance on gimmicky calculators quite clear by this point. Normally I only do one of these at most per week, but for some reason I decided to review two of these sorts of calculators this week.
Pro 600 Gaming System (TM).
The Pro 600 Gaming System (TM) is in fact two devices in one block of plastic. They each have their own set of keys and batteries, and honestly I don't understand the point of this thing. It's a calculator and a handheld gaming console, yet it sucks at being either of those.
The calculator portion.
The calculator portion is entirely unremarkable. Buttons are squishy but responsive enough. The most unique thing about this calculator is that it has an off button. That's nice for battery life, since this calculator only runs on battery, but there just isn't a whole lot else to say about it.
So primarily this is a gaming device. It alleges 600 games, but there is absolutely no way I'm going to try them all out. The buttons that control the games are horribly unresponsive and squishy. Yet that's not even the worst part about it. All of the graphics are these little identical squares that do not do an okay job at showing what things are supposed to be. It's often difficult to tell which game I'm playing, let alone which block or set of blocks are mine to control.
To call them "graphics" is incredibly generous of me. I've played some of the very first video game consoles ever created and those graphics look lifelike compared to this garbage.
Still, the worst part of this device is the sound. It's obnoxious and loud and awful and I hate it. It plays songs whenever the batteries are inserted, when the on button is pressed, when a "game" is loaded, and it all sounds terrible.
Despite all of this, I do kind of like the overall design of the device. The colors do a fine job, and it's contoured well enough for hands to hold comfortably. The clam shell layout is surprisingly sturdy so there's little risk of this thing breaking easily. It looks and feels pretty solid.
I don't recommend the Pro 600 Gaming System for anyone. There are countless other devices that are much cheaper than the $14 I paid for this on Ebay. It runs on two AA batteries for the gaming portion and a single AG10 battery for the calculator. Either part can run without the batteries installed for the other.
Closed clam shell.
Bottom of the device.
Main game display component exposed.
Corrosion inside caused the wires to break easily, so this was repaired with a bit of electrical tape.
The slogan for my YouTube channel is "I review calculators so you don't have to." I thought it was funny, but now I realize its importance. I don't want people to buy bad calculators, so I put myself at the front lines and sacrifice my time and money to get the word out about what's worth getting. It's impossible for me to warn against every bad calculator out there, but I hope that with enough reviews, people can search for a device that suits their needs.
10 Digits Phone-Shaped Calculator.
This 10 Digits Phone-Shaped Calculator (PSC) has an interesting gimmick: it's trying to look vaguely like a cell phone. I don't know why anyone would want this, but I was intrigued enough to purchase one on Ebay for $4. Of course I wasn't expecting to get the best device ever. I just liked the gimmick.
The PSC looks very sleek, and has a great black and silver color scheme. The buttons are all flat, but separated just enough to prevent accidental pushes. They aren't clicky, and that's okay.
The LED display is quite large for such a small device, and does indeed fit 10 digits. There's plenty of contrast to make things easy to see.
So far, the PSC seems like a pretty solid calculator. I thought I was going to be writing a fairly positive review when I was expecting something terrible.
It even has fake buttons to make it look like a phone.
Neat.
And there is something terrible. See, I disassemble every calculator for reviews, if possible. This device only had two visible screws, so I figured getting some internal photos and checking out the battery situation would be a trivial task. To a point, it was. The screws came out easily, and I began to pry the device apart until I hit a snag. The top portion felt very tight, so I used a piece of plastic to wedge it apart. Finally, it came apart...
It turns out this device was never meant to be disassembled, which is baffling considering it runs entirely on battery power. This is a huge red flag. Getting to the battery requires removing eight screws and breaking plastic, as well as separating every single component.
That puts the PSC into my least favorite category of calculators: disposable. I shudder every time I think of this concept because it shouldn't be a thing. There is no reason anyone should buy a calculator and not be able to use it indefinitely.
For that, I simply cannot recommend this device to anyone. It could have been a cute thing to have, but I'm just disgusted by it.
After this week, I only have one more review I can copy from Facebook to this blog. We're almost in unknown territory here! This review was slightly edited.
I honestly thought [last week's] abacus review would have been controversial due to it not being an electronic device. It turned out to be one of my most liked reviews though [on Facebook]! I do have some other devices that aren't technically calculators, so I may add them to the stack.
Credit Card-Sized Calculator.
What is most definitely a calculator is this thing. As far as I can tell, it's actually a Nestler-matho 700, but there are enough subtle differences to lead me to believe it's not. I've included an image of one of those for you to make comparisons.
This is currently the smallest calculator that I own, only the size of a credit card (and barely thicker than one too), and considering its size, it has decent functionality. The inclusion of square root is impressive. Each button works just fine*, and the digital display is crisp- most of the time.
This calculator runs entirely on light. The moment it doesn't have a bright source, the screen fades out. It's kind of neat to watch, so I've included a gif of this happening. It came with a plastic sleeve that actually reduces the light source enough to make the device extremely unreliable when it's in there, so I don't know why they bothered to make it clear.
Its size is really the only thing that makes this calculator special. The Ft. Detrick logo is kind of ugly and tacky, and I could probably break the thing if I sat on it. But as long as it's got a decent light source, it works fine. This calculator was found at Goodwill in a bag with other calculators for $1.50.
* actually, the buttons are terrible. They have no tactile feedback whatsoever and it's very easy to press the wrong button.
I wish I could own every calculator ever. I'd love to be able to review all of them and maybe make the world a better place. But sadly that is probably an impossible task because my home is small and I'm not rich. I have to be selective when calculator shopping now, so that means purchasing devices that stand out in some way. I've got plenty of boring calculators in my collection already.
The Omron 88M came from Japan way back in 1975. It runs on two AA batteries to power its green LED display. It has fairly basic functionality, with a floating point switch that allows the user to quickly and easily switch to financial calculations or avoid decimals completely.
I would never have guessed that this device was released in 1975. If I had to guess, I would have assumed early to mid 1980s, but that's when the LCD display became popular. This device looks and feels like something from an alternate timeline because I've never seen anything quite like it.
The peculiar design makes it fit comfortably in the palm of a hand and reminds me of those scanning devices from Star Trek. I wouldn't be surprised if the design of the 88M was inspired by the original series. By placing the batteries at the bottom, this device is perfectly weighted and clearly designed to be carried around.
The rough black faceplate was an odd but not unwelcome choice. It makes the calculator look and feel rugged, like something designed to be taken on an adventure. That may explain the keychain attachment, if that's what that is.
Each button sticks out prominently and is easy to press, with instantaneous response on the display. This is an easy device to use one-handed, and fits nicely in a pocket thanks to the strange profile.
Functionally, the 88M is nothing special. It works great, but I could say that about many other devices. It's the strange design that made me want this calculator. I found it on Ebay for about $9.
I had this review planned for the day after Christmas, but due to my hiatus, it has been delayed until today. But hey, Christmas starts earlier every year, so why not start in January?
TI-55.
When I ask people about calculators they remember fondly, almost every one of them begin with the letters "TI". Texas Instruments has been designing and refining calculators since 1973, and even in their early days they were absolutely killing it. Vintage TI devices have become collectibles for people like myself while newer devices still reign supreme in various markets.
The TI-55 was released in 1977, back when it was still cool to use LEDs. Later variants of the TI-55 used boring LCD displays. This was probably to preserve battery life, but I'll take a gorgeous display over longevity any day.
Speaking of batteries, the TI-55 had its own rechargeable battery pack. This might seem great until you remember this was way back in the 70s, before lithium ion batteries were a thing. Because of this, no stock TI-55 currently works today. Thankfully, this battery pack is fairly easy to remove and can be replaced with a standard 9 volt battery. The video review goes into a bit more detail about this, and there are guides online that explain why this works. It's just awesome that this calculator can be made to work these days.
Aside from the outstanding display, the TI-55 has a great color scheme and overall design. Sitting at a desk and looking down at it, you can see that this was designed to be viewed from an angle. This makes it ideal for school work, especially since it's fairly weighty and has rubber feet to keep it still on a flat surface. However, when viewed from directly above, the display is blocked. This may have been to prevent onlookers from seeing operations. Great care was taken in this calculator's design.
Slightly different angle shows display obscured.
Of course, this is The Calculator Review, so you know I'm going to talk about the button feel. Considering this device could technically be considered a pocket calculator, I am blown away by how amazing these buttons feel. They're clicky and responsive, and perfectly debounced to prevent accidental double-presses. I have no idea why Texas Instruments didn't choose to stick with this button design with later models because it's incredible.
It's a shame, really, that the LCD has become so ubiquitous in pocket calculators. From a technical perspective, it makes perfect sense, as it paved the way for solar and dual powered devices. But from an aesthetic perspective, it's disappointing. The TI-55 is a marvel of engineering and design. It looks beautiful in my collection.
Back of calculator.
Original battery compartment disassembled.
Each button was taken out to be cleaned. This was a huge pain to put back together.
Calculator completely disassembled.
Foam removed. It crumbled at the slightest touch, so it couldn't be reinstalled.
Duct tape used in place of the foam. Slightly alters the feel of the buttons, but still works just fine.
Red goes to black and black goes to red. It's annoying, but that's how this calculator does it.
New 9 volt battery adapter installed.
Electrical tape used to hold things in place.
Testing the new battery setup to make sure everything's working just fine.
The battery is loose without the cover, but with the cover it's held comfortably in place.
