17bii, 17bii+ and 30B, or "Why did the 30B die?"

[Dave Britten]

(08-03-2017 11:48 PM)striegel Wrote:  There is a TI BA II Plus Professional on my desk with 4 rubber feet. It's possible that this is a later model with some improvements.

Ah, I knew they had to have added something to make it "professional". The standard "Plus" has never had rubber feet, at least as far back as I'm aware.

(08-04-2017 12:35 AM)Zac Bruce Wrote:  Have you had any experience with the casio FC- or sharp EL- series calculators, to compare, or know of any place that has done a direct comparison between all the major financial calculators available?

What would your recommendation be for an undergrad in finance/economics given the choice of the BA's, the 10BII+, 12C, the casio and the sharp? Or is it really a matter of preference, and getting to know the calculator well? Certainly I have a preference for my 12c at the moment and it's the one I reach towards most often when doing simple calculations or TVM, simply because of RPN, but I haven't moved on to doing bond valuations, uneven cash flows, IRR, NFV, break-even etc., let alone anything more complex, and so wonder whether any of the other available calculators are going to make things simpler.

I have a Sharp EL-738C, and I think it's fantastic. It easily beats the TI. The keys feel great, the number and operator keys are very large, and they all have great response. The display is very readable, and it uses a "worksheet" paradigm much like the TI BAII Plus or HP 14B. It's also got a full loadout of scientific and statistical functions. I think the HP 10BII+ just slightly edges it out on usability for power users, as it's easier to carry figures between problems (taking results from an amort and using them in further calculations was a bit cumbersome on the Sharp, as I recall). However, the "worksheets" on the Sharp are more user-friendly, and so might be better suited for undergrad studies. The Sharp keyboard feels nicer overall than the 10BII+. Sacrilege, I know, but you have to try one to see what I mean. It's one of the nicest keyboards I've used.