How would you rate your keyboards?

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

For me it really depends on what to do with the calculator. I can only rate those calculators which I have actually used to do useful work with, not the ones in my collection which I have tried out only.

My best keyboard so far for entering and processing large amounts of data has been the HP-97. Of course this is a desktop calculator with a keyboard which was designed for that purpose. 10 out of 10.

The best keyboards for entering programs (in BASIC) are those of the HP-71B and the Ti Voyage 200. Both have proper typewriter layout and not alphabetically sorted keys which can only be accessed by pressing "Alpha" first - something I truly hate. The 71B provides the better tactile feedback, but the Voyage 200 has an even more typewriter-like layout with a large space key and two (!!! HP: beat that ;-) ) Enter keys and more unshifted functions, so I rate them equal at 9 out of 10.

The HP-67 and the HP-25 (the whole familiy of them) I also rate at 9 out of 10, my trusted Ti-59 could also get 9 would it not be for the occasional key bounce. So 8 out of 10 and somewhat balanced by requiring less shifting - other than the functionally similar HP-67 which has 3 shift keys the Ti-59 does the same with one. I appreciate that.

The most horrible keyboards I have ever come across were in some navigation calculators from Jeppesen (but made by Ti), namely the Avstar and the Prostar. They were expensive calculators back then but their horrible key bounce made them completely unusable which is especially bad because a navigation calculator is used in real time and needs to be 100% reliable. 0 out of 10. Or minus 1 even.