HP 10bII Financial Calculator by Hewlett Packard
|
List Price: Our Price: $23.00 You Save: $17.00 (42%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $19.00 (click here) Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
|---|
Digital camera reviews of HP 10bII Financial Calculator
Digital camera Review: Bestest Cacumalator Ever for my Finance class!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Product was received in time for my first exam which I was able to ace because of my awesome calculator.Digital camera Review: Better than expected
Summary: 5 Stars
I just bought this calculator and love it. I was looking for a small, "basic" financial calculator...nothing bulky, but something that does basic cash flows, returns, etc. I have a TI BA-II Plus that I can't stand (very cheap plastic feel, hard to read LCD, VERY complicated to calculate simple financial functions b/c everything is buried in menus--too many keystrokes). Since I knew HP had quality calculators from my engineering days, I decided to buy this HP competitor to the TI. I was expecting something similar to the TI and frankly not to be impressed. But as soon as I opened it, I loved it! Here's why:
1. Great build quality. It's not quite the HP of the old days, but it's the most solid "basic" calculator (non-graphing) I've held in years. It's very light so may come across as flimsy, but as soon as you press a button, you get that excellent "HP build quality" feel.
2. Rubber feet. My TI had an all-plastic back side with no rubber feet, so with my calculator on my desk, I had to use one of my hands to keep it from sliding. Very annoying. This HP has rubber feet, so it's a one hand operation only. Very convenient.
3. Great LCD display, viewable from large angle. The TI has this very ridiculous display - it's propped up at a slight angle that faces the user. Admittedly, it's smart and great when the calculator is on your desk and you're a foot behind it. But when you hold it in your hand and look down at the calculator squarely in its display, the digits are only half dimmly displayed and you have to actually tilt the calc back a bit to read it. This HP has a great LCD screen that is viewable from most angles, like a "normal" calculator. And the numbers are a little larger, so they're pleasantly easy to read.
4. Easy finance functions. The HP is smart with shortcuts. Whether it's cash flows, IRR, TVM, or %-difference calculations, the HP allows you to enter the data directly from the screen, followed by a press of the appropriate function key. This is in contrast to the TI, which makes you go into a special mode, then enter the data into registers, THEN push the "calc" button, then select what you're solving for. This is NUTS and hardly useful if you use these functions more than once or twice. The HP is also smart about combining sequences of keystrokes intelligently to create additional shortcuts. Yes, it requires a quick flip through the manual, but in my opinion far better than the ridiculous TI keystroke sequences.
5. It's pretty. Look, it's not a piece of art and it's not made from solid platinum, but it's nice to look at and much nicer than the crappy brown plastic TI.
6. Great price. It's cheaper than the TI. What a steal... this is one of those purchases in which I'm very pleasantly surprised to have paid less and got exactly what I want.
The HP does have a few minor downsides, which to me did not merit docking it a star:
- The leather slip, though nice, is too tight and presses the ON button. This seems like a goof to me. Though the unit has a 10 min auto shut off, what if you press another key while it's on in the slip?
- Lacks certain math functions. This calculator doesn't have trig functions on it, although it does have LN, e^x, y^x, x^2, and square root among its functions.
- Fewer financial functions than the HP 12C. This calculator does the basic finance functions I mentioned above, plus some other basic stuff and stats. While this is all I use, I recognize that some might want a heavier-hitting calculator, and I would then recommend one of the more advanced HP calculators, like the 12C or the 17 (I think it's called).
- Delays up to a couple seconds when calculating certain financial functions, but no delays with arithmetic. It's clearly not as fast as the TI, which does calculations seemingly without delay. To me, the two designs seemed like a trade-off between build quality and speed, in which the HP went for quality and the TI went for speed. Frankly, the one second delays in the finance functions don't bug me.
Well that's it. I'll update my review if things change, but so far I'm more than satisfied!
Digital camera Review: Broken display turns calc into paperweight
Summary: 1 Stars
The display started to malfunction after about eight months. HP needs to make it more durable.Digital camera Review: Buyer Beware - Yes, But it's still a GREAT calculator
Summary: 5 Stars
All you CFA, CFP and other sundry certification students, buy this calculator and don't waste your money, it's easy to use and does the job. Just make sure you get the BUSINESS calculator.Digital camera Review: Calculator automatically rounds up to the nearest hundreth.
Summary: 3 Stars
I bought this about four weeks ago for my real estate class and later found out that it rounds up to the nearest hundreth. For example: An answer of .275 will be indicated as .28 which leads you to believe is 28 percent.
Do not throw your money away and get a Real Estate calculator like the Equalizer II plus if you are serious about the business.