THE CASIO SL-300SV CALCULATOR IS A NEAT AND NIFTY LITTLE MACHINE FROM CASIO. It has so many of my own "most desired", features, (many of which were more common in older calculators), that I wish it had them all! It is small enough to fit in your hand, and comes with a vinyl wallet, reminiscent of the leather or leatherette wallets that many calculators had in years passed. This wallet comes UNattached to the calculator, so that the user can attach it any way he or she likes -- an especially good feature if you are left handed, or wish the wallet to open with the calculator on the right side. (There is, however, only one "pocket" in the inner side of the wallet...so if you do attach the calculator so that the wallet opens with the calculator on the right side, the "pocket" will be hidden and slightly more hidden...which can be an advantage, if you want to keep things in you calculator wallet pocket even more secret and out of reach!) This 8 digit calculator has my preferred "picture-frame" numberic display at the top. I prefer the indented "picture-frame" numeric display to the seemingly more common, "wrap-around windshield" numeric display in many other calculators, because it somehow looks better to me -- and, more importantly, the "picture-frame" display seems to show numbers darker than the "wrap-around windshield" design numberic display. The display is bright - brighter than many other pocket calculators -- and has nice, large, dark numbers. Still, the display is not QUITE as bright as is pictured in the illustration. This is not unusual, as I have yet to find ANY calculator with as bright a display as is shown in a commerical illustration. However, this calculator's happily really bright display does come close! It has a sign-change key, a per-cent key....and an OFF key! This "OFF" key can save a great deal of battery use -- and it's really needed here. More and more calculators today are, (sadly for the customer), designed to have their batteriss changed ONLY by an "authorized dealer" -- much like watch batteries are. This is also the case here -- the wonderful, but now old-style "off" key, (happily making a "come-back" on more and more calculators!), is on this calculator, (too!) Now, if they'd just add replaceable batteries to the newest calculators, as they did when pocket calculators had their start! I hope this happens....but at least this Casio SL-300SV DOES have an "off" key....and that certainly is a big step in the right direction! Also, this calculator stays "on" for approximately 7 minutes and 10 seconds, before turning off automatically. Together with the "off" key, this l.o.n.g... time between keying in the last digit and automatic turn-off adds greatly to the usability of this calculator! Thanks, Casio! (Nostalagia section...sigh!) Remember a time when watches ran mechanically and had no batteries? And calculators ran on "AA" batteries that could easily be changed by customers? Or, later, lithium-battery powered calculators where the lithium battery was in a nice little compartment with a slide-in, slide-out lid? Now, "planned obscelesence" has taken the place of inventiveness and value in customer-service...and we "customers" ourselves have been called "consumers"....as if we were little piggies in a pen, "consuming" foodstuffs to be fattened up for market. Ulgh! Give me the good old days of the '60s, '70s, and '80s! Almost as bad as these new expenses is the fact that younger people donn't even know these things ever existed, outside of studying them in history books. When I told my nephew about gas service-stations that nnt only had other people to pump gas, but who also cleaned one's windshields, restaurants which served water without its being asked for, and other conveniences I had witessed as a child, he asked me, "What planet are you from?" To which I had to reply, "The planet of the 1960s!"... Back to the 21st century..... Anyway, alog with the "off" key on this calculator, and the l.o.n.g... approximately 7 minute and 10 second time before automatic turn-off, there is also the more-modern solar battery panel...which further lengthens the life of this nice little calculator. Without user-replaceable batteries, however, the calculator will probably not last more than 7-10 years, (my own estimate), at which time, either a personal trip to, or sending the calculator in by mail to, an "authorized dealer" in person, will be necessary for a battery change. Of course, considering the cost of these things, (especially 7-10 years hence), it will probably be in the customer's financial interest just to buy a new calculator. This is what all calculator manufacturers seem to want, now -- but I'm very grateful for that "off" key in this Casio model, and the fact that the "off" key, once a normal feature on every calculator, seems to be making a comeback on other calcultors, as well! There is a "square root" key on this calculator -- but no "percent" key. This is OK with me, as for a long time, I've felt that the "percent" key was somewhat of a superfluous one. To find percentages, after all, is a simple operation on any calculator -- even without a percent key. (To find, for example, 15% of 250, all one needs to do is press ".15" x "250". Then press "=". Voila -- the answer is: "37.5". To find out what percent 37.50 is of 250, all one need do is press "37.5" "./." (the "divided by" key) "250"....to get the result of ".15". So, I don't really miss the "extra" percentage key here, and one less key makes for an easier-to-use keyboard! The "face-plate" of this calculator is in very pleasing light-grey plastic. Or is it metal? I can't really tell...but it does reflect the light. In any event, the light grey gives a nice, "finished" sheen to the faceplate, and also gives a more relaxed and happy "look" to the calculator, as a darker colour, (black or brown), would not. The keyboard here is very slightly crowded, and does take some getting used to. But not much. The somewhat-too-small key are slightly convex, (rounded), rather tha slightly concave, (indented), and this adds, again VERY slightly, to difficulty in using the keyboard. However, this inconvience is very, very slight -- and the "off" key, the big, "picture frame" display, and the included wallet make this getting used to the very slightly, (and I do mean VERY slightly), cramped keyboard definitely worth it. Slightly larger than a "mini" calculator, but still easily carried in pocket or purse, with a solar battery, a lithium battery, a nice little wallet, and a very welcome "off" key, this is definitely a calculator worth considering purchase -- for home, school, or office!
