Re: knockoffs Message #13 Posted by Dave Boyd on 22 Dec 2009, 2:25 a.m., in response to message #11 by Bruce Bergman
If you are referring to this, then a close inspection reveals that, far from being a clone of the TI-93 (which it does claim to "compare to"), it appears to be a clone of the venerable Casio FX-7000G or one of its derivatives, at least from the pics -- I haven't seen one in the flesh. Here's a pic of the Casio for comparison: http://mycalcdb.free.fr/merci/casio_fx-7000G_20090128.jpg
And for good measure, here's a review (and pic) of the Durabrand 828, which looks like another clone of the Casio, and therefore almost identical to the Sentry... but is in fact a clone of the Citizen SRP-320G... which was a clone of the Casio. I have one (a Durabrand, that is), and a more cheaply-made feeling and appearing calculator I have never held. So little attention was paid to the ergonomics that the shift key colors do not correspond to the shifted function legend colors.
After looking a bit further, I'm tempted to replace this entire post with a link to this page where all this information and more can easily be found. Pity I found it after typing all this.
I suppose that in the Far East, where these units are made, neither TI nor HP are common enough to clone, whereas Casio rules the roost and is therefore the clone fodder of choice. Odd that I've never seen a clone of a Sharp...
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