Solar-powered calculators

[rprosperi]

I like the Casio fx-995 (photo below). This is a [Solar-Only machine].

It is a decent algebraic scientific machine with the usual Base, Stats and Unit conversion functions you would expect in a machine from the mid 80s.

What is unique about is it's size, or rather, lack of size.

It's dimensions are 70mm x 124mm but only 3mm thin.

I have wanted one of these since I first saw one in the early 90's but could never find them anywhere. At an HHC about 5-6 years ago, someone put one on the prize table, and it was #1 on my list when I got to pick, however as luck would have it, Felix Gross got to visit the table exactly one spot ahead of me, and he liked it too! So of course, the hunt was on at that point, but it took several more years to finally locate one. Now, of the many (many!) machines I am happy to own but hardly ever use, this one makes me almost the happiest.

Being so thin, there is obviously no key 'travel' when pressing them, not even a little flex of a soft key-top. Yet I found to my surprise it registers keystrokes rather well and reliably. Having had "HP finger" disease for so long, I found I need to watch the display to ensure I am entering right, but I rarely ever miss a keystroke, and don't recall ever seeing double-entries.

The back side includes unlabeled mm/cm on one side and inches/sixteenths on the other side and some Metric conversion factors listed in the middle.

I'd be curious to know what these cost when new if anyone knows that.

Thanks Dave for this interesting topic; easy to see folks have lots of different favorites here, well away from the normal suspects.