Is Sharp even in the running.

[Dave Britten]

Having just acquired an EL-9950 a couple months ago, I can say that no, they are not. The keyboard is overly stiff, it frequently misses keystrokes (seems like maybe a software thing, I don't think the key contacts themselves are the issue), it's not terribly fast, programming is very limited, and in terms of capabilities, it's maybe only about on par with the original TI-83 (not Plus).