Cold and Calculating

I frequently use the TI-503SV basic calculator at work. This is mainly because it is the calculator HR stocks in the office supply room, but I've grown to like it. Here is my review.

Appearance - 6.5/10 - The appearance of this calculator is not amazing, but you can tell they put some work into it. The face of the calculator is a nice looking blue, most of the buttons are white with Black writing. It also has 1 row of buttons that are black with white writing. I think they were going for a sort of contrast/complementing style with this, but I don't think they achieved it. The buttons are too far apart for this visual device to be effective.

There was certainly an effort to go for a modern curvy look with this model. Rather than the normal, boxy look, you get the entire body of the calculator curving and slightly bulging. This is complemented by white stripes on each side accentuating the curves. If this calculator were a woman, I would tell her this outfit made her look fat... not seductive (I know, it's a calculator, not a woman) and pray she appreciated my honesty (yeah right). I swear, all I see when I look at the bulging bottom of this model are love handles. I can appreciate the attempt, but they fell short.

Functions - 9/10 - I give it a 9 out of 10 because they have all the functions you need every day. You can add, subtract, multiply, and divide. In addition you can get percentages and store numbers in memory. Here are the correct usages of the memory and percent functions

Memory
[M+] - Stores the number currently being displayed on the LCD in memory. This is denoted by an M in the upper left hand corner of the display.

[M-] - This button removes a value from memory. It only works when the value is being displayed on the LCD. This is nice, so you can't accidentally erase a number your working with.

[mrc] - This is the memory recall button. If the m is being displayed, meaning you have a number in memory, press this to display the stored number. You can use it in the middle of operations, such as [1] + [mrc] [=]. This is very handy.

[%] - The last function we'll discuss is the % key. I know very few people who know how to use it properly. It could be more intuitive, so here it is - You press [number] [x] [desired %] [%]. For instance, to figure out 50% of 10 you would press - [10] [x] [50] [%]. The LCD would then read 5.

So you see, it has all the necessary functions, it gets a 9/10 instead of a 10/10 because it doesn't go beyond and try to give you a little more for your money.

LCD - 9.5/10 - I love LCD on this model. It is large enough, and the contrast is good enough, that I never have issues reading it quickly, even at a bit of a distance, or odd angle. It could stand to be a hair bigger, but I'm not complaining.

Battery Life/Durability - 10/10 - I have had this calculator over a year, and it has not batted an eyelash. No fade in the screen, no half formed numbers, no weird errors. I even spilled water once, and soda once on it, and it is still ticking. I could not be happier with the battery life, or the durability.

Overall - 8/10 One could wish it did a little more, or looked a little nicer. You can't however, complain about it's durability or execution of the basic functions it was designed for. If you are in need of a basic calculator, you could do worse than the TI-503SV basic calculator.