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Apparently I collect calculators now.

 About a year ago I changed from a person who owns a few calculators into someone who collects them.  Scientific calculators that is. It has not become an obsession yet but I spend a fair amount on time on r/calculators and drop into second hand shops regularly to see if they have any old models. 

For what it is worth here is my current collection: 

My Casio models in order of age are shown above. Casio is the most common brand in Ireland and I have owned and used many over the years. Noticeable models include an FX9860GII which is a very nice programmable graphing model from 2009 and an FX991CW+ 2nd Edition UK which is Casio's latest "A-level" model. This is a do-over of Casio's disastrous (in my opinion) FX991CW released in 2023. Casio is to be praised for still innovating in the calculator space but it beggars belief that they released a scientific calculator that had somehow forgotten how to use scientific notation. Thankfully the 2026 2nd edition models have fixed the major issues and it is now quite a nice calculator. 



Sharp is Casio's only real competitor in Ireland and it remains a distant second. Sadly they don't really innovate any more and recent models are little more than a repackaging of earlier versions. Nevertheless I prefer the way Sharp handles complex numbers to Casio and the EL-W506 was my daily driver for many years. On this picture I also have three clones of the EL-506P a legendary Sharp calculator from 1984. This must be the most cloned calculator in history and it is a testament to how good it was that clones are still being sold today. 



Finally a couple of oddments. The calculator on the left is an unbranded clone sold by Tesco of the Casio FX82 MS . The FX 82MS dates from 2000 and is probably the second most cloned calculator after the Sharp EL 506p. Tesco's version is a pretty robust clone and I recommend it for someone looking for a cheap scientific. 

Finally we have a TI 84 plus CE. Texas instrument calculators are not common in Ireland but are ubiquitous in the US. I believe this is the most common calculator in American Schools so I bought a second hand one to see what it is like. In Europe programmable/graphing calculators are not allowed in most exams so the market for powerful models like this is small. The TI does have an exam mode which locks some functions and it is permitted in virtually all US exams. To be honest Casio's programmable calculators such as the FX9860GII are more powerful and I prefer Casio's interface but the widespread acceptance of the TI84 in America means it has a huge install base and an unrivalled eco system of software and developers. 

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