This is a nice all-around calculator. I'm hyper sensitive to the tactile feel of the buttons on a calculator (or keyboard, for that matter). The mush-buttons of most other desktop calculators in this product's price range drive me nuts. When you push on these units the button will wobble (drastically!) from side to side as well as move down. A rough analogy is trying to sit on a large inflated ballon as a kid; you go every which way. As a consequence, my fingers often slip off the keys and I make errors. I have an otherwise great Canon calculator that has this flaw, and I never use it.
The Sharp has computer-keyboard-type keys. Check out the feel on your numeric keypad as you read this: that's how solid the keys feel on the Sharp. Each key has a mechanism that restricts the key motion to vertical (up and down) only, with virtually no side-to-side mush. This is the sole reason I bought this unit, and the reason was to replace the Canon.
The printout is a bit light (for both black and red inks), and may be due to old/dried out print pads on my particular unit. I haven't gotten around (or really needed) to replace them to see if this fixes the problem.
The printer is a bit slow, but practically speaking it's a non-issue. There is a generous keybout buffer to capture strokes, and, frankly, I like it when I get a bit ahead of the machine and it cranks calculations to catch up with me (yeah, I know; it's weird). For the record, I've never lost a number yet.
Only thing keeping it from 5 stars is the light printout (my Canon had a gorgeous solid purple in a beautiful font; the Sharp output is somewhat faded, with a pedestrian font. Again, this may be my particular print rollers, see above). I'm also hyper-sensitized to these things; they might not bother you at all.
Great machine overall. I'd buy another in a heartbeat if this one failed.
- Paul Fredrick
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Sharp EL-1801C Semi-Desktop 2-Color Printing Calculator.
