Texas Instruments 36 X Solar Calculator

One of the most versatile scientific calculators ever sold, the Texas Instruments TI-36X runs on room light, has in its memory a large number of physics and math constants (like Pi, Avogadro's number, etc.), is quite durable, packs three memories and about ten closed parentheses regions, converts fahrenheit to centigrade and vice versa, degrees to rads to grads and vice versa, decimal, hexadecimal, binary and octal (& vice versa) and answers every requirement one could ask of a non-graphing computer. Price is around $10.00 + shipping on eBay. Only drawback is that the printing above the keys is unusually hard to read except in bright light (dark purple on dark gray). I have gotten around that by printing out thin strips of white paper with the codes on it and glued them to the frame above the rows of keys. Even with this problem, though, the Texas Instrument TI-36X is the best such instrument I have ever used. (I use the Texas Instruments TI-89 for my graphing and calculus needs, also from eBay at very much less than retail.)

I'm reviewing the 2004 revision of the Ti-36x Solar. I have always been fond of TI calculators and wanted to see if their "top of the line" scientific lived up to the quality and functionality I'm used to. Upon cursory inspection, I liked the fact that it had quite a few functions on the keys, enough for both a 2nd and 3rd shift key. Those functions are laid out in a way that is somewhat intuitive. I didn't have to refer to the manual much to do polar to rectangular conversions and other functions common to my studies.

Now onto the improvements. The solar operation is a decent feature, but it has no battery to fall back on, making it less that totally reliable in low light. It has a clip-on hard case, but it's a bit akward to manipulate compared to the older slide cover used for years by TI. The buttons seem cheap and loose on the calc, but that's not unusual for a TI. I'm just spoiled by my HP calcs in that respect. They are generally built a bit sturdier than TIs. Overall I think the design is a step backward from the 1993 revision and from that of it's cousin, the TI-36X II.

I think this calculator has a great place between the pricey (but well worth the money) HP 35s and the cheaper Casio FX-115ES which, despite all its bells and whistles, I find much less intuitive in function layout.

I purchased this slightly older version of the TI-36X Solar for the purposes of my upcoming Calculus and Trig classes. It took me a little while to get used to the button placement because I am used to using a TI-30X IIS. The arrangements are different. This calculator allows me to do more advanced calculations than the TI-30X IIS. Once I got the hang of the key placement and got used to the functions not on my other calculator, I realized this is a great calculator. I intentionally bought the older style with the black case and buttons because I liked the styling better than the current one on the market. They are functionally the same, however. Overall, I am happy with the purchase and I would definitely recommend this calculator for anyone in advanced math and Engineering classes like I am.

I bought the Texas Instruments TI-36 X Solar Scientific Calculator good staf i will recommend for may frend this staf and selsr.thanks.

This was the only calculator I could find which feasibly includes binary/hexadecimal/octal conversions and operations. Operates at low light intensity. I used it as replacement for my old TI-34.
Interestingly, it seems not to be available in Europe (I ordered it in the US).