Customer Reviews

Casio ClassPad 300 Touch-Screen Graphing Scientific Calculator

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I purchased this Casio ClassPad 330 through Amazon and Computer Brain Inc. I ordered the calculator on November 15 and I received it on November 18 via an express carrier. I am delighted by the responsiveness of Computer Brain and their working relationship with Amazon. It's an ideal partnership that gives buyers like me a great feeling of security, and attention at a great price.
I bought the Casio 330 AFTER I already purchased the Hewlett-Packard 50G AND the Texas Instruments nSpire with TI-84 keyboard. The HP is a quality product built to the standards of their long line of calculators. The TI nSpire represents great value for the price along with a widespread user community. I kept the HP because of its external SD storage capability although it will take me a long time to master the keyboard and internal functions. I'd rather not spend the time required with the HP to master its capability. I was a former jet aircraft pilot and I like to joke that the HP is more complex than my old aircraft cockpits. Regrettably, I returned the TI nSpire/84 because the display was so dim that my eyes hurt after ten minutes of straining. When calculators like the TI have adjustments for contrast, it's really an erroneous understanding because when you increase font contrast, you also increase the contrast of the background screen which means the font does NOT improve relative to its screen background.
The Casio 330 has tremendous contrast range which actually works. I even left the contrast setting at the default level because it is super, even for my old, tired eyes. The screen has stylus touch ability that HP and TI both lack. This makes the Casio operate a lot like a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA). It's intuitive, responsive, and fun to work with. There are applications, functions, and modes of operation common to other high-end devices along with the ability to connect to a desktop. If you feel that Casio is limited to low-end, low-cost devices, think twice and give this calculator a chance. If you purchase it from Computer Brain through Amazon, you'll discover like I did that it's the perfect solution to other troublesome calculators. One last thing-the Casio comes with a hard-shell protective case, startup manuals, cable connectors, batteries, and the best news of all - IT'S NOT PACKED IN A BUBBLE-PACK which is often impossible to open. Casio comes in a nice, "retro" box.

First off, I bought this calculator more out of excitement and curiosity than need. I thought a touch screen interface would be a wonderful thing for a calculator, and the descriptions leading up to the ClassPad's release were tantalizing and exciting. To sum up, what I feel I actually have is a strange mixture of poor planning and deep insensitivity to users' needs.

The display contrast is terrible. And if you try to remedy this with a strong light source, you trade horrible contrast for double images caused by shadows. The 'screen protector' Casio provides is no help, either. It adds a reflection problem to the mix.

The huge amount of screen real estate seems like it would be a wonderful thing. Unfortunately, it is used by the calculator's OS with stunning inefficientcy. Even performing basic calculations can be frustrating. As soon as you bring up the soft keyboard, a full half of your screen is lost. Answers or problems that exceed one line are simply truncated, followed by an ellipsis and a tiny, tiny triangle you must tap to see the rest of the line. There is no way to display the whole line at the same time.

The touch screen interface, the most intriguing aspect of this calculator for me (before purchase), is very poorly implimented. The calculator has a very basic keypad for entering numbers and basic functions. It also has dedicated keys for three variables, x, y and z. Oddly, they have no keys for storing anything in these variables. The only way to do it is using the 'soft keyboard', a touch screen keyboard with several panels of keys, all of which are quite tiny and very difficult to see due to the poor display. Imagine being in an engineering or technical environment and having to pull out a stylus every time you wish to do anything but the basic four functions. You cannot lay this calculator on a table and use it with one hand effectively, unless you wish to try to balance the stylus in your remaining fingers as you enter numbers, then flip it about to use it on the soft keyboards. And yes, you must use the stylus. All the soft keys are far too tiny to be used with a fingertip.

The documentation is bewildering. Individual commands and functions are often explained in relation to other commands and functins, and examples are given with no remarks or explainations. The upshot is that when you need to understand a function, you often have to make several trips to various indexes, back to pages that explain other functions, only to be driven back to the indexes again. To top it off, many functions have bewildering, counterintuitive names. What might be a self-contained 'if' command in another calculator or in a spreadsheet, for instance, is called 'piecewise' in the ClassPad.

The CAS is odd. As a matter of fact, the entire operating system is confusing at times. Menus are arranged in strange ways, icons on toolbars give few clues as to what function they perform. The built-in applications are not even loosly tied together, save by obscure system variables whose names are all but meaningless to humans. There's a plethora of functions and commands, but there is odd and glaring omissions as well. Who has seen a recent scientific calculator, for instance, that has no engineering format for the display? Only the ClassPad.

Programmability of this calculator is weak. It is especially difficult to prompt users for input, as there are odd limitations on things like input and output commands. And, of course, the poor, difficult to use documentation does not help.

This is a machine with tremendous potential that is marred by poor implimentation, and after having one for some years now, I see no signs of improvement. I would strongly advise anyone considering this calculator to visit the Universal Calculator Forum's ClassPad area. Read it carefully before investing in this expensive but frustrating machine. In my book, it is not a practical calculator for anyone, though some students seem to like it. Use this URL- http://www.casiocalc.org/ and click on the ClassPad forum.

The LCD diplay on these units (I have purchased two, now, with the identical problem) is so bad that the units are essentially unusable. The LCD display contrast is very, very low. (it is hard to believe that the contrast is even 10:1? (a good LCD computer monitor is about 500:1))

Even under the best lighting conditions, carefully holding the instrument just so, etc. the units are hardly even readable. I have 1) replaced the batteries (both the batteries that came with the units and these replacement batteries tested fully charged) 2) carefully adjusted the contrast (being unusable is the BEST that I could get, any other contrast is hopelelly worse) 3) reset the unit, etc.

After the problem with the first unit, I looked at the Amazon.com reviews and the reviews did not mention this problem. I therefore, reasonably, assumed that this first unit was defective and so I arranged to exchange it for another one. Unfortunately, the second unit's display is equally abominable so I assume that this very unfortunate defect is intrinsic to the product.

I've used the ClassPad 330 while taking college math classes and now as a math teacher, and I'd recommend it almost without reservation to both students and teachers who are learning and teaching math. Whether it's an algebraic equation or a limit, derivative, or integral, it can solve almost any standard problem you'd see in high school math or the first year or two of a college math major sequence. (Not talking about word problems or proofs of course.) It can solve these problems symbolically or numerically and in 'math textbook form' for both input and output. The lack of standard input keys is no issue because the stylus-based touch-screen contains hundreds of math operations in logically-organized menu sections. This calculator also has powerful statistics, series/sequences, programming, standard-graphing, and 3d-graphing tools. It has a useful 'split-screen' feature where you can, for example, view your definite integral solution on the top half and the graph of that integrals area on the bottom half. Speaking of the screen, the display is clear and easy for my eyes to focus on even after spending hours solving problems in low-light conditions. While the ClassPad 330 may not be 'legal' on every math test you take, it's proven indispensable to me in studying and preparing for tests (and now creating and double-checking tests of my own). As a separate product, you can buy an emulator version (ClassPad Manager) that is very useful for teachers, as well as create activities and demonstrations for students with just the ClassPad 330 itself. One caveat though--this is for students of math and science (as well as teachers, engineers, and scientists in the working world) who want to delve deeper and perform, mathematically speaking, at their peak. If you're taking a college algebra class for a liberal arts major, have no interest in math (which is completely fine of course, English was my first major and I love the liberal arts), and will never take another math class again, this calculator may not be for you.

The major drawback of the Casio classpad 300 was its screen. The constrast was so poor that it was hardly usable at all.

Now Casio have replaced the Casio Classpad 300 by the Casio Classpad 300 PLUS, with a dramatically enhanced screen. The constrast is now very good under most lighting conditions. The operating system has also been enhanced, offering amongst other things a choice between the standard characters set and a bold characters set.

All in all, this makes the Casio Classpad 300 PLUS one of the most powerful, integrated and easy-to-use graphing calculator ever.

I have been working with this machine for a bit over a week. I have come to the conclusion that this calculator will do everything with greater ease than my more expensive HP and TI machines will do. What amazes me is how easy it has been to learn how it works. The operating instructions are clear, understandable and accurate. My Casio is now producing solutions for me that I have tried very hard and failed to get from the TI and HP machines. Additionally, once the technique is mastered, the efficiency of being able to manipulate, edit, and drag things on the touch-screen makes working with it a real pleasure. The screen scrolls upward to contain many lines of input and results which can be either copied or dragged where you might want to use them again. Indeed, the numeric pad at the foot of the screen is essentially unnecessary-- I quickly learned to prefer using the on-screen keyboards almost exclusively.

The stylus is an absolute necessity, and I will be ordering some extras from Casio soon due to my propensity for misplacing such things. It has a perfectly fine slot on the calculator's side for storing it, but I know myiself well enough to seek some spares.

The only thing I can complain about is something that most users will not consider to be a fault. My tired old eyes, that are far from being as sharp as they once were, would have appreciated a display that would have permitted the graphics thereon to be a bit larger. The display is sharp and distinct, but I would have been happier with it a bit larger.

It is not only a very capable and sophisticated calculator, but it is also fun to use. Of course, being able to easily manipulate and to fool around with all the 'what ifs' and 'why nots' that come to mind can waste a lot of time; but then they might possibly yield something exciting and useful.

I have owned numerous calculators by HP, TI, Sharp, Casio, etc., but this new Classpad 300 Plus that was just released a few weeks ago with Casio's latest operating system (OS 3.0) and Classpad Manager 3.0 is just fabulous. It is now in common use in Europe, especially in Germany and also in Australia and in New Zealand. If you purchase(d) the version with OS 2.0, you can still upgrade electronically to the newest version using the Classpad Manager Version 3.0 directly which has a number of very nice new features/functions. This calculator should also be in common use in the USA as well, but regrettably the financial dominance of TI in our marketplace (and the impending arrival of the new TI NSpire calculator) make the likelihood of its acceptance very soon quite small, unless people like myself write reviews like this to promote educators to really get involved with this new product. The real advantage of both the Classpad as well as the TI NSpire calculator (which is not a pen-based product like the Classpad) is the great software that installs on PC's so that a complete emulation of its operations is possible even without the calculator being physically available. It addition, however the Casio (OS 3.0) will do now do Dirac Delta functions, Heaviside Step functions, Fourier and Laplace Transforms (including Fast Fourier Transforms, i.e., FFT's), First order ordinary differential equations, financial analyses, and of course it already performed complex number analyses, etc.
The operating feature on the Classpad that appeals to me the most however is the pen-based drag and drop operations using the Computer Algebra System (CAS) and the interactive menu between each of the numerous types of submenus on the device. Any operation worked on in one area (Graphs and Tables for example) can readily be copied and pasted into another area (Statistics, Spreadsheets, Sequences, etc) just to name a few of the numerous possibilities. The E-activity submenu on the Casio supports presentations to an audience and is the analog for the Classpad of the TI NSpire's 4 screens of information that can all be put on to a single screen at once (analyzing a problem using a geometrical representation in the form of a drawing or a picture, a word statement of the problem, an analytic or numerical equation solution and a graph of the results). Finally, the results can all be ported back and forth and printed/stored, etc. between the Classpad Manager software/emulator and the calculator itself which is simply fantastic to use. I have had this for almost a month now and I am just begining to appreciate what it can do for me daily in my work as a scientist. If students get exposed to these devices in a late middle school curriculum and beyond (after they first master many of the basics of mathematics and science), in my opinion they will want to continue to grow into math and science in their later years and become excited leaders in science and engineering that this country has been famous for having for most of the last 60 years.

I totally agree with the previous reviewer. I removed the protective cover (as suggested by another reviewer), it did not help that much. The only way I can see the screen is when I place the calculator under a desktop lamp.
I wasted $150. What a shame.

pros:
1-stylus pen operation is very nice.
2-excellent screen contast much better than the Ti nspire.
hint(if you purchase this calc. take the transparent protective sheet out from the lcd screen, this will boost the contrast a lot.)
3-very fast 3D ploting and easier to rotate with the pen.
4-super near perfect electronic manual.
5-built in Laplace and fourier transforms and FFT.
6-ease of use.

cons:
1-we couldn't figure out if it is allowed in SAT, may be not.

advice:
the casio FX9860 II plus (not yet on amazon) is allowed in SAT.
it does nearly every thing like the TI 89/84 and it costs half.
it has a back light screen, and does every thing a high school student needs to do.
plz have a look on youtube for a demo. it is nice.

The Bad

first of all i have no complaints about the screens contrast but but my gripe is that the screen seems low on qaulity, why has the fx series at £60 got colour when this doesnt - this would help to make the overcrowded screen become more approachable.

While using a stylus may be fun, the novlety wears of and you find yourself doing basic calculations in your head as doing it on the calculator takes longer. In fact most of the functions with vague icons you learn about in the instructions not by intuition.

i dont think its worth £150, the only thing i can see being worth a lot is the operating system, everything else, the screen, bulid quality, stylus, software, plastic cover are below par. i know a palmtop with good software while losing a few features is the same price but better quality

The Good

Once you learn to use its interface, you have an extremely flexible machine. powerful and useful for most mathmaticians or engineers. i have found even very advanced expressions are catered for in the softkeyboard. 3d graphing is still simple to use and is one application where the classpad shows its uniqueness, while complex functions are graphed much quicker than lesser models. i see it as a small extension to my pc, allowing me to check processes that may take longer to implicate in more detail on the computer itself. microsoft derived toolbars are easier to use and provide convienient functions such as cut/paste,save,select all etc, therefore although you get confused occasionaly you are rarely lost in its interface.

conclusion

As a student i find this calculator useful and i know it will have greater use once i graduate, but its probably too much for an average student or smalltime number cruncher. Either for somebody who is on a very steep maths learning curve or a professional- ie not me.