Texas Instruments touts their TI-84 Plus Graphing Calculator as “perhaps the best-selling calculator of all time.” Indeed, it has thousands of reviews on the Internet, most of which are largely positive. This calculator comes with USB technology to share files with other computers, whether they are laptops or other scientific calculators. It also has pre-loaded apps, but with the capability of adding any TI-83 apps. The Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus Graphing Calculator should be suitable for students of science, finance, and other subjects that require advanced calculations. It is not solar-powered like many other calculators; instead, it takes AAA batteries and has a silver oxide battery as a backup.

The TI-30Xa Scientific Calculator is a basic model that performs trigonometric functions, logarithms, roots, powers, reciprocals, and factorials. The buyer sacrifices a plethora of features by prioritizing price, but this calculator may be more than enough machine depending on its intended use.

Before it was outshone by the TI-84, the Texas Instruments TI-83 Plus Graphing Calculator dominated the scientific calculator market. It was often and highly recommended to students as the ultimate calculator for just about any need. It’s accepted for use in all standardized testing, and is great for trigonometry and algebra. It has an upgradeable operating system and software.

The Sharp EL-W516B is a relatively inexpensive scientific calculator, with a large four-line LCD display and programmable keys.  This model has hundreds of features, including more than 530 scientific programs and programmable macro keys. Its reviews are largely positive, with some customers singing the product’s praise after nearly a decade of use.

The HP 35s Scientific Calculator is recommended by about 86 percent of people who review it. It has significantly fewer features than more expensive scientific calculators since HP designed it to commemorate its iconic H35 calculator from decades before. Simple in appearance, it’s an able performer with keystroke programmability. Some people report it is not easy to read, which could potentially be a problem for users with poor vision.

Used by students and engineers, the HP50g Graphing Calculator sports a large, bright display rarely seen on regular scientific calculators. It is capable of vector operations, in addition to graphic, statistical, and electronic specifications. Although it is well reviewed, some users find its documentation lacking. The HP50g has a large equation library and over 2,300 built-in functions for geometry and math.

As one of Texas Instruments’ premium products, the Voyage 200 Calculator features a QWERTY keyboard and large LCD screen. The product is incredibly customizable, letting users calculate advanced math problems or even use applications to turn it into a flashcard device for foreign language, history or English classes. Students who want a high-quality calculator that is useful for just about any class can benefit from buying the Voyage 200.

The Texas Instruments TI36X Pro is a scientific calculator for middle school to college students; more specifically, it is best for basic algebra up to college calculus. The unit is solar powered, so the student need not worry about batteries of any kind. The display may be difficult to read when lying on a desk, according to some descriptions of the product, so it is not well-suited for graphing functions.

Although technically a scientific calculator, Sharp’s QS-2122H 12-Digit Commercial Desktop Calculator is largely designed for business. It is capable of easing the calculations of markups, margins, and percent changes. Overall, it is a simple calculator with a clear display.

The TI-30XS MultiView Scientific Calculator is another inexpensive machine. Buyers are pleased with its ability to show variations of the same answer and previous answers. It is a non-graphing scientific calculator with a solar display. It is nowhere near as feature laden as the TI-83 or TI-84, but it should be sufficient for middle to high school students. Some buyers are dissatisfied with its simplicity. For example, it might not be suitable for an advanced high school math or physics class.