Customer reviews from hp.com
HP - 35S Scientific Calculator
Average customer rating
4.3
(60 Reviews)
Rating breakdown 60 reviews
5 Stars
36
4 Stars
13
3 Stars
4
2 Stars
4
1 Star
3
82%of customers recommend this product.
(
49 out of
60)
Customer Reviews for HP - 35S Scientific Calculator
Customer Rating
5
The Best Scientific Calc in Pocket Size
on July 13, 2008
Posted by: Anonymous
Gender:Male
Excellent calculator for those people who don't want to carry outside the office of home the HP 50g. Excellent clamshell construction to protect the calculator.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Features
5
Performance
5
Written by a customer while visiting hp.com
Customer Rating
3
Flawed keypad
on September 29, 2008
Posted by: R2D2
Gender:Male
The cannot enter a data stream with any confidence. The keys do not have a good feel and I am constantly making mistakes, and having to re-enter the data stream. I would love this calculator except fo rthe key pad. I gave it poor marks because of the keypad problem. Put a different keypad on theis calculator and it's perfect. I would buy the 33s, except that the reviews indicate that it has the same problem. Not up to HP standards. Go back to 32S keypad and it's perfect.
No, I would not recommend this to a friend.
Features
5
Performance
2
Written by a customer while visiting hp.com
Customer Rating
5
good for surveyors
on April 3, 2008
Posted by: esauvas
Gender:Male
this is a relly good instrument you have to check that out.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Features
5
Performance
5
Written by a customer while visiting hp.com
Customer Rating
4
Waiting for the new 41CV
on April 13, 2008
Posted by: Wolfdog
Gender:Male
The 35s is a very practical and robust calculator for the professional. It handles arithmetic, statistics and moderately complex programming tasks very easily.
The HP 35s has both RPN and standard algebra entry operation. In either mode, RPN or standard, this unit is highly refined. Users will find it to be very functional and powerful. It handles easy math to the more complex mathematics with ease.
It incorporates features and functions that are easy to use and understand, yet has the power to complete some rather complex mathematics.
The professional will find it to be very practical. The student will find it to be both rugged and powerful.
It does not have graphing capabilities. It does, however, meet the needs and requirements for a robust, economical and practical solution for which calculators are intended.
The HP 35s has both RPN and standard algebra entry operation. In either mode, RPN or standard, this unit is highly refined. Users will find it to be very functional and powerful. It handles easy math to the more complex mathematics with ease.
It incorporates features and functions that are easy to use and understand, yet has the power to complete some rather complex mathematics.
The professional will find it to be very practical. The student will find it to be both rugged and powerful.
It does not have graphing capabilities. It does, however, meet the needs and requirements for a robust, economical and practical solution for which calculators are intended.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Features
4
Performance
5
Written by a customer while visiting hp.com
Customer Rating
4
Good calculator, but still room for improvement
on April 23, 2008
Posted by: Anonymous
Gender:Male
The relatively new HP-35S is a nice improvement over previous model (HP-33S) and a step in the right direction. It seems that the marketing people who run HP have realized that there still is a demand for high-quality, reasonably prices calculators.
Pros: The funcionality, build quality, case, etc. are good for current price-point. Of course, HP could design and build a better product, but it would come at a price. The design is much nicer than the previous model, and HP has corrected some of the quirks which were enoying in the HP-33S (location of the [ENTER] key, entry of complex numbers, limited number of memory registers for a 32kb memory).
Cons: There are some ergonomic and functionality issues. They may or may not be important to some people, but it would be nice if HP could fix them for the next release of this product (and call it HP-35Sii). Here are the ones I noticed so far:
- The location of some of the keys is confusing. For example, in the good, old HP-32Sii, all left-shifted functions in the top row were actually menus. Simple to remember and intuitive. In the HP-35S the functions that open selection menus are randomly distributed all over the keyboard. I'm sure that with time and practice I will learn their location, but the keyboard layout of some older HP calculators was more logical.
- The polar-rectangular conversion functions have disappeared. I find it difficult to understand why would HP eliminate such basic and useful functions. Granted, one can use complex numbers formats to do the conversion, but the process is cumbersome, and extracting individual parts in rectangular mode is even more cumbersome. Of course, one can also write a simple program to get around this issue, but it still defies my logic why the functions are not there.
- Operations in hexadecimal, octal and binary mode are very cumbersome, require too many keystrokes, and can easily be mixed up resulting in the infamous "SYNTAX ERROR" message.
- The location of some of the keys is confusing. For example, in the good, old HP-32Sii, all left-shifted functions in the top row were actually menus. Simple to remember and intuitive. In the HP-35S the functions that open selection menus are randomly distributed all over the keyboard. I'm sure that with time and practice I will learn their location, but the keyboard layout of some older HP calculators was more logical.
- The polar-rectangular conversion functions have disappeared. I find it difficult to understand why would HP eliminate such basic and useful functions. Granted, one can use complex numbers formats to do the conversion, but the process is cumbersome, and extracting individual parts in rectangular mode is even more cumbersome. Of course, one can also write a simple program to get around this issue, but it still defies my logic why the functions are not there.
- Operations in hexadecimal, octal and binary mode are very cumbersome, require too many keystrokes, and can easily be mixed up resulting in the infamous "SYNTAX ERROR" message.
There are also some other details, that in my opinion are not real problems, but may be an issue for others. The input and operations in ALG-ebraic mode are done differently to a "normal" calculator. For example, to calculate 5 times sine of 30 deg. one have to type:
5 [x] [SIN] 30 [ENTER]
while on a "normal" calculator one would type:
5 [x] 30 [SIN] [=]
5 [x] [SIN] 30 [ENTER]
while on a "normal" calculator one would type:
5 [x] 30 [SIN] [=]
While this may seem a bit confusing in the beginning, the HP-35S mode is actually the correct way of doing things in the pre-fix notation. The real problem is that common calculators' operating system is a mix-up of pre- and post-fix notation. However, we have been using them so much that by now everybody accepts this aberration as something normal. But once you grasp the logic of the HP input, it is very intuitive.
Actually the ALG-ebraic mode of the HP-35S is pretty useful. While RPN is still much more efficient for quick calculations, the advantage of the ALG mode is that now one can write a long equation, evaluate it, and easily got back to correct mistakes or re-evaluate the equation with different arguments. This was not possible in the previous execution of ALG mode in the HP-33S, and is more consistent with the notation and syntax of graphic calculators / computers.
Now, with all the critique, I'm still happy that HP has brought back a quality calculator after a period of releasing products that frankly were an insult to the HP tradition. The HP-35S is a good, versatile, and powerfull tool for students, engineers, and scientist who want the convinience, functionality and computing power of a programmable pocket calculator without the cost and size of a graphing calculator. Hopefully, HP will fix the minor problems and release an updated version of the HP-35S, together with a next generation of powerful, quality and affordable calculators.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Features
4
Performance
4
Written by a customer while visiting hp.com
Customer Rating
4
35s basic technical handheld
on August 23, 2008
Posted by: Gregor
Gender:Male
I've had a 35, 67 and a 41cv. I had to replace my 41cv (only lasted 22 years) and chose the 35s as I am now retired. The keys are crisp and the display ordinary. Ergonomics are acceptable. Pluses include: batteries, fraction calculations and stored constants. I was disappointed with the limited program labels, storage registers and base conversion. The simplistic built-in equation functions seem to be targeted to high school students or college freshmen and are of limited practical use in the field. (memories of 41application pacs). Overall a solid choice for basic number crunching but without data input or card storage, progamability is limited.
I would recommend this to a friend!
Features
3
Performance
4
Written by a customer while visiting hp.com
Customer Rating
5
Ahh, relief - a new RPN calculator that is good
on October 16, 2008
Posted by: ed787
Gender:Male
Except for the obvious complaint that others have raised about STO key being shifted, I love this calculator! The keyboard is not as good as decades past, but it is very good - especially compared with recent HP calculators.
Don't follow the examples in the programming section regarding labels - you can go to any label you want with the 3 digit numbers. I've organized several routines under one letter label and XEQ or GTO them from anyplace else. I've been adding in a whole library of special functions this way. I just keep a card with the labels written down in the little webbing of the case. I even have a register convention and stack added using the indirect memory for chaining together function calls and saving registers.
Complex operations are ok - not as good as the HP graphing calculators (for instance, square root of -1 is an error, not i), but it's still easier to use than my 32sii thanks to the improved display. I don't think the manual has it right about complex numbers on the stack though - it seems to me that I get all four levels, not the two that the manual claims.
Also, the hexalator mode is not sooo bad. To get the little 'h' on the end of a number to denote it as hex, it's shift-base-6 which is easy enough to remember. I wouldn't swap it for my 16c, but it's workable, and I think I like it better than the hex mode on my 32sii, since it's easier to mix hex and decimal in calculations. 36 bit word though? Where did that come from?
Hopefully HP will come out with a 35sii that puts the STO key on a top key - so long as they don't muck with much else (especially the keyboard!!!).
Don't follow the examples in the programming section regarding labels - you can go to any label you want with the 3 digit numbers. I've organized several routines under one letter label and XEQ or GTO them from anyplace else. I've been adding in a whole library of special functions this way. I just keep a card with the labels written down in the little webbing of the case. I even have a register convention and stack added using the indirect memory for chaining together function calls and saving registers.
Complex operations are ok - not as good as the HP graphing calculators (for instance, square root of -1 is an error, not i), but it's still easier to use than my 32sii thanks to the improved display. I don't think the manual has it right about complex numbers on the stack though - it seems to me that I get all four levels, not the two that the manual claims.
Also, the hexalator mode is not sooo bad. To get the little 'h' on the end of a number to denote it as hex, it's shift-base-6 which is easy enough to remember. I wouldn't swap it for my 16c, but it's workable, and I think I like it better than the hex mode on my 32sii, since it's easier to mix hex and decimal in calculations. 36 bit word though? Where did that come from?
Hopefully HP will come out with a 35sii that puts the STO key on a top key - so long as they don't muck with much else (especially the keyboard!!!).
I would recommend this to a friend!
Features
5
Performance
5
Written by a customer while visiting hp.com
Customer Rating
5
Simply..THE BEST!
on July 26, 2009
Posted by: bookvirtuoso
Gender:Male
HP 35s is the best replacement to the old best calculator hp 15C! Nothing more to say!
I would recommend this to a friend!
Features
5
Performance
4
Written by a customer while visiting hp.com