Texas Instruments BA II Plus Financial Calculator
by Texas Instruments
|
List Price: Our Price: $27.81 You Save: $17.19 (38%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $16.98 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
|---|
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Texas Instruments BA II Plus Financial Calculator
Customer Review: Ignore the buffoons above--this is THE financial calculator
Summary: 5 Stars
My friends, if you're looking for a financial calculator capable of calculating basic TVM functions, amortization, NPV, IRR, statistical analysis, deprection (SL, DB, SYD, and DBX), break-even analysis, bond calculations, markups and margins, interest-rate conversions, and even the number of days between two specific dates, then look no further than the TI BAII Plus. Here's why in a nutshell:(1) Ease of Use: Look, anything that's new to you will require some time set aside to learn about it. It will take no more than 15 minutes of perusing the manual before you know this calculator like the back of your hand. I don't know what the goofballs in the previous reviews meant when they said this calculator was hard to use--they don't even sound like people who work in finance. And whenever you need to lookup a function, just refer to the manual--what's so hard about that?!!
I used the HP 10Bii calculator. This thing actually used REGISTERS for input. In other words, it's not like entering data into a "spreadsheet"-style list that the TI has. You actually have to remember all the cash flows and data that you enter into the registers of the HP; there's no viewing, inserting, or deleting of data like the TI allows you to do. It doesn't have all that the TI has, and yet it costs exactly the same. Huh?
(2) Cost: Folks, if you want an HP calculator that is comparable to the BA II plus, you will have to shell out anywhere from (dollar amount). This is nothing new; HP always had this arrogance in pricing their calculators high--come on guys, they're all pieces of plastic made in China. What, you like the rigid feel of the buttons on HP? Well whoop-dee-doo, I thought we buy these things to perform calculations...
(3) It's got everything, Need I say more?: For instance, did you know you can perform statistical regression analysis, where you can input an "X" variable and have the calculator compute the corresponding "Y" value on a least-squares regression line? You've even got trigonometric functions (SIN, COS, and TAN) as well as the inverses of those functions.
Trust me, this is a serious calculator packed with all the basic financial tools you need, all for a REASONABLE price (read: affordable). If you want something more serious, then by all means, screw the HP, and just use Microsoft Excel.
Customer Review: Great for the money. Comparison with HP17BII+
Summary: 5 Stars
It's hard for me to give anything 5 stars, but for about $30 this calculator is such a great bargain. If it was more expensive, I would give it 4 stars. The other calculator I tried was the HP17BII+. My HP stopped working after 3 weeks. I will probably stick with the BAII+, but I did like the HP's ability to store functions.Pros
- Lots of built-in functions. Seems like as many or more built-in financial functions than the HP17BII+.
- Better statistics functionality than the HP17BII+. Statistics is very important for business classes. The HP suprisingly lacks some basic functions, like population standard deviation.
- Has some trig functions. It can actually be a decent scientific calculator. Overall it's more versatile than any of the HP business calculators.
- Better build quality than the new HP's.
- Can be used for many standardized tests. You will not be accused of storing functions because you can't.
Cons
- In my opinion, not as user-friendly as the more menu-driven HP17BII+. The BAII+ usually requires more keystrokes and is not as intuitive. However, it's not so difficult that a good student can't learn it.
- Cannot store functions. Of course, if it did it would cost more and could be banned from certain tests.
- If you're one of the few out there that like RPN, it is not an option. The new HP's let you choose between Algebraic and RPN.
One thing that suprised me about the HP was how much their quality has gone down. They used to be the best built calculators. Now they are the worst. Look at the reviews of the new HP's. It's true! If HP doesn't get their act together, I think they will be out of the calculator market.
It would be nice if TI had a business calculator that could store user-defined functions like the HP17BII+ and have a more menu driven interface. The solver function would justify the price of the HP17BII+ if only the build quality was up to par. The quality of the newest BAII+ is not quite as good as the older ones, but it is much better than the quality of the new HP's.
Customer Review: Very useful for loan calculations and retirement planning!
Summary: 5 Stars
I have owned two TI Business Analyst calculators in the past. One finally broke after many years and I replaced it with this one.The functions provided are extremely useful for so many calculations, like the monthly payback on a loan, what the future value of a series of payments into an IRA would yield at some assumed interest rate, discounting a future sum of money by an assume inflation rate, and many other calculations like converting a stated interest rate to a true annual rate and vice-versa and figuring the yield to maturity of a bond. You name it.
A VERY useful book comes with the package, better than the book with my last one because it shows clear examples of how to perform different calculations. It will also suggest some things you can do with the calculator that you may not have intended.
The calculator is encased in a protective plastic cover that removes from the calcuator and can be either placed to the side or slid onto the bottom of the case to avoid losing it. The keypad has good feedback, nice feel.
The only negative, and this is a nit, is that there's no battery hatch. You have to take the case apart to replace the coin battery. I don't know why they've done that but the batteries last so long (5 years?) this shouldn't be an issue.
I've seen HP and Sharp financial calculators and in my view considering the TI's price, ease of use, and terrific manual, it's a real winner!
Customer Review: Great calculator but you'll need to spend some time reading the manual
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this calculator for my finance classes and have used it for about a month now. So far, I don't have any problems with it and doubt that any will arise in the future. I have had a calculator by TI before, that I've used for the past seven years and it still works absolutely perfectly so I have great confidence in this one as well. The calculator itself is build and designed very well. The buttons are easy to press and are very responsive, the screen is nice and clear, and the processor is able to calculate difficult functions quite fast.
The only difficulty that I had with this product is its complexity. Though, of course, this calculator does basic functions such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, etc. once you begin to use it for its designed functions, you may run into some problems figuring out how the calculator functions. The calculator, however, comes with a very useful manual which you can spend a couple minutes reading and you will know anything there is to know about how to use different financial functions of this calculator.
Customer Review: Great financial calculator
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a great financial calculator. The only beef I have with Texas Instruments is they reduced the dissertation size user manual they used to have to a semi useless quick guide that does a great job for basic functions but does not have the full functionality of the entire calculator in it. This calculator deserves a guide that lets both beginners and advanced users utilize it. I got my calculator on sale which made it even a better value. I had the older version of this calculator and some keys may have been removed because it looks a little smaller but all the really necessary functions are still there! There is no better financial calculator available in its price range.
Pros: Powerful financial functions
Great built-in case
good quick user guide
Cons: Poor explanations of advanced functions
confusing up and down arrow functions
I still love this calculator and feel you can't do any better if you need functionality for financial problems.