Sharp EL-1192BL Desktop 2 Color Printing Calculator

It feels strange calling a calculator ergonomic, but that's the only word that describes the design of the EL-1192BL. The large keys look and feel like those found on a computer keyboard, with beveled edges and slightly concave tops that virtually eliminate input errors. The 12-digit display isn't the standard black and gray LCD calculator users are used to; instead, its bright green illuminated numbers are legible in any lighting condition. It's a touch that anyone who spends hours in front of a calculator each day will appreciate. The printer unit uses two colors (black for positives, red for negatives), and it is very noisy, but produces crisp output. It's an impact device, meaning it uses standard paper rolls instead of the more expensive thermal paper, and a three-line-per-second print speed means it should keep up well with all but the most nimble-fingered users.

As for features, there's plenty of stuff here that business users will like. Dedicated tax keys let us establish a standard tax rate and apply it to our figures with a single keystroke. A correction key let us delete the last number we entered to erase mistakes, and a grand-total key made it easy to total the results from multiple calculations. A switch at the top let us easily select one of six decimal display modes, including floating, fixed (3, 2, 1, and 0), and an add mode. Another switch controls whether decimals are rounded up or down. If you can live with the clatter from the printer and have the space on your desk to accommodate such a large calculator, the EL-1192BL is a powerful adding machine and calculator that will suit businesses of all types. --T. Byrl Baker

Pros:

• Key design is very useful
• Dedicated keys simplify tax computations
• Excellent display

Cons:

• Very large
• Noisy printer