I purchased a new Calculated Industries "Construction Master Pro Trig" yesterday.
It's a neat little bugger, so, it looks like the Texas Instruments TI-55 I normally carry can retire.
It has a few keys I may never use, such as, "stairs", "hip/valley", and "jack rafter". But it's ease of one key measurement conversion over a range encompassing metric, decimal imperial and fractional imperial is remarkable.
It solves circles, cylinders, arcs and right triangles with one keystroke and includes all the regular trig functions.
AND one key conversion between dms and dd.
It looks like it will also be 'one key easy' in weight/volume and cost calcs.
If only the "jack rafter" and "hip/valley" key functions solved spirals and vertical curves, I would love the bugger. I think this calc will take me into retirement.
In summation, one day with the new calc and I'm thinking I should write this company and suggest a new "Survey" model. At the back of the 100 page manual (with examples) it invites just such user input!
Oh yeah, I almost forgot, the calc is slightly smaller than my old TI-55 and slightly less cluttered by keys, and I purchased a hard case and belt pouch for mine. And the pocket manual fits in a pocket in the back of the calculator!
I give it a solid 8 out of 10.
Doe's it use RPN? + WHAT IS COST?
Jerel,
Sounds like a framing carpenter's dream!!! Wish I'd had one back in those days.
No RPN.
I got mine after a little shopping around on the web for about $70, with the hard case, belt pouch and one day delivery $117.
A word of warning. It is missing some useful functions but I think it will serve well in the field for anyone involved in construction.
It is so useful for framing calcs, I may take up carpentry after I retire.
Build an interface for it to a good quality compound mitre saw and you'll be the Grand Master Cut Man on ANY job. A good cut-man on any crew is essential.
PS: Don't call me when you guys get the next 100 floors up. That's why I'm the ground man doing all the cutting.
I'd like to find a flat scientific calculator that will fit in a field book.
A couple superintendents I used to work with swore by theirs, and it was a rare occurrence when our volumes didn't match for ordering concrete. Invariably we discovered yet another visit from the Fat Finger fairy, with me as prone to mistake as they were. Oh well, that is why we compared calcs beforehand, to avoid just such situations.
It's all just ones and zeros until it is ordered, after that it becomes real money.
