HelixRC2072 Oxford Scientific Calculator, 240 Functions, Protective Cover

My son got detention for not having a calculator in his school bag. Can you believe that nonsense? In my day we got in trouble if we had one...Anyway, we needed a school calculator that did the job, was cheap and could get here next day. This fitted the bill perfectly. It works, it's cheap and it got here fast. Can't ask for more than that. Easy 5 stars.Oh, and for what it's worth, turns out the school had his calculator all along. He left it somewhere and it took them 3 months to return it to him. Now he actually prefers this Helix calculator to his old Casio one. So that's quite handy...

From the battered PhonysaniG battery, to the cover that doesn't, it's cheap, but still really poor value. Helix used to be an ok brand when I was a kid, clearly not now!Got this so my kid could play with numbers away from my phone, but it doesn't seem safe. Battery will no doubt leak soon (it's already damaged), and the cover just drops off. Buttons rotate at random...Really awful, don't buy.Update: also noticed the expiry date on the PhonsaniG battery was last year!

Thankfully this was only a temporary calculator because the required model wasn't going to arrive in time......It's totally dependent on batteries (not solar) which is never a good idea for something essential to exams, it is cheap, it feels cheap and the battery cover is not flush with the calculator back, it sticks out. Sounds really daft but i hate things that aren't made 100% correctly. It works fine at the moment so it will do as a spare, but I wouldn't choose this as the main calculator.

Normal AA batteries cause cover flap to be unable to close. Once battery inserted and cover clipped in, it keeps popping out. Tried 3 types of AA batteries. Found the problem. Battery supplied is smaller diameter than standard AA, but on the inside of the cover there are two small lugs to keep battery held firm. Just shaved these off with sharp knife. No problem now.

Purchased this for a pre-employment test as advised we needed to have a calculator. When it was delivered I put it to one side then took it with me on the day of the test and you can imagine my horror and panic when the 2 an 3 buttons had a number 1 and 2 instead which really threw me off balance in an already stressful situation.Goodness knows how this was ever QC passed.