College is tough on equipment, so high build quality of a calculator is a must. I'm used to a TI-86 (which is built like a tank), so the extremely light EL-506v is quite a change. However, the build appears plenty solid. The calculator is gray on the front, with a dark blue back and a dark blue translucent cover which snaps on nicely. The buttons are translucent as well, with the number and main function keys dark blue and the secondary keys white (the on key is also pink, and the secondary function key is yellow). There are slightly fewer keys than on TI's comperable model, but every button has several contextual functions. The display is quite nice. There are two lines, a large numerical one where data is input (with a small section dedicated to exponential notation) and a smaller one on top which shows you the entire equation you're working on. The screen has great contrast, and is large enough to be easily read. The keys have little travel and feel slightly floaty, but nothing that would suggest cheapness.

The EL-506v claims to posess 330 functions, and I believe it. I count 37 keys (besides the d-pad, which allows you to edit your current equation or cycle through old ones), and all posess a 2nd-key function and most have a third contextual function. There are all the things one would expect from a scientific calculator, and some you wouldn't. Most notable are a whole series of 44 unit conversions (technically; though half are simply the same conversion the other direction). Everything's there: mass, volume, area and more. There's also 40 physical constants. Both of these abilities are accessed through pushing a key and entering a reference number for the conversion/constant you want; the ref. numbers are printed on a two-sided card held in the calc's slide cover. I'm very pleased with the abilities of this calc, many of which I thought were confined to the realm of graphing units. Also, one last interesting ability is the so-called "advanced DAL" (Direct Algebraic Logic) input method, which allows you to type in equations just as they appear in textbooks. This makes things much simpler, since you needn't learn all types of esoteric entry methods for complex equations.

So, the lesson is this: if you need a convenient, small, thorough pocket scientific calculator, pick up one of these. You won't likely regret it.

Great for college students (Rating: 5.00)
Review : I'm a pre-med student on a quarter schedule, which means I have a lot of science courses to fit in a very small time. The DAL calculator is great: the keys are not too large and not to small and all the functions are labeled clearly with no obscure menus, this makes it a handy tool for those timed tests that can make or break your grade. The only thing I can recommend is making several copies of those little conversion rate guides that slide right into the cover because it is too easy to lose them. Oh, and read the manual, it helps.