Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Review: Calculated Industries Construction Master Plus EZ

Review:  Calculated Industries Construction Master Plus EZ






General Information

Company:  Calculated Industries
Type:  Construction
Memory:  1 independent memory register
Battery:  1 CR2025 battery
Years:  2014 - present
Original Cost: retail price is currently $59.95
Operating System: AOS, Immediate Execution
Model Number: 4067

Bonus:  The calculator (when sold from retail or online stores other than action sites) comes encased in a navy blue Armadillo Gear® case, a very nice case indeed!

Features

The main feature and selling point is the calculator’s prompts for many common construction problems.  The display is two lines.  The top line is solely for prompts and messages.  The bottom line has a 4 character space that allows for continuation prompts and message on the left, and numerical results on the right hand of the bottom line.  The display is crisp, readable, and of high quality.

Calculations

The calculations that the Construction Master Plus EZ handle are (not an all-inclusive list):

* Geometry:  Square Up (diagonals of rectangles), Volumes, Areas
* Roofs:  Common, Hip/Valley, and Irregular Rafters, Plumb Angle, Level Angle
* Stairs:  Number of risers (stairs), Riser Height, Tread Width, Stringer Length, Incline, Minimum Head Room
* Tiles:  Number of Tiles Needed given room dimensions, factoring in grout
* Material calculations also include Drywalls, Fencing, and Pavers
* Circle Calculations:  Perimeter, Area
* Arc Calculations: Radius, Chord Height, Arc Length, Arc Angle
* Rake Walls: Rake Wall studs given base height, and run
* Baluster and Open Baluster
* Conversions between Degrees and Degrees-Minutes-Seconds; pounds-kilograms; board feet-cubic feet
* Extras include Polygons areas and angles, Crown Molding (miter and bevel angle), Compound Angles (miter and blade angle), Spacing (space elements on walls and ceilings), Elliptical Arch

As with all construction calculators from Calculated Industries, you can do arithmetic with yards, feet, inches, and fractions of inches.  (and other units).

Example:  4 ft 3 1/2 in + 6 ft 8 in

Keystrokes: 4 [ Feet ] 3 [Inch] 1 [ / ] 2 [ + ] 6 [ Feet ] 8 [ Inch ] [ = ]

Total:  10 ft 11 1/2 in (display reads: 10 FEET – 11 INCH 1/2)

Keyboard

The keyboard is really good.  The keys have a tough and rugged feel to them.  This is also common for all the calculators from Calculated Industries, the keyboards are designed for use in the field. 

Manual

The calculator (in the retail package) has a pocket guide and quick reference guide sticker.  The user’s guide can be downloaded, which is a very handy guide because it has all the diagrams.  Other user manuals that I recommend looking at for additional examples are the Construction Master 5 User Guide and Construction Master Pro.  All the manuals can be found on the Construction Industries website (see link above).

Construction Industries has a YouTube page which includes a set of tutorials.

Verdict

The Construction master Plus EZ absolutely gets my recommendation.  I like the way the worksheets guide you through each calculation.  The keyboard is very pleasant to use. 

Eddie

All original content copyright, © 2011-2018.  Edward Shore.   Unauthorized use and/or unauthorized distribution for commercial purposes without express and written permission from the author is strictly prohibited.  This blog entry may be distributed for noncommercial purposes, provided that full credit is given to the author.  Please contact the author if you have questions.

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