Education Reviews, The Tested Hub

Reviews of graphing calculators, microscopes, learning kits, and educational supplies available on Amazon.

TOP PICK

Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus CE Color Graphing Calculator

Calculators

Texas Instruments TI-84 Plus CE Color Graphing Calculator

★★★★★ 4.5/5 · 25,400 owner reviews

The TI-84 Plus CE is still the calculator we recommend to high-school students starting Algebra II, Precalc, AP Calc, AP Stats, and the SAT. It is approved on every major U.S. standardized exam, every teacher already knows the menu structure, and the rechargeable battery now lasts roughly a month per charge. Color screen, lighter chassis, USB-C charging, and the same TI-BASIC programming environment most teachers grew up with. It is not the most powerful calculator on the market, it is the most useful one for the typical American student.

+Pros: Approved on SAT, AP, IB, ACT, and PSAT exams · Color screen with 320x240 resolution makes graphing legible at a glance · Rechargeable battery lasts approximately one month per charge

−Cons: Price has crept up to $130-150, was $100 a decade ago · Less powerful than TI-Nspire CX II for college engineering work

$134.99 $159

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EDITOR'S CHOICE

Casio FX-991EX ClassWiz Non-Programmable Scientific Calculator

Calculators

Casio FX-991EX ClassWiz Non-Programmable Scientific Calculator

★★★★★ 4.6/5 · 16,800 owner reviews

The Casio FX-991EX ClassWiz is the best non-programmable scientific calculator we have tested. The high-resolution natural display renders fractions, integrals, and summations exactly the way they appear on paper, the equation solver handles 4x4 systems and quartic polynomials in seconds, and the QR code feature exports graphs to a phone for plotting. At $19-25 it is genuinely the best value in calculators in 2026, and it is approved on every major standardized exam that allows non-programmable calculators.

+Pros: Natural display renders math notation exactly as written, no parsing required · Equation solver handles 4x4 linear systems, quadratics, cubics, and quartics · Matrix operations up to 4x4 with determinants and inverses

−Cons: Not approved on SAT graphing-calculator section, scientific only · No graphing capability, you scan the QR code and view on phone

$19.99 $24.99

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EDITOR'S CHOICE

LEGO Education SPIKE Prime Set (45678)

STEM Learning

LEGO Education SPIKE Prime Set (45678)

★★★★★ 4.6/5 · 1,900 owner reviews

SPIKE Prime is the right STEM kit for middle-school robotics, FIRST LEGO League prep, and ambitious home users with kids age 10 and up. The block-based Word Block coding lets a sixth-grader build a working motion-tracking robot in an hour, and the Python environment lets the same student write real code by eighth grade. The hardware is genuinely durable, the curriculum library is the deepest in any STEM kit, and the $360 price is justified across a 5+ year service life.

+Pros: Word Block coding plus Python both supported, smooth transition path · Color sensor, distance sensor, force sensor, and gyro included · 528 LEGO Technic elements provide rich mechanical building options

−Cons: Hub battery is rechargeable but proprietary, no swap-out spares · Bluetooth pairing can be flaky on older Chromebooks

$359.99 $419.95

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EDITOR'S CHOICE

Texas Instruments TI-Nspire CX II Color Graphing Calculator

Calculators

Texas Instruments TI-Nspire CX II Color Graphing Calculator

★★★★★ 4.6/5 · 5,400 owner reviews

The TI-Nspire CX II is the right graphing calculator for college engineering, physics, and chemistry students who care about handling functions, units, and numerical methods at a level the TI-84 cannot match. The document-based workflow lets you store full problem sets per file, the Python environment is meaningfully stronger than the TI-84's, and the higher-resolution color screen renders 3D plots cleanly. It is approved on SAT, ACT, AP, and IB. Pick this over the TI-84 Plus CE if STEM college is the destination.

+Pros: Document-based workflow stores full multi-page problem sets per file · Stronger Python environment than the TI-84, supports module imports · 320x240 color screen renders 3D plots and animations cleanly

−Cons: Steeper learning curve than the TI-84, expect 6-8 weeks to be fluent · $165 retail is a real step up from the TI-84 Plus CE

$164.99 $189.99

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