Vaupan Digit Standard Abacus Soroban Professional 17 Column (10.2 inch) Math Abacus, Math Calculating Tool with Reset Button for Adults Kids (Brown)

As I am new to using an abacus, I wanted something simple and affordable to learn on. This fits the bill. I wish we used these in american schools because it puts math to something tangible and easy to understand. it is well built for what it is, light weight, and the size is good for many common math problems.

The quality of the product was good and easy to use for abacus the functionality was good and the size was good to use and its value for money

Overall, I think this was a good use of my money. The quality was good and the satisfaction that came with the sound of the beads moving was awesome. However, there is one thing that bugged me about this particular product. It was that when I was doing fast calculations, the beads were so light that the heavenly bead in the number six could bump up turning it to one. It could use some improvement.

There are a bunch of abaci on available on this site which are prettier than this one -- fine woods, brass fittings -- but in general they don't work as well. The frame (I ordered the "Cofei" color) is a sturdy black high quality plastic, 28 centimeters (11 inches) long. The beads are plastic, but not molded plastic, Rather the beads were turned on a lathe with a precision hole drilled in the exact center. Molded plastic beads, and most wood beads unless the maker is very careful, vary in fit from bead to bead, which slows you down. The rods on this one are fine grain bamboo (there is a reason why so many slide rules are made of bamboo - it slides smoothly without "catching".) The reset mechanism is well built and works smoothly. If you want something for a display case, look elsewhere. If you want an abacus that works great, this is the one. General advice about abaci: Unless you already know the chinese suanpan system, get a japanese soroban abacus. Each digit on a soroban is 0 to 9. With the chinese saunpan there are 16 values a digit can have. In other words, the soroban uses a base 10 numbering system while the suanpan uses a base 16 numbering system. Of course if you are a collector you will get both as well as the Roman and Russian styles. Also, you don''t need a giant abacus with lots of digits. The reason people use the big ones is so they can do two calculations on the left and right. This is handy if you want to multiply or divide, but abaci suck at that. Use a slide rule instead. If you really want to do two calculations at once get two smaller abaci.

Inexpensive 17-column soroban with reset button. Looks nice. Good value. As expected, the buttons are small but easy to manipulate. The reset button works well. Good for learning and practicing how add, subtract, multiply and divide. I will see whether 17 columns are enough for more advanced things such as exponentiation, extracting square roots, and other operations. Learning how to use a soroban is a salubrious and very good hobby: it helps to develop concentration and mental acuity. It is not, of course, meant to replace an electronic calculator, although at some level of proficiency you could. Becoming really good at it requires a great deal of practice. But as orientals say, the abacus does not make mistakes.

Small and easy. Quality is ok not perfect but good for this money

This best features of this Japanese Soroban include the 22 columns which allow simple arithmetic operations on numbers as large as 9.999999999999999999999 x 10^22 or switching to decimal fractions, 1.0 x 10^-22 and the fact that it has a reset button. It is great to demonstrate the meaning of scientific notation.

Works well on a desk. But when you hold it vertically it does not hold the beads. Otherwise this is aweome