I’m looking to get a denshi jisho(electronic dictionary) for study, why would I even want one?
1. Distraction free
2. doesn’t have to share battery life with random apps
3. faster than using a physical kanji dictionary
It seems the leading model nowadays is the casio ex-word, the XD-U8500 is a bit pricey. But [denshi-jisho.com](https://denshi-jisho.com) offers a lot of the older models. Has anyone purchased from them? Does anyone have an Ex-word from somewhere else? I’m curious about it’s settings and how well the drawing mode works
3 comments
I don’t have one but I saved a post about them from before from u/thatFool. I take no credit for this:
> There are only two companies that make them now, Sharp and Casio. Out of these, only Sharp models can be charged by Adapter (via USB).
> From among the current Sharp models I would recommend the PW-S2 (current advanced high school model) or the PW-S1 (previous year’s model). This line has the most content relevant for learners. The business models are too focused on English and give up a lot of Japanese content, while the other school models etc. have less to a lot less content overall.
> All current electronic dictionaries have multiple Japanese-Japanese dictionaries as well as Japanese-English and a bunch of other content. The quality is not an issue at least in current models. They don’t have the same ones but they all have several well-known ones.
> Handwriting is available in input fields via a button on the touchscreen. On current Sharp models it’s possible to write an entire word in one go as long as it fits in the area designated for writing in in one line. My experience (with the S1) has been that it’s solid at recognition but not as good as e.g. mazec on my iPhone, as it’s not live and correcting misses is more work.
> Price wise current models are expensive, last year models about half as expensive. If you want really cheap look for a used older model. They’re going to be good enough, dictionaries get updated but the language doesn’t change that fast.
> All that said, my general current model recommendation for learners is actually not Sharp but specifically the Casio xd-sx 3800 (middle school model). It doesn’t fit your requirements because it can’t be charged by adapter and it’s also a bit more expensive compared to Sharp models of the same age; the reason I think it’s better for learners is the content: It has a dictionary for elementary school with easier definitions and furigana, and it has native audio for some Japanese content.
> On Casio the handwriting input is a bit different; there are two fields that are used in turn for individual characters. But it’s still possible to enter complete words by handwriting so should work just as well. Oh and while both Sharp and Casio have two sizes to choose from for handwriting, the Sharp large one is almost the entire screen, on Casio it’s just a larger square for one character at a time.
> Like I wrote before I have a Sharp PW-S1 so I might be missing some points about Casio, but I’ve had the opportunity to test the 3800 recently (someone I know bought it after we looked over the specs together). And I don’t know much about older models so I don’t have a true “cheapest” recommendation.
I use an Exword that I purchased on Ebay. If you get a higher model or a 10000 type you will be using AAs (rechargable recommended, but it doesn’t eat them quick) and you will get a draw pad for kanji look ups. Everything is in Japanese for operations, but a youtube video or two will help with that operation (Use the jump buttons… or mini dictionary to look up unknown words in a small LCD window while reading a definition.) Does J to J and J to E and E to J. The J to E has issues with rare words and slang so it will never be as good as browser extensions for this. You also need to do dictionary form for look ups. Easy for nouns, a pain in the ass for verbs you don’t know in the first place.
About $80-150 with shipping is pretty fair. Two N10000s are listed for $115 from Japan right now it seems on ebay. Do not waste your time with 2800-5000s those are not worth it. The key functions are the LCD screens and the extra dictionaries. Make sure it is for English. French and Korean ones exist as well.
I enjoy using a denshi jisho also. An older model can be excellent value. There are a lot of models so it is confusing. However, Casio and Sharp are the only big players left.
I can’t speak much for the Sharp models but know they are popular in schools and seem a bit more like a smartphone than the Casio models.
A primer on older Casio models.
– 20000/18000/10000 models were prior flagships.
– The 9800 models focus on English learners and have some great JP-EN dictionaries. 7300 for Chinese learners, 7200 for French learners…
– The 8500 models are business focused and some consider to be expensive
– There are models for science, medicine, high school students, retirees, etc.
Casio model year can be estimated by a letter. Evolution is generally slow but there are a few items to keep in mind:
– 2023 (XD-SX 21000) latest flagship model
– 2019 (XD-SR 20000) high resolution screen upgrade but jump/sound physical buttons removed. Faster CPU was added around this time but not sure exactly when.
– 2015 (XD-K 18000) the second horizontal screen was removed. This was VERY convenient for writing, think about the hand angle with only the main panel.
– 2014 (XD-U 9800) big Genius dictionary added
– 2010 (XD-A 10000) I think all main screens were colour
I recently picked up a 2013 Casio XD-N9800 “used” on Amazon Japan for about $75 total, including overseas shipping and duties. It didn’t looked used at all and is great fun. It includes the big Kenkyusha JE and EJ dictionaries and Genius. The best JJ dictionaries are on the flagship models, which would be great for advanced students (I wished I had them to be honest). I would not buy much older than 2013 and newer ones have the big Genius. Also, the Amazon “exclusive models” like the XD-U18005 might be missing some important dictionaries like Genius so use caution.
One warning for foreign users. The older Casios do NOT have “perfect” kanji search (e.g. not all the results appear as the search is optimised for Japanese people writing in the kana). This may be due to “weak CPUs” or database optimisiation of older denshi jishos but I don’t know. A smartphone dictionary app like EBPocket SHOULD show all results from a kanji search. Perhaps the newer Casios & the Sharps have better kanji search.
By the way, there is a Casio model sold exclusively to language schools called the EA-200; it can run menus entirely in English and has a different Japanese search function that might work correctly for kanji. I have never seen one of these for sale anywhere so can’t be sure.
I have not purchased from the denshi-jisho site but asked them a few technical questions and they had helpful responses.