Looking For Old H-P Calculators

[jyl]

Anyone have any old HP calculators for sale, or know of any?

I'm looking for one of the old desktop models, especially the financial models like the HP-92, but also the HP-97.

The handhelds are pretty easy to find on eBay, I'm not so much looking for those, but something like a HP-25/25C would be interesting.

Anyway, if anyone runs across something like this, let me know. I'm not going to collect them, I'm going to use them. Thanks.

[911S Targa]

I'll have to get to my storage unit, and search. My father was a math wiz, and when I packed up his radio room, I found a drawer full of HP calculators.I wish I could remember what they were. I will attempt to get to the unit this weekend. I have WWE loading in on Sunday, for Monday Night Raw, so I'll do my best in getting to storage tomarrow. If not, it will be during the week sometime.

[RANDY P]

I still use a 12C / with the chic "Gowd" package - had that since the day I started my job.

rjp

[IROC]

They will have to pry my HP 41CV out of my cold dead hands... :>) I still use it every day. What a geek.

Mike

[911S Targa]

Hmmm.,.,.I know where to come to sell these calculators i have just sitting in boxes.

[jyl]

Let me know, Bill.

When I was in high school and college (late 1970s) I couldn't afford the top HPs, so I had TIs. >10 years later I rediscovered HPs and got hooked on RPN. Now I can hardly use an algebraic calculator, well I can but am slow and make lots of mistakes.

Haven't had many different models - HP48G (gave to my dad), HP25C (until it stopped working), HP11C, and something like 5 HP12Cs - in office, in briefcase, at home, in car, a couple spares. Also had a HP200LX, that was the best handheld EVER.

I also install a couple HP calculator simulators on every computer I use.

[masraum]

I'm still using an HP32S rpn that I got Dec 1989. I love that thing.

[nostatic]

mmm, reverse polish

[Don Plumley]

I saved all my dimes and bought a 41C as a HS graduation present for myself. $300 in 1980. As a Freshman in college, I loved figuring out how to program basic chemistry and physics equations into it -- so by the time the midterms/finals came about, I had them all memorized anyway!

I've used an 11C, 12C and now a 17BII (no where near the build quality of the older ones) that I got in business school.

Back in the early 70's, my dad brought home the first TI handheld calculator. Red LEDs so small you needed a magnifying glass to see them. One day it stopped working so I opened it up (nearly gave him a coronary) - hand soldered connections, through hole mounting of resistors and capacitors.

There was an article I read in Scientific American last month that talked about slide rules -- how airplanes and spacecraft were designed with them. The biggest issue (I've never used one) was order of magnitude. You didn't know if the answer was 250.0 25.00 2.500 .2500 etc. So users had to be good at rough approximation to validate their work. This meant they had to have an intuitive understanding of the underlying math, something which is masked by calculators and computers.

[masraum]

Originally posted by Don Plumley
...
There was an article I read in Scientific American last month that talked about slide rules -- how airplanes and spacecraft were designed with them. The biggest issue (I've never used one) was order of magnitude. You didn't know if the answer was 250.0 25.00 2.500 .2500 etc. So users had to be good at rough approximation to validate their work. This meant they had to have an intuitive understanding of the underlying math, something which is masked by calculators and computers.

Yep, math is cool. I've got a Pickett slide rule (very basic) and 6 or 7 Japanese abacii.

Weirdly enough the earliest known abacus is actually Roman, and the Chinese, Japanese, Russians, and Roman versions are all a little different.

[red-beard]

I still carry and use my 11C

[cegerer]

The 11C - the best scientific calculator ever made. Still use my 20+ year old 11C daily, as well. Used a 97C in the early 80's - probably threw it in the trash about the time I bought a PC.

[Gooch1971]

Never cared as much for the 12C.

My 17BII from 10+ years ago commutes between office/clients/home and is used constantly but the 10B I bought in 1989 is never too far away.

(Possibly a Short-sighted comment) - Due to my business and personal habits I can not imagine a device that will replace my HP's.

[jim72911t]

Timely post. I was just at the HP website earlier this week looking for a replacement for my HP 11C, which I bought new in 1987. About five years or so later, my Pop gave me a spare 11C that he had lying around at work. I have one at work, and one at home, but the work one is on it's last legs (machine shop environment has taken its toll.)

Seems they don't make any of the horizontal layout scientific calculators any more, but they still make the financial version. As an engineer, this doesn't help me much. I checked ebay, and they seem to be going for $3-400. Sorry, but $3-400 buys a lot of Porsche goodies.

So, I'm still on the hunt. (I'm too stupid to use a standard calculator)

An interesting web page if you're a dork like me

http://www.vcalc.net/hp.htm

[RANDY P]

Cheaper than HP, and much easier to use



Wonderful machine. I use this when I'm out in the field...

Would it be weird to tell you I pack two in my desk and one in the glovebox?

http://www.calculated.com/default.asp

rjp

[RANDY P]

http://www.hpmuseum.org/

[rick-l]

How much is my H-P 45 with the hard leather case worth. I think I paid $400 for it in 1973.

Where can I get one of those 3 ni-cad battery packs?

[jyl]

11Cs are very common on eBay. They go from from $100 to $150, in used but working condition. More if they come with the solutions books or are in minty condition.

[campbellcj]

I've had a 12C since the mid 80's and it still works fine.

I have some older (70's or early 80's) HP's and TI's in the garage.

IIRC my first "programming" was on a TI-59 with magstrip memory around 1977. It was a primitive macro assembler. I was 11. My dad is a math + computer geek and even had the thermal printer add-on for the calculator.

[jriera]

Got two HP-45's and a HP-16 (yes I know pure geek stuff) still in working condition.

None for sale of course