Re: HP12C new models? Message #2 Posted by Ex-PPC member on 1 Jan 2002, 2:40 p.m., in response to message #1 by nick
> It seems like the "new" HP12C calculators have a bad
keyboard.....sometimes when you press a key two or three
numbers appear on the display. Is it possible that the
quality of the newer productionseries became so much
lower???
Yes, it's possible. I bought a new, Made in
China HP-12C from a large department store (New In Box,
of course) and it doesn't even pass the built-in
keyboard self-test. You need to do it very carefully,
pressing each key with utmost precision, else it gives
an instant Error message. Since it's quite difficult to
be that precise for every and all keys, it usually takes you four to six tries before you succeed in passing the
test once. Trying to perform a lengthy calculation with
it or entering a program is an exercise in frustration:
you've got to do it several times till you get the correct
results or the correct keycodes stored in memory.
Actually, it's pretty unusable.
Further, the keys rattle if you shake a bit the
machine, and seem extremely cheap. The blue legends are
almost impossible to read, the manual is crap, and the
whole package seems a "Everything at $1" deal, but it
was prized as if it were any good, which it isn't, at all.
The only reason I kept it is to have a NIB
China 12C for my collection, else it would have been an
instant give-my-money-back. Further, I compared it to
a first generation, 1981 USA model, and believe me, it
was a very, *very* depressing experience.
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