HP Forum Archive 13

[ Return to Index | Top of Index ]

17BII - place and date of manufacture Message #1 Posted by bmclaurin on 5 Nov 2003, 3:48 p.m. I'm trying to find out the years (and places) of manufacture of 17BII's. I'm aware of how to decipher the serial codes to determine this information for individual units. What I'm interested in is where and when, generally, production occurred for this model. Were any 17BII's made in the USA, or were they all foreign made? I understand that production was roughly between 1990 and 2002, but I don't know what countries were involved. Any help would be appreciated.

Re: 17BII - place and date of manufacture Message #2 Posted by Raymond Del Tondo on 5 Nov 2003, 5:39 p.m., in response to message #1 by bmclaurin I've seen 2 country codes on 17BII units so far, S for Singapore and ID for Indonesia. I'm sure the latest units have CN for China as code. Others could include Brazil. Raymond

Re: 17BII - place and date of manufacture Message #3 Posted by Randy Sloyer on 5 Nov 2003, 7:09 p.m., in response to message #1 by bmclaurin To the best of my knowledge, only the 17B was manufactured in the USA. The 17Bii did not appear in the lineup until Pioneer production had moved to Singapore. So, no USA built 17Bii's exist. They possibly had a brief run in Malaysia before moving to Indonesia. I'm basing this on 32Sii production as I have never seen a Malaysian built 17Bii. They were probably built in Brazil as well, but most of those where for in-country consumption due to their importation laws way back them. They also followed the same slide in quality as the 32Sii, that is to say once they were made in Indonesia, the key legends where printed on. All the Singapore units where double molded keys so the legends would never wear off, one of the hallmarks of HP quality.

Re: 17BII - place and date of manufacture Message #4 Posted by bmclaurin on 6 Nov 2003, 11:05 a.m., in response to message #1 by bmclaurin Thanks for the replies. That's just the info I needed. So I gather that the first 17BII's were made in Singapore. I have a 2001 Indonesian-made model, and the keypad quality is less than stellar. I'm thinking of selling that one and trying to find a good/excellent condition "early" model (early 90's), presumably made in Singapore.

Re: 17BII - place and date of manufacture Message #5 Posted by Scuba Diver on 6 Nov 2003, 11:31 a.m., in response to message #4 by bmclaurin Hello! I found a bunch of 17BIIs at an electronics store a while back, and I bought up the lot. Sold most of them on eBay. Here's what I found; The last Singapore unit in the lot was made in late 1995. All of the units manufactured in 1996 (in this lot) were made in Indonesia. The interesting thing is that some of the Indonesian units are in boxes that say "Calculator Manufactured in Singapore". I guess that they shipped the leftover boxes to Indonesia so that they weren't wasted (how prudent of HP!) The keypad quality was noticeably different between the Singapore and Indonesian units. If you're looking for a Singapore unit, you don't need to look for one from the early '90s. I have two Singapores from 1995 and they meet my expectations of keypad quality and feel. Hope that helps! B.

Re: 17BII - place and date of manufacture Message #6 Posted by bmclaurin on 6 Nov 2003, 2:09 p.m., in response to message #5 by Scuba Diver Thanks a ton. That's exactly what I needed to hear. Nice to know that I don't have to limit my search to early 90's...sounds like any good/excellent condition Singapore unit will do.

[ Return to Index | Top of Index ]

Go back to the main exhibit hall