HP Forum Archive 14

[ Return to Index | Top of Index ]

LED/LCD Calcs to collect and play with Message #1 Posted by William J LaPier on 8 Dec 2003, 11:04 p.m. just curious what some of you collectors think is a fun/great LED calc to purchase? what are some questions you'd ask before buying/bidding? what about LCDs? i have hp 71b with 96 k ram/math rom/finance rom/41 translator/forth assembler. fun to play with. i also have a 48gx with a calculus and physics roms. great calc and tons of fun to play with. any suggestions would great. bill

Re: LED/LCD Calcs to collect and play with Message #2 Posted by Vieira, Luiz C. (Brazil) on 8 Dec 2003, 11:27 p.m., in response to message #1 by William J LaPier Hello, Willian; I have some suggestions, but I think it would be easier to post about which ones are NOT a good suggestion. To be honest, as you may read from others, there is no preferable LED calculator (meaning you are talking about HP units), it's only a matter of choice and need. Please, have a look here for further details. If you need a financial calculator, the best price X performance ratio is the HP38C (or HP38E, without continuous memory). There are others, mainly collectors' "driven", as the Woodstocks HP22 and HP27, but they are somehow expensive. Not to mention the HP80, HP70 and the Topcat financial series! If you want a scientific model, there are many good units. Some of the most "powerful" are the HP34C and HP67. The HP67 is a Woodstock wearing Classic clothes (I'll be flamed for this...) and it has all features available with the HP97 except for the printing "facilities" and the desktop design, meaning 26 storage registers, 224 program steps and a huge amount of functions and programmable resources. The HP34C goes a bit further with the internal resources, mainly continuous memory, numerical integration and SOLVE, but offers no external device (card reader, printer). I own an HP34C and an HP97, and I have much fun using any of them. They are great calculators. Other great scientific models are the HP65 and the HP95C, but this last one is the "cream of the top", allowed only to a few dedicated collectors, Dave Hicks included. Some not-so-expensive units are the HP33C/E, HP32E and HP31E. Aha! Many of you thought I'd not mention the Woodstocks, didn't you? I left them as the last ones because they must be mentioned and remembered (I personally take them as too good to be true): the HP21, HP25/25C and HP19C/29C (the HP19C is the printable version of the HP19C and is categorized as a Sting, not a Woodstock). To these ones I have just a few words: try them out! Seeing is believing. Any model that's not been included here was left behind because I did not remember them... Sorry :( Anyone else? Best regards. Luiz (Brazil) (P.S. - I would also include the TI58C and TI59, because they both are formidable calculators as well. Let's be honest...) Edited: 8 Dec 2003, 11:34 p.m.

Re: LED/LCD Calcs to collect and play with Message #3 Posted by Holger S. on 9 Dec 2003, 4:36 a.m., in response to message #1 by William J LaPier When buying LED calcs a thing to ask for is the battery pack. There are many calculators whose battery packs went dead and sometimes it's difficult to rebuild them with new cells. Some of the models Luiz mentioned have a card reader instead of continuous memory. More often than not these card readers are not working. For example, it's difficult to find a 67 with working card reader. If a seller on ebay advertises his unit as not tested, it's probably not working. As for LCD models, I think there are few calculators that can surpass the beauty and magic of the 41 series.

Re: LED/LCD Calcs to collect and play with Message #4 Posted by Ron Ross on 9 Dec 2003, 11:56 a.m., in response to message #1 by William J LaPier To play with and use and be easy to obtain: Hp32e or Hp33e or c are two that are fairly reasonable. If you just want a CHEAP LED, consider a Ti-55, 57, 58 or 59, but be warned, you might buy two or three before you find one with a useable working keyboard (all the keyboards will work, but they have a terrible habit of showing DEBOUNCE!). Back to Hp's. Financials such as the Hp37e and Hp38e/c will be cheaper than the scientifics and have stat functions as well. I also suggest considering an Hp11c (LCD) as you might find them in the low $100 range if you are fortunate. This is a great fun little calculator. Just a suggestion, but careful, you may end up wanting the whole voyager line and that can be $$$$$$$!!!!

Re: LED/LCD Calcs to collect and play with Message #5 Posted by Arnaud Amiel on 9 Dec 2003, 3:55 p.m., in response to message #1 by William J LaPier For very cheap you can grab an hp45. Even in bad condition it is easily fixed following the instruction on this web site. It is not programmable but it has most (if not all)of the functions a scientific calc should have and it is 30 years old, not many scientific calcs can say the same. I have one on my desk at work and that is the calc I usually use there unless I need programming, units or complex numbers. Arnaud

Re: LED/LCD Calcs to collect and play with Message #6 Posted by David Smith on 10 Dec 2003, 1:38 p.m., in response to message #1 by William J LaPier an HP67 or HP97 is the only way to go. Both will need the card reade drive roller repaired. Any battery store can rebuild the battery pack. HP67 chargers often have a bad connection in the calculator plug. A common problem with the HP97 is the paper feed cam devlops a flat spot and fails to feed the paper. You can remove it and re-round the rollers with sand paper or replace the cam with one from the HP41 82143A printer. To keep the roller from going flat again, use the printer evry so often!

[ Return to Index | Top of Index ]

Go back to the main exhibit hall