Re: Longevity of HP calc's (and other electronics)? Message #8 Posted by Palmer O. Hanson, Jr. on 7 July 2004, 11:57 p.m., in response to message #6 by Karl Schneider
I have a collection of about 500 calculators. Among the older HP devices in my collection which still work properly are an HP-35, two HP-80's, two HP-41C's, three HP-11C's, three HP-12C's (American made), and an HP-67. I also have an HP-35 with a bad bridge across the input terminals when the charger is removed, an HP-41CV with a display which is partially black, and two HP38C's which exhibit the intermittent display problem common to those devices. I have older TI devices which work properly as well including several SR-10's (1972 vintage), several TI-30's (1976), and four TI-59's (1978) with working card readers. I have several TI-59's with bad card readers and several old "four-bangers" where some segments of the display are missing.
The clear winners in my collection as far as quality and survivability are concerned are the devices made by Sharp. I have many from the 1970's including an EL-8 (1972). If I find a Sharp at a garage sale or a thrift store, and it hasn't been damaged by battery leakage, but still doesn't work, I am really surprised.
The clear losers in my collection are devices sold under the National Semiconductor or NOVUS name. If I find one of those and it works at all I am pleasantly surprised.
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