Re: HP-15C LE available in Germany Message #4 Posted by McAllan on 2 Mar 2012, 2:51 p.m., in response to message #3 by Harald
Ditto here. Quite fast and reasonable pricing compared to alternatives here. I bought both the 15C LE and 12C 30th Anniversary for the same price as a local shop here wants for the 15C alone. Not to mention the prices they seem to fetch on the big e-flea-market.
For the fun of it I also ordered a SmartCalc 300s while at it as the price was laughingly low and a true bargain compared to local prices.
Ordered Sunday evening and it was in Denmark by Thursday.
Somewhere I read that the manual for the 15C didn't have the new self test mode described. Well it is in mine. The old one isn't there but as on other 15C the old methods kinda "works". Really makes me wonder. If it's a true emulation - why doesn't the old method work too? (at least verifies the emulated part). On the 12C the old method works as expected.
That said I'm kinda disappointed especially because of the high price. While it looks like the old (except it's true black) the quality isn't there. But hey that hasn't changed since I bought the 12C 25th Anniversary and a normal 12C w. SunPlus processor (single 2032 cell). Guess "aveporatable" ROM these days is what you get although if buying high volume many µC you can get them with mask ROM instead. Then there's the keys. OK printed keys these days seems to last longer than back then even my heavily used TI-83 first edition still has fine printed keys. However it's the underlying design I'm questioning. A semi-rigid plastic click plate or what to call it I generally do not have great experiences with. It wears and not in a great way. I know why they chose it and that's to resemble the original Voyager series which to my knowledge used much better metal click plates. However IMHO it would have been better to use a silicone rubber one with conductive rubber patches underneath (like most remote controls and calculators with rubber keys) and then with hard buttons on top - more or less like the SmartCalc 300s, the TI-30X MV etc. Perhaps even without the soft"click" of the 300s as to be really gentle on the silicone rubber even it seems to stand the test of time and work even on heavily used vintage ones. Like many old Sharp like EL-122, EL-801, EL-8011 - those buttons are soft "squishy" without any click and yes many people don't like them for that - but - they're just about the most reliable (or perhaps should I say extremely reliable) design I know and even without being expensive. I would gladly sacrifice a little of the button feel in return of reliability.
A few words about the 300s. Why in math print does it give Syntax Error in many cases (but odly not all) if omitting implicit parenthesis? The TI-30X MV handles implicit parentheses just fine. Like "e^(8*ln(2" gives error in math print but in classic line mode it works fine. "e^(8*ln(2)" (first parenthesis isn't there as the text is lifted up) in math print works fine. Really annoying and should be fixed asap as it really affect how useable it feels. First i pulled my hair and didn't understand what was wrong as I was used to the TI. Ending parenthesis shouldn't be required as if they're omitted they should just be calculated implicitly as far to the right as possible - just like the TI which is a breeze to use regarding that point. Remembering to put them there all the time is a hassle of unnecessary keystrokes. Oh and the build quality of the 300s is fine for the price - and hey those keys will easily outlast those on 15C LE / 12C China. Personally I would prefer it not glossy but that's a matter of taste.
Edited: 2 Mar 2012, 2:55 p.m.
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