HP Forum Archive 21

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30b feedback on HP product review page Message #1 Posted by bill platt on 9 Mar 2012, 11:54 p.m. Quote: "Unfortunately, I have to report that this calculator and it's predecessor, the HP 20b have a bug. The depreciation schedules give incorrect results. If partial year beginning months are used the results will be inaccurate and not even sum to the value of the asset. Additionally the RBV/ RDV will be off as well. These units also seem to calculate incorrectly when using DBXover. They will calculate the initial accelerated correctly, but when making the change to straight line, the depreciation numbers are off. Declining balance also seems to be off. I can actually get a last year depreciation number that is larger than the previous year. Perhaps the worst aspect of this: the depreciation does not sum to the value of the asset. Anyone relying on these numbers each year is losing money. HP should be ashamed. Bad numbers for TWO generations of calculators? It's unfortunate because this calculator is excellent in so many other ways. For the sake of credibility you should know that I am not a novice. I verified these numbers against other HP calculators, and other manufacturers. (I own every current model of financial calculator). I'm a financial consultant." signed by jmartinfinance

Re: 30b feedback on HP product review page Message #2 Posted by Kerem Kapkin (Silicon Valley, CA) on 10 Mar 2012, 1:43 a.m., in response to message #1 by bill platt Seems like HP has been doing their best trying to address these concerns. At the following link there are some more details. Link to HP Forum

Re: 30b feedback on HP product review page Message #3 Posted by Nick_S on 10 Mar 2012, 3:26 a.m., in response to message #2 by Kerem Kapkin (Silicon Valley, CA) Does the 30b still have the Inverse Lower Tail Normal Distribution bug of the 20b? For the 20b the ILTND of .975 is returned as 1.99 rather than 1.96 which is both poor and misleading, e.g., for teaching purposes and for explaining to applied users. A work around is to use the corresponding function for the t-distribution with 9999 degrees of freedom. Nick Edited: 10 Mar 2012, 3:31 a.m.

Re: 30b feedback on HP product review page Message #4 Posted by Thomas Radtke on 10 Mar 2012, 5:16 a.m., in response to message #3 by Nick_S Mine returns 1.96. The firmware is dated 2010/04/05. BTW, is there a newer version floating around? I remember a bug has been addressed.

Re: 30b feedback on HP product review page Message #5 Posted by John B. Smitherman on 10 Mar 2012, 8:55 a.m., in response to message #4 by Thomas Radtke Hi Thomas. How do you determine the firmware version? Regards, John

Re: 30b feedback on HP product review page Message #6 Posted by Thomas Radtke on 10 Mar 2012, 9:36 a.m., in response to message #5 by John B. Smitherman Quote: Hi Thomas. How do you determine the firmware version? John, press and hold ON,then PMT, and you'll enter the 'secret' menu with some entries.

Re: 30b feedback on HP product review page Message #7 Posted by John B. Smitherman on 10 Mar 2012, 9:56 a.m., in response to message #6 by Thomas Radtke Ok, thanks. I bought my 30b last week and it returns the same firmware version of 4 5 2010 with s/n of 4CY04603509. I like the feel of the keys on the 30b. Right now it's a very good $20 RPN 4 banger for me but I'm getting ready to take the plunge and transform it into a 34s. John

Re: 30b feedback on HP product review page Message #8 Posted by bill platt on 10 Mar 2012, 10:57 a.m., in response to message #7 by John B. Smitherman Where'd you get it fr $20? I'd buy one at that price immediately!

Re: 30b feedback on HP product review page Message #9 Posted by John B. Smitherman on 10 Mar 2012, 11:13 a.m., in response to message #8 by bill platt Hi Bill. The 30b price at amazon.com is currently showing $19.28. John

Re: 30b feedback on HP product review page Message #10 Posted by Dominic Richens on 10 Mar 2012, 12:15 p.m., in response to message #9 by John B. Smitherman too bad amazon.com won't ship to Canada. amazon.ca still has them at 79$!!

Re: 30b feedback on HP product review page Message #11 Posted by bill platt on 10 Mar 2012, 12:36 p.m., in response to message #10 by Dominic Richens Samson Cables has them on clearance for $29.99. Are they good to Canada?

Re: 30b feedback on HP product review page Message #12 Posted by Les Wright on 10 Mar 2012, 5:42 p.m., in response to message #11 by bill platt That's where I got mine. With shipping it comes in $40 or so, and the value is low enough the Canada Revenue Agency doesn't seem to care about it. I think this is about the best deal for Canadian online purchasers. In fact, I am going to order another one now for a third WP34S. Les

Re: 30b feedback on HP product review page Message #13 Posted by peacecalc on 10 Mar 2012, 2:27 p.m., in response to message #7 by John B. Smitherman Me too, I've got it last week (with same firmware), and with additional inscription (made by myself). Oh what a pity, I can't load a pic from my comp to the server of this forum. But also for the low price of 18 Euro. At the Hp Shop it is listed with 49,95 $. I don't know why there are such great differences, it is the same calc. Sincerely peacecalc

Re: 30b feedback on HP product review page Message #14 Posted by bill platt on 10 Mar 2012, 5:21 p.m., in response to message #13 by peacecalc You can load a photo to a free site such as dropshots, picasa, tinypic etc and link to it.

Re: 30b feedback on HP product review page Message #15 Posted by Thomas Radtke on 11 Mar 2012, 4:58 a.m., in response to message #13 by peacecalc Quote: But also for the low price of 18 Euro. At the Hp Shop it is listed with 49,95 $. I don't know why there are such great differences, it is the same calc. I hope the significant discounts on the 30b and 10bII+ even in Germany doesn't indicate their discontinuation. I wasn't aware HP still can produce perfect keyboards (and a good form factor in case of the 10bII+). Both calcs are TI-BA killers.

Re: 30b feedback on HP product review page Message #16 Posted by Mark Scheuern on 10 Mar 2012, 4:08 p.m., in response to message #7 by John B. Smitherman Mine just came today, to be used to make a WP-34S; also 4 5 2010. Not too bad for $20. I like the way the keys feel.

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