HP-15c: Why so popular?

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

(10-26-2023 08:27 AM)Peter Klein Wrote:  I’m curious why the 15c is so popular.

Is it really so popular? As far as I am concerned, the first one I ever saw was the one I bought on eBay for my collection maybe in 2005. At school, university and work I saw colleagues and coworkers use all brands and kinds of calculators, but really never a 15C, or any other of the Voyager series. Back when one could still find calculators at flea markets - this used to be my main source for many years - I managed to get exactly one, an HP-11C, from this series. Nothing else.
So around here Germany/Europe the HP-15C was never a popular calculator. I guess, as usual with HP products from that era, because it cost two or three times as much as similar products from the competition. The high prices that Voyager series calculators, with the exception of the 12C, fetch on places like eBay reflect their relative rarity and lack of popularity...

Personally I agree with John Garza: I don't like LCD displays and for a handheld thing, which in my eyes a pocket calculator should be, the landscape layout is not ideal. Therefore I will never "love" an HP-15C ;-)

Yes, the 15C has an incredible amount of functionality crammed into such a small unit - and I admire it's designers for that - but this is about it. The functions are mainly impractical and counter-intuitive to use (e.g. my trusted old Ti59 has a much better way for entering and editing matrices) and therefore prbably don't really get used by many people in real life. Sometimes less is more and as a matter of fact, I have an 11C lying on my desk next to my computer and not a 15C.

Regards
Max