HP-15c: Why so popular?

[Dave Britten]

I think the 15C just hits the sweet spot of size, convenience, durability, elegance, and capability for a lot of people. It was also the first really affordable option for a device that can solve, integrate, do matrices, and do complex numbers, so I'm sure there's a lot of primacy bias and nostalgia from the early adopters too. It's true that the Pioneers are considerably more powerful, the 42S in particular can do anything the 15C does but better. But the 42S screen visibility is quite frankly crap compared to the nice bold segmented display of the Voyagers. Even the 32SII, while much easier to read than the 42S, doesn't quite stack up to the Voyager LCD. So it makes a nice calculator to keep on the desk for quick problem solving (though the 11C or 12C do just as well in this regard). The Voyagers are also considerably more durable than the Pioneers (which are certainly no slouch themselves).