Where are HP calculators available for sale in Canada? In the metropolitan area that I live the only places that stock any HP calculators is Staples and they ususally only stock the 30s. If I want to purchase the 33s or the 49G+, they are available only at the university bookstore, which is not convienent unless you attend the university. In contrast, the TI calculators can be found virtually anywhere calculators are sold. On a price comparison, the HP 49+ is about the same price as a TI89. Secondly, the HP calculators are sold only in blister packs so there is no way to try them out. In comparison, many places have demos of the TI calculators (although some of the demos are not powered).

Forget the inferior engineering that goes into the calculators. Unless HP does a marketting job on educators to require students to buy the calculators, I can't see HP calculators penetrating the education market.

I can only rant about the local market. Perhaps it's different in the US.

No different here in the Washington, Baltimore, Philidelphia corridor either.

And I lived in the Atlanta, GA area two+ years ago, no different there either. And I did field service 3-5 years ago, and no different throughout the south or eastern seaboard either.

I agree with your analasys.

HP only markets its calculator line via the HP web page only, and has not, over the past 10 years, put one of its calculators for sale on the shelves of retailers, or at bookstores at universities, except for a handful of cases like WalMart, OfficeMax, and Office Depot, to my knowledge.

With that marketing strategy, the only likely buyers are going to be people with access to computers connected the internet who can pass the word of mouth of HP calcs to other potential buyers. Gone are the days of the 70s and 80s when I bought my 11C at the bookstore in my university!.

Greetings,

Most of the HP line is available at Frys, for example.

I imagine shelf space is tough to get from many of the big stores.

I also can't imagine HP isn't trying to get more.

I'm a chem lab instructor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The bookstore in the student union carries pretty much the whole HP calculator line. However... $69.99 for an HP33?

I remember that the University of Nebraska at Lincoln's bookstore had no HP calculators when I was there, but that was a couple of years ago. RPI's bookstore is currently selling the 12C, 33s, 49G+, and 48GII, all of which they recently stocked. During the summer, I saw for sale a used 19BII or something.

In California, the most likely places to find HP calculators in stock would be either

(1) A university bookstore, or

(2) A Fry's Electronics store

Sometimes you will find HP financial calculators, particularly the 12C, at an office supply store, like Staples or Office Depot.

I don't think I've seen an HP calculator sold anywhere else in years.

My daughter has often heard, "I didn't know Hp made calculators." from her fellow school mates.

I think that says a lot.

When I was in school, we KNEW Hp made calculators and they were considered the best. We could only afford the Ti's. Now that Hp is on par price wise with Ti, I would buy an Hp in a second over Ti except that Hp's name and quality have fallen so far. Obsurity or worse bad name recognition play a very negative role in sales.

HP calcs, either scientific or financial, are not available at universities in the Miami area such as U of M and FIU. These ones only sell TIs and Casios. I have seen 12Cs, 10BIIs, and 17BII+ at Office Max and Office Depot, and that's it. Other models can only be bought via the Internet. I went to California State University in Fresno during the late 80s and early 90s, and the bookstore carried at that time a complete line of HP calcs. I do not know now.

Edited: 18 Nov 2004, 7:31 p.m.

Luis…

Greetings from a fellow Fresno State Bulldog (1980). The Kennel Bookstore still carries a nearly full line of HP calcs. Apparently a few of the engineering students are smart enough to use them.

Fred

Dear Fred,

Greetings from fellow FSU Bulldog (MBA 1992). I have very fond memories of the Sid Craig School of Business, and glad to hear that the Kennel Bookstore by the fountain is selling all HP models. That's where I got my first 12C and a back up 11C in 1988. Do they by any chance have a forgotten 15C over there? :-)

Edited: 19 Nov 2004, 3:37 p.m.

Actually, your daughter is right! HP doeesn't make calculators anymore...Kinpo does!

B.

Luis…

I'm afraid it would be too much to ask for a forgotten 15C. I was there a couple of weeks ago…my oldest daughter--a junior at CSUF--used her student ID so I could get a copy of Adobe Acrobat at a decent price. I saw several HPs on display (48GII, 49G+, and a couple of others, but alas, no 15C). Current bookstore staff knows virtually nothing about calculators, so they probably wouldn't know if they had a hidden gem. However, back in the late 70s, there were a couple of people there who were pretty well informed about HPs (one guy I knew--he was a physics major).

As a practicing civil engineer who uses his HP42S evey day (and sometimes my 48G+ or HP-32Sii) along with Excel, Mathcad, Autocad, etc, I know how valuable it is to have a well-built RPN calculator. A world without would be a dull world indeed.

Fred

Greetings from a fellow CSU Graduate. I am a Cal Poly Pomona alumni and employee. At CPP they have all the HPs as well as TIs at the bookstore. In fact, one of the professors REQUIRES a HP48G in his engineering class (he may have included the 49 due to lack of 48s in the market).