voyagers...
#1

okay, i have a question. what is so great about the voyager scientifics? this question is not phrased cynically, but out of genuine curiosity. i do not have one, but i was wondering if it is a personal taste thing, or if there is really something "different" about them. i see people paying as much for these on ebay as a 42s or a 67 (if not more). now, i know that the 16c is kind of hard to find, but, on a whole, why do people like this series so much?

#2

Size, Easy programming (keystroke, not RPL...),lots of functions, 2 line display, uncluttered keyboard, if only it had an input ir port...

#3

They're just cool ... You have to hold one, feel it's case, watch the numbers, feel the keys. It's like a new lifestyle when you use a voyager. Go get a 12C right now and try it -- you'll like it, and if you don't sell the calc in the classifieds.

#4

Perhaps it is because the design is different from what seems to a standard design nowadays.

#5

Battery life! Voyager was the first calculator that could live for years on a single set of primary batteries. Before Voyager a person always had to worry about losing battery at the worst moment, ie, exam time. After Voyager, batteries were no longer a concern. They would run for years.

Voyager is also noteworthy as the last hp calculator series that had segmented displays as opposed to dot matrix displays. Better contrast.

Personally, I think the Woodstocks were the most elegant calculators ever made. Very ergonomic, but not easy on batteries.

What's amazing about the Voyagers is that the HP-12 is still in production, after being introduced 19 years ago!!!

Now, if they can make the 12, why can't they make the 15?!

Gord

#6

Why not make a 32SII in the body shell of a Voyager?

#7

Or simply resurrect the 15C. The Saturns just seem so ordinary in style. Besides, an hp should have two control keys: blue and gold. (hmmm.... were the designers UCLA grads?)

#8

as has been discussed many times recently on this forum, this model sounds like another thing hewlett packard DID very well. I can't help but wonder if they made things so well like voyagers, coconuts, and a 42s, why did they try to fix something that wasn't broken? doesn't sound like very intelligent engineering to me.

#9

Two current HP Pioneer models have segmented displays: The HP-10B and HP-20S. (Both happen to be brain-dead Algebraics, and have nothing else whatsoever to recommend them, but they DO have segmented LCD displays.)

Also, the latest offerings, the HP-6s and -6s Solar appear to have segmented displays. (It's now being displayed on HP's U.S. web site -- with a list price of $14.95, it's simply outside of the HP calculator paradigm.)

I think the clearest and yet most flexible display on an HP calculator is that of the HP-32SII: nice, big, readable (admittedly dot-matrix) letters & numbers. (No graphics, but NICE numbers . . .)

#10

I don't think the engineers tried to fix what wasn't broken. Rather, I believe it was a marketing issue. The competition was most likely coming out with better/faster/cheaper calculators, so HP had to follow suit. Like someone said earlier, the beancounters won that battle (at the expense of the engineers and the customers to some degree). The 12C voyager is something of an enigma because the beancounters actually USE it and don't want to change or relearn a new system. Go figure.

I remember when HP would advertise their calculators...they don't do it anymore, and I'm convinced that this is partly why new models don't come out...not enough users. Go to any Staples and what do you see? Rows and rows of cheap Casios and TIs. When a student can pay $9.99 for a calculator, why shell out $200?

#11

I bought my son, who is a student and Univ of Idaho, a TI 85. Why would I purchase an inferior product? Because the class notes are geared to this calc. It is able to plug into the clossroom and share information. The Prof trells the kids what they should see on the screen. apparnetly HP got behind somehow. What a shame. There have never been calc's like the HP 25 and 41CX in performance and quality. I think the world as a whole has gone to non-essential glitz and calc's have done the same. I opt for performance and quality.

My daugher is in collegein Coeur d' Alene and her class required the TI 85.

#12

I remember buying HP-41C accessories from the bookstore at the University of Idaho in Moscow, ID back in 1986. Very fond memories of those times!

#13

I was at the University of Idaho from 1977 through 1981. (1981 graduate with a B.S. in Mining Engineering) Even though I owned TIs (an SR-51A and a TI-58, which each required repair under warranty), I had a lot of friends who owned HPs, and I too have a lot of fond HP memories that relate back to the U of I.

My recent purchase of an HP-25 brought back the memory of making repairs to the display of a friend's HP-25 so that he could get through finals. My HP-35 brings back the memory of the HP-35 the Physics department had bolted to a table in a hallway for anyone to use. Likewise, my HP-97 reminds me of the HP-97 I borrowed from the Mining department to complete a programming assignment for one of my classes. That same class also required students to write several programs on an HP-9810 which College of Mines owned. There are many other HP memories from the U of I.

#14

Nope, they were Berkeley grads. Well, it's just as likely; but I doubt it as Hewlett and Packard were both Stanford grads and would doubtlessly not allowed an homage to Stanford's rival like that. I suspect that they're just colours that look good together.

-michael



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