Made in China, 50G, 35S, 33S

[designnut]

Hanen't heard any critics of this build quality.
32SII made in Singapore. Hey HPNUT, isn't one made in Malaysia?

[Lincoln R.]

HPs made in Singapore are generally no worse than USA-made ones. Even some HP-35 calculators (The original, not to be confused with the 35S) were made in Singapore. I know some 12C's and possibly some 32sII models were made in Malaysia. The last-production 32sII and 48G/GX were made in Indonesia by a contract manufacturer (Rumored to be NatSteel Electronics) and had issues with paint wearing off the keys.

[Michael de Estrada]

I have a 50g and 35s, and had a 33s which I sold. The quality of the 50g IMO is excellent and light years better than the 33s and 35s. I have a 32SII made in Indonesia, which is about the same quality as the 50g, and a 32S made in Singapore that is better than all of them. The best quality ever were the original Voyagers, even better than the Classics. All of this is IMHO.

[bill platt]

USA Voyagers were simply the best made ever. Period. No doubt about it.

HP 41 machines from the same time period are a PITA with broken posts, zebra connector issues etc. Obviously not all the time, but after 30 years, the voyagers turn out to be essentially unaffected by age and wear!

However, the pioneers aren't far behind the voyaers in robust construction. There seems to be a higher likelyhood of keyboard issues (the same issue woth the champagnes) but other htan that they seem to hold up like a voyager,

[Ed Look]

You may be right; my 32SII is still going strong. But it's high market value and my love of it keeps me from using it much anymore.

(So I thought I'd instead beat down my 33S. But it turns out that I love that calc a whole lot too! Unfortunately, it's basically by day-to-day scientific now. But it seems to be holding up so far.)

[Lincoln R.]

This is why I own a very battered-looking 32S that's already been disassembled to fix the keyboard foam problem. I know USA made 32S models are worth a lot of $, but I don't think a collector would want mine, there are a lot of scratches on the metal faceplate, and the plastic case is very worn in some places, to the point that the texturing from the mold is worn off. I bought it on TAS for cheap because of the keyboard issue, it even came with an original spiral-bound manual. The 32S is pretty much the perfect calculator for most of the work I do, it has all the functions that I want and no nested menu mess.

[Michael de Estrada]

The HP 32S is a great calc for sure, although I'm not sure the USA made ones are worth that much more to collectors than the ones made in Singapore. Certainly, there's no difference in quality. But you are definitely correct that only calcs that are near mint will be worth much anyway. I picked up a mint Singapore 32S complete in its box with all packaging etc. for a bit over $100.

[hpnut]

AFAIK, only the HP 12C was once made in Malaysia. i have one, it's still working.

hpnut in Malaysia

Edited: 18 Sept 2011, 2:40 a.m.

[Lincoln R.]

Hm. Apparently at least 1 32sII was.

http://www.hpmuseum.org/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/hpmuseum/archv015.cgi?read=86005

Does your Malaysian 12C have the double-shot keys or painted ones?

Edited: 18 Sept 2011, 2:51 a.m.

[hpnut]

how do I know if it is a double shot key? appreciate to know the difference with a painted key.

[Lincoln R.]

If you look closely at a surface-painted key, sometimes you can see that the paint is on top of the key, whereas the lettering would be at the same level as the plastic on a double-shot one. Sometimes you can tell by seeing if letters like X or a capital N aren't perfectly straight, but that seems to work better on Pioneers for some reason.

[hpnut]

thanks. the Malaysian 12C has double shot keys then.