30b feedback on HP product review page

[bill platt]

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"Unfortunately, I have to report that this calculator and it's predecessor, the HP 20b have a bug. The depreciation schedules give incorrect results. If partial year beginning months are used the results will be inaccurate and not even sum to the value of the asset. Additionally the RBV/ RDV will be off as well. These units also seem to calculate incorrectly when using DBXover. They will calculate the initial accelerated correctly, but when making the change to straight line, the depreciation numbers are off.
Declining balance also seems to be off. I can actually get a last year depreciation number that is larger than the previous year. Perhaps the worst aspect of this: the depreciation does not sum to the value of the asset. Anyone relying on these numbers each year is losing money. HP should be ashamed. Bad numbers for TWO generations of calculators? It's unfortunate because this calculator is excellent in so many other ways. For the sake of credibility you should know that I am not a novice. I verified these numbers against other HP calculators, and other manufacturers. (I own every current model of financial calculator). I'm a financial consultant."

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signed by jmartinfinance

[Kerem Kapkin (Silicon Valley, CA)]

Seems like HP has been doing their best trying to address these concerns. At the following link there are some more details. Link to HP Forum

[Nick_S]

Does the 30b still have the Inverse Lower Tail Normal Distribution bug of the 20b?

For the 20b the ILTND of .975 is returned as 1.99 rather than 1.96

which is both poor and misleading, e.g., for teaching purposes and for explaining to applied users. A work around is to use the corresponding function for the t-distribution with 9999 degrees of freedom.

Nick

Edited: 10 Mar 2012, 3:31 a.m.

[Thomas Radtke]

Mine returns 1.96. The firmware is dated 2010/04/05.

BTW, is there a newer version floating around? I remember a bug has been addressed.

[John B. Smitherman]

Hi Thomas. How do you determine the firmware version?

Regards,

John

[Thomas Radtke]

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Hi Thomas. How do you determine the firmware version?

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John, press and hold ON,then PMT, and you'll enter the 'secret' menu with some entries.

[John B. Smitherman]

Ok, thanks. I bought my 30b last week and it returns the same firmware version of 4 5 2010 with s/n of 4CY04603509.

I like the feel of the keys on the 30b. Right now it's a very good $20 RPN 4 banger for me but I'm getting ready to take the plunge and transform it into a 34s.

John

[bill platt]

Where'd you get it fr $20? I'd buy one at that price immediately!

[John B. Smitherman]

Hi Bill. The 30b price at amazon.com is currently showing $19.28.

John

[Dominic Richens]

too bad amazon.com won't ship to Canada. amazon.ca still has them at 79$!!

[bill platt]

Samson Cables has them on clearance for $29.99. Are they good to Canada?

[Les Wright]

That's where I got mine. With shipping it comes in $40 or so, and the value is low enough the Canada Revenue Agency doesn't seem to care about it.

I think this is about the best deal for Canadian online purchasers. In fact, I am going to order another one now for a third WP34S.

Les

[peacecalc]

Me too,

I've got it last week (with same firmware), and with additional inscription (made by myself). Oh what a pity, I can't load a pic from my comp to the server of this forum.

But also for the low price of 18 Euro. At the Hp Shop it is listed with 49,95 $. I don't know why there are such great differences, it is the same calc.

Sincerely
peacecalc

[bill platt]

You can load a photo to a free site such as dropshots, picasa, tinypic etc and link to it.

[Thomas Radtke]

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But also for the low price of 18 Euro. At the Hp Shop it is listed with 49,95 $. I don't know why there are such great differences, it is the same calc.

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I hope the significant discounts on the 30b and 10bII+ even in Germany doesn't indicate their discontinuation. I wasn't aware HP still can produce perfect keyboards (and a good form factor in case of the 10bII+). Both calcs are TI-BA killers.

[Mark Scheuern]

Mine just came today, to be used to make a WP-34S; also 4 5 2010. Not too bad for $20. I like the way the keys feel.