Last calculator standing

[Arnaud Amiel]

If hp stopped producing calculators today, which do you think would be the last working model if they were left to decay naturally (no repair appart from battery packs) and in how many years.

I would be interested in your thoughts on this one.

Arnaud

PS: I would go for the 12C because of the high quantity of those but could be wrong

[Valentin Albillo]

Early HP-11C models. 40+ years.

Best regards from V.

[Raymond Del Tondo]

Yes, I think the voyagers are outstanding from the mechanical construction point of view.

Although the HP-41 and the real HP-48GX are my favourites for many years,
I think the early pioneers (32S, 42S, 20S) are also made to last very long.

Raymond

[Ron]

Pioneers?! I've seen so many Pioneers with the "press here to run" problem! On the other hand, I don't think I've ever come across a bad 11C or 15C.

[Ron]

I take it back. I had either a 15C or an 11C with a display problem once. Had to fix a contact problem.

[bkr]

My 11C lasted about 6 to 8 years. One day it just wouldn't turn on anymore - don't know what the problem was. Then I got a 15C, which has been running about 10 years, but the 3 key has been difficult for about the last 5 years and may eventually fail to register at all. From my experience these calculators need a rebuild after much less than 40 years - an average of about 10-12. That doesn't detract from the fact that they're the best calc ever, though. (Naturally I got a 33s recently, to give my 15C a break)

Edited: 31 Aug 2004, 12:18 a.m.

[V-PN]

HP-25

until the end of the world

(coming soon to your universe...)

{VPN}

[David Smith]

Nope, the poor HP25 is probably the most failure prone of all the HP machines. Bad ACT and RAM chips are the main culprits followed by missing display segments.

[Raymond Del Tondo]

Not to forget the cheap battery contacts,

they're the starting point for corrosion.

Raymond

[David Smith]

Especially in the Spice series...

[Namir]

The HP41CX rules!!!!!!!!!

[David Smith]

Although the HP41 machines are my favorite their internal connection/case problems are legion and legend. A handy person can keep them up and running though.

[Namir]

I agree with you and add that I doubt that ANY calculator was manufactured to last millenias!!!

While the HP41C line works they rule in my book. It's the calculator that I have used the most.

Don't get me wrong, I am very impressed with the features (the manufacturing quality is another issue) of the current graphics calculator from HP and TI (and to a lesser extent from Casio and Sharp). They do run circles around our old beloved machines. They irony is that I find the emulators/simulators for teh various calculators to be a lot of fun. After all, there is no worry about battery contacts, bad LCD, bad keys, and so on. The only concern is that they will run on future versions of Windows.

Namir

[Jim L]

I'm thinking the 9100 myself. I guess there's a bias since it's old and still running. Someone suggested that the 11C could last 40+ years but my 9100 is nearly 40 years old already.

Also, it has no batteries and I think bad/leaky batteries are the death of many devices - even well-made devices.

Then again after rereading your post if you mean last calendar date (I was thinking longest lived) then I guess whichever one comes of the assembly line last and is locked in an environmentally controlled chamber along with perhaps 100 additional copies will probably be the last HP left. That won't be that impressive to me though. It's my HPs that are covered in smoke residue, poked through with hot soldering irons and beat up and sill work that impress me. I have an HP-45 that looks like it couldn't possibly still work but it does.

[Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz]

If we are only talking handhelds (and nearly, like the series 90) then I think Jim has the right one to last the longest - the HP45. Less to go wrong than later models, built like a (gold-plated) tank, with the experience of the HP-35 already behind the team. The HP-80 is similarly dependable, if you want something to outlast an HP-12C ;-)

[Etienne Victoria]

That would be the Hp-80 of course !! :

- Not the cash register styled computer ;-) the CALCULATOR
- The version with the metallic upper frame (no wear out
- The only calculator with NO "ENTER" key NOR = key !!!
- ...

Well... my calculator...

Eeeerrrr... these models must be around 30 years old now and many of them are still going strong.

I'm forty and I start to show quite a bit of wear (mainly display, power supply and autonomy) ;-)