HP HP 12C Calculator

It is possibly the most beautiful calculator I ever have. It is such a pleasure to use it, sturdy, quality calculator. I love it.

The HP12C is legendary for a reason. It remains the gold standard financial calculator for anyone wishing to learn how to use it. I can't think of many other products that have remained unchanged after 36 years of continuous production. In a moment of weakness some years ago I purchased the 12C Platinum. Never again, I quickly swapped back to the 12C this purchase replaced (and only because my bag was stolen on a train just before Christmas). The 12C is not just for oldies on a nostalgia trip, learning/using RPN and manipulating the stack is a productive mental work out in its own right. I think HP have addressed the quality issues that plagued some machines a few years ago. Mine has a solid feel to it and the keys have that positive 'i've pushed it' feed back sensation. The enter key works wherever on the key it is pushed. Personally I find the display easier to read than the 12C Platinum, but this may not be the case for everyone. From experience I know the 12C has a tremendously long battery life measured in years (between 3 and 5 according to use) augmented by a built in turn off function after around ten minutes of inactivity. The landscape orientation of the keyboard ensures much greater stability when holding to use versus the all but ubiquitous portrait format style of other calculators. This feature greatly reduces the risk of keystroke error when the machine is not being used while placed on a desk top surface for example. The housing or body of the HP12C has an inherent slope as it is thicker at the top than at the bottom. This makes the LCD display clearer and crisper to read. I found the slightly sepia LCD display background deals with office lighting glare better than the blue/grey backgrounds normally found on other calculators and also HP's 12C Platinum. It probably sounds a bit geeky to bang on about a calculator but if you do have to use one, you owe it to yourself to own one that at the very least you can enjoy at the same time. HP12C £49.99 - the look of confusion on a colleagues face "just borrowing your calculator err where's the = button, umm how does this work" - PRICELESS.

THANK YOU!

I have been an owner of the HP 12c for almost 20 years now. The price seems high compared with the state of the art graphics calculators available and much of the financial functionality is surpassed by spreadsheet applications. However, as a ready and portable cross check it still works for me. This is a premium product at a premium price and truly classic piece of kit. I wouldn't be without one.

Do not buy this calculator! I have an HP12C that I bought many years ago (20+) which still works well to this day. However, I saw the new HP12C and thought, mainly for aesthetic reasons, that I would like a shiny new one (the old one is a bit grimy). I also bought one for my son so he could learn reverse Polish notation. To make the long story short, right from the beginning I had trouble keying in the numbers and functions; the keys were very stiff. I thought I just had to get more used to pressing harder on the keys (my old HP12C needs only a very light touch). However, even when I pressed each key diligently hard it often didn't record, for example, the decimal place. After being driven crazy by that problem, the "err" message started appearing requiring resets. Interestingly, my original HP12C has Brazil etched on the back (so I'm assuming that's where it was made) while the new one is made in China. Anyway, I finally gave up and asked for a refund from Science Studio who curtly responded that I was past the return period (I bought it 6 months ago). What ever happened to the product warranty? Signed, A Disappointed Long-Time HP Customer