A HOT ITEM SINCE 1981: HP 12C calculator is oldest consumer electronic device still made

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | January 10, 2004 | BOB KEEFE

[sarcasm]

LAS VEGAS -- The annual Consumer Electronics Show, which wraps up here Sunday, is all about the newest, coolest gadgets.

But overshadowed by the big-screen televisions and the tiny digital music players is a simple gadget that's unique for one reason: its longevity.

Hewlett-Packard Co. claims its little HP 12C is the oldest consumer electronic device still in production.

It started selling the financial calculator in 1981, the same year IBM Corp. introduced the personal computer. Today, with very few changes, the 12C is still HP's best-selling calculator. With its mortgage amortization and bond calculation functions, it is as essential to many real estate salespeople as a smile and firm handshake.

When introduced, the calculator sold for about $150 -- more than $305 in current dollars. Today it retails for about $70.

Dennis Harms was the project manager in HP's research and development department responsible for rolling out the HP 12C.

One reason the device is still popular, he said, is that HP got national testing boards to approve it and persuaded schools and real estate groups to endorse it.

But the biggest reason the calculator has been so successful, Harms said, is its simplicity and reliability.

"You could put it in your shirt pocket, the batteries lasted forever and it's all you ever needed," said Harms, who still works for HP, now in its printer division. He said he still has a prototype version of the calculator and uses it frequently.

Fred Valdez, manager of HP's calculator division, said the company regularly gets letters from customers recounting their HP 12C war stories.

A zookeeper wrote to tell the company how his calculator was eaten by a hippo but still worked -- after a little cleaning -- when it came out the animal's other end a few days later, according to Valdez.

Another customer wrote to say her 12C outlasted several marriages.

With testimonials like that, there's no reason to quit producing the device, even in this age of all-in-one gadgets that can do everything the 12C does and more, Valdez said.

"We intend to keep it in the family," he said.

[sarcasm]

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[jocon307]

BTTT fot something that you can still buy, that works!

[billorites]

In 1981 I bought a brand new Kaypro II computer and a daisy wheel printer.

Got two college degrees on it, but I don't use it much anymore.

[Quick Shot]

That's "RPN." Discussed in the manual but the definition is never given. Politically correct in 1981.

[lelio]

According to the HP Museum RPN got its name (Reverse Polish Notation for the uninitiated) in honor of Jan Lukasiewicz that developed the notation in the 1920's.

Personally I can't see how people could use the 12C after using the 48SX in college which had the 4 or 5 line display.

[sarcasm]

I still have one - bought it while I was in grad school.

[DB]

I always thought “Reverse Polish Notation” was a redundant term...

I wish they still made the HP 11C and HP 15C. I use my 11C nearly daily… I’m afraid it’s going to die one of these days and I’ll be in big trouble…

[gridlock]

Not quite enough "oomph" for my money. Give me a HP35S, which must be going on 20 years itself.

Some things just work.

[putupon]

I can't see how people could use the 12C after using the 48SX

I still use my old 48S daily, love that thing.

[DB]

I have an 11C, two 41CV's (one with a card reader and printer) and a 48G. I use the 11C daily while the others are stored away. For things that require more processing I use MathCad on the computer which is far easier than the 41CV or 48G.

[AAABEST]

I'm wondering why nobody is talking about the Texas Instruments BA II.

It's also been around forever and is my favorite for finance.

[KKing]

42S here... Just saw a 42S on eBay going for $250. I bought mine in the late 80s when I was doing a lot of civil engineering and surveying. Wife still has her 12C.

[Benrand]

My HP48 graphing calculator died about ten seconds after I turned it on about ten seconds after I started into a PHYSICS FINAL. I had just put new batteries in it...it was working fine the night before...

That was a feeling of OH SH*T...it was in a classroom of about 150 other students...

I had to get the very amenable professors personal solar powered old school calculator out of his car and use that.

But I got a B on it, so I braved that storm...

[saluki_in_ohio]

Let's see, I still have my HP 12C, and I have an HP 15C, HP 41CV with Advantage Pack, and I have an HP 32S II.

I actually don't use scientific calculators much anymore. If I need any serious calculations, I just use MATLAB or Mathematica, otherwise I just use the Windoze calculator.

[Balding_Eagle]

My wife and I have 3 12C's between us, and use them all the time. Unfortunately, we're lost trying to use a regualr calcualtor.

[July 4th]

I still have and use my HP 12C. Like many others, I got it for my real estate finance course in college. It doesn't do everything, but what it does, it does well.

Someone mentioned the 48SX. That's a completely different beast. It doesn't fit in your pocket, and power management is actually an issue. I've been using the same 12C for 5 years now on the same set of betteries. I had a 48SX in high school, swapped it for the TI85 which everyone else had, and now it sits in the back of my desk drawer.

[July 4th]

Yeah, RPN doesn't work on your average solar calculator.

It was always funny in college when someone asked to borrow my 12C. "How do you make this thing work??"

[_Jim]

A TI SR11 followed up closely by a TI SR50 baby! (Later on - the programmable TI-59 w/printer cradle.)

No more slipstick/no more consultation of trig tables (followed up by interpolation) in the back of the text book!

[CTGOPPER]

I still use my HP 12C for mortgage calculations. Got it for a real estate finance class. Just saw a mortgage lender use one the other day.

[Texican]

Sarcasm:
Gee, and I use a one dollar thing that I bought at the 99cent store. Of course I am only an ignorant electrican, and not a edudkaged engneer or something else lik taht. At lest I can add 2+2 and get 4, which is more than some high school kids can do now. Ha. And I am only 79 years old.

You have a nice day, and the very best to you and yours.

Semper Fi
Tommie

[_Jim]

I actually don't use scientific calculators much anymore. If I need any serious calculations, I just use MATLAB or Mathematica,

I would have killed (well, okay, maybe given up a spare, redundant bodily part) for something like MathCad back in HS/College - even for something primitive like the DOS-based Derive!

Kids today have it waaaaaay too easy ...

[saluki_in_ohio]

I would have killed (well, okay, maybe given up a spare, redundant bodily part) for something like MathCad back in HS/College - even for something primitive like the DOS-based Derive!

I remember using Derive in my Numerical Analysis classes, solving differential equations on an old IBM PC-XT with 8086 processors with 8087 math coprocessors.

[Beelzebubba]

I wish they still made the HP 11C and HP 15C.

---

The 15c goes for about $150-200 on eBay. The 11c for a little less, sometimes under $100.

I have a 15c on my desk for everyday use. Been using it since 1984. I think I have changed the batteries maybe twice in 20 years.

[Beelzebubba]

I'm still interested in ideas on what consumer electronic devices even come close in longevity on the market, or if we can think of aything older.

[_Jim]

solving differential equations on an old IBM PC-XT with 8086 processors with 8087 math coprocessors.

My first exposure to the PC DOS-based math progs was MathCad Ver 2.5 - REALLY non-intuituve interface that was sorta graphics based and would do plots on the screen but MathCad was unable to do any symbolic mathametics at the time - hence the turn to Derive where that was it's strong point. Derive could also do ratiometric math - instead of converting everything internally into a base ten number, Derive could 'handle' fractions natively returning such results as "1/3" instead of the usual repeating decimal ".333333..." as MathCad would ... PLUS derive could give you meaningful 100 digit results if needed!

[Poser]

While it was once a great product, at $70 it is ridiculously overpriced. My $11, 1983 Casio solar-only calculator is also still working nicely today. It costs about $8 today.

My first calculator was a Rapid-Data Rapidman. It only calculated to 2 decimal places.

[saluki_in_ohio]

PLUS derive could give you meaningful 100 digit results if needed!

One time when I was bored, I remember trying to calculate Pi to as many decimal places as I could with Derive.

[js1138]

I used an HP financial calculator to test My COBOL amortization code for a mortgage servicing system in 1982. That code is still running also, and if you have a mortgage, it's probably been through it.

[Vince Ferrer]

I bought a 15C in the mid '80s. I don't use it every day, but I have never changed the batteries.

[Quick Shot]

No Batteries, but I still use for quick calculations slide rules.

Also this teaches the value of significant digits which young engineers don't have a clue on. Most calculations are acurate to 2 to 3 places, kids out of college give me numbers out to 8 and think there good.

[_Jim]

It was always funny in college when someone asked to borrow my 12C. "How do you make this thing work??"

To discourage use of my newly purchased SR50 (link to image) back in the days when that was the first full-function calculator (the "SR" in the model number stood for "Slide Rule" and included a slew of scientific/engineering functions including the including hyperbolic and thier inverse) with an affordable price tag for your average student -

- I took the calculator apart and 'swapped' some of the chicklet-style keys with their 'inverse' function; "+" became "-" and "x" became "/" and so forth ... ANYONE who borrowed it normally handed it right back after a few attempted calculations and didn't ask to borrow it again!

Remembering to 'invert' (transliterate) to the desired function when using that calculator was/is a continued mental exercise to this day ...

[lelio]

My HP48 graphing calculator died about ten seconds

Same thing happened to me right before a final! Turned it on the the screen flashed. Opened up the battery compartment and two of the batteries were leaking.

Replaced the batteries and cleaned up the acid. Worked fine except for a vertical line of pixels that were permanently off.

[Beelzebubba]

Hah! Introduced in 1955. Still going strong:

Altec-Lansing "Voice of the Theater" speakers. Now being sold to VERY geeky home theater buyers.

http://www.alteclansing.com/legacy/story.asp

http://www.audioworld.com/stat/pr/0305/28.altec.lansing.legacy.a7.loudspeaker.shtml

[DB]

Ya, I've looked on eBay. The biggest concern is that most of them there are as old as the one I have. It is a fairly expensive gamble to find out what condition it is really in.

All of mine are from the mid 80's as well. I don't remember but I think the 11C came out before the 15C. Otherwise I don't know why I wouldn't have gotten a 15C instead. Having complex numbers on the stack would have been nice.