|
| HP 12c Financial Calculator (F2231AA#ABA) | 
 enlarge | Brand: Hewlett-Packard
Category: CE
List Price: $104.99
Buy New: $72.08
You Save: $32.91 (31%)
New (29) Used (1) from $60.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  96 reviews
Color: Black Face
Media: Electronics
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: Yes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2
Dimensions (in): 10.1 x 8.1 x 2.6
MPN: F2231AA#ABA
Model: F2231AA#ABA
UPC: 882780469709
EAN: 0882780469709
ASIN: B000FVNX2Q
Release Date: July 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Customer Reviews:
 Handy calculator --- HP 12C January 14, 2008
HP 12C Platinum (25th Anniversary) has a powerful CPU, the stroke keys are also very good.
Classic calculator by HP.
I like it.
 Well Built!!! December 23, 2007
Been doing a lot of mortgage calculations on this item and I must say have moved a lot of properties because of it! Turbo charged for sure!
Nice, overall, but PLEASE HP bring back the quality! December 22, 2007
11 out of 11 found this review helpful
There's been many a good review on this calculator previously on Amazon so I won't delve too deeply into what has already been said. I will, however, off a few opinions that are gleaned fromm over two decades worth of using financial calculators, so I hope someone finds this interesting.
First, there are only three 'true' manufacturers of financial calculators: HP, Texas Instruments and Calculated Industries. Well, four if you count everyone else. But, HP & TI own the student and financial market. TI's calculators use the Algebraic Operating System (AOS) and HP uses RPN (Reverse Polish Notation) and some (the HP-12c platinum reviewed here) offer both. It's a matter of personal choice; RPN is more fluid once you learn it, but AOS is easier and flows math as you were taught in school. That said, once you master RPN, you won't go back to AOS.
Secondly, and this is my big beef with ALL calculator manufacturers. Handheld calculators need TACTILE feedback; meaning, notably, that you have to both KNOW when you press a button and, also, KNOW that when you do, it registers and doesn't do something funky (i.e. NOT register or DOUBLE register). This is beyond important and frequently overlooked by engineering types designing these calculators. Face it, a financial calculator isn't mainstream and it isn't used for insignificant calculations; they're used by investment bankers, accountants, analysts, etc. and these people have to be comfortable in the fact that the buttons 'work' and work everytime.
No one, not a single manufacturer, understood this except HP. And HP understood it to the point that their products were in a class by themselves. That was until about five years ago. Then, HP moved calculator production to China and the first products, notably the HP-12C Platinum and the HP 17BII+ suffered horribly in the hands of users because the tactile response simply was awful. Read the Amazon reviews on these products to get a feel for what I'm talking about here. I have a 17BII+ (2006 production) and call attest that if you don't watch it, it will frequently not register a number. That's useless in a financial calculator.
Fortunately, HP in this latest 25th Anniversary Edition apparently listed to consumers and got 'most-of-it' right on this model. Certainly better than the HP-12C Platinum and arguably better than it's more expensive sibling, the 17BII+.
Here, in no particular order is my Good/Bad list of features:
Good
Follows typical 12C keyboard layout and convention. The 12C is THE standard in financial calculators and HP wisely left the form factor alone.
Faster than the original 12 and Platinum editions that followed. By HP's literature, almost 6x faster, but the big deal here is that it is faster than the horrible Platinum 1.0 version which suffered in TVM calculations.
Re-designed battery door. If you used an original 12C, you'll like the honking big door on this version.
VERY sweet rear labeling of functions; the metal decal attached on the back really goes a long way towards helping one with the keystroke/feature set of this calculator.
Runtime is just insanely long, which is useful since it uses non-standard batteries (CR2032's--better buy 'em now; you WON'T find them when you need them!)
Bad
Tactile response. Yes, it's better than the 17BII+ (much!) but it still isn't in the same league as the older US or Singapore produced calculators of the 1980's and 1990's. Arguably better than a 'cheapie' calculator but not what I would call 'good' by $50+ product standards. Honestly, I cannot fathom why HP won't belly to the bar on this and just spend $5.00 more and put a better keyboard on their high-end calculators. I will say this keyboard is the BEST keyboard HP has in their calculator product line, PERIOD. But that's not as big a compliment as it sounds.
Build-quality. Good. Not great, good. The thing still feels flimsy compared to the older products, plain and simple.
Case. Know what? On the web, that leather case looks very cool. In real life, it's three times bigger than the calculator and twice as hard to carry. A simple leather slip case would be nice.
Other odds and ends.
HP's manual for this baby is honestly worth the price of the calculator; maybe more. One thing I'll have to give HP is at least in this day and age of PDFs and web searches, they still give you an honest-to-goodness manual and a good one to boot. Kudos to them for that one!
As it stands, this HP 12C 25th Anniversary Edition stands as my pick of the absolute best available financial calculator on the market today. I say that because it's better built than it's bigger brother (17BII+) and offers RPN and programming and a familiar keyboard and layout.
However, I wish HP senior staff would puruse these reviews and take heart to producing a calculator with 1980's build quality and 2007 microprocessor guts. I mean honestly, I have a Blackberry with a 2GB memory card; and this thing has 28K? It runs on the 6502 processor; does that ring a bell with anyone over 40? It was the processor in the original Apple II!!!! Why not:
>Build the case out of higher quality plastic? Maybe ABS.
>Use a modern processor.
>Give us a removeable memory stick.
>Give it a USB port for programming.
That CANNOT be that big of a deal to incorporate and HP would OWN the calculator market again.
That's my .02 cents worth on the HP-12C, 25th Anniversary Edition.
Cadillac of Financial Calculators! December 3, 2007
I absolutely love this calculator. It's easy to use and best of all, it allows algebraic inputation. I had a great experience w/ Amazon on this purchase. The original calculator I received was defective, simply a fluke. I contacted Amazon and received a brand new replacement within 2 days!...this more than 2 months after I bought the item. I was overjoyed at how easy it was.
Satisfied customer December 2, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
While in the process of getting ready to take my CFA exam, I came across the dilemma of choosing a calculator: the TI BAII Plus or the HP 12C. Having no previous background on either option, I did all the research online and was initially leaning over to the TI BA II Plus (or Plus professional), mainly because of the big buttons and bigger screen. However, I was then peer pressured by my colleagues to go for the HP 12C, as I was told that every business man in Wall street has this calculator, and I will look like the 'new kid on the block' if I were to get a TI. Needlesstosay, I opted for the HP 12C Platinum edition and am an extremely satisfied customer! In the beginning, I took a couple of hours to go over the functions, and it is very easy to use once you get the hang of it. Infact, there are 2 modes, and if you use the 'algebraic' mode, it is just like using any other calculator. It has all the functions I could ever want and apparantly is much faster at finding results than the HP 12C original. If you're going to take the CFA exam, look no further. The HP 12C Platinum is the ideal selection.
|
|
|
Copyright
©
2006 Adminpal LLC | |
