My 40 year old HP 12 C passed away this week

bankshot1

Member
SoSH Member
Feb 12, 2003
24,652
where I was last at
Sadly my close to 40 YO HP12 C calculator which I'm pretty sure I bought about 40 years ago, seems to have shuffled off this mortal coil. I put in new battteries, nothing but some garbled #s. Calculator dementia. It 2001 Hal (led) me. But 40 years of service mean something. I'm not sure what, so I seek advice.

Now truth be known I no longer need the 12C to do the financial tricks I once did, but this funky piece of technology was a long trusted friend and we traveled the world together figuring out IRR, ROI, NPV mortgage payments, as well as Magic # calculations in heated pennants races. We were friends and colleagues.and I trusted 12Cs judgement even if the in puts seemed backwards at first.

But in a world where tech changes far faster than my ability to keep up, should I get a new 12c? it seems cheaper today than it was 40 something years ago, or should I go for the faster, slightly more expensive platinum #, I always had a thing for blonds. And there is the security blanket aspect of this. I know which buttons to push.

As a price point the basic 12C is around $50, the platinum $60.

Or are there other calculators I should consider?

SoSH on this day of rebirth and affirmation of faith, should I keep the faith?
 

Monbo Jumbo

Hates the crockpot
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 5, 2003
25,231
the other Athens
I am very sorry for your loss. My 34 yr old 12c passes on their sympathies as well.

I got my 12c because it can add and subtract calendar time. Excel can't go earlier than 1 Jan 1900.
 

bankshot1

Member
SoSH Member
Feb 12, 2003
24,652
where I was last at
I am very sorry for your loss. My 34 yr old 12c passes on their sympathies as well.

I got my 12c because it can add and subtract calendar time. Excel can't go earlier than 1 Jan 1900.
Monbo thanks for your condolences. As to your reason for your 12c, as I recall you took senior dating very seriously.
 

Average Game James

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 28, 2016
4,346
Sorry for you loss. Mine met a premature end when my child launched it off our deck and cracked the screen - still not quite over it 2 years later...

The HP12C has worked for decades, why change now? If you're used to RPN, then most alternatives will be unfamiliar. I have heard that more recent vintage HP calculators feel cheaper than older models - if that will bother you and you're willing to spend up a little ($100-150ish) then maybe check out the SwissMicros DM12L which is their 12c equivalent.
 

StupendousMan

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 20, 2005
1,910
I'd be tempted to look through E-bay and purchase two of the old, original HP 12C made in America. Going prices for calculators which are in working order are $10-$20. If you purchase two, at least one may work well, and it's still cheaper than a new device with inferior keypad.

I use a semi-new HP 35S, but only because one of the keys on my HP 32C from grad school stopped working. Sigh.
 

cgori

Member
SoSH Member
Oct 2, 2004
4,006
SF, CA
I still use a 15C, which is about 33 years old so I feel this.

I did find there is a very faithful but cheap 15C app on the apple app store, and I use that for lots of things - my physical calculator sits on my home office desk 99% of the time. You might see if there is a similar 12C app. But I would seriously think about buying another 12C - there's something about the physical buttons that is very reassuring / pleasant.
 
Last edited:

Kremlin Watcher

Member
SoSH Member
Sep 20, 2005
5,233
Orleans, MA
There is something hallowed and holy about the 12C Mine still works and I will always enjoy the simple pleasure of watching a novice trying to figure out how RPN works.

They call them spreadsheets because way back when, we had to write it all out on giant sheets of paper and do the calculations on our 12Cs. Watching the number line flicker while it was calculating, hoping you entered everything correctly was always a bit of a gamble. I'll never own another calculator.
 

shaggydog2000

Member
SoSH Member
Apr 5, 2007
11,483
I feel your pain. I recently lost my beloved TI-85 after almost 30 years of service. I got a modern equivalent as a replacement (TI-84 Plus CE it says on it), but the thing is charged over mini-USB and since I use it so rarely whenever I grab it to do something, the battery is almost out and I can never find the mini-usb cable, etc. It's nothing like the rock solid performance the old 85 gave me for decades.
 

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
SoSH Member
Sep 27, 2016
21,766
Pittsburgh, PA
A beautiful tribute. My ~25yo Ti-86 sends its regards, in between being jailbroken to play Snake and other games. Like a fancy watch, the goal is to pass it and its joys on to the next generation of eager classroom time-wasters.
 

KiltedFool

has a terminal case of creeping sharia
SoSH Member
Dec 22, 2005
2,400
Minor flashback with some hazy memory, when I was preparing to take the EIT and PE license exams, the review course strongly encouraged getting an HP that could do RPN, so I snagged an HP 48 GX and learned to use it. Took and passed the exam. The next exam cycle they banned the HP I had used I think because of it's graphing capability, allowing only very basic calculator styles. So I've had an HP 48 GX sitting in a drawer at my work for 18 years since the last time I turned it on. Someday I should find it a new home.
 

Rudi Fingers

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 18, 2005
1,845
Adianoeta
I'm still using my HP17BII in RPN mode - I purchased it in the '90s specifically because it had RPN mode.

My first introduction to programming was from a quirky math teacher (redundant, I know) in high school who had no computers, a bucketful of HP calculators, and taught us how to program surprisingly useful stuff (which I completely have forgotten) using the RPN stack. I have preferred RPN calculators ever since.

Trivia - the stock MacOS calculator can work in RPN mode, if you prefer.

Additional trivia - the best RPN calculator (to me) for iPhone is PCalc, which started on the Mac and is now over 30 years old.
 

DeJesus Built My Hotrod

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Dec 24, 2002
48,209
So sorry for your loss and I mean that sincerely.

Get a replacement. You will use it because you have countless hours and even more financial anxiety invested in knowing how to use the thing like its an extension of your body.

As a side note, my strategy of ordering one at every new job regardless of whether I need it or not has paid huge dividends. I have two backups in case one shuffles off this soldered coil.

Long live the 12C!
 

bankshot1

Member
SoSH Member
Feb 12, 2003
24,652
where I was last at
Reading the various posts and testimonials it sort of amazing that about 40 years after its intro, the 12c is still considered must have for hand to hand combat in finance, banking, real estate, law, and other of the less honorable professions.

When I think about the tech I used in 1980 (and before) the 12c may be the only survivor (my recently dearly departed 12c excluded) and still relevant professionally.

I'm envious.

I typed my MBA case studies on a Smith-Corona, listened to albums, then tapes and then CDs, (but never from The Columbia Record/Tape or CD Club), rented videos from Blockbuster and popped them into my Beta Max (I shit you not) to watch on a behemoth 36" Sony Trinitron.

And phones, fuhgeddaboudit.

WTF is a landline. We had a phone, one in the kitchen and then one in the den.

Decatur 2 was the exchange.

If you wanted privacy you stretched the cord to a closet and spoke softly.

If you went out you took some dimes just in case you had to make a call.

A smart phone? Huh?

Its been said that there is more computing power in today's cell phones than what we had to get a man to the moon.

How is that fucking possible?

The one benefit to having a standard rotary phone was you knew everyone's phone #.

Phones got smarter, we didn't.

Yet the 12c remains the go to calculator.

Go figure.
 
Last edited:

Five Cent Head

64th note
Gold Supporter
SoSH Member
Jul 17, 2007
764
Seattle
Back in the 1970s, I played Strat-O-Matic baseball with my father, and then we would record all the stats and compute batting averages using his HP-25 (he was a physicist). I started taking it to school and always enjoyed these exchanges:

friend: Can I borrow your calculator?
me: Sure. [hand them the calculator.]
friend: [punches some buttons.] Where's the equals sign?
me: There isn't one.
friend: [hands the calculator back]
 

gtmtnbiker

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 15, 2005
1,725
I'd be tempted to look through E-bay and purchase two of the old, original HP 12C made in America. Going prices for calculators which are in working order are $10-$20.
I sold my 15C and 28S calculators a few years ago for good money on eBay. I realized that I didn’t use them anymore. The 15C was my favorite because of the form factor and keyboard. The 28S was more capable but I preferred the 15C plus the battery life wasn’t as good.


I feel your pain. I recently lost my beloved TI-85 after almost 30 years of service. I got a modern equivalent as a replacement (TI-84 Plus CE it says on it), but the thing is charged over mini-USB and since I use it so rarely whenever I grab it to do something, the battery is almost out and I can never find the mini-usb cable, etc. It's nothing like the rock solid performance the old 85 gave me for decades.
That is the one thing that’s great about the 15C is that it sips power like no other calculator. You put those button cell batteries in and they last a long time. I didn’t use the calculator much in the last ten years because of spreadsheets and my phone. But the batteries were still good. This is in contrast to my 28S which had the uncommon and expensive N batteries.