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Hewlett-Packard: HP-12C just keeps on ticking... Scott Loftesness writes, "What an amazing machine -- it was introduced in 1981 and is still being sold!"
I think we all need to compare the serial numbers of our 12Cs. Mine is 2205A02292. Probably from no more than a year after the model was introduced. I've used it nearly every day since.
Amazingly, I think I'm only on my third or maybe fourth set of batteries. Here's a great story that says a lot about (the old) HP and their products.
About ten years ago, my HP-12C died. I had all sorts of gibberish on the LCD, and the keys didn't work. I replaced the batteries--no help. I called the phone number in the User's Guide (the number was still good after ten years) for the HP service center in Oregon. I expected to reach some call-center zombie, maybe to be transferred to someone who would tell me where to send the calculator along with a check for repairs. But no. The woman who answered the phone said, "Do you have the calculator in front of you? [Yes] Take out the batteries. Now unfold a paperclip and connect the two battery terminals together for three seconds. After a number of years, the calculator builds up a static charge, and you're discharging it."
Needless to say, it worked. I even took out the new batteries and saved them for later. Put the old ones in and used them for another few years. I miss the old HP.
Posted Friday, September 13, 2002 8:08:50 PM  
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