20 Oct
2011
20 Oct
'11
11:11 a.m.
From: Dave McGuire <mcguire at neurotica.com>
When did the build quality start to drop? I have a
35S, which is
great but the build quality isn't even close to real HP. It also chews
through batteries like there's no tomorrow. (2x CR2032) The next most
recent one I have is a 48SX, which is very nicely built, so it seems to
me the decline happened somewhere in between.
I haven't seen a "new" HP in a long time but I can tell you as somebody who
bought a new HP-67 around 1981 that quality started dropping with the LCD
models. I remember the HP-41 had come out just as I decided on my 67. I
saw both at the Princeton U store and the 41 was nowhere as nice and felt
very cheap by comparison. I realize saying that about a 41 today sounds odd
because of how good they are compared to newer stuff, but that should tell
you how much things have changed. I had some old TIs (TI Programmer, other
misc. models) which were all very functional but *their* build quality made
the HP-41 look like a Cadillac.