NEW: HP 15C Collectors Edition

[Eric Rechlin]

I expect to have some stock in the US, for sale at a very competitive price, in the next week or so.

[Enter]

(10-16-2023 01:59 AM)Johnh Wrote:  Here is a screen shot from the recent Calculator Culture review, original at left, CE at right.

This photo also shows how the original white key labels have a somewhat better contrast. At least that’s what immediately occurred to me after I unpacked the CE.

[Johnh]

HP15c CE manual

I just watched the video of Eric Rechlin's presentation at HHC2023, about 'Recreating the HP15c Handbooks', for the CE addition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgD-EvAIzuk

I just wanted to express deep appreciation for this work, which was clearly far more than just the copying of the old versions.

I've been reading the new manual, for its intended purpose of helping me understand my new machine. It's so clear and helpful, but I think it is also beautiful and what comes through is so much more than just a great piece of tech writing, but also the human skill and care that went into creating and updating it, by Eric, Gene and all who contributed to the various versions over many years.

[Felix Stehli]

I just got my 15C CE (#04613, Made in Philippines) and I'm not happy with it. The reason is keys not registering or bouncing. Pressing the keys very firmly and releasing them fast seems to improve the situation, but it is still annoying. As most people do not have similar issues, I suppose it being a hardware problem.

[lvt]

(10-22-2023 02:02 PM)Felix Stehli Wrote:  I just got my 15C CE (#04613, Made in Philippines) and I'm not happy with it. The reason is keys not registering or bouncing. Pressing the keys very firmly and releasing them fast seems to improve the situation, but it is still annoying. As most people do not have similar issues, I suppose it being a hardware problem.

My HP 12C Platinum is also from the Philippines, supposedly from the same facility but it has no issue with the keypad. I also watched a couple of Youtube videos about the 15C CE but they work normally too. Maybe yours is an isolated case?

Do you have some sort of warranty that comes with the purchase?

[Human]

Received mine a few days ago too.
Oxford Educational Supplies was a great vendor.
Calculator is great, but I also have a key press issue with only the top right, ➗, key... So close to perfect.
From the sounds of it, there seems to be a pretty consistent QC issues with the buttons.

[rprosperi]

(10-22-2023 03:53 PM)Human Wrote:  Received mine a few days ago too.
Oxford Educational Supplies was a great vendor.
Calculator is great, but I also have a key press issue with only the top right, ➗, key... So close to perfect.
From the sounds of it, there seems to be a pretty consistent QC issues with the buttons.

Actually this definitely is NOT the case. Though your machine may have trouble, as well as the poster just above yours, this is certainly not a consistent or general issue with the 15c CE; in fact the overwhelming majority of folks that reported feedback on their CE devices have commented that the keyboard is uniformly good, better than the LE version, and nearly as good as original Voyagers when new in the early 80's.

This is not NOT to suggest yours isn't problematic, indeed I advise you both to contact your seller promptly and arrange for a replacement; I would if mine were defective. These comments are only to address your suggestion that this is a widespread or consistent problem; left unchallenged, a future reader may well think that is true, so it's important to correct such impressions.

[Felix Stehli]

(10-22-2023 03:10 PM)lvt Wrote:  

(10-22-2023 02:02 PM)Felix Stehli Wrote:  I just got my 15C CE (#04613, Made in Philippines) and I'm not happy with it. The reason is keys not registering or bouncing. Pressing the keys very firmly and releasing them fast seems to improve the situation, but it is still annoying. As most people do not have similar issues, I suppose it being a hardware problem.

My HP 12C Platinum is also from the Philippines, supposedly from the same facility but it has no issue with the keypad. I also watched a couple of Youtube videos about the 15C CE but they work normally too. Maybe yours is an isolated case?

Do you have some sort of warranty that comes with the purchase?

Yes, I do. Will contact my seller and ask for a replacement. Thanks.

[mozgy]

(10-22-2023 05:54 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(10-22-2023 03:53 PM)Human Wrote:  Received mine a few days ago too.
Oxford Educational Supplies was a great vendor.
Calculator is great, but I also have a key press issue with only the top right, ➗, key... So close to perfect.
From the sounds of it, there seems to be a pretty consistent QC issues with the buttons.

Actually this definitely is NOT the case. Though your machine may have trouble, as well as the poster just above yours, this is certainly not a consistent or general issue with the 15c CE; in fact the overwhelming majority of folks that reported feedback on their CE devices have commented that the keyboard is uniformly good, better than the LE version, and nearly as good as original Voyagers when new in the early 80's.

This is not NOT to suggest yours isn't problematic, indeed I advise you both to contact your seller promptly and arrange for a replacement; I would if mine were defective. These comments are only to address your suggestion that this is a widespread or consistent problem; left unchallenged, a future reader may well think that is true, so it's important to correct such impressions.

I'm also in the mine-is-crappy-one group and on top of that nor seller nor Moravia representative are responding to my emails ..

[Human]

(10-22-2023 05:54 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(10-22-2023 03:53 PM)Human Wrote:  Received mine a few days ago too.
Oxford Educational Supplies was a great vendor.
Calculator is great, but I also have a key press issue with only the top right, ➗, key... So close to perfect.
From the sounds of it, there seems to be a pretty consistent QC issues with the buttons.

Actually this definitely is NOT the case. Though your machine may have trouble, as well as the poster just above yours, this is certainly not a consistent or general issue with the 15c CE; in fact the overwhelming majority of folks that reported feedback on their CE devices have commented that the keyboard is uniformly good, better than the LE version, and nearly as good as original Voyagers when new in the early 80's.

This is not NOT to suggest yours isn't problematic, indeed I advise you both to contact your seller promptly and arrange for a replacement; I would if mine were defective. These comments are only to address your suggestion that this is a widespread or consistent problem; left unchallenged, a future reader may well think that is true, so it's important to correct such impressions.

Just for up-to-date stats:
• 138 unique posters to this thread
• 14 unique posters found some issue with the keypad (inconsistent presses, missed key strokes, key bounce, etc)

Just to be clear I'm very happy with the calculator otherwise, and I'm not sure it's worth the headache of dealing with shipping, etc.

[Divasson]

to put HP15c CE claims in perspective, there are 17 claims out of 1200 units shipped by The Calculator Store.

[lvt]

It seems that there will be a version of the 12C that doesn't have the Hewlett-Packard label too.

[Pyjam]

(10-22-2023 10:36 PM)mozgy Wrote:  I'm also in the mine-is-crappy-one group and on top of that nor seller nor Moravia representative are responding to my emails ..

It's annoying. Especially if, like me, you receive their newsletter every day. As a result, I have unsubscribed.

[VoyagerBender]

(10-17-2023 11:10 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(10-17-2023 06:05 PM)VoyagerBender Wrote:  [snip]
Thanks for your answer .

Unfortunately, it does not work. When I try to turn it on (before trying to solve the problem), the display remains "inactive", whatever the key I am pressing (after having pressed the key "on"). I will test your solution again in few minutes (or tomorrow).

I just have the impression that there is no "built-in programmes" anymore in the calculator, as if the calculator was just an "empty keyboard". If anyone has another solution, I would be interested in.

Please try installing brand new batteries before concluding the h/w is defective. It may have ended up in some crazy mode and eaten through the batteries, and now after getting "PR ERROR" (which btw is not really an error, it simply means that power was lost and reset) there is not enough power to complete a full startup. It's worth a try...

You were right, thank you for your answer! My calculator does work again perfectly. Sometimes you just have to get back to the basics to find the solution.

[Michael de Estrada]

(10-23-2023 02:02 PM)Divasson Wrote:  to put HP15c CE claims in perspective, there are 17 claims out of 1200 units shipped by The Calculator Store.

That's a 1.4% failure rate, which I guess is low but still no consolation to buyer's like myself who got a bad one.

[Eric Rechlin]

Also, I don't know how it is in Europe, but in the US it's pretty common to contact the manufacturer rather than the vendor if there are problems, so in those cases HP (or more accurately in this case, its brand licensee) would be handling the warranty service instead and the vendor would never even know. So the real failure rate may be higher than the 1.4% shown in this example.

[rprosperi]

(10-23-2023 03:53 PM)Human Wrote:  Stating some basic facts, no speculations.

• 128 unique posters in this thread
• 14 unique posters with explicit mentions of different key press issues
  

Weli, I'm one of those listed as having issues, and my 15c CE is fine, so likely a miscount, or maybe an overly broad interpretation of "issue". In any case, many folks that reported initial issues, found they disappeared after simply pressing the 'troubled' key 10-20 times, or similar kinds of 'breaking it in' techniques, which were sometimes needed even in the golden age of original Voyagers.

I think the point here is that there is not a widespread problem with the 15c CE and all the numbers quoted above confirm that. If you choose to interpret the reported cases as 'pretty consistent', then that's fine, you can if you want to, I just didn't want to let that impression remain or go unchallenged without some other considerations thrown into the discussion.

[Human]

Sounds good. I do not own an original 15c and the only original voyager I have is a second-hand 12c, so any breaking-in would be a first for me.
I am hopeful it will go away after more usage. Just want the numbers out there on the forum, since following this thread is where I was coming from in my original comment.
Even if the button doesn't sort itself out, I'm planning this to be my go-to calculator.

[ThirdPoliceMan]

(10-23-2023 07:19 PM)rprosperi Wrote:  

(10-23-2023 03:53 PM)Human Wrote:  Stating some basic facts, no speculations.

• 128 unique posters in this thread
• 14 unique posters with explicit mentions of different key press issues
  

Weli, I'm one of those listed as having issues, and my 15c CE is fine, so likely a miscount, or maybe an overly broad interpretation of "issue". In any case, many folks that reported initial issues, found they disappeared after simply pressing the 'troubled' key 10-20 times, or similar kinds of 'breaking it in' techniques, which were sometimes needed even in the golden age of original Voyagers.

I think the point here is that there is not a widespread problem with the 15c CE and all the numbers quoted above confirm that. If you choose to interpret the reported cases as 'pretty consistent', then that's fine, you can if you want to, I just didn't want to let that impression remain or go unchallenged without some other considerations thrown into the discussion.

I cannot agree with this.

My experience with the keyboards of three units of the HP-15C CE:

First calculator
- Serial number 00917
- bought at The Calculator Shop
- missing registration of keystrokes (this problem could be alleviated considerably by pressing each key repeatedly)
- double registered keystrokes - this problem persists and is so present that practical use of the calculator is not possible
- this calculator is on its way to Barcelona to be replaced

Second calculator
- serial number 08870
- bought some weeks later from a German dealer (Calcuso)
- no unregistered and no double registered keystrokes

Third calculator
- Serial number 08820
- bought after the positive experience with calculator no. 08870 at a German dealer (Calcuso)
- no missing registration of keystrokes
- but also here double registered keystrokes - much rarer than with calculator no. 00917
- the double registered keystrokes can be reduced if the keys are pressed SLOWLY and with HIGH PRESSURE.
- a fast uncd "blind" operation of this calculator is not possible.

Fourth calculator
- This will be the replacement calculator for no. 00917
- we will see if there is a keyboard problem here

So at the moment - at least for me - two out of three calculators have a keyboard problem. 66.67%! If the replacement computer works perfectly, this can still reduce the error rate to 50% - but even this is clearly more than 1.4% and clearly no "... overly broad interpretation of "issue" ...".

---

Accordingly, I am really very disappointed about the inferior quality.
My recommendation to all those who have bought more than one calculator and have not yet taken them out of the original packaging:
Since it is not possible to tell from the outside whether the keyboard is working correctly, you should check these calculators now.

[Human]

I do want to apologize on the "facts"
I typed 128 unique posters, but the number was 138 unique posters. I'll update the post above.