Thoughts on a Renewed 50g?

[MattGreer]

Really can't stomach buying a new 50g for $400, but a "renewed" 50g from Amazon for $200 seems reasonable. 90 day warranty.

Somehow in my mind a piece of electronic gear that's failed and has been repaired is not as good as a piece of electronic gear that's never failed. I don't know if there's any supporting data for this feeling, just my impression.

Have any of y'all bought a renewed HP? Has it worked out well for you? Even if you haven't bought a renewed calc, what are your thoughts?

Thanks for your help!

-Matt

[hth]

I prefer to buy new pristine stuff. However, a device that has failed early and has been properly fixed is probably going to last long without problems. Compare that to the new one, if it has some early problem, it has not happened yet.

Google did some survey on hard-drives (they obviously use a lot of those), and the conclusion was that either they fail early or they get a long life. They seldom die mid life. Life here it means the expected life of the device, which typically can be 5 years for a hard-drive, so it is rare that it dies in the 2-4 years range (just taken from my memory, I read that report many years ago).

[grsbanks]

There are also plenty going second hand on TAS. Most of mine came from there.

[MattGreer]

(09-10-2019 11:17 AM)grsbanks Wrote:  There are also plenty going second hand on TAS. Most of mine came from there.

TAS?

[MattGreer]

(09-10-2019 05:57 AM)hth Wrote:  Google did some survey on hard-drives (they obviously use a lot of those), and the conclusion was that either they fail early or they get a long life. They seldom die mid life. Life here it means the expected life of the device, which typically can be 5 years for a hard-drive, so it is rare that it dies in the 2-4 years range (just taken from my memory, I read that report many years ago).

I remember that! That's kind of what I think. I just think, once something has failed... who knows what other parts were affected by the failure...

[grsbanks]

(09-10-2019 12:15 PM)MattGreer Wrote:  TAS?

"The Auction Site" whose name I'm sure you can think of.

[MattGreer]

lol at "TAS"

So I'm reading and it seems that the 49g+ really isn't much different than the 50g. If I don't need a built-in periodic table nor equation library, they're the same calculator aside from the color scheme? Anything I'm not aware of?

Basically I'm looking for a backup calculator to migrate to should my trusty 48GX die on me...

[grsbanks]

The 49g+ is basically the same thing as a 50g but without the serial port. I think mine does have those libraries but I might have copied them from a 50g anyway.

One caveat with the 49g+ is the keyboard quality. Earlier models' keyboards are dreadful. Missed keystrokes and/or bounce are par for the course and IIRC keys have been known to break off. Latter versions of the 49g+ used the same, much improved technology that's to be found in the 50g.

[grsbanks]

I'd add that a 2nd hand 50g is probably easier to find (and cheaper) than a 49g+ these days and that the colour scheme of the 50g is far more legible.

[rprosperi]

Often, 'renewed' products are actually probably new, never-used. Once a manufacturer sells products, typically through a distributor to a retail chain or independent dealer, those products, if returned to the manufacturer, by law can never be sold as 'new' again, they can only be sold as 'refurbished', 'renewed', 'Class-B' and many other names.

There are many reasons the dealers and chains return them to the manufacturer, including:

Customer returns (open-box or still sealed)
Replaced by new models (not in this case)
Product didn't sell well and dealer wants to buy some other new line
etc.

Dealers, and especially chains have lots of leverage and almost always succeed in returning the products for refund, credit towards new purchases, etc. so the manufacturer has no practical choice but to take them back, and eventually sell them as noted above, usually for far less then original price.

In the case of the 50g on Amazon, it seems to be a single unit from a small independent dealer, so probably not the case as described here, but I thought this was worth explaining as one can often get a great value purchasing such renewed items.

[Claudio L.]

One of my 50gs is open-box bought from amazon, which comes from customer returns. Considering the very permissive return policy I figured 90% of people that buy a 50g realize it's too hard to learn it, so they return it within their 30 day window.
I think it's all in the fine print: if "renewed" means it was damaged and repaired I'd probably had my reservations. If "renewed" means returned shortly after purchase and just lost its original packaging (why is it so hard to open??), than I'm more than willing to take it.
Another good source is to buy used from individuals (not resellers). In my mind, people sell their used hardware just because they bought a new shiny one, not necessarily because it failed in any way, so used hardware that looks in relatively good physical condition usually works flawlessly for years.

EDIT: I just saw one in in TAS used for $74 that looks like new. It's a lot less than $200!! and you probably can't tell the difference with a new item: my open-box 50g was indistinguishable from my 12-year old 50g (well taken care of, but used almost daily).

[jlind]

I've bought a number of "refurbs" directly from HP for laptops and computer monitors over the years. All arrived in plain brown corrugated cardboard packaging (versus retail - to prevent fraudulent resale), with all accessories and documents, looking brand new. Never had a failure problem.

The BIG question: Who did the refurbishing? If it was "factory" by a reputable manufacturer that originally made it, I've got a lot more faith that it went through substantial test and verification before being unleashed back out the door. The manufacturer doesn't want it coming back. If it's Joe Schmedlapp and his brother-in-law operating out of a backyard shed between the lawn mower, gas grill and snow blower stored out there, it may be very good work, and then it may not be. For them, you only have a verified reputation from others who have received their work. A certain very large cell phone company in the US gives you refurbs if the one you bought new fails under their warranty or insurance. Their track record with the quality of the "refurbishing" has been notoriously spotty (replacement coverage is contracted out to a third party). It all leads back to who did the work, with how skilled and reliable they are.

John

[Carsen]

I would scan TAS every once in a while until I find a clean unit at a fair price. Especially since you don't need the HP 50g right away.

I am currently typing on a refurbished laptop and I have had 0 issues with it. In short, all refurbished products I have bought turned out great!

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

(09-11-2019 04:59 AM)Carsen Wrote:  I am currently typing on a refurbished laptop and I have had 0 issues with it. In short, all refurbished products I have bought turned out great!

I have been typing on pre-owned laptops ( new MacBooks are just crazily expensive...) for the last decade of so and have had zero issues with them... Just buy one in decent shape and there is absolutely no need for any kind of refurbishment, whatever that may be.

Regards
Max

NB: The only laptop that ever gave ME trouble was the PowerBook that I had bought new. Luckily is failed while still under warrantY.

[Massimo Gnerucci]

Just picked up another one, in VG condition, found on eBay for 30€.
And, an hour ago, I won a 49g+ for 4,90€, listed as non working. We'll see.

[grsbanks]

(09-11-2019 12:00 PM)Massimo Gnerucci Wrote:  Just picked up another one, in VG condition, found on eBay for 30€.

The 50g I got the cheapest was 0.00. The seller didn't look in the battery compartment before listing, I completely forgot to ask for photos, and it arrived with the compartment full of solidified battery juice (and of course the batteries that it came from). I pointed it out to the seller, who gave me a full refund.

I then spent quite some time cleaning the powdery deposit out of the compartment and cleaning the contacts. It actually works fine, although I do expect it to fail later on given the amount of corrision I had to clean off. Some of it must have made it to the PCB.

[MattGreer]

Y'all gotta quit buying these things off of TAS eh? I'm trying to get my foot in the door here. :-P

I'm perfectly happy with the GX... But the 50g is calling me...

[MattGreer]

BTW, seems like a lot of 50g's are coming from South America. Should I be concerned about those at all? I know I seem paranoid. I'd just hate to plunk down $100+ bucks for something that doesn't last... Or it's in Spanish? You can change the language, right?

[Garth Wilson]

My 50g has a problem which is apparently rather common, that a power-supply capacitor leaks like crazy, and it takes 5mA from that batteries even when it's turned off. Clearly HP either got a bad batch of capacitors, or did not design with enough WVDC margin. If this capacitor in a refurbished 50g is replaced with something suitable, it will be better than new, not inferior (if that's what the "refurbished" means).

In the company I work for, we got a bad batch of capacitors around 20 years ago that went into several products, and they began failing after 10-15 years, long after the 3-year warranty was out. It was only one value (220uF), one voltage (16V), one size (6x11mm), one type (aluminum electrolytic) of capacitors. Once in a while we get one of these units in to repair, and we replace all the capacitors of that one type, voltage, value, and size, and everything is fine again. None of the others fail—ever—and obviously we're not going to replace these that did fail with more from the same bad batch. These mostly go into private aircraft, so they often remain in service for decades, much longer than typical consumer items do.

[jonese]

(09-11-2019 05:47 PM)MattGreer Wrote:  BTW, seems like a lot of 50g's are coming from South America. Should I be concerned about those at all? I know I seem paranoid. I'd just hate to plunk down $100+ bucks for something that doesn't last... Or it's in Spanish? You can change the language, right?

I bought one about a year ago. No issues at all, it was near perfect shape.

It's the same device with English lettering.


edit: formatting