I have rescued a big bundle of HP 38G calculators

[SalvageManButtery]

Hi there - I recently salvaged a load of HP 38G (1995) calculators from going to landfill. Amazing really - some of them needed a bit of a clean, but all are in working order!

They even come in a strong box/carry case and come wth other HP accessories, like an infra-red hand-held printer (broken/spares or repair) and an OHP teacher's accessory , along woth a few instruction manuals, etc... It's crazy what people will throw away these days!

There were 27 HP 38G Calculators in total, I wonder, would anyone know roughly what they would be worth, perhaps?

Thanks for any suggestions!
Best,
Alan

[vaklaff]

I noticed it on the well known auction site. I thought about it not because I want to buy it, just as a what-if exercise...

In my very humble opinion, there's a little chance any collector will buy it as a set, the 38G model is not of that kind.

If you want to get some money from it then the best way would be selling them individually, over time, each maybe around $20. I guess the they are internally built like the 48G model so some of them will stop work reliably (well known keyboard issues because of the aging internal foam strip).

What I'd probably do? I'd buy fresh batteries and start to give the calculators to kids around so they can use them while the calculators still work. My laziness would prevail :-)

I suppose other will have other ideas.

Good luck!

[BruceH]

I replied to your post in the other thread before it was moved into the Classifieds here but my reply seems to have been lost.

Maybe I transgressed some rule but there was at least one important piece of information that should have been retained, namely that the OHP unit (if it is the official HP one) contains a 9v battery. You should open the case and remove that battery before it leaks.

You only need the battery when connecting a 48SX or GX using the "memory card" connector so yours may have been removed previously.

[SalvageManButtery]

Hi there, thanks to both of you for the insight! I really appreciate your knowledge and input.
I have salvaged sports equipment in the past and donated it to a local school (they were very grateful!) so I will alert them about the calculator collection too. I dare say the maths teachers might want to have a few spares on the cheap for stucdents, as they are currently on a very low price, and the school is around the corner, so they would save the postage costs, at least...

Vaklaff, that is a very generous idea! I suppose I don;t want the faff over time, and also, it is my partner's house, and she really wants them out of the way, haha!!

BruceH - I did open the OHP accessory thing - it is made in the USA by InVision, so it doesn't actually have a battery in it, luckily.

This whole experience has been a real blast from the past from my 'A' Level maths days (95-97) and I've read a lot about graphic calcuators, so it's been a nice learning experiment and a chance to reminisce too.
We shall see what gets discarded next...

Thanks again for your replies,
Alan