Stolen HP's, anyone unlucky like me ?

[vk6ti]

I bought a HP42s new when they first came out to replace my HP41C, and we came real good friends. I left my car unlocked for 3 minutes ( I now know it was outside a methadone clinic), and some asshole stole my HP42s out of my glove box. Pity is they wouldn't have been bright enough to even turn it on. I can't believe how much they are worth to replace now after all that time. Maybe time to resurrect the 41 :-1. The upside is I am now going through all my HP gear and finding boxes of stuff I collected years ago, one of which is a HP 01 watch, which one member is kindly "sprucing up"
So be warned, don't get caught like I did, don't leave your gear visible in your vehicle, or turn you back on it, these plebs are everywhere.
Have a nice day
Ray

[Didier Lachieze]

I had a HP 34C back in 1980 which was stolen in my bag at school
The good side of this was that after a few months I got a 41C

[Eddie W. Shore]

Always lock the car. We can never be too careful.

[Joe Horn]

You're not alone. My first and only 42S was stolen from underneath my seat in a restaurant while I was eating. My first 15C and 16C were stolen together from a bench at UC Irvine when my back was turned for a few moments.

[vk6ti]

another 42 s gone, from under your seat?, the length people go to steal some thing. It's funny how you can get personally attached to calculator !
I replaced my 42S with three 35S's, I keep them around the office so there is always one within arms reach, even then I have to look out for one near by, as they seem to go in hiding mode :-)
I have never kept any of my calculators in the car since

[Jeff O.]

(10-05-2014 02:21 PM)vk6ti Wrote:  I left my car unlocked for 3 minutes, and... stole my HP42s out of my glove box. Pity is they wouldn't have been bright enough to even turn it on.

The thief probably just opened the glove box and grabbed what was inside. Most likely thought it was a phone and when it turned out not to be, he/she just tossed it. But on the off-chance that he/she would try to see if it had any value, have you considered checking the pawn shops in your area? I'm guessing most pawn shop owners nowadays know the value of old HP calculators and so would be happy to buy a 42S for a few bucks from a customer who said he "found it at a garage sale" and obviously did not know the value. Depending on the laws in your area, if you know the serial number you might even be able to get the item back for free if you find it. Worst case, you might have to buy back your own calculator.

[Han]

My very first HP48G was stolen when I studied abroad in Budapest, Hungary. I even upgraded it to 128KB! I had left my bad at a table and went over to a computer to check email... returned to find my backpack gone, along with my calculator ;_;

[Les Bell]

Oh, yeah - my 65 was stolen, many years back. It was in its big carry case, so the thief also got the leather pouch, charger, quick reference and several application pacs. Funny thing is, it was just about to be shipped back to HP to get a faulty display segment fixed - I notified them, with the serial number, but it never turned up.

Sob. I still miss her . . .

[brouhaha]

(10-05-2014 04:12 PM)Eddie W. Shore Wrote:  Always lock the car.

One night while I was at a pizzeria with friends someone did a smash-and-grab of my car. They took everything that was in the glove box and center console. Most of that was stuff of no value to anyone but me. The two valuables were a Kenwood amateur radio HT, and an HP 49G. Those I could replace; what pissed me off was the loss of several notebooks.

In breaking the window, they damaged the door. They also pried the cup-holder out of the console. By the time the door, window, and console were fixed, the repair cost was about $2000.

[David Hayden]

My 29C was stolen from a backpack in high school. I can't remember if that led to my upgrade to a 41C. Months later, the dean called me in and handed me my 29C! He said that a teacher had noticed it and 3 other calculators in a bag in the trash and retrieved them. What are the odds??

Decades later I was a trustee at a private elementary school and got to know a little about how schools work. Only then did I realize that the Dean was probably lying. It was much more likely that they had discovered a student with 3 (or more) calculators... with other people's names on them... and confronted him. They made up the story to prevent me and the others from going after him.