HP15C LE Bad Button Presses

[burkhard]

(08-09-2019 08:36 AM)RMollov Wrote:  

(08-08-2019 01:59 PM)burkhard Wrote:  Other than some sketchy durability, why would it be hard to imagine anyone using it for "real work"? I've got both a 15C and 15LE. The LE has low use, but works fine. Functionally, it would be fine for "real work", at least until it breaks :-).

Can I ask you what sort of 'real work' today is worth to be done by any hand-held scientific calculator as opposed to all other means available?
I love (HP) calculators and have quite a few of them, but (as a surveyor) I haven't used one for 'real work' for at least 10 years now. Maybe it's different in other fields... Still strongly doubt it. Any smart phone can do so much more.

Well let's see...General engineering calculations, unit conversions, estimates during meetings, measurement and trig calculations in my wood shop, and (for me) a lot of BINARY↔HEX↔DECIMAL↔BINARY conversions. Yes, I could do all of that on a smart phone, but it wouldn't do it better and, without tactile feedback, I would need to slow down and be very careful with the "button" pushes. And, the smart phone would be tough to read in bright light. Sure I use a phone (well, actually an iPod Touch, rather an iPhone w/o the phone) on occasion for such because it's handy. If I know I'm going to be doing a bunch of calculations, I'll always grab a real calculator, though.
The phone is inferior in every way (except working in the dark).

Now, if I am at work and have something elaborate to do or that I know I'll need to refer back to many times, I'll certainly pull out Excel or even Matlab on my laptop. But often that isn't needed and the calculator is faster and pocketable.