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javimm · 07-01-2014, 07:59 AM

Hi.
After a lot of years lurking in the old forums, I've decided to join the community.

I've used HP calculators since 1995, when I entered university and my father bought me a 48GX that cost him 300 euros back then. I was hooked. What a fantastic calculator. I loved everything about it and learned everything about the Saturn architecture: SysRPL, assembly and all kinds of hacking. I bought a Epson 128KB card and a Klotz 2MB card. The HP 48 was the standard in my university too (Civil Engineering in Universidad Politécnica de Madrid) so everyone had one. They even sold them in the university library.

Fast forward 20 years. My beloved 48GX started developing the dreaded ON key symptom and the top row of keys stopped working properly unless you pressed the metal plate between the screen and the keys, so I read that the calculator could be repaired by opening it and cleaning the contacts. Well, without too much detail, I'll say that I was unable to open the thing and damaged it. Now the calculator can't be closed and the + key is almost dead because I damaged the membrane below the key :-(.

Looking for a replacement in Ebay, I found that they sell for about 80 to 90€. Among all the Ebay listings I noticed that the 50G sold for the same price as the 48, so I researched it and found that unlike the 49 that had a bad rubber keyboard and bad firmware and the 49+ that had a lot of problems registering keys (just to name one problem), the 50G seems to have solved the issues and is a great calculator overall. I downloaded the Debug4x software that includes Emu48 with the 50G emulator and I feel at home using it. It's the same as the 48GX plus all the Libs I had installed: Java, Erable, ALG48, TED, MatrixWriter,...

On the other hand I don't like the Prime. Too short battery life, no RPL (I'm a RPL guy much more than a RPN guy, although I own a HP 45, HP 35S and HP 25), and oriented to students and not so much for professionals. Not the calc for me.

I scanned through the Ebay listings and found one unopened in the box 50G and did the "last second bidding trick" and won the auction for 54.50€!!!. That's a fantastic price as it sells for 105-135€ in the brick and mortar stores and Amazon and about 80€ on Ebay. I have to pick it up tomorrow, as the seller is in my own city, so no shipping charges either. Sweet.

I hope I like the calc. The 48GX has set the bar too high. Its fantastic keyboard and reliability during 20 years has made the 48GX the most cherished piece of tech I've ever owned. Even after buying the 50G I'm still considering getting a 48GX just for that keyboard before they run too scarce and the prices raise more.

Cheers.

Thomas Radtke · 07-01-2014, 08:06 AM

(07-01-2014 07:59 AM)javimm Wrote: I hope I like the calc.

I had one in my hands to program something for a colleague. I must say the keyboard feels better than that of my Indonesian 48G. The housing also is nicer.

HP67 · 07-01-2014, 08:10 AM

Hi, welcome to the forums and thanks for introducing yourself.

I am an old HP user but did not have much experience with stuff made later than the 1970s until recently. I bought some used 48 models which led to buying some new 50gs. I agree with you, the 48 set the bar pretty high. You don't find double-shot keys on every calculator you pick up. Unfortunately, they are notoriously hard to open as you found out. One of the used ones I bought is a butt-ugly wreck of a perfectly good device that somebody boogered up. But it still works great.

The 50g does some things better but it's not the same quality as a 48. It's good enough and cheap enough right now and plenty useful. I love having the SD card, it's a huge time saver. I think the 48 is easier to program on because of less menus and less keystrokes to get around. But the 50g is faster enough to make a difference and has a lot of great stuff built in like ARM and Saturn assemblers and a SysRpl compiler. And plenty of memory! I can't pick just one.

javimm · 07-01-2014, 08:33 AM

(07-01-2014 08:06 AM)Thomas Radtke Wrote:
(07-01-2014 07:59 AM)javimm Wrote: I hope I like the calc.
I had one in my hands to program something for a colleague. I must say the keyboard feels better than that of my Indonesian 48G. The housing also is nicer.

My 48 is from Singapore, and it says 1993 so I guess that's why not all the 48s I 've tested feel the same.

(07-01-2014 08:10 AM)HP67 Wrote: Hi, welcome to the forums and thanks for introducing yourself.

I am an old HP user but did not have much experience with stuff made later than the 1970s until recently. I bought some used 48 models which led to buying some new 50gs. I agree with you, the 48 set the bar pretty high. You don't find double-shot keys on every calculator you pick up. Unfortunately, they are notoriously hard to open as you found out. One of the used ones I bought is a butt-ugly wreck of a perfectly good device that somebody boogered up. But it still works great.

The 50g does some things better but it's not the same quality as a 48. It's good enough and cheap enough right now and plenty useful. I love having the SD card, it's a huge time saver. I think the 48 is easier to program on because of less menus and less keystrokes to get around. But the 50g is faster enough to make a difference and has a lot of great stuff built in like ARM and Saturn assemblers and a SysRpl compiler. And plenty of memory! I can't pick just one.

I can't expect the same quality from the 50G, that's something I have to assume. After trying the 49 back when it was introduced, I was totally disapointed by the quality compared to the 48. When the 49+ came out and I read about the faulty keyboard, I knew that the 48 build quality was not coming back. I confirmed this when I bought the 35S to serve as a pocket RPN calc. The keyboard does not feel good to me, to the extent that I much prefer picking the 48 instead even being bulkier.
Anyway, the 50G seems to be a bit better. I can always buy another 48GX... :-)

HP67 · 07-01-2014, 08:58 AM

I don't think you will be disappointed with a 50g. It's not the best calculator ever made but it is the best calculator still being made.

Thomas Radtke · 07-01-2014, 11:23 AM

(07-01-2014 08:33 AM)javimm Wrote: My 48 is from Singapore, and it says 1993 so I guess that's why not all the 48s I 've tested feel the same.

I'm not a collector but have some Pioneers like a few 32SII, 20S, 27S, 10B (besides the 'battleships' ;-). I can say that *every* one of them feels different. It's not only tactile feedback or painted/injected legends, but also the material or the finishing is different. My Singapore 32SII has extremly glossy keys despite heavy use, feels very soft (some would say mushy). To this degree, I haven't seen it on any other calculator. It is very comfortable. My Singapore 20S has dull and quite stiff keys, while my Singapore 27S is somewhat between them.

Very strange but interesting.

HP67 · 07-01-2014, 11:32 AM

Well I guess you ought to quit running them through the washing machine with your overalls, Thomas! Wink

CosmicTruth · 07-01-2014, 11:57 AM

Welcome javimm
I'm new here also and have been through some of what you have in as far as the worn out calculators. my 41's are all long gone. My 48gx data collector has what you describe as "the dreaded ON key symptom". and my 49g+ keys all failed, the calculator is still usable but the keys all rock around. I like the 50G but I wish I could port the TDS Pro Cogo card from my 48gx to a sd card to use in my 50G. Or I wish someone would produce a 50G environmental case that had 48gx card slots.
have fun

javimm · 07-01-2014, 01:41 PM

(07-01-2014 11:57 AM)CosmicTruth Wrote: Welcome javimm
I'm new here also and have been through some of what you have in as far as the worn out calculators. my 41's are all long gone. My 48gx data collector has what you describe as "the dreaded ON key symptom". and my 49g+ keys all failed, the calculator is still usable but the keys all rock around. I like the 50G but I wish I could port the TDS Pro Cogo card from my 48gx to a sd card to use in my 50G. Or I wish someone would produce a 50G environmental case that had 48gx card slots.
have fun

Hi.
Just a tip for your Cogo card in case you didn't know. There's a utility called CARDUPL downloadable from the Emu48 webpage that can be used to transfer a binary image of your card into your PC and then use it in Emu48 or x48 emulators. Maybe then it could be possible to transfer it to th 50g. The problem is if the software compatibility between models (SysRPL entry points).
Cheers.

CosmicTruth · 07-01-2014, 04:33 PM

Thank you much for that pointer!
I'll try this over the next several months even tho it probably will melt my 50G into a pool of molten plastic and metal Smile

HP67 · 07-01-2014, 04:42 PM

(07-01-2014 04:33 PM)CosmicTruth Wrote: I'll try this over the next several months even tho it probably will melt my 50G into a pool of molten plastic and metal

If the plutonium goo hasn't melted it I think you're gonne be ok Wink

javimm · 07-03-2014, 11:16 AM

Well, I picked the calc up yesterday.

I have a bit of a bittersweet feeling about it. Software wise is all that I wanted my 48 to be. It's blazing fast, it already has in its firmware a lot of the functionality that I had to supply to my 48 via libs (Erable, metakernel, fast EQW, MATRIXW, good text editor). This leaves a lot of free memory on the calc that I didn't have before, even with two memory cards. The SD option is fantastic, no more slow Xmodem transfers... Overall, fantastic software wise. There's very little here that I can complain about.

Now the ugly side. Construction is MILES away from the 48. I doubt the 50G will be able to withstand the heavy use I gave to my 48 during 20 years. Plastic is thinner, lighter and just feels cheaper to the touch.
The keyboard is not bad, much better than the one in the 35S, but doesn't feel nearly as strong as the one in the 48. It feels harder to the touch but weaker at the same time, if that makes sense. By the way, the person who decided to put the Enter key there and reduce it's size, should be sent to jail. ¿What were they thinking?. It's just not the location of the key; it's its small size and the displaced +,*,- and / keys.

My 50g rattles a bit when shaken, I've read that the internal speaker is fixed with tape (What the...???) and can become loose. After my disasterous try opening the 48, I don't feel like opening this to fix the problem, althouhg it seems pretty easy.

That's my short review. I wish HP could produce this model with the quality of yesteryear, but this ain't gonna happen.