New 12c keyboards

[Brian Zilli]

Hello everyone. This is my first post after reading for about a year.

I just received a new 12c from Amazon for about $40 and was quite excited to open it, since it was new enough to have packaging from Moravia/Royal, yet not so new as to be missing the "HEWLETT-PACKARD" lettering below the keyboard.

Unfortunately, upon actually using it, I noticed that the "1" key and some of the financial register keys will make an audible/tactile "click" when pressed, but require a bit harder of a press to actually register the input.

My 35s is similar, so it seemed like something I could get used to. But, on this 12c, when I press the "n" financial key with enough force to know it will register, it gets stuck in the depressed position and requires some prying to get unstuck.

I did some research here and found a thread from 2012 where it was discovered that there are two manufacturers of 12c's, and the ones with the elongated "%" key (like the one I received) have noticeably worse keyboards than the ones with the traditional percent key. It looks like, back then, the different versions could be distinguished by serial number (CNA was the better one, and 4CY was the keyboard style I received).

The Moravia/Royal packaged ones don't have serial numbers on the box, though, and the calculator I received just has a sticker with "C1G210" printed on it. (And the post I mentioned earlier was before the 2015 processor change, so I'm not sure how relevant that serial number info would be to post-2015 models anyway.)

From the pictures of the very new Moravia/Royal 12c's (without the "HEWLETT-PACKARD" lettering), it looks like the version with the more desirable keyboard (with the traditional "%" key) is still being manufactured.

I'm returning this one to Amazon. Has anyone here purchased a 12c in the US recently with the "good" (normal "%" key) keyboard (with or without the "HEWLETT-PACKARD" lettering)? If so, could you please share the source?

Thank you! (and sorry for the long-winded post)

[Eric Rechlin]

First, I will say that there does seem to continue to be an issue with Voyager calculators (12c and 15c CE) where some keys don't work as well as others. I don't know numbers, but there have been claims that it's in the single-digit percentages. Moravia said they have not had an abnormal number of returns from them versus any other models. So maybe you are just unlucky.

But I will say that the elongated % key is a surprise, when you said it is in Moravia/Royal packaging, which means it's from the last couple years. As you pointed out, I would have thought the elongated % was only on units with the previous-generation processor before 2015. So it should have nothing to do with calculators made today. It would surprise me if the findings from over a decade ago would correspond to anything recently. And surely they would have noticed and fixed the mistaken key legend in the time since then.

But on the other hand, I am amazed that they still continued producing units with that terrible percent key in the last couple years. I was under the impression that was only from the Inventec factory in China, which I don't know if they even still use for the 12c now. Does it say Made in Philippines or Made in China? I believe most/all are being made in the Philippines now.

For reference, I have a Moravia-supplied 12c that I got over a year ago (made in Philippines, does not have HEWLETT-PACKARD on the front, and has the misspelled "www.hpcals.com" web site on the back) and it has the normal % key. So yours is clearly older than that.

[Brian Zilli]

Thank you for the reply.

I also have a 15c CE on the way from Royal, so I hope I won’t be unlucky twice with Voyager keyboards this week.

This 12c is made in China (according to the box & the back of the calculator). The packaging & inserts refer to http://www.hpcalcs.com, but the calculator itself has http://www.hp.com/calculators on the back.

When I run “2.C” from the self-test screen, it reports a firmware version of 2015-01-08, so I assume it’s the new processor (after that screen, it says “C 2008 hP”, but I don’t know how relevant that date is).

Given that I got it on Amazon, I assume that it was not originally intended for sale on the US market, but that’s only speculation.

Thank you again for all the information. I’ll keep an eye out for listings that specify Made in Philippines.