I also started with an HP35, then 45, and went from there to an HP41CX.
That was the nicest calculator I've ever had, and I flat wore it out. I
was late getting a PC, but put the 41 to use in solving everything from
iterative network problems to antenna patterns, self and mutual
impedance calculations, phased array feed systems, you name it. The
functions I most used were right there on the keyboard, available with a
couple of keystrokes at most. Programming with the assembly-like
language was fast, easy, and to me, intuitive. I ended up with a very
large library of programs of all kinds.

Its replacement, an HP48GX, is a disappointment in every way but one.
The person or people who dreamed up the programming system were totally
indoctrinated, like so many of today's software engineers, that object
oriented programming (OOP) is the best and only solution for every
possible problem. Consequently, creating even a simple program is
terribly time consuming and the result is worse than the worst GWBASIC
spaghetti code I've ever seen. It's horrible! And while it can be highly
customized, the learning curve is steep. Without customizing, just
changing the number of displayed decimal points from 2 to 3 involves 5
keystrokes and waits of several seconds. I still don't know of a quick
and easy way to swap the values in the x and y registers, although I
honestly haven't looked hard and am sure there's a moderately simple way.

Its single redeeming feature, which keeps me using it daily, is the
facility with which it handles complex numbers. I can mix and match real
and complex numbers, add, multiply, take the square root, trig
functions, everything, just as easily as with purely real numbers. I can
swap between viewing in rectangular and polar notation in a second, and
enter complex numbers in either form. For the kind of calculations I do
very frequently, it's terrific. But if I didn't do a lot of calculations
with complex numbers, I'd give it a 0.5 on a scale of 10.

Roy Lewallen, W7EL

Tom Ring wrote:

In order, I like my HP15C, HP11C, and way behind HP48SX. And then there
is my HP25.

I originally purchased an HP35, then an HP45, then an HP25, then finally
an HP11. Which was so tough it got run over by a NY DOT dump truck and
had merely a crease above the LCD display. And is still in use 25+
years later.

I purchased the HP15C as new when I thought the 11C was lost.
Fortunately it was not. So I ended up with both (eventually).

I purchased a 48SX at a hamfest for $75. It seemed a good deal at the
time, although I had to wait about a year for the heavy tobacco smoke it
had absorbed to dissapate.

I still like my 15C the best. And it is still on it's second set of
cells since 1982, impressive.

-----------------------------------------

So, what calculators do you like best?

And, of course, why.

tom
K0TAR