HP-30B Business Professional Calculator

I won't lie, this calculator suffers certain quality control issues that plague other handheld calculators sold by HP (Note: the 35S, 17BII+, and 12CP are not manufactured in-house by HP, leaving only the 12C and Prime). Mine, for instance, will perform a factory reset after being turned off, about one-fifth of the times it is turned off. This means that I cannot reliably store programs, variables, or settings; I understand there are other issues that users have experienced as well, and of course it is sturdy and rugged as HP's calculators of old. However, HP has fixed the bug that would give incorrect answers, and that firmware is what has been loaded onto all the later produced machines, which is good.Despite its flaws, I must still say that it is one of my all-time favorite calculators. Its functions are a superset of all functions ever included in a financial calculator by HP (if you don't include timekeeping functions, that is). It includes functions for select statistical distributions, which are not included in any non-graphing calculator (however they could be programmed into certain devices, given a capable device and programmer). It has a very healthy set of scientific functions (some are buried in menus). It can store 10 data sets of x and y, 10 programs, 10 variables (not including those related to financial calculations), and a blazing fast ARM processor (which really can come in handy when computing IRR on cash flows). It has outpaced the 50g in the speeds of certain calculations. Included in the box was an overlay with programming functions that can be accessed when making a program by holding Shift and the button below. No stock photos on Amazon show the calculator with the overlay, but there are some to be found on the web some place (Note: the overlay is a sticker and is not intended to be removed and re-applied. You only get one chance to stick it on right, so make it count!).Bottom Line: this calculator has flaws, but I would take it over any other modern RPN calculator any day. Including the more expensive 17BII+ (with absolutely no contest). I only wish that someone would emulate this calculator for mobile, and that institutions would be more open to allowing this device on tests (check and see if this model is allowed for use for your intended purpose).Bonus: if you are into DIY, there are enthusiasts who have a process of flashing this model calculator to re-program how it works, and then attach custom key stickers, and call it the WP34S. Some of the modifications done are incredible, and the result is the most comprehensive calculator known to man. If you are not into DIY, then just know that they chose to modify THIS calculator because it simply has the best hardware (processor and memory) that a non-graphing calculator can get.

I had my HP12C Platinum for about a year when its "Enter" key stopped working. Otherwise, it was a great calculator and I fell in love with RPN.So instead of purchasing an another possibly defective 12C, which costs twice as much as its competitors, I have decided to buy the HP30B, which like all HP calculators, does RPN.First, this calculator is somewhat on the large side. It is fairly thick as well. The buttons and the build quality seem to be better than the HP12C Platinum. The keystrokes have a very nice feel to them and the display is large and informative.As far as the speed of the calculations, this calculator is fast with no noticeable lag.The only part of this calculator that disappointed was its keyboard layout.I found myself entering way too many keys to make simple calculations. For example to get anything higher than a square (^2) exponent, you have to punch in the base number, input, exponent number, blue key, and the exponent key. With HP12C, it is base number, enter, exponent number, exponent key. Pressing that extra key in pressurized test situations is pretty annoying, especially if you need to do multiple of equations.The number of extra keystrokes is even worse when you have to factor by anything other than a square root. That involves base number, input, factor number, blue key, 1/x key, blue key, and exponent key. Wow and that can be really, really annoying.The keyboard is not laid out in an efficient manner, and that's too bad because if the keyboard layout was anything like the HP12C, I would think this might be the best financial calculator I have used (I have also used TI BA II Professional).

THE AWESOME: Unbounded PotentialThis *business* calculator can be re-purposed into the most-powerful *scientific* calculator in the history of scientific calculators (excepting graphing calculators, which are more powerful in some respects but also are heftier and tend to emphasize graphing and algebra functions over pure number crunching).The re-purposing is done by re-flashing (re-programming) the device. Web links cannot be included in Amazon reviews. However, the re-purposed calculator goes by the name of WP-34s (after the initials of the authors of the replacement software: Walter B & Paul Dale). Sourceforge hosts the project WP-34s, so check the info out there.The WP-34s improves upon the HP-41C/HP-42S and the newer HP-33s/HP-35s. It's rather ironic that a *financial* calculator sold by HP can be reprogrammed into a far more powerful *scientific* calculator than HP's own HP-35s, using software written entirely by enthusiasts not affiliated with HP.THE BAD: Criminal Non-Support and Mixed QualityI just had a very strange (and unpleasant) experience with HP "product support".I bought my first (brand new in sealed package) HP-30b in May 2011. The keyboard's quality was pretty poor, with quite a few keys that did not click at all... they felt very "flat" (all keys are supposed to click, by the way). Other than the keyboard issue, the calculator was perfectly functional during the few weeks I used it.Moreover, after a few months without being touched, the HP-30b died a spontaneous death. (This calculator was never repurposed as I indicated above, precisely because I did not like the feel of the keyboard. Last month 3/2012 I bought a second 30b whose keyboard is much better---product quality is a mixed bag!)I assumed the dead calculator was under warranty, so I called HP support. (It is April 2012 as of this writing, hence less than 1 year after my original purchase.)I was told that since the seller was not an "HP Authorized Reseller" (it was a Third Party seller in Amazon), and since the calculator had been manufactured in 2010, it was long out of warranty!!! I got some preaching on the demerits of "buying from non-authorized HP resellers" and I had to try really hard to avoid yelling expletives on the phone. I told the representative that I was obviously an idiot for not buying directly from HP at full retail price, meaning twice what I paid, and then I hung up.I want to emphasize that I received the calculator new-in-the-box with HP's "Security Seal" intact back in May 2011. Nobody can "fake" these calculators nor their HP-seal bearing boxes. The product I bought was legit. The only illegitimate thing going on is HP selling old-stock calculators through non-authorized resellers fully knowing they will not have to make good on their warranty in case of failure, as it happened to me. I own several of HP's current calculator models, including 12c, 33s and 35s. I have had good luck with their quality, so perhaps the defective 30b is a fluke, but that is no excuse for reneging on the warranty. Criminal HP!I had no idea that new-in-the-box electronics (with a dated receipt) could be sold without warranty, at least not without some *very clear* warning to that effect.I will try to seek a remedy from Amazon, and shall update this review accordingly.UPDATE: Amazon issued a full refund (as store credit) for the defunct calculator. I also got "free education" on so-called "grey market" purchases. One cannot take things for granted as a consumer, even if shopping at reputable (?) merchants (Amazon). In this regard, I am quite disappointed with the experience.