A good workhorse

I have had my HP-12C for a week now and I'm happy that I selected it over the other financial calculators. First off, I know that some people do not like RPN; however, once you learn how RPN works it makes sense. My first calculator used RPN (many years ago) and yes it did take a bit of time to understand it. I have not used RPN for 15+ years, but it came back very quickly.

I also like the shape of the unit. It sits on my desk most of the time and frankly I have never been too excited about the vertical "pocket" calculators. The unit has a substantial feel to it, something the typical calculators are missing.

On the down side, it is slow in doing some calculations. I would have liked to see a bit faster system (faster processor), but for what I do the time is not too bad. I'm sure others who do more complex calculations will not like the time the system can take for complex calculations. For the calculations I do I rarely have to wait for more and a few seconds. Other calculators in the HP line can be 5 times faster, however. I would also like to see a slightly bigger display; although, I have yet to run into problems with the current display.

It's amazing that this calculator has lasted 20 years in HP's product mix. There are bigger and faster systems out there, and yes you can do a lot of the calculations on the newer math calculators. I, however, am happy that HP still has this "10 series" calculator around.