Home > Consumer Reviews > HP 12c Financial Calculator (12C#ABA)

Why would you buy a 1980's calculator? Because it provides the best combination of form and function.

While other calculators have gone high-end and become curiosities of mathematics and graphics, HP's customers do not want to let go of the 12-C, despite the fact that HP has more powerful calculators at a slightly larger price. Here's why I think:

Just the right set of features. The average Joe using a financial calculator needs no more than the HP-12C provides.

Sturdy and strong. The keys have a wonderful feel.

Fits in a shirt pocket.

Very reliable. They've had two decades to iron out any bugs.

Large user base. Most financial courses will use this as the calculator of choice

Buy this calculator, if you need a financial calculator. You will not regret it -- I daresay that it will still be around when your kids need their own calculators.

I've been using this calculator so long, over fifteen years, that I can't imagine working without it. When I bought this thing it was alone in the field of financial calculators and the 12C is still the standard by which other calculators are judged. It has become the standard "tool of the trade" for financial professional types. I have a senior position with a leading money management firm and I require all of my financial analysts to learn how to master this tool. Learning to master the functions is like taking a review course in finance. The calculator can be used for a variety of financial functions including calendar (day count), interest, cash flow, IRR, compounding, NPV, standard deviation, weighted average, simple programming and more. The calculator is nearly indestructible which can be very handy when a trade goes against you and the calculator is suddenly flying across a trading room. The calculator has a nice form factor, the buttons are easy to use, it fits in a shirt pocket, and it has an auto shut off for battery conservation.

There are other calculators available from HP such as the 10B for about a third the price and the 17B for about the same price. The 10B is inferior to the 12C and I see little reason to buy it. The 17B has greater functionality than the 12C, but I feel it is harder to master, harder to navigate, and it does not fit in a shirt pocket. However, the 17B does allow users to work in standard algebraic or RPN modes. The 12 works only in RPN (Reverse Polish Notation) which can be difficult to get used to. For example using RPN to add 1 and 2 you enter 1 2 . In simple algebraic notation the key sequence is 1 2 <= or enter key>. The difference is that with RPN you enter the operation (plus, minus, etc.) after you enter the values. With simple algebraic you enter the operation between the values.

Overall, this is the "industry standard" calculator for financial professionals and is recommended by AIMR for people taking the CFA exam. I would not recommend this calculator for casual home use as it does take some time to master, but once mastered it is a very powerful tool.

Calculators may seem a bit "dated" in this age of Palm Pilots and PC's, but when you have to do a lot of calculations and you don't have a spreadsheet on a laptop handy, a good calculator is invaluable.

If you calculate mortgages, compound interest, amortization or any of the common functions in finance on a regular basis, you can't go wrong with this classic calculator, long a standard of the industry. The 120 built-in functions are easy to use and well explained by the manual. Don't see a function you need? You can enter your own mathematical function, too.

If you DON'T do financial calculations regularly, but are in school for anything but science, this is also a great choice. You can even learn a lot about financial calculations just from the manual. (For science students and scientists, HP makes a scientific version calculator with statistical functions instead of financial ones.)

If you are a regular person looking for a calculator, I REALLY recommend this one--we all borrow money (car loans, house mortgages) now and then. And RPN, Reverse Polish Notation is SO logical and easy to use once you practice. (Simply put, to add two plus two = four, you enter 2 +, 2+ = and the answer is there. VERY fast for long calculations, like balancing a checkbook.)

I find that the horizontal design (wider than long) is extremely comfortable to hold. And the 12C is very rugged. I used to know a guy from HP who was a rep for the calculator division. He'd demo them by slamming the HP12C against the wall, and then daring the rep from the Big Lone Star State Instruments firm to do the same with theirs. No contest.

This is "the calculator that wouldn't die". There were several other excellent HP calculators in this same series, including the HP-11C and HP-15C (scientific calculators) and the HP-16C (the only Computer Science calculator ever made), all of which shared RPN functionality (think of RPN as an adding machine on steroids), programmability, extremely long battery life (measured in years, not months), a sturdy case and keypad, and the perfect size, weight and ergonomics. Unfortunately, the rest of this line was discontinued by the end of the 80's in favor of fancier models. (I own an HP-11C and an HP-16C as well as an HP-12C; they're all excellent calculators. Used HP-16C models often sell for more than the original list price, they're in such demand.)

So why is the HP-12C still around, virtually unchanged from its introduction in the 80's? Because Finance people are VERY conservative, and they just kept buying the 12C because that's what their mentors used, that's what classes were teaching with, and that's where the most help and information is available. They simply ignored newer, fancier models of financial calculators because the 12C already worked so well that nobody needed or wanted anything better! Sure, they're imported these days instead of being made in the USA as the original units were, but the design is unchanged. The packaging has changed, but the user manual has not.

This calculator is a classic, destined to remain with us for many years...

I've had my HP 12C since 1982. They cost($$) then. It spent 5years rattling around in my college bookbag. Now I use it daily at work and have dropped it many times. While some may say it is slow, you'll never notice a speed problem on regular arithmetic calculations. The RPN feature makes complex calculations easy to enter. Its easy to learn and you won't have to lend it to your co-workers in meetings because most of them don't know RPN!

I hope HP gives plenty of notice before discontinuing this calculator. I'll buy another just in case mine breaks in a decade or two. END