Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 41-45 of 154
 Looks Like HP Did It Again....... August 19, 2007
S. O'CONNELL
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Back in probably 1989 or 1990, while in engineering school, I was lucky enough to get a brand new HP 48SX even though I was almost broke and barely able to scrape and keep myself in school. Just two weeks ago, after what...17 or 18 years of flawless and faithful service to me...my 48SX finally crapped out on me.
After reading many, many reviews of HP and TI models, and after testing some TI models of colleagues of mine, I settled on the HP 50G. WOW, HP has done it again!! This calculator really seems to have it all and if it even comes close to standing up to my old 48SX, then I will be writing another HP review in, what, 2024 or 2025 when I buy my next HP!!
EDIT: I forgot to comment on one item that I think HP missed with this calculator. The documentation is absolutely abhorrent. I still have my 48SX documentation to keep for reference. Evidently, the HP 50G technical documentation staff were not pointed to those older manuals for reference when they wrote their own. What a shame.
 Decent Calculator September 17, 2007
Controls Joe
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
The calculator is much faster than the 48, especially when graphics of menus are involved. I liked my (broken) 48 more in terms of user interface and keyboard layout though.
One issue that really annoys 50G users is how it does not capture the keystrokes quickly. As someone noted (but got the syntax wrong) this can be fixed using the Keytime command. The syntax is as follows:
500
->KEYTIME
You can find the ->KEYTIME button on the command catalog (RIGHT SHIFT Symb).
Build quality: If you knock on the back of the 48G's case you can hear the difference in build quality between these two calculators. The 50 G is fairly solid for a calculator, but the 48 smokes it in build quality. Also the 48 G appears lighter. The 50G is more slippery (having a smooth finish), making calculations without setting the calculator on a surface trickier (like the old 28S).
 Terrible... July 9, 2008
Daren (Armed Forces in Europe)
5 out of 16 found this review helpful
Ridiculously difficult to use. I bought it to use RPN, and 3D graphing, which it does, but for everything else it is a waste. Unless you know someone who knows how to use it and can show you how, don't buy it. The manual is inadequate, the online .pdf is 900 pages and still doesn't tell you how to do simple things, like solve a linear system of equations. Buy a TI-89.
HP 50G Review Comments November 5, 2006
Daniel R. Renninger (West Mifflin, PA, USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
The 50G is the successor to the HP 49G. They both accept only a maximum of 1GB SecureDigital flash cards since they only have an approximate 1GB operating system file address space. Only about 0.9GB of the SecureDigital flash cards (a little more on the HP 49G than on the HP 50G) are accessible. The manuals only vaguely state that they recognice FAT16 and FAT32 SecureDigital flash cards. The HP 50G has a black case with a black metallic faceplate. The white and orange shift key labels on the metallic black faceplate have much better contrast and are easier to distinguish than the HP 49G red (or tomato) and turquiose shift key labels on the tan anodized faceplate. The black HP 50G looks tastefully geared for serious users. They still have no display backlighting or a color display. The HP 50G keyboard feels a little more compliant than the HP 49G but it would be nicer if they were as buttery smooth as the original early 1970's series of the HP hand held calculators.
hp50g March 21, 2007
Eric J. Gilstrap (missouri)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I had been an old hp48gx, hp42s, and hp41cx user.
The 50g is a worthy replacement. Good stuff.
Also...lot's of independent websites offer helpful advice on programming and features. A couple out there will show you how to write code from your PC. Or you can even get a free emulators to test your code. That's pretty cool. But doing it from the hp50g is fine, too. Lots of debugging routines are built-in to help you.
The ability to conveniently file and organize data and programs is still with a LOT of room to do it. (Especially with the SD card!!! CHEAP plug in expansions. I went with just a 256mb card that I already had laying around. LOTS of room works well.) But this also adds the feature of seeing a "file tree" so you can easily figure out where you stored items.
Just like when I had hp48gx...I first thought 'how do I do this???' (related to the filing system). But as soon as I figured it out, I smacked myself in the head for not seeing it earlier. Very simple and straightforward.
Just go into files. Highlight what you wish to look in. Hit chdir.
And then don't forget to you use your next key to change your menu options to see all the features (for example: to find the function to add a directory). And then don't forget to use arrow left and right keys for moving through deeper or back through the file tree.
I think the function menus also are pretty well organized. I quickly found most anything I needed.
I remember paying $150 for my Hp42S almost 20 years ago and thinking 'wow!!' this is a good deal. Now you can get the 50g for about $130 delivered. Fantastic.
|
