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It was love at first sight, when I saw this shiny new HP 41CV in a store window back when I was 15. I had used a 32E before and I knew I had to have this 41. Thirty-four years later, my good old CV is sitting on my desk at work, with a CX (bought a month ago) next to it. The CX is basically a CV with the Extended Functions module (which I bought for my CV at the time) and the Time Module built in, and some other minor extras. So what follows goes for both. The love has grown over the years - this machine helped me through 3 years of high school and 5 years of engineering studies, and has been my companion for all the years after that. HP has made awesome calculators over the years, but I keep coming back to the 41. I have a range of others: 35, 45, 21, 25, 67, 37E, 38C, 12C, 15C, 28S, 10B, 14B, 17BII, 20S, 32SII, 42S, 50G and even a WP 34S - they are all fine machines, but my daily workhorse is the 41. Its expandability is fabulous and without comparison - wired, IL and infrared printers, IL tape drive, IL diskette drive (imagine the splash a 3 1/2" diskette drive for a calculator made back in '83!), a long list of expansion modules, a card reader, etc.. I have and use all of these regularly, which is another testament for the legendary HP quality. Back to the 41 though - it has a keyboard that's the best ever, bar none. Thousands of user-written programs are available for it, it still has active internet groups and several websites dedicated to it. It has been on several space shuttle flights. Yes, today's calculators are an order of magnitude faster. Yes, they have graphical displays and loads more memory. Yes, they're cheaper than a 30-year old 41 (!). But they're not nearly as much fun to use. Enough said. Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes
If you are actually considering buying an HP-41CV, chances are you are over 50 like me, and you simply *loved* your original HP-41CV to death. I used my '41CV for 23 or 24 years on the job, i.e. every day. Failure of my earlier HP 11C calculator due to keyboard deterioration (you may substitute 12C or 15C here) after only about 5 years led me to buy a 41CV. I've written about 25 simple programs for it, actually a couple of my programs are iterative and more complex. This little soldier outlasted my 11C by almost a factor of 5 thanks to a MUCH better quality keyboard. In the end, it still was the keyboard that failed on my original 1987 41CV, but 23 or 24 years of everyday use is pretty respectable! There are assuredly newer, more whizzbang graphing calculators (etc.) available now, but at this point I bought a used HP 41CV simply because it does everything I need AND I know where every freakin' key is without hunting. The Pi key has been Shift-zero for so many years I don't need to think about it. That's one of the two top reasons for buying one of these: #2 - If you can find a "lightly used" one, that keyboard has lots of years left. #1 - You KNOW where all the keys are ('cause you've used one for 20+ years) I hope the foregoing definitively provides a NO! answer to the question of whether this "product" even needs a review.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
The HP-41C (of which the CV and CX models are impoved followups) is considered by some to be the pinnacle of programmable calculators. What sets it apart is the wide variety of expansion modules-- magnetic card reader/writer, infrared bar code reader, printer interfaces, ROM modules preloaded with application-specific programs, etc. It is one of the earliest calculators with alphanumeric support. About the only thing it doesn't have is a large enough display for graphical output. Thie HP-41C/CV/CX was sold at the time when personal computers were becoming popular and affordable, which ultimately led to the de-emphasis of further development of calculators at HP and other companies.
Verified purchase: Yes
The HP41CX is the absolute queen of all keystroke-programming calculators of the eighties - BASIC pocket computers apart. 30 years later, it's still an impressive object - although clearly obsolete on a lot of issues. No graphics, no (or so little) sounds, laughable alphanumeric capabilities, no USB port, no retro-lighted display, only 2K of memory ... sounds like a joke. But it's still powerful, it's still working like a charm, and it still looks like a modern object you can hold in your pocket, although it will not like cohabitation with your iPhone ;-) Using it today for calculations reveals how far in exoticism the HP engineers have gone. Manipulating USER mode, ALPHA buffer, XEQ instruction calls is really strange, not to say odd! What about Shift+ON which does not power off the calculator like you'd expect, but rather displays time and date! Of course the fact that I was dreaming of owning one when I was a teenager but had no money for it, is largely responsible for my opinion today and the fact that I bought one from ebay. The one I bought is in perfect condition. It looks almost like new and works as such! The keyboard click is a magic sound. This calculator is pure legend. Owning - and using - it has no price.Read full review
Been using hp-41s since the early 80s, there is simply no better calculator for engineering or scientific work. RPN notation (once you get used to it) is the only way to go. No parentheses or = sign to get in the way of the result, also shows results of intermediate calculations due to the way RPN works. Programability means that you can custom tailor solutions for your situation and particular problem, and repeat lengthy calculations with just a couple of keystrokes. Alphanumerics give the user the ability to label values or ask for inputs in you programs. The CX model was the pinnacle of the hp41 line and includes extended functions, extended memory, and a time module all on the motherboard. Peripherals such as printers, disk drives, cassette drives, add on program modules outclass anything available in todays products and enable you to print solutions or save it in a variety of storage media. If you have one and need a problem solved, keep your eyes open on ebay and chances are HP had an applications module for your problem. During the life of this product, endless reference material and how to books were written, much of which is still available in digital form from user groups and archive sites, google hp41 and you will likely find what you are looking for.Read full review