On this part of our site, we offer
the ultimate tool for Land Surveyors - the Hewlett Packard HP48GX.
You can find New and Used HP48 calculators by clicking on the pictures and/or
links below. You can also find New and Used HP49 calculators as
well, including the all-new HP48GII and HP49G+!! We also offer
HP48 and HP49 Printers, RAM Cards, and books for the HP48. Also shown are
other calculator options for the student, engineer, and surveyor, such
as the brand new HP 33 S, which is the best bet for a person looking
to take the NCEES exam, now that the HP 48 is banned from the test.
Look below to see which one is right for you. All orders are
processed through the highest level of security and are shipped from
Amazon.com, the world's largest bookstore.
Click on a title below for more information, including price and
availability.
Which
calculator is right for me?
The HP48GX remains the industry
standard for handheld calculators. The 128kb of on-board RAM and
two expansion slots for add-on cards are unique among calculators.
If you plan on using an add-on card, such as
TDS,
SMI, or
RAMSS, or you plan to use your HP48 as a data collector for field
work, then this is your only option. Unfortunately, Hewlett
Packard has decided to discontinue production of this model. You
can still find them out there, but the prices have been being jacked
up now that they are no longer being manufactured.
Now the all-new HP48GII and HP49G+
have hit the market! The HP49G+ offers the memory card expansion
slots like the HP48GX, and both calculators offer graphics,
programmable memory, and communications abilities.
The HP48GII has 128kb of Flash ROM,
and is intended as the replacement for the HP48GX, however it doesn't
seem to offer expansion slots for your COGO cards. The HP49G+
has 512kb of Flash ROM and holds up to 800KB of available user memory
via SDRAM cards. The HP49G+ is the top-of-the-line of HP
calculators, with expansion slots, a fast 75MHz processor, and that
whopping memory!
The HP-48G has only 32kb of RAM and
no add-on slots, but has all the other capabilities of the 48GX.
However, it is only about a third of the price. So, if you are a
student, who doesn't need a lot of add-on programs, or you don't plan
on creating too many of your own programs, the HP48G is certainly an
option.
The HP-48G+ has 128kb of RAM, but no
add-on slots. It also offers capability to hook up an overhead
projector for presentations. If you prefer to make your own
programs, or want to download programs off the internet, the 48G+ may
be for you. It costs about twice as much as the 48G, but a third
less than the GX.
The HP-49G has a whopping 1.5MB of
on-board memory (512k RAM and 1MB of flash ROM), but has no expansion
slots. You won't be able to use it with
TDS,
SMI, or
RAMSS, but you'll have plenty of space to write your own programs
or download from other folks, and you can hook it up to a projector
for overhead presentations.
If you're looking for a calculator
to assist you on your NCEES PLS / PE or LSIT / EIT exams, the HP33S is
probably the best option out there. NCEES has banned the really
good calculators due to communication and text-editing abilities, so
you might want to add this one to your collection. The release
date is slated for October, 2003.
All the calculators are able to hook
up to your PC with the connection kit, and all have infrared
capability for printing or connecting to another 48.
Will the new
calculators be compatible with my COGO card?
Listed below are the responses we
received from the folks at HP, SMI, TDS, and RAMSS.
JSWeb:Will SMI upgrade
to be compatible with the new HP48GII or HP49G+ now that the HP48GX is
discontinued?
SMI:SMI will not be compatible with the HP48GII or the
HP49G+. This is why SMI running on the HP 48gx is distributed on 128KB
program cards and the HP48gII only has 80KB of user memory available
which doesn't provide enough room to load our applications and/or
store collected data. Unless HP has changed the specs of the 48gII
recently, it doesn't allow for memory expansion (what used to be the
'x' in HP 48gx) so program cards can't be inserted into it.
RAMSS Media
Statement:
Hewlett Packard recently released a new
calculator, the HP49G. We have been receiving a lot of questions about
the HP49 so we will try to answer the most common ones here. We do not
feel the HP49G is an upgrade from the
HP48GX. The HP48GX offers
many features which the HP49 does not.
We do not currently have any software for the
HP49. We currently do not anticipate creating any HP49 products. We
also do not know anyone who has surveying software for the HP49.
The HP49 does not have any card slots and is
not expandable.
The HP49 includes 512K of RAM and 1M of flash
RAM. This is roughly equivalent to an HP48GX with a 1M RAM card
installed.
The HP49 programming language, processor and
speed are comparable.
The HP49 does not use the same cable as the
HP48,the 49 requires a 10 pin cable, where the HP48 requires a 4 pin
cable. Unfortunately, while they changed the format of the cable
they did not make the connection any more durable.
The HP49 does not support infrared transfers
like the HP48.
The HP49 has been through numerous operating
system ROM updates recently and does not appear to be extremely
stable. This is the first HP calculator product where the operating
system ROM could be updated by the user and HP seems to have
released the HP49 without very extensive testing.
We considered porting some or all of our 48
products to the 49. However, we hoped to see the OS become more stable
before getting too far into this project.
JSWeb:I
read your blurb about not making software for the HP49. Did you know
that the HP49G+ (not the HP49G) has expansion slots? I just wonder,
now that HP has annoyingly discontinued the HP48GX if RAMSS will
upgrade their software to work with the current models, including the
HP48GII? Some software manufacturers, such as http://www.geocalc.net are
starting to update their software. I get this question all the time,
as I'm sure you do too. Just wonder how you plan on addressing this
issue as the HP48GX dies out.
RAMSS:
The 48Gii does not have enough memory for
our applications, while the 49G+'s main weakness is the lack of a
serial port. We are deciding whether to support our
non-communicating software such as Student COGO with the 49G+, but
lack of the serial port limits interfacing with total stations which
currently do not support USB. Most if not all USB<=>RS232 converters
require Windows driver support and are not HP compatible. If you are
aware of any devices which handle this issue we would be interested.
JSWeb: Now that the
HP48GX is out of production, replaced by the HP49G+, are there any
plans to upgrade COGO or SurveyPro to work with the new hardware?
What about the HP48GII?
TDS:
There are no plans at this point to
modify our software to work with the 48 software to work with the
newer HP48s. However, we are always seeking to upgrade and improve
our products, so this could change in the near future. Keep reading
your TDS Pathways newsletters for the latest happenings.
JSWeb: I'm sure you've had this question before, but as a Land
Surveyor, we all generally use a HP48GX for our surveying, especially
due to its ability to house data cards for products such as Tripod
Data Systems (TDS), RAMSS, and SMI. Will those same cards work with
the new HP48GII and HP49G+? Are there even expansion slots to put in
additional memory or these cards? Would the programming language be
the same, or would the programs have to be upgraded to work with the
newer calculators? I've had this question so many times, and I'm just
never sure how to answer.
HP:
The 49g+ is the new expandable calculator, however it does use
different type of memory then the old 48gx calculators. The 49g+ use
Secure Digital memory, up to 512+ MBs, instead of proprietary memory.
We do not know if the TDS, RAMSS, and SMI software will work on the
new calculator. We would suspect it would probably have to be altered
to make it work correctly.
JSWeb: As I'm sure you know, the surveying industry is one of the primary
audiences for the HP48GX. It seems that HP has made little if any
effort to continue the compatibility with surveying instrumentation
and add-on cards with the new models. Used HP48GX's are selling
on the internet for upward of $300 apiece, as everyone is scrounging
to be able to continue working. After talking to TDS, RAMSS, and
SMI, they do not plan to change their software to fit the new
hardware, as the HP49s do not have the serial ports necessary to
communicate with surveying instruments even if they did. The big draws
for the HP48GX were the expandable memory, ability to add programmable
data cards, and the serial interface. It seems that the latter of
these two have been completely dropped from any of the currently
marketed calculators. Does HP plan on restarting production of the
48GX until a suitable replacement is found? This is a core piece of
hardware for our industry. The HP49 seems great, faster, more memory,
etc., but if it can't take data cards, and can't interface with
our instruments, then it is pretty much useless for us as an industry.
Please let me know what, if any, steps we can expect HP to take to
accommodate our needs. It would be great if you could post some FAQs
on your website about this. I get e-mails daily from surveyors asking
me these questions, and I have nowhere to send them to get this
information directly from HP.
HP: Unfortunately,
we are not part of the decision making on the development of HP
calculator. However, as a guess, we do not see HP putting out a
calculator that is compatible with the old cards. We stopped selling
the expansion cards about 4 or 5 years ago. The technology for the old
calculators is obsolete and has been for may years. Also many computer
manufactures are starting to remove serial ports from there computes
and are almost non-existent in laptops.
Here is some information on the two calculators and how they
work. The 48gx port one, the data port, only expands the built in
memory from 128k to 256k, not needed to run programs unless they are
larger then 128k. The data port was integrated in to the 49g+, so it
does not need to expand the built in memory, and has 1.13 megs of
internal memory that you can run programs in. The SD slot is used like
port two on the 48gx. So if the TDS, RAMSS, and SMI software, possibly
altered for compatibility, was put directly on the calculator it
should function just like the 48gx as a data collector. There are
people currently work, non-HP, in adapting a IR to serial connection
to the surveying unit. So you can see that the calculators are
actually very similar in how the memory works on the calculator. There
are companies out there that write programs that work on both 48 and
49 calculator, but they pre-load the software to the 49g series
calculators. It is very possible to get the 49g+ to work with the
current surveying units.
You can find information at the following newsgroup on the work
people are doing for the IR to serial connection.
comp.sys.hp48 (go to google.com under groups)
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