Author Topic: Farnell vs. Digikey  (Read 36470 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Offline Macbeth

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 2571
  • Country: gb
Re: Farnell vs. Digikey
« Reply #25 on: December 11, 2017, 09:59:30 pm »
Is this the oldest thread Necro ever? Have the big suppliers changed much over the last 7 years? Is Lazarus the new venture capital startup supplier?  :-DD
 

Offline Brumby

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 12288
  • Country: au
Re: Farnell vs. Digikey
« Reply #26 on: December 12, 2017, 12:47:54 am »
Is this the oldest thread Necro ever? Have the big suppliers changed much over the last 7 years? Is Lazarus the new venture capital startup supplier?  :-DD

I was thinking of saying something myself ... but the discussion just kept flowing ....

It seems 7 years is nothing when it comes to suppliers.
 

Offline schenkzoola

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 33
  • Country: us
Re: Farnell vs. Digikey
« Reply #27 on: December 12, 2017, 02:07:48 am »
How about some old info for an old thread?

Back in 2014 when I was selling a product, I was buying components from Future Electronics (not Futurlec).  I found their prices were sometimes half of Digikey/Mouser/Allied.  I am curious what other people think of them now.  www.futureelectronics.com

Hmm... I'm not sure why this thread is in The AmpHour category.  Maybe it should be relocated?
« Last Edit: December 12, 2017, 02:31:30 am by schenkzoola »
 

Offline Brumby

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 12288
  • Country: au
Re: Farnell vs. Digikey
« Reply #28 on: December 12, 2017, 02:53:26 am »
Hmm... I'm not sure why this thread is in The AmpHour category.  Maybe it should be relocated?

Reading the first post by the OP, it would seem the thread was created in response to comments made on an episode of The AmpHour at that time.
 
The following users thanked this post: schenkzoola

Offline schenkzoola

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 33
  • Country: us
Re: Farnell vs. Digikey
« Reply #29 on: December 12, 2017, 03:21:43 am »
Quote
Reading the first post by the OP, it would seem the thread was created in response to comments made on an episode of The AmpHour at that time.

Looks like it must have been episode 1 based on the date.
 

Online Simon

  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 17729
  • Country: gb
  • Did that just blow up? No? might work after all !!
    • Simon's Electronics
Re: Farnell vs. Digikey
« Reply #30 on: December 12, 2017, 07:50:42 am »
To be honest here is the UK it swings between RS and Farnell in a war over "making their website better" but both failing to spot that much of what they advertise is out of stock. It's easier to find out on farnell has it in stock, for some reason using any parametric search parameter on RS invalidates the "stock status" options.
 

Online mikeselectricstuffTopic starter

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 13694
  • Country: gb
    • Mike's Electric Stuff
Re: Farnell vs. Digikey
« Reply #31 on: December 12, 2017, 10:15:13 am »
To be honest here is the UK it swings between RS and Farnell in a war over "making their website better" but both failing to spot that much of what they advertise is out of stock. It's easier to find out on farnell has it in stock, for some reason using any parametric search parameter on RS invalidates the "stock status" options.
IME RS has never, ever been better than Farnell. Once you accept that Farnell's parametric data is poor and always will be, and filter cautiously to avoid omitting things that have been mis-classified, it's mostly useable, the primary annoyance being that you can't default to omitting US stock and out-of-stock items.

RS on the other hand is still terrible, primarily because it often returns out-of-stock items and can't show a list of results with stock levels
I've long since given up telling them what's wrong - they either don't understand or don't care. For a production order I often go straight to Digikey, and only look at others for high-value lines. 
Youtube channel:Taking wierd stuff apart. Very apart.
Mike's Electric Stuff: High voltage, vintage electronics etc.
Day Job: Mostly LEDs
 

Online Simon

  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 17729
  • Country: gb
  • Did that just blow up? No? might work after all !!
    • Simon's Electronics
Re: Farnell vs. Digikey
« Reply #32 on: December 12, 2017, 09:14:28 pm »
Farnell do have the option to exclude non stock or US stock, the thing i like about RS is the fact that you can just choose through hole or surface mount, I don't know all of the case codes by heart and it just means i can cut out all through hole parts.
 

Online mikeselectricstuffTopic starter

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 13694
  • Country: gb
    • Mike's Electric Stuff
Re: Farnell vs. Digikey
« Reply #33 on: December 12, 2017, 09:59:33 pm »
Farnell do have the option to exclude non stock or US stock
Yes but you have to re-tick the options for every single search, which is bloody annoying.
Youtube channel:Taking wierd stuff apart. Very apart.
Mike's Electric Stuff: High voltage, vintage electronics etc.
Day Job: Mostly LEDs
 

Online Simon

  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 17729
  • Country: gb
  • Did that just blow up? No? might work after all !!
    • Simon's Electronics
Re: Farnell vs. Digikey
« Reply #34 on: December 12, 2017, 10:16:50 pm »
news: the thing is so buggy and slow these days you may have to do the whole thing twice anyway. RS have performance on their side and a couple of nice options, Farnell have a decent system full of errors as you say, if only they could merge we might get the best of both worlds but knowing our luck it will be the worse of both worlds.
 

Offline jpb

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 1771
  • Country: gb
Re: Farnell vs. Digikey
« Reply #35 on: December 12, 2017, 10:27:27 pm »
It is odd people saying Farnell is cheaper than Digikey. I tend to use Farnell more because it has a lower minimum order but for most things I look at Digikey has a much wider range and because of this is cheaper.
A lot of Farnell stuff seems to have the £15 US order excess.

I guess it depends on what you want to buy, but what I've found is that Digikey is most likely to have something, next Mouser and Farnell least likely so often price doesn't come into it (you can only buy from one place).

As a random example, OCXOs, Farnell only have a few and they are all pricey whilst both Digikey and Mouser have a much bigger range giving the option of buying one (with lower specs) which is about half the price of the Farnell ones.
 

Online Simon

  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 17729
  • Country: gb
  • Did that just blow up? No? might work after all !!
    • Simon's Electronics
Re: Farnell vs. Digikey
« Reply #36 on: December 12, 2017, 10:31:29 pm »
Digikey have the best parametric search and they tend to have stock, Farnell are cheaper unless you order from the US and have £15.95+VAT added to each order and of course shipping is cheaper. I have in the past told an assembly subcontractor to order headers from digikey at a higher price than Farnell but for being able to find them on farnell. Both farnell and RS have had plenty of feedback from me but again like others have said totally ignored.
 

Online tggzzz

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 19280
  • Country: gb
  • Numbers, not adjectives
    • Having fun doing more, with less
Re: Farnell vs. Digikey
« Reply #37 on: December 13, 2017, 06:27:23 pm »
One negative for Farnell in January, based on the email I've received from them. It is going to be a pain; it doesn't fit into my normal password schemes, so either I'll forget the new password or I'll have to write it down.

Code: [Select]
During January 2018 we will provide additional security features relating to your online account.
We will also be amending the way in which password resets are requested to ensure that the new
process follows accepted security best practices. When selecting your new password you will need to
ensure that it is at least 8 characters long and includes 1 capital letter, 1 numeric and 1 special
character. You can, of course, change your password at any time should you wish.

To help you prepare for this, we have also noted below some good rules around password choices:
  Always Make them strong and change them regularly
    Keep them a secret
    Use a different password for every account you have
    Use a mix of letters, numbers and special characters
  Never Write them down
    Share them with anyone
    Use passwords that are easy to guess

Now I really don't care about whether their password reset procedures follows "best security practices", but their password requirements sure as hell don't follow the advice from experienced security professionals.

There's an old security adage: "passwords aren't there to protect you, they are there to protect the company - by providing plausible deniability".  So, what's caused Farnell to think it is worth annoying me in this way?
There are lies, damned lies, statistics - and ADC/DAC specs.
Glider pilot's aphorism: "there is no substitute for span". Retort: "There is a substitute: skill+imagination. But you can buy span".
Having fun doing more, with less
 

Online Simon

  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 17729
  • Country: gb
  • Did that just blow up? No? might work after all !!
    • Simon's Electronics
Re: Farnell vs. Digikey
« Reply #38 on: December 13, 2017, 06:37:33 pm »
Yes that annoyed me too, I mean what are they going to do, someone will order parts for me??? this password thing is bollocks and all they need to do is implement a minimum length, it make for easier to remember passwords that are just as secure. My most secure password is simply a short sentence, very long and with far more required attempts to crack than a short complex character password that is impossible to remember.
 

Offline schenkzoola

  • Supporter
  • ****
  • Posts: 33
  • Country: us
Re: Farnell vs. Digikey
« Reply #39 on: December 14, 2017, 02:17:42 am »
Since I am in the US, I don't need to deal with Farnell all that much.  Since they are part of element14, I wonder if their password policy will affect Newark in the future.  So far, Newark doesn't need the special characters.

I like the passphrase idea as well.  Here is a TED talk about it:


 

Online Zero999

  • Super Contributor
  • ***
  • Posts: 19342
  • Country: gb
  • 0999
Re: Farnell vs. Digikey
« Reply #40 on: December 21, 2017, 04:01:12 pm »
One negative for Farnell in January, based on the email I've received from them. It is going to be a pain; it doesn't fit into my normal password schemes, so either I'll forget the new password or I'll have to write it down.

Code: [Select]
During January 2018 we will provide additional security features relating to your online account.
We will also be amending the way in which password resets are requested to ensure that the new
process follows accepted security best practices. When selecting your new password you will need to
ensure that it is at least 8 characters long and includes 1 capital letter, 1 numeric and 1 special
character. You can, of course, change your password at any time should you wish.

To help you prepare for this, we have also noted below some good rules around password choices:
  Always Make them strong and change them regularly
    Keep them a secret
    Use a different password for every account you have
    Use a mix of letters, numbers and special characters
  Never Write them down
    Share them with anyone
    Use passwords that are easy to guess

Now I really don't care about whether their password reset procedures follows "best security practices", but their password requirements sure as hell don't follow the advice from experienced security professionals.

There's an old security adage: "passwords aren't there to protect you, they are there to protect the company - by providing plausible deniability".  So, what's caused Farnell to think it is worth annoying me in this way?
Yes, that kind of BS has been proven not to work. It makes it less secure, as people just write their passwords down.

One tip to make passwords easier to remember, try replacing some letters in something meaningful, with numbers and symbols, so "Spot the dog" becomes "$p0t th£ d0g".
 

Online Simon

  • Global Moderator
  • *****
  • Posts: 17729
  • Country: gb
  • Did that just blow up? No? might work after all !!
    • Simon's Electronics
Re: Farnell vs. Digikey
« Reply #41 on: December 21, 2017, 08:53:54 pm »
I just use a short sentence, easy to remember but so long that any cracking algorithm will take as long as an 8 byte password with a few un-memorable characters in it.
 


Share me

Digg  Facebook  SlashDot  Delicious  Technorati  Twitter  Google  Yahoo
Smf