EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
Electronics => Beginners => Topic started by: Housedad on June 02, 2019, 06:05:34 am
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For small lot and single parts orders, which one is the one to go with nowadays?
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I find Arrow & Newark to be on the expensive side.
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Any of the above are fine. It's all about what you want to order vs what each supplier has. Open an account at all of them.
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For small lot and single parts orders, which one is the one to go with nowadays?
We find Mouser to be a bit cheaper typically at the lots sizes we buy (a few hundred to a reel or two of any given part). But we also rely on findchips and similar for the more expensive parts.
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https://octopart.com/search?q=bc547
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Thanks for the info. I'll check out Mouser and Arrow. The shipping at Arrow seems interesting.
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DigiKey is FAST! I always have them ship Priority Mail and I have my parts in about 3 days. I'm old and I have a short attention span so speed is everything!
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I think shipping speed has a lot to do with geographic location. Here in Az I get parts from Mouser in 2-3 days. When ordering from Digikey it can take up to a week.
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DigiKey is FAST! I always have them ship Priority Mail and I have my parts in about 3 days. I'm old and I have a short attention span so speed is everything!
:-DD Me too! :palm:
I tend toward Mouser. But, put together your order in each and go with the cheapest or fastest. Your choice.
I haven't seen much difference between them for my past orders.
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Arrow
Can't beat free shipping.
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Mouser has the best web store, IMO. Cleanest format for viewing past orders. Multiple ways to remember/identify/reorder parts from saving/sharing carts, assigning custom part names/numbers, creating projects, and even the ability to enter your own name of an order which gets saved to your order (I think the field is called "purchase order number" or something official-sounding. I use this as the laziest way to remember how to buy something again by entering some name or thing I will remember, here.
Digikey has the best search engine, last I have noticed. But it's been over 10 years probably since I have ordered from Arrow or Newark.
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I use Farnell and cannot fault them.
I’ve not used any of the others so can’t comment on them.
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My general experience in the UK is that Digikey has the most choice and is slightly cheaper (for the things I've bought).
I've used Farnell, Mouser, Digikey and RS. CPC is sometimes quite a bit cheaper but has a very limited range (it is part of Farnell but sells cheaper options).
Of course, in the States things may be different and it is also very dependent on what is ordered.
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DigiKey is FAST! I always have them ship Priority Mail and I have my parts in about 3 days. I'm old and I have a short attention span so speed is everything!
Digikey is silly-fast to Canada; next day. If I order by about noon pacific, I get it next day
It's an impressive bit of ballet, every about 4pm (digikey time - central), they truck all the Canadian orders to Winnipeg (about a 3 hr drive) and have them join the FedEx sort there (Winnipeg is in the middle of the country for the FedEx sort).
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I like that Mouser has a USPS super saver shipping rate. It's not fast, but I can usually get my order for $5. I often order parts at the same time I order a PCB from China, and my parts arrive a couple days before the PCBs. Lately, though, the Chinese PCB houses have gotten faster and now my custom PCBs are arriving from China to the US west coast before my Mouser order from Texas.
Also, I've been ordering more stuff from LCSC. Their search tools blow and their selection is meh, but when they have a part it can be significantly cheaper than the US distributors, particularly if the part is Asian in origin.
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In the US, with small orders, I take advantage of Mouser’s good rate on 2nd day FedEx shipment, equal to their rates on UPS and FedEx ground.
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DigiKey is FAST! I always have them ship Priority Mail and I have my parts in about 3 days. I'm old and I have a short attention span so speed is everything!
Mouser is fast too.
I tend to prefer Mouser...not sure why...maybe it is the website layout. Mouser does not always have what I want, so I use DigiKey also.
I don´t know who is cheaper...my client pays...not me. They want solutions and dont quibble about price
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I think shipping speed has a lot to do with geographic location. Here in Az I get parts from Mouser in 2-3 days. When ordering from Digikey it can take up to a week.
I live half a planet away from DK, and i get my orders with freehshipping ( on DHL ) in 2 days.
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I take advantage of Mouser’s good rate on 2nd day FedEx shipment, equal to their rates on UPS and FedEx ground
I just noticed this option very recently. But at my location UPS delivers on the 2nd day, too, so I don't know the big difference. I don't have an account with FedEx. I also briefly wondered if FedEx might require a signature, in case no one was available. So I didn't opt for it.
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It depends a lot on where you're ordering from, and what you typically buy.
For hobbyists and small business like me, the situation in Germany is quite dire. I don't need huge quantities, usually I buy active components in the 10's or 20's, and passives in the 50's or 100's to build a small stock (and because it doesn't make sense at all to buy 5 0805 resistors). There are just no decent local distributors that can deliver what I need.
The largest one is probably Conrad, but their catalog is basically useless when it comes to components. You can buy generic stuff like resistors and transistors and some popular ICs but that's about it. But try to get a particular STM32 MCU or a switching regulator or really anything out of the ordinary and they come up blank. Also their parametric search is rubbish.
Farnell doesn't sell to non-business customers and even if you have a VAT ID (I do), you need to apply for a business account and provide a lot of data that I'd need to lie about to provide it. Arrow only sells in 1000's quantities here.
RS I haven't tried yet, their catalog seems a bit better than Conrad but also not as complete as Mouser or DigiKey.
So, I usually end up buying from Mouser. I pool components until I'm eligible for free shipping and then their Fedex option delivers the order in a few days. A key reason for buying from Mouser is that I can order VAT-free, which is something DigiKey doesn't offer.
However, DigiKey seems to have an even wider selection of parts than Mouser. If I need anything that Mouser cannot provide (for example eMMC chips), I can be halfway sure to find it at DigiKey.
Lately I've been ordering from LCSC, too. As others have mentioned, their web shop is a real pain in the neck and their catalog is spotty, but they were unaffected by the capacitor crisis and you can buy generic stuff like LEDs and other popular ICs at exceptional prices. Also, for "Asia Brand" IC vendors they're a more reliable source than buying from Aliexpress. I sourced stuff like TP5400 from LCSC, which is not available from anywhere else.
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Arrow has been the cheapest for me lately, and on top of that they offer free fast shipping. My only gripe is their inventory is less than Digikey, the parametric search is slow and cumbersome and the waste in packaging is absurd. If you need antistatic bags order a bunch of single 0603 resistors and each value will come in a separate bag with a separate printed invoice. Even sub-cent parts.
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I take advantage of Mouser’s good rate on 2nd day FedEx shipment, equal to their rates on UPS and FedEx ground
I just noticed this option very recently. But at my location UPS delivers on the 2nd day, too, so I don't know the big difference. I don't have an account with FedEx. I also briefly wondered if FedEx might require a signature, in case no one was available. So I didn't opt for it.
As an aside...I do not like FedEx. Where I live, FedEx sends a different driver every delivery almost. For UPS, same guy all the time...we are best buds!
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Farnell doesn't sell to non-business customers and even if you have a VAT ID (I do), you need to apply for a business account and provide a lot of data that I'd need to lie about to provide it. Arrow only sells in 1000's quantities here.
I can buy as a non-business customer at Farnell here in France, is this something specific to Germany ??
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No reason you can't use both or one or the other as needs dictate. Never had a problem with either. Customer service is great from both, shipping for small orders is cheap from both. Digikey used to win out slightly for literally shipping first class mail on tiny order and charging like $1.50 for that but USPS raised prices so I dont think that happens anymore.
Can get $7.99 2 day fedex from mouser on small orders. Not sure if you can from Digikey. Wouldnt be surprised if you could.
Digikey search engine seems a little more powerful and carefully organized so that parameters are in the right order.
But I do seem to find some great deals at mouser. I always check both when I'm doing a search for parts where I need to save money on something expensive. Or just want a "2nd opinion" about whats out there.
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I've used both but prefer Mouser's web site. I also live only 400 miles from them and whether UPS or USPS, have rarely failed to get 2 day delivery from normal ground shipping. In the past I've never had to pay state sales tax from Mouser, but always did from Digi-key. I haven't actually ordered anything recently, so I don't know if that's still true.
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I generally put together an order on Digi-Key, Mouser, and Arrow to see which one wins. Sometimes I'll even split an order if it makes sense. Arrow's free shipping is, of course, particularly advantageous for heavy items (stocking up on leaded solder, anyone?).
Mouser's project manager is nice. Digi-Key and Mouser have pretty good search. Arrow's search and site navigation is abysmal, but free overnight shipping can turn the tide.
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Digikey always been expensive, even when they started in the 1970's. But they have incredible service, a finely tuned machine that ships fast and accurately. So you're paying extra for that, and their inventory.
They used to cater to small orders for hobbyists and builders, but now they don't stock through-hole and boutique parts like they used to. It's all about high volume SMT now.
Companies I've worked for, Purchasing doesn't buy production quantities from Digikey. Arrow and Future have much better pricing there.
Mouser has slightly better pricing and more interesting manufacturers. Slower to put your order together and just a disaster if there are any problems, backorders or questions. Slower to ship about half the time.
I order from both but in a hurry Digikey is unbeatable unless there is a snow storm.
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Mouser has slightly better pricing and more interesting manufacturers. Slower to put your order together and just a disaster if there are any problems, backorders or questions. Slower to ship about half the time.
I order from both but in a hurry Digikey is unbeatable unless there is a snow storm.
This is pretty much my experience as well. My Digikey orders typically arrive two business days after I order, and pretty much always ships the same day. Mouser seems to just sit on my order for days at a time before even shipping. Not every single time, but they are just not as consistent as Digikey in my experience.
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I usually go with element14. Despite being in NZ and their warehouse being in Australia it never takes more than two days, sometimes one.
I just placed an order last night with mouser and they reckon it's going to be here by monday. Tracking details say it's coming from Dallas.
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I can buy as a non-business customer at Farnell here in France, is this something specific to Germany ??
I guess so. In Germany, Farnell uses a partner company for private customers, but their web shop is abysmal and the catalog is much worse. Almost as bad as Conrad.
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I don't recommend digikey :--. Ordered parts 6 days ago, entered credit card details and was hoping to get order in at most 5 days. Result: after 6 days order still has status "received". I was messaging to support but looks like they use AI models in chats. Even when message says it transfers you to agent looks like it's not. In multiple chats answers syntactically very similar. After 6 days I've canceled an order. Ordered from mouser and voila, everything already got shipped, in just couple hours. Ps: I've used the same payment details.
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I find that no single distributor is best. Each sometimes has and sometimes doesn't have what I need. So I go with whoever has what I need when I need it. If both have it, then I obviously simply go with the cheaper of the two. But I don't have a preference for any single seller.
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Can't say anything for Mouser, since never ordered from them, but, recently, digikey went nuts - I was ordering couple of Atmega168s and corresponding stuff, like crystals, sockets, etc. ($100 grand total)
So they sent me different forms to fill in, like who will be end user of these parts, why I need them, where they will be used, I agree that I will not send these parts to Iran and so on.
Feels like I was placing an online order for a nuclear warhead :D
Ok, I filled it all, scanned and sent them back, they shipped and everything is fine.
However, I found that I forgot some components and decided to place an order again.
They AGAIN sent me all that paperwork to fill, but my shipping address, billing and everything was exactly the same as in previous order.
When I asked them, why I need to do this all the time, they said - "this is the law"
So I gave up and now ordering parts from LCSC - while their inventory is not that good as digikey's, and atmega's are a bit expensive there, they have much more cheaper parts available and they do not ask silly questions, like digikey does.
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I use digikey when possible, although I am geographically closer to mouser, digikey is always faster (usually one day). I didnt have any particular problem regarding export compliance with neither. I also rarely use farnell due to availability and because they also have a local stock so I might get the item next day.
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I have only used Digikey so far but that was pretty much just because I find their filtering system really easy to use :)
I really like just browsing IC’s for project ideas and find that easier to do with Digikey :D
For instance, Digikey allows me to filter by “through hole” etc. where as Mouser doesn’t appear to let me do that.
Maybe I’m just using the Mouser site wrong* but if that is the case, I’ll change my argument to say Digikey’s UI is a little more friendly :P
*Feel free to let me know if I am using it wrong! The more suppliers the better I reckon :)
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I once ordered a few beaglebones and some other stuff from mouser. After a month the stuff still did not arrive and when I started digging I found some message about export restrictions and I had to promise I'm not a terrorist. As a result I canceled the order and bought the beaglebones from Antratek (Small shop in the Netherlands).
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I prefer to order from Mouser, delivery is quick, and I find their component filtering easier to use.
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Not sure I agree with that. As I recall, DigiKey originally had discounts on almost every order. Only way not to get one back then was to order just one or a small number of everything. Was that the 70s? I don't exactly remember. But I did start using them almost when they first appeared.
TODAY: I am always working on a tight budget. If my order is for any real amount, like $100 or more, I will check both DigiKey and Mouser. And sometimes others like Newark, Arrow, and wherever I think I can get a better price. For me, in SE Texas, delivery is about the same in both cost and time from either of them.
I will say that the one I wind up using the most is Mouser.
This applies not only to my own, small one man company, but also to when I was employed by others in the past 20 to 25 years.
So far I have placed one order via Ali Express. It came from China so delivery was around two weeks. Price of the delivery was more than the cost of the parts. Yes, I am satisfied with that order, but it was only very simple things, like small, multiple connector boards.
Digikey always been expensive, even when they started in the 1970's.
...<snip>...
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Not sure I agree with that. As I recall, DigiKey originally had discounts on almost every order. Only way not to get one back then was to order just one or a small number of everything. Was that the 70s? I don't exactly remember. But I did start using them almost when they first appeared.
Ever notice how most Digi-Key part numbers end in -ND? That stands for "no discount", referring to that standard discount that I guess was once offered.
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I've used most of them depending on what I want and who has it. Probably use DigiKey the most just for their super fast shipping and my orders are usually over the free-shipping threshold.
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I use Digikey. If I make a purchase, and I find the item cheaper anywhere else that stocks the parts, they'll refund my payment source for the difference. I have to attach a screen shot.
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I make my parts lists on both Mouser and Digi-key because sometimes one is significantly less expensive than the other for specific items.