20% discount at Freetronics until 5/5/14

[GiskardReventlov]

I saw this on the instructable arduino contest page:

"In addition to supplying some fantastic prizes, Freetronics is also offering a 20% off discount to their online store until 5/5/14! Enter the code “INSTRUCTABLES” at checkout to receive the discount."

I've never bought from freetronics, are they any good?

[deth502]

my opinion, i went ot he site, i saw their arduino copy, i thought it was a little expensive. then i looked at this:

http://www.freetronics.com/products/experimenters-kit-for-arduino#.Ux5Ntz9dUt4

idk what that servo motor is worth, but unless they run $50 or so, imo, youre getting raped.

[Tac Eht Xilef]

my opinion, i went ot he site, i saw their arduino copy, i thought it was a little expensive. then i looked at this:

http://www.freetronics.com/products/experimenters-kit-for-arduino#.Ux5Ntz9dUt4

idk what that servo motor is worth, but unless they run $50 or so, imo, youre getting raped.

Their prices are in AU$, and are about the same as you'd pay anywhere else here.

FWIW, the similar experimenter's kit from Adafruit is the same price (in US$).

[deth502]

to be fair, its been a while since i bought, so i went and checked prices and they were right where i remember them.

a real arduino uno board goes for $20-$25.

the kit includes "SOUND" Piezo & Sound Module and "LIGHT" Light Sensor Module, which im assuming are just a self contained piezzo buzzer, and a photo resistor.

i still didnt price a stepper motor, but again, a $20 arduino and maybe $20 worth of leds, resistors, and stuff, yeah, that still needs to be a $50 stepper motor to work out, unless that "sound" and "light" are a lot more special than they make them sound.

and au$ are not that far off of us$. all should be within 10%

[TheBorg]

to be fair, its been a while since i bought, so i went and checked prices and they were right where i remember them.

a real arduino uno board goes for $20-$25.

the kit includes "SOUND" Piezo & Sound Module and "LIGHT" Light Sensor Module, which im assuming are just a self contained piezzo buzzer, and a photo resistor.

i still didnt price a stepper motor, but again, a $20 arduino and maybe $20 worth of leds, resistors, and stuff, yeah, that still needs to be a $50 stepper motor to work out, unless that "sound" and "light" are a lot more special than they make them sound.

and au$ are not that far off of us$. all should be within 10%

Thats what the beginners fall for. You can get all the stuff in these starter kits from digikey for $10

[Tac Eht Xilef]

to be fair, its been a while since i bought, so i went and checked prices and they were right where i remember them.

a real arduino uno board goes for $20-$25.

$US, I assume. The going price for a genuine Arduino Uno from an Aus store is AU$30~35.

Based on that, and doing a rough guesstimate based on local retail prices for everything else, I came up with AU$80~90 for the experimenters kit. Not good value - but, as I said, the roughly equivalent kit from Adafruit is US$85, so newbies buying kits are being screwed regardless of where they buy it.

and au$ are not that far off of us$. all should be within 10%

"Should" is the operative word there 

Cue someone coming in to explain it's all because of nanny state consumer protection laws in 5 ... 4 ... 3 ...

[hamster_nz]

Sure, they may get the stuff from Digikey for $10, but then you have to pay people to design things, repackage things, ship things, market things and so on. With a product that costs $1,000 that might add up to a few % of the final product cost. When you have a product with $20 of parts you either have to sell in huge volume or at a high cost to pay the overheads.

I made a board with just some 8 LEDs, 8 resistors and a few PCB headers - less than $4 in parts (incl custom PCB). If I wanted to pay you to make ten of them for me, how much would you charge? I'm sure it would be more than $40.

I really like all the Freetronics stuff I have ever purchased - sure it cost more than generic 'junk' from dx.com, but I walked off the street into a store and got it that day. It is always of resonable quality too.

[Joule Thief]

Even with AUD / USD difference,

an 830 breadboard for $18 USD that I can get delivered to my door for $4   

[GiskardReventlov]

Haha, no one applied the 20% discount. Very funny.

(or did I miss that you did?)

Also regarding the arduino kit, for some people

no soldering required == Priceless

[Tac Eht Xilef]

Even with AUD / USD difference,

an 830 breadboard for $18 USD that I can get delivered to my door for $4   

Which simply shows that things sold to the Arduino market are overpriced regardless of where you buy them...
 
FWIW, not including the likes of DX, the cheapest 830 point breadboard I can find in Aus comes to about twice that delivered. Typical wholesale/retail places charge even more e.g. AU$9~$27 at Element14 or RS, ~AU$20 at the fart-toy shop, etc.

The 20% discount makes Freetronics stuff a reasonable bargain in the Arduino market in Aus - but a quick look suggests the differences in int'l vs domestic postage makes it borderline for anyone overseas. Of course, if it works for you then go for it.

[deth502]

The 20% discount makes Freetronics stuff a reasonable bargain in the Arduino market in Aus - but a quick look suggests the differences in int'l vs domestic postage makes it borderline for anyone overseas. Of course, if it works for you then go for it.

this may be true, but i despise companies who over price their wares just to add a huge discount to get things back to NORMAL prices, and make you feel like your getting a bargain. i avoid that on principal.

[Stonent]

Aside from the Arduino and stepper, the rest could be purchased at Tayda for less than $10 total I think.

10 x red 5mm LEDs
10 x green 5mm LEDs
1 x RGB 5mm LED
4 x Tactile push buttons
2 x 2N7000 MOSFET transistors
10 x 470 Ohm resistors
10 x 1K Ohm resistors
10 x 10K Ohm resistors
2 x 1N4004 power diodes
1 x 74HC595 shift register IC
1 x 40-pin header strip
1 x 10K Ohm variable resistor

5mm leds 3 cents each
RGB Led, 27 cents each
Tactile switches, 4 cents each
2N7000, 9 cents each
1/4w 1% resistors 1.2cents each
1N4004 2 cents each
74hc595, 25 cents each
40 pin header strip 29 cents
10K linear pot, $1.47
830 point breadboard $4.59

I calculated $8.21 including the breadboard. Arduino, servo, and the 2 sensors not included.

http://www.taydaelectronics.com/

An official Arduino Uno from Arduino.cc is $20 Euro which is a little less than $28, so we're up to 36 dollars.

So that leaves you with the servo, a few dollars and the 2 sensors.

Even better, Tayda posts discount codes on their facebook page each month.

[Joule Thief]

Even with AUD / USD difference,

an 830 breadboard for $18 USD that I can get delivered to my door for $4   

Which simply shows that things sold to the Arduino market are overpriced regardless of where you buy them...
 
FWIW, not including the likes of DX, the cheapest 830 point breadboard I can find in Aus comes to about twice that delivered. Typical wholesale/retail places charge even more e.g. AU$9~$27 at Element14 or RS, ~AU$20 at the fart-toy shop, etc.

I keep forgetting about the huge international aspect of the forum and comparing most of what I see to what is available in the US market.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/131014539989?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649

Then I look at the shipping exclusion list - which is everyone except the US and Canada.

[idpromnut]

Also remember that while it is dirt cheap to buy the parts on Digikey, some of Freetronics's cost is knowledge on what to buy, and how to select parts. This can be one of the most daunting tasks in electronics, even to a non-beginner

[deth502]

and au$ are not that far off of us$. all should be within 10%

"Should" is the operative word there 

Cue someone coming in to explain it's all because of nanny state consumer protection laws in 5 ... 4 ... 3 ...
[/quote

im not sure where you were going with that comment, but as of right now, exactly 10%

https://www.google.com/search?q=au%24+to+us%24&rlz=1C1RNBE_enUS472US490&oq=au%24+to+&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j69i59j0l4.3899j0j8&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8