Am I imagining things? (TI free samples policy)

[Zad]

Now and then I use the free samples service from Texas Instruments and similar places. Mainly for lower priority projects that just don't have the budget for a speculative prototype or development board. I am always careful not to abuse it, and it averages out less than once a year that I use it. No problem really, they tend to use Digikey to source stuff, and delivery is similarly fast.

Anyway, that's beside the point really. A couple of weeks ago, I'm sure the parts limit was 8. When I came to log in today and place an order, it was 5. It looks like the recession is starting to bite at TI! Oh yes, and yet ANOTHER IC is back ordered until late December!

Is anyone else seeing 8 weeks still?

Mike.

[Bored@Work]

With their LaunchPad stunt (the low-cost eval board TI can't deliver), TI has attracted a crowd of freetards.  Reducing the number of free samples might be because the LaunchPad freetards were abusing the service.

TI wouldn't be the first. E.g. Microchip reduced samples to particular parts of the world, because sampling got out of control.

[metalphreak]

I got my MSP430s within a month (and I ordered 3 - 2 for friends). The only time I ever ordered TI samples they turned up 3 months later.

I figure if you need a couple of chips for prototyping, and its for a commercial project with a deadline, you should just be buying the chips you require retail.

I've always considered samples to be a 'best effort' freebie not something to rely upon.

Of course there are those who abuse samples. Just because you can get up to 5 chips doesn't mean you should order 5 if you only need 1 or 2.
Perhaps they should enforce a stricter policy on who can order samples? Must be a previous paying customer, must have a registered business name, .edu email account, etc etc.

Also an interesting note, a lot of the sample chips that are on backorder, aren't even available to purchase! Nobody has retail stock either. In some cases you can order samples and get them before someone like mouser/farnell can get them to you.

[Mechatrommer]

they should ask project abstract before approving free sample... to avoid freetards... i know, thats not gonna work 100%, but at least. my 2cnts.

[sonicj]

i haven't ordered samples from ti only because i always have some sort of browser issue checking out on their site. 

microchip wouldn't let me order with a gmail account.

maxim has been very easy to deal with. when i design the next big must-have tech gadget craze device to hit the market, it'll be flossin' maxim under the hood! 
-sj

[Zad]

The MSP430 thing makes sense. I never abuse samples, I was got out of a bit of a hole when I was a masters student, by a company (Plessey) getting me some early samples of a GPS front end and correlator. I always feel that if I do my bit to respect the service then it may well help someone somewhere down the line. The project this is for, has a loose timescale of 6 months or so, and the budget available won't quite stretch to cover everything, so samples really help. There's bugger all money around at the moment here to develop new products so it all helps. I never rely on them for vital components but, as I say, they come from DigiKey, so once the request is approved (<24 hrs usually) then they are here in a couple of working days. I just checked my last order - June 2007 (jeez, time really flies!) So as not to abuse the limit of 8, I had 6 items in my request (d'oh).

Analog Devices are definitely tightening up too. For the more interesting parts you have to email the specific team, which is probably a good way of filtering people out. You can always tell the difference between a design professional, a student and a chancer who only wants to Ebay them. I would gladly write a line or two about the application, it seems only reasonable. Analog used to do sample requests on mail-in postcards, with a line where you wrote what the app was, but the only request for info I have had from a supplier was from Microchip of all people. They are generally cheap enough that I can just put a couple on a Farnell or RS order, but some new devices looked interesting so I sent in a request. I don't think I would rely on Maxim for any commercial design now, unless it was purely a single build batch and the chips were available immediately in quantity, too many people have got burned by them EOLing stuff without notice.

Good comment about the TI web site! If I use Firefox, their interactive on-screen parts finder craps out on me after a couple of filters, so I have to resort to IE. It also breaks when it auto logs me out after a time, and sends me to a screen I cannot log in from. Stupid piece of crap, don't they ever test these?

[Simon]

TI wouldn't be the first. E.g. Microchip reduced samples to particular parts of the world, because sampling got out of control.

yes I have to admit I was not even thinking of "buying" pics at first when i was in italy, it was indeed so easy to get them free even to Italy, and because they only relied on rejecting email addresses that were the likes of yahoo and hotmail, even my italian phone provider email got through, and now having several websites having an email they will consider valid is so easy, it's almost worth buying the domain for £3.5 py and order the maximum amount every two weeks, now i just buy them as the rules are more stringent and being back in the UK actually making a living and with access to farnell etc makes me more inclined to just order off farnell instead of taking ages over ordering samples

[TopherTheME]

I've never had any issues with ordering free samples from everyone but Analog Devices. Even the launchpad that I purchased arrived in just a couple days. I'm a student and am always building something or am showing people how to build something so I order samples maybe 10-20 times a year from several different manufacturers. TI, Maxim, and Microchip are by far the best to deal with when it comes to samples, at least when you are a student. Analog devices makes you email someone with a whole bunch of info and then they might send you some samples and they might not.

The whole reason I almost exclusively use PICs is because Microchip has such kick-ass student support (all chips are free, + 25% discount at microchip direct). Although now that TI has released launchpad and I get get MSP430's for free, some of their stuff is starting to look pretty good for lower end projects.

[Zad]

An update for this, the samples arrived this morning via FedEx International Priority Service from DigiKey (Times in GMT):

Ordered Nov 3, approx 4pm GMT.
Nov 3, 2010 8:59 PM Shipment information sent to FedEx
Nov 5, 2010 9:40 AM Delivered Wakefield GB

1.5 days for samples is seriously good.

Packaging is pretty spot on. A 1.75"x9"x9" box with enough but not stupid amounts or expanded recyclable paper packaging. Weighed at 200g. Good to see DigiKey paying attention to carbon footprint and recycling. I'm pretty sure that last time I ordered anything from them it was a bigger box with more padding.