Digi-Key has changed and it is not very good

[asmi]

It's a nice convenience that DigiKey provides this information on the label. It's simple enough to do, I mean the data is all there in the database, the system just has to be programmed to include the description as well. When I order from Mouser I often grab a Sharpie marker and write the component value on the label as I unpack the order. It's a bit of a hassle but it saves me a lot of trouble down the road. If I'm digging through a box of spare components looking for a specific value resistor or something I really don't want to have to look up the part number of each and every one to figure out what it is.

I simply order parts which have logical and known to me part numbering system. In particular, I use Yageo 1% resistors pretty much exclusively as they have good part numbering system - RC[SIZE]FR-07][VALUE]L, for example RC0402FR-0760R4L - size 0402, value 60.4 Ohm, RC0805FR-07750KL - size 0805, value 750K Ohm, RC1206FR-071ML - size 1206, value 1M Ohm.

[SilverSolder]

It's a nice convenience that DigiKey provides this information on the label. It's simple enough to do, I mean the data is all there in the database, the system just has to be programmed to include the description as well. When I order from Mouser I often grab a Sharpie marker and write the component value on the label as I unpack the order. It's a bit of a hassle but it saves me a lot of trouble down the road. If I'm digging through a box of spare components looking for a specific value resistor or something I really don't want to have to look up the part number of each and every one to figure out what it is.

I simply order parts which have logical and known to me part numbering system. In particular, I use Yageo 1% resistors pretty much exclusively as they have good part numbering system - RC[SIZE]FR-07][VALUE]L, for example RC0402FR-0760R4L - size 0402, value 60.4 Ohm, RC0805FR-07750KL - size 0805, value 750K Ohm, RC1206FR-071ML - size 1206, value 1M Ohm.

They have a good part numbering system -  and the resistors aren't bad either! 

[eevcandies]

The problem with the labels is they are too sticky--you can only tear them off. I asked them a few years back to make labels peelable (but not too loose), or have a small portion that is peelable....so you can throw your resistors or caps in a parts bin/drawer and have a label to put on it with the description and maybe reorder number--basically the upper left corner of the label.  I also suggested they could have a box you could check at checkout, where they'd print up a set of labels (matching your order) for some modest price (maybe $1-$5).   A few times, I cut the bag with scissors & used glue sticks; it was ok, but would have been much faster to peel & stick.  I have a few label machines, but don't like fiddling with to spend 3 minutes making a label.

[ataradov]

DK used to ship a second label still with the backing paper so you could use that in your own inventory system. I guess they stopped because of overhead that caused.

I personally just cut the label from the antistatic bag with scissors and put it inside the smaller standard size bags I use for lose components. This way the label is preserved and I don't have a ton of random size bags.

Here is my entire stock of ICs. It is pretty compact and easy to search for things. And it does not take a lot of time to organize.

[KE5FX]

We all have our preferred ways for labeling and storing parts in our own personal inventory, which is fine, but anyone who has ever worked with a factory knows that Murphy himself punches the clock on all shifts.  If they can possibly install the wrong part, they will.  Quality management in production is all about identifying opportunities for mistakes and confusion and ruthlessly eliminating them.  The ability to check vendor (and factory) part numbers against customer-specified component values is a cheap line of defense against expensive mistakes.

I don't miss those extra Digi-Key labels, though... they were annoying and not especially useful, at least to me.

[rsjsouza]

(...)
  for example you see an lm324 offered the following ways, with 3 different digikey numbers for 3 different packaging options:
   
LM324MX/NOPBTR-ND      ....Tape & Reel (TR)
LM324MX/NOPBCT-ND  ....Cut Tape (CT)
LM324MX/NOPBDKR-ND    ...Digi-Reel®
(...)

Although I understand the possibility of trouble, I personally don't see the display of all the different packaging types as detrimental to the search results - they are listed as a single hit per manufacturer P/N, as shown in this filtered search. If they were listed at every hit, I would not be really pleased.

Once in the product page, the selection for each part number is not as bad - just a click away. Sure, it can lead to errors, but in my experience the procurement folks tend to send pre-canned lists with exact manufacturer P/Ns exactly to avoid these errors.

I did not add other filters to see if there are gaps, but the specific packaging example does not seem to be too critical.

[eevcandies]

Today things seem to be behaving much much better.  Last week, a huge amount of price squares would contain blanks or something other than price (like "active" !!!?)...you would also see blanks in old listings whenever a digireel came up (no price given in the listing)..you could work around that by selecting cut tape & all of those digireels would be gone from the listing, making  seeing the prices much easier.  Today every search seems to show a price given in every cell...that's progress.   Now you can see from the attached pic, if they would show only cut tape when requested that would not waste so much room showing 20 things.  You can see how much room is wasted showing all the others (ideally if you wanted to include those options you'd just select them as well to be included in the view).

The columns still need some help, but now the sorting seems to work & so does the quantity pricing....so that's goodness.  I noticed now you can't select to show 250 parts, only up to 100.       

   

[floobydust]

Given the previous generation of Digi-Key's website was outstanding and the sorting worked, no wonder people are frustrated and waving their pitchfork.
It's just sloppy testing of their sort algorithms- which were perfected 10 years ago and here we are as customers reinventing them via the "Feedback" tab.
Where are the prizes, the free Digi-Key coffee cup when we report a legitimate bug on their website? Revenue $2.3B in 2017, $3.2B in 2018, is there some problem with cheapness here. Where's my free 2N2222 for all this pain.

I see they've added a column of dumbness and taken away precious screen real-estate. Supplier and Mfr columns are totally redundant- unless a "Marketplace" vendor, me figures. It (Supplier column) should only appear then - but wait you can't actually do anything just in the Marketplace. Marketplace vendors aren't searchable? i.e. all that NTE offers?

The Manufacturer picklist contains stupidity as well: i.e. https://www.digikey.com/en/products/filter/transistors-bipolar-bjt-single/276

Code: [Select]

...
Microsemi Corporation
Microsemi IRE Division
Microsemi LAW Division
ON Semiconductor
ON Semiconductor
Renesas Electronics America
Renesas Electronics America Inc.
...
So duplicate entries; as if I know these divisions, NTE is not on it but is for the Capacitor mfgr picklist.

The Capacitance picklists contains stupidity as well: i.e. https://www.digikey.com/en/products/filter/aluminum-electrolytic-capacitors
Radix sort crap and full of errors. 166 ohms? Really?
ESR

Code: [Select]

...
164mOhm @ 10kHz
165.786Ohm @ 120Hz
165.786mOhm @ 120Hz
165.79Ohm @ 120Hz
165.79mOhm @ 120Hz
1657.86Ohm @ 120Hz
166Ohm @ 120Hz
167mOhm @ 120Hz
169mOhm @ 10kHz
16Ohm @ 120Hz
...

Film Capacitors i.e.
An 0.01uF electrolytic? 399-ELG109M025AQ4AA-ND WRONG.
1572-1002-ND as 10,000pF and ESR 176.839 Ohms 
1572-1728-ND 3.763 ohms ESR, and axial leads are not "PC Pins".

Film Capacitor Lead Spacing
Has some mystery "-" and then new values start. What does the dash mean anyway, it's in many picklists.

Code: [Select]

...
0.300" (7.62)mm
0.354" (9.00)mm
...
2.953" (75.00mm)
4.000" (101.60mm)
-
0.315" (8.00mm)
0.740" (18.80mm)
...

Why does Price need five significant digits? Micropennies are a thing now?
I could go on, but it literally takes me seconds to find errors in their website/database. Really frustrating and IMHO low quality web development.
I appreciate the DK guy sticking his neck out here, but using customers to find the bugs in your website and database is really too late. TEST BETTER.

[eevcandies]

It's just sloppy testing of their sort algorithms
Well that's the proverbial iceberg...sloppy layout to allow columns to be double or triple width (regardless of the tech reason), when there is a premium on screen space needed to display parametric info.
Sloppy that you couldn't get the quantity price box to work (seems to now).  Sloppy to show a unit price, then click on the provided link to be shown a drastically different unit price.

What I find revealing, is that the 3 or 4 times I called Digikey about these issues the last 2-3 weeks, nobody seemed to have any clue whatsoever that anything was wrong in the slightest--You'd think someone there would say , "yes we've been having  xc,xxm issues with such and such on our website.  Maybe they've been replaced with a remote bot call center .  One guy didn't seem to know that you could even sort by price & kept telling me (trying to be helpful), that if I would give him my part number, he could look up the price.

At least now they seem to be taking some steps to bandage up the damage.  Why did it have to happen?

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskElectronics/comments/j83rgm/are_you_ok_navigating_the_new_digikey_search/?sort=new

[SilverSolder]

[...] Why did it [Digikey web site shortcomings] have to happen? [...]

Not the first IT project that has come a gutsa, right? 

I agree, though, that this seems to have been released too early without sufficient QA work by someone that understood how the site is actually used.

[tooki]

But it's NOT showing you parts that do not exist as cut tape, as you keep insisting.)
  ...you need to look again, as I have never mentioned anything along that line.  Here it is, in case it was forgotten:
Search for a part where you want to only see cut tape, since that is what you are going to be ordering....instead the results are 3-4 times as long. Why?  Because now it ignores the request to show cut tape parts & also shows 3 or 4 other types. 
So not sure where you came up with that statement.

 It fails to limit to only the cut tape selections when requested.  If you request to see only smd parts & it also shows through hole parts as well, that would be a similar failure.   The various filters are there to reduce the size of the generated listing from 10'000 of  thousands of parts, to maybe a few hundred or dozens.

When one selects to show only cut tape parts, those are the only package style that should be seen.  If you select TO-220 transistors, you should not have TO-92 in its column as well. 

  for example you see an lm324 offered the following ways, with 3 different digikey numbers for 3 different packaging options:
   
LM324MX/NOPBTR-ND      ....Tape & Reel (TR)
LM324MX/NOPBCT-ND  ....Cut Tape (CT)
LM324MX/NOPBDKR-ND    ...Digi-Reel®

When cut tape is selected that is the packaging desired, so which of the above make easy sense to include in the generated listing?  This is where it falls apart.

LM324MX/NOPBCT-ND   ....Cut Tape (CT)  should appear in the listing & the others shouldn't, because those are not cut tape.  ...however the others are not being filtered out, adding to the clutter & length of the listing, requiring more scrolling.

How is it impossible to show only: LM324MX/NOPBCT-ND   ....Cut Tape (CT)  when the cut tape filter is selected???   
It is no more impossible than showing only 100 ohm resistors when that 100 ohm filter is selected !!

If you wanted to see cut tape OR tape and reel in the list, then you would simply select both of those options.

As far as other suppliers having their own numbers, that may be fine, however most purchasers won't even look at the digikey numbers or other supplier numbers. So they may order a 1N914B with an easy chance for mistakes to happen.

I "came up with" that statement because it's what you said, even though it's evident that you meant something altogether different.

You keep insisting that it's showing you products ("parts") that do not meet your criterion, but it's not; it's showing you (additional) packaging options you don't want. But the search doesn't search for packaging options, it's a product search. The product is available as cut tape, ergo, it shows up in the list.


If you search for "LM324", one resulting manufacturer part number is, in your example, LM324MX/NOPB. When you select "cut tape", it removes any LM324s that are not available as cut tape. The three DK part numbers you list show the three packaging options, but cut tape is one of them. You ARE NOT being shown an LM324 that is unavailable as cut tape! Ergo, you are seeing ONLY LM324s that are available as cut tape.

I have addressed the issue of wasted space previously (though you never responded). But let me state it again, since you clearly needs things explained slooooooowly: I agree that also listing the packaging options that you're not interested in wastes space. I understand that what you want is to hide those packaging options. But that's not how the search works, and in the past, it only looked like it did because of how DK listed each packaging option as a separate line item. Now that they're displaying results as products (not packaging options!) as each line item — the way most electronics distributors do it — it's behaving in a way you don't like.

But it's NOT misbehaving in the way your hyperbolic rants suggest, as if it were showing you incorrect products. It is not. It's NOT going to give you the wrong resistor value, or a TO-220 instead of a TO-92.

The search looks for parts that contain a particular characteristic. It doesn't care whether it also has other characteristics. In other words: it behaves like an OR gate. You want it to behave like an XOR gate.

(...)
  for example you see an lm324 offered the following ways, with 3 different digikey numbers for 3 different packaging options:
   
LM324MX/NOPBTR-ND      ....Tape & Reel (TR)
LM324MX/NOPBCT-ND  ....Cut Tape (CT)
LM324MX/NOPBDKR-ND    ...Digi-Reel®
(...)

Although I understand the possibility of trouble, I personally don't see the display of all the different packaging types as detrimental to the search results - they are listed as a single hit per manufacturer P/N, as shown in this filtered search. If they were listed at every hit, I would not be really pleased.

Once in the product page, the selection for each part number is not as bad - just a click away. Sure, it can lead to errors, but in my experience the procurement folks tend to send pre-canned lists with exact manufacturer P/Ns exactly to avoid these errors.

I did not add other filters to see if there are gaps, but the specific packaging example does not seem to be too critical.

Thank you, at least you seem to understand what I'm talking about.

[eevcandies]

it's showing you (additional) packaging options you don't want. But the search doesn't search for packaging options,

WHY? You are specifying what you want to see for those particular options. What would prevent this from happening?--you seem unable to answer that.
In fact, the particular sku is unimportant when showing the resulting list--you click on the particular displayed item.

Once you select a particular package or packaging you are in effect saying those are the only ones that you wish to see.  Yes, it is available in cut tape & you are telling it that is what you want to to see, no need to show reel, bulk, bag , etc...you are telling it.  Likewise, if you tell it you want to  see 3.865K resistors, it will show list those.

If you look up an LM7807ACXG3 part number that comes from 5 different companies & you select you want to filter out & see only Motorola, it doesn't insist on showing you Intel & RCA, just because the same parts are available from them.  Likewise cut tape can do the same.

Your reply seems to revolve around that's not the way it work/is working. , which is rather problematic.  If it was working as desired, this wouldn't be brought up in the first place.   If a customer raises something as an issue it should be treated is an issue & you seem to prefer debating a shortcoming.  Our new car won't start when it's cold---you don't understand, it has to be warmer for it to start. It doesn't work the way you want.

[tooki]

it's showing you (additional) packaging options you don't want. But the search doesn't search for packaging options,

WHY? You are specifying what you want to see for those particular options.

No, you're not. You're asking it to find the products that contain that particular option.

Think of it like this: Imagine a search for cars. One box lets you choose creature comforts. Let's suppose it lets you select these features:

air conditioning
cooled seats
heated seats
leather trim
simple stereo
fancy navigation stereo
rear-seat child tranquilizer spray


Now, do we agree that while some of these features are mutually exclusive (like the simple stereo vs the fancy navigation stereo), other features can exist in the same car at the same time? (Like you can have a car with heated seats, air conditioning, the fancy stereo, and the child knockout spray.)

Suppose that you're after a car with tranquilizer spray, since you run a daycare and have to chauffeur people's rugrats twice a day. Very few cars have this, so you select the rear-seat child tranquilizer spray feature. Then you click "apply" to see just the cars that have it.

The list now shrinks to the few cars that have that feature. As it turns out, they all have AC, but some have heated seats, some have the fancy stereo, others have the simple one. But they still show up in the list because the feature filter doesn't mean "show me the cars that ONLY have this feature, and no other features".

Similarly, if you want a car with both the rear-seat child tranquilizer spray and a fancy navigation stereo, selecting those features shows only the cars that do have both of those features, regardless of whether they have leather trim or not, or heated seats or not, etc.

In DK's system, packaging functions like a feature: multiple packaging options exist as attributes of a product. (The packaging options are not separate products!!!! The old website displayed them as if they were, but they're not.) So when you click "cut tape", it's eliminating all the parts that don't have a cut tape option. The fact that other packaging options exist simply doesn't matter.

Ultimately, all you're asking for is for options you don't care about to be hidden in the list view.

Likewise, if you tell it you want to  see 3.865K resistors, it will show list those.

But it's a fundamentally different type of query, because a (normal) resistor has one and only one resistance value. Consequently, selecting a single value necessarily eliminates every resistor whose value isn't the one you selected.

If you look up an LM7807ACXG3 part number that comes from 5 different companies & you select you want to filter out & see only Motorola, it doesn't insist on showing you Intel & RCA, just because the same parts are available from them. 

Yes, because a particular one part can't be made by both Motorola and Intel at the same time. Each one has one, and only one, manufacturer.

Likewise cut tape can do the same.

No, it's not the same, because each part can have more than one packaging option.

Your reply seems to revolve around that's not the way it work/is working. , which is rather problematic.  If it was working as desired, this wouldn't be brought up in the first place.   If a customer raises something as an issue it should be treated is an issue & you seem to prefer debating a shortcoming.  Our new car won't start when it's cold---you don't understand, it has to be warmer for it to start. It doesn't work the way you want.

For the third time: I agree that showing every packaging option in the list wastes space. How many more times do I have to say this?!?

What I keep responding to is your very incorrect assumptions about how the system works, what a search even means, and your tone.


Let's look back at the car search analogy: what you are essentially asking for is for the search results list to suppress the leather trim, heated seats, etc. listing from the results because you didn't ask for them and they take up space. This is a legitimate request, though some people might prefer it to work differently. But you keep padding this request in outright false claims, basically saying "I hate how the search wastes space on features I don't care about. The search is so broken! I asked for the child tranquilizer spray, yet it's showing me cars that don't have it!", which is plainly and demonstrably NOT the case!

[SilverSolder]

[...] rear-seat child tranquilizer spray [...]

 

I think you may be on to a winner with this product concept! 

[tooki]

[...] rear-seat child tranquilizer spray [...]

 

I think you may be on to a winner with this product concept! 

I wish I could take credit for it! All I did was add the automatic dispenser.
 

[Red Squirrel]

Yes, Digi-Key becomes worse day by day. You can clearly see that "effective mangers" took over the filtering in the search part. Now it is all flashy and JS-based, but totally unusable. Too bad. They had the best parametric search.

I had a custom blocking thing to have all the parameters always visible, but recent update broke that too, so I just don't care anymore. I'll probably just start using Mouser more.

I absolutely hate this trend of the over-use of javascript.  It seems every site has been doing it.  It's like lot of devs  decide to learn it and then they want to apply it everywhere even places that it's not needed.  All it does is slow down the page.  Not everyone had a dual Epyc 64 core machine for browsing the internet.     You should see the latest change on Facebook,  holy crap is it ever bloated.    I actually had my computer hard lock up because I tried to open 3 FB tabs.

It sucks to see that this trend has hit DK too, and it also sucks to hear they are now doing the marketplace crap.  Yeah, that's what I need, having to second guess if the part I'm ordering is actually real. I always saw the advantage of DK as being that I know I'm getting the real thing.   I'm just a very casual hobbyist but even then, given the cost of parts is relatively cheap I rather buy the real thing and buy higher quality parts so that way if my circuit does not work I know it's probably me, and not the part.  Don't need to second guess.

[dr.diesel]

I agree with most of what has already been said and would like to add two specific items, each as a global option tied to the logged in user:

 - Ability to completely disable the marketplace items.
 - Option to have 'In Stock' checked by default.

[KE5FX]

I agree with most of what has already been said and would like to add two specific items, each as a global option tied to the logged in user:

 - Ability to completely disable the marketplace items.
 - Option to have 'In Stock' checked by default.

Customers have begged for the latter option for years now, with no acknowledgement or response.  I don't think it's going to happen, unfortunately.

The marketplace "option" is different.  It doesn't seem to jibe with Digi-Key's reputation as a trustworthy source for customers who care more about quality and authenticity than pricing.  My guess is that they will have to walk this change back to some extent.  It amounts to an unforced error.

[james_s]

These stupid marketplace things are everywhere now. Amazon, Newegg, even brick  mortar stores, I mean for example want to find out if Walmart has something? Search for it on their website and you'll come up with a bunch of marketplace options, absolutely useless if you're going to be passing by a store and want to know what they carry IN THAT STORE. It seems like retailers just keep jumping on that bandwagon and what is the point? All of these stores acting as storefront for everyone else's products.

[tooki]

I agree with most of what has already been said and would like to add two specific items, each as a global option tied to the logged in user:

 - Ability to completely disable the marketplace items.
 - Option to have 'In Stock' checked by default.

Customers have begged for the latter option for years now, with no acknowledgement or response.  I don't think it's going to happen, unfortunately.

It’s possible that many people have wanted it, but never bothered to tell them. (I keep meaning to, for example.) It’s entirely possible that they don’t know it’s something people want.

[Digitalio]

The thing that does drive me nuts about Digikey is how they changed it a while back so that the parametric search parameters are hidden and I have to click Show More EVERY SINGLE TIME I search for a part, it's infuriating. I don't know what they were thinking, it's clear that whoever they had design their website is not an engineer and has no idea how engineers search for parts.

Many websites are doing the same. I heard that it's because Google Analytics considers it as a positive factor when people spend more time on the website and do more clicks, and puts those website higher in Google search.

[SilverSolder]

The thing that does drive me nuts about Digikey is how they changed it a while back so that the parametric search parameters are hidden and I have to click Show More EVERY SINGLE TIME I search for a part, it's infuriating. I don't know what they were thinking, it's clear that whoever they had design their website is not an engineer and has no idea how engineers search for parts.

Many websites are doing the same. I heard that it's because Google Analytics considers it as a positive factor when people spend more time on the website and do more clicks, and puts those website higher in Google search.

Just another one of the many benefits of unbridled surveillance capitalism!   

[Red Squirrel]

The thing that does drive me nuts about Digikey is how they changed it a while back so that the parametric search parameters are hidden and I have to click Show More EVERY SINGLE TIME I search for a part, it's infuriating. I don't know what they were thinking, it's clear that whoever they had design their website is not an engineer and has no idea how engineers search for parts.

Many websites are doing the same. I heard that it's because Google Analytics considers it as a positive factor when people spend more time on the website and do more clicks, and puts those website higher in Google search.

 I've noticed this trend with so many sites where you need to do so many clicks for things that are simple.  Ridiculous really.  Wish sites would stop putting so much priority on spying, it's getting so much out of hand.

Facebook is actually HORRIBLE now, you need like 10-20 clicks just to see the comments on a post.  I actually spend way less time on there since the new layout as it's just so frustrating to use.  I guess that's a good thing.   If it was not for the fact all my family is on there I would not use it at all.  The issue is they spy on everything you do even on sites that they don't control, so hard to get away from their spying.

[bill_c]

So does anyone have a sample script/plugin/code to automatically check the "In stock" box or n-check the "Marketplace" box or the "More filters" tab that still works?

[Digitalio]

Just another one of the many benefits of unbridled surveillance capitalism!   

It's corporatism or state capitalism. A crossbreed of true capitalism and true socialism.