Have a look at the Farnell

I spent some time playing around with the Farnell/Newark web selectors
and they actually are pretty decent. Just like Digikey, they sometime
get tripped up by obscure numbering (for example, Newark/Farnell
calling 0603 size SMT parts 603 in many instances) or other gotchas,
but in principle the two mechanisms seem to be approximately
equivalent.

So, attaboy Newark/Farnell! Maybe they'll get more than one order
every 5 years from me now :-)

Tim.

"Tim Shoppa" wrote in message
oups.com...
Have a look at the Farnell

I spent some time playing around with the Farnell/Newark web selectors
and they actually are pretty decent. Just like Digikey, they sometime
get tripped up by obscure numbering (for example, Newark/Farnell
calling 0603 size SMT parts 603 in many instances) or other gotchas,
but in principle the two mechanisms seem to be approximately
equivalent.

So, attaboy Newark/Farnell! Maybe they'll get more than one order
every 5 years from me now :-)

The nice thing about Farnell is that they don't charge for normal delivery
and I usually get what I order the following day. That's in the UK, of
course.

Leon

["Followup-To:" header set to sci.electronics.design.]
On Mon, 21 Feb 2005 15:33:16 -0000,
Leon Heller wrote
in Msg.
and selection ability.

Digikey, keep doing it right!

Have a look at the Farnell and RS websites (UK):

You've got to be kidding. I find the RS website impossible to use. I
always refer to the printed catalog. Also they want me to register to
access data sheets etc.

Of course it's easy to just punch in a part number and get taken to the
appropriate result. But if you're searching a bit less specific -- say,
for a certain kind of connector you've seen somewhere, everything falls
apart because there's no such thing as a parametric search engine. Turning
tha pages of the paper catalog is much quicker.

--Daniel

That's an interesting perspective, Tim. I find it easier to search Digikey
for passives and Mouser for semiconductors/actives. Jameco has them all
beat for their specialties like wall warts, motors, solenoids, solar stuff,
and tools/solder stations.

That's my triumvirate...they all have stuff they do best, and I really have
no need for other catalogs to cobble up the bench.

For onesie, twosies they all have about the same prices, but when you start
buying in thousands, Mouser has them beat by a mile.

Jim



" Don't get me wrong: Newark, Mouser, Allied, Jameco, and a few others
that I order over the web from have pretty good web-order-entry
systems.

Their pricing doth truly suck sometimes, but on the good
side they stock most of the stuff in their catalogs (and
then some), as opposed to some "other" distributors whose
catalogs might be characterized as vaporware.

I wonder sometimes how much they spend printing catalogs
every two months, which always seemed excessive to me.
I'd have thought twice a year would be plenty.

Ol' Duffer wrote:

Their pricing doth truly suck sometimes, but on the good
side they stock most of the stuff in their catalogs (and
then some), as opposed to some "other" distributors whose
catalogs might be characterized as vaporware.

I wonder sometimes how much they spend printing catalogs
every two months, which always seemed excessive to me.
I'd have thought twice a year would be plenty.

If you noticed, each newer catalog has *more* parts; more brands, more
variety, more types, etc.

"Robert Baer" wrote in message
...
Ol' Duffer wrote:

Their pricing doth truly suck sometimes, but on the good
side they stock most of the stuff in their catalogs (and
then some), as opposed to some "other" distributors whose
catalogs might be characterized as vaporware.

I wonder sometimes how much they spend printing catalogs
every two months, which always seemed excessive to me.
I'd have thought twice a year would be plenty.

If you noticed, each newer catalog has *more* parts; more brands,
more
variety, more types, etc.

.... Higher prices, less quantity price breaks, etc., etc. Oh, did I
mention, higher prices..

I just love wotking on the PCs in our Purchasing Dept. :-/ They have a
whole shelf full of janitorial supply catalogs. Just think, if we could
only gwt all these catalogs and paper towels recycled, we'd save a whole
continent of forests..

On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 02:30:27 -0800, the renowned "Watson A.Name -
\"Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\"" wrote:


"Robert Baer" wrote in message
...
Ol' Duffer wrote:

Their pricing doth truly suck sometimes, but on the good
side they stock most of the stuff in their catalogs (and
then some), as opposed to some "other" distributors whose
catalogs might be characterized as vaporware.

I wonder sometimes how much they spend printing catalogs
every two months, which always seemed excessive to me.
I'd have thought twice a year would be plenty.

If you noticed, each newer catalog has *more* parts; more brands,
more
variety, more types, etc.

... Higher prices, less quantity price breaks, etc., etc. Oh, did I
mention, higher prices..

I just love wotking on the PCs in our Purchasing Dept. :-/ They have a
whole shelf full of janitorial supply catalogs. Just think, if we could
only gwt all these catalogs and paper towels recycled, we'd save a whole
continent of forests..

Those janitorial supply guys have *really* high prices. Between
telephone directories, Mouser, Digikey, trade rags, paper packing and
EEM, the recycling box is never hungry. A few printouts don't amount
to much, and the few newspapers tend to get used for packing, which is
lighter than that recycled paper packing that Digikey uses.


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
--
"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com

"Watson A.Name - \"Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\"" wrote:

"Robert Baer" wrote in message
...
Ol' Duffer wrote:

Their pricing doth truly suck sometimes, but on the good
side they stock most of the stuff in their catalogs (and
then some), as opposed to some "other" distributors whose
catalogs might be characterized as vaporware.

I wonder sometimes how much they spend printing catalogs
every two months, which always seemed excessive to me.
I'd have thought twice a year would be plenty.

If you noticed, each newer catalog has *more* parts; more brands,
more
variety, more types, etc.

... Higher prices, less quantity price breaks, etc., etc. Oh, did I
mention, higher prices..

I just love wotking on the PCs in our Purchasing Dept. :-/ They have a
whole shelf full of janitorial supply catalogs. Just think, if we could
only gwt all these catalogs and paper towels recycled, we'd save a whole
continent of forests..

....and if all spam could be stopped, trillions of dollars per year would
be saved, as well as all of the power required to run all of the
involved computers.

Robert Baer wrote:

I just love wotking on the PCs in our Purchasing Dept. :-/ They have a
whole shelf full of janitorial supply catalogs. Just think, if we could
only gwt all these catalogs and paper towels recycled, we'd save a whole
continent of forests..


...and if all spam could be stopped, trillions of dollars per year would
be saved, as well as all of the power required to run all of the
involved computers.

Think of the unemployment that would result.


-Bill