Parts from RS Components.

[womer_uk]

Another vote for RS here.

I've used them for about two years now, I opened an account on the internet, and pay by debit card.

I know for some parts, they are quite pricey, but their delivery is very fast and free, and, at least they will deal with a small hobbyist.

Does anyone know what Farnells are like on Armley Road for cash sales for non account holders

[telstar]

Hi. I live not far from Farnell (no pun intended!!). The trade counter is on the end of the road going from Armley Road to Maybrook Industrial Estate. It is a while since I have been to the trade counter, but I seem to remember it was £10 minimum for cash sales, and I am not sure for debit cards. The public seem to be welcome to visit for their electronic component requirements.
Cheers
Mike

[pichacker]

Top marks to both RS and Farnell. Had my account since 1990 and never had a problem that they couldn't solve. HOWEVER watch out for the extended items. They are shipped from the US and cost!!

[Craig Sawyers]

Hats off to RS (and I go far enough back to remember when it was Radio Spares). My other favourites are:

Farnell. I have an account with them, so I have no miniumum order. Main thing is to exclude extended range items in the searches. Main irritation is that obsolete and no longer stocked items stay on the searches, with no tick box to exclude them.

Rapid Electronics. Not as good as it used to be though

Future Electronics. Stateside, but shipping is very reasonable (I paid $6 last time, and it took two days to get here), and they stock many things that RS and Farnell do not.

Mouser. Stateside, but shipping is free over a certain amount (I can't remember whether it is $50 or $100). Both Future and Mouser take the tax at source, so it doesn't get stuck in Parcel Farce and incur a "clearance fee" on top of VAT.

I also used to use Maplin, and have bought high power bass guitar speaker chassis and high end audio cerafine capacitors from them in the past. But they have really gone downmarket in recent years.

Craig

[Aerodyne]

I was offered an account with RS but I decided it wasn't worth my while (or theirs, come to that) so I order over the net and pay by card. Minimums? Most of my orders are very small, perhaps £20-£40 at most. Very quick service. I can't fault them at all.
-Tony

[MichaelR]

Originally Posted by Craig Sawyers

I also used to use Maplin, and have bought high power bass guitar speaker chassis and high end audio cerafine capacitors from them in the past. But they have really gone downmarket in recent years

Indeed, Maplin are struggling to have an identity now. I think Rapid beat them to a place that they should have developed to in the UK.

Mike

[evingar]

Originally Posted by Craig Sawyers

Farnell. I have an account with them, so I have no miniumum order. Main thing is to exclude extended range items in the searches. Main irritation is that obsolete and no longer stocked items stay on the searches, with no tick box to exclude them.

The one off extra charge is indeed annoying if the order is small, but the unit cost of parts is sometimes very much lower for similar parts stocked in the US. If you don't mind the extra small delay, it's sometimes worth paying the once / order charge for the extended range.

With respect to RS, I truly hate their new(ish) search facility, but their delivery speed is very good indeed.

[McMurdo]

Both RS and Farnell could learn alot from the Javascript-free online ordering from Mouser. I use Mouser alot because they arrive in 48 hours and always get the order right, well packed and with a HUGE range compared with UK suppliers. Alot of european-sourced stuff from USA-based Mouser is alot cheaper than UK suppliers! (maybe 60% less!) Work than one out! It can't be economies of scale can it?

[LXSTEIN45]

I agree, nothing matches mouser for its range of electrolytic's for instance, and I love the project pages so you can assign specific lists to specific projects. However don't ever open multiple tabs when compiling these lists it really screws things up! I learnt that the hard way
I also got a full range paper(!) catalogue this year and thought what a refreshing change it was

[LXSTEIN45]

Originally Posted by MichaelR

Indeed , Maplin are struggling to have an identity now.I think Rapid beat them to a place that they should have developed to in the UK.

I really like Maplins range of phier presets though they seem to have a decent range of old fashioned values like 5k 50k etc.. buying from RS etc. not always easy to see exactly what you are buying in the way of pin spacing etc without referring to the pdf, very annoying! That is all I purchase from Maplin now! sad really.