Why I'm done with Mouser Electronics • Hacker News Board

Re: Why I'm done with Mouser Electronics

#101

Post by WalterBright » Wed, May 10, 2023, 9:48 PM UTC

WalterBright wrote: post #19

When the cable guy came to add another outlet to my previous house, I watched what he did and chatted a bit about his tools. He was using Digikey tools. I then ordered identical tools. For my later house, I installed all the cables and outlets myself, with the Digikey tools. All I can say is two thumbs up for them. Quick and easy, and not a single bad connection. I did this because of my troubles soldering, which all…

I also watched an electrician do some wiring. He used a Milwaukee right angle drill to thread the wire through the studs. I bought one, and used it to do the low voltage wiring in my house.

Re: Why I'm done with Mouser Electronics

#102

Post by FpUser » Wed, May 10, 2023, 9:54 PM UTC

On one particular item - high power, high voltage small form factor DC-DC converter (that was few years ago) the price was around $300 on Mouser / Digikey vs $25 from Aliexpress. I needed 125 of those. Make a wild guess where did I buy from. And no, I did not get scammed. The converters are still merrily chugging along.

Re: Why I'm done with Mouser Electronics

#103

Post by tempestn » Wed, May 10, 2023, 9:55 PM UTC

mason55 wrote: post #98

bee_rider wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s funny, when I was randomly picking a parts website in school (electrical engineering), Digikey gave me much better vibes. I mean look at their websites! One is clearly the result of getting a handful of hardware engineers in a room and telling them “we need to put our catalogue online!” The other looks like it has been infected by “UI” and “design” and other non-engineering concepts.

> One is clearly the result of getting a handful of hardware engineers in a room and telling them “we need to put our catalogue online!” The other looks like it has been infected by “UI” and “design” and other non-engineering concepts. 1. I'm not sure why you think UI and design are not engineering concepts. If people can't figure out how to use your product then it's useless. 2. These sites are almost exactly the sa…

They even both have a near identical locale selector, with two big flags, when you visit from a Canadian IP. Makes me think one... drew inspiration from the other.

Re: Why I'm done with Mouser Electronics

#104

Post by JohnFen » Wed, May 10, 2023, 9:56 PM UTC

jrmg wrote: post #90

Jameco is a smaller distributor, but they have great service. If you’re in the Bay Area you can even go and pick up your order from their warehouse and avoid any shipping costs.

Oh, yes, Jameco is also a great company.

Re: Why I'm done with Mouser Electronics

#105

Post by garaetjjte » Wed, May 10, 2023, 9:59 PM UTC

This doesn't excuse awful customer support, but I wonder how the author is so sure that this is caused by Mouser warehouse black hole instead of UPS one. Maybe they handed over packages to the UPS but they vanished there before they were scanned.

Re: Why I'm done with Mouser Electronics

#106

Post by zoklet-enjoyer » Wed, May 10, 2023, 10:02 PM UTC

I love how Digi-Key is this huge company and they're based in little tiny Thief River Falls, MN

Re: Why I'm done with Mouser Electronics

#107

Post by andromaton » Wed, May 10, 2023, 10:09 PM UTC

In college, I ordered a few dollars worth of chips from Digikey but I couldn't find datasheets. The Internet was not a thing yet. Without asking, they mailed me a 100 page photocopy. I'm still a customer. Never issues, which is more than I can say about lots of large companies. Digikey just works.

Re: Why I'm done with Mouser Electronics

#108

Post by tomxor » Wed, May 10, 2023, 10:12 PM UTC

crooked-v wrote: post #60

JohnFen wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Ever since, I look at what the pros use and buy those tools. One of the best pieces of business advice I ever got was to identify the core pieces of equipment that really impact the quality/efficiency of your work and go as high-end as you can afford on those. Then go as cheap as you can tolerate for everything else.

See also: Professional chefs with extremely expensive personal knife sets alongside basically disposable $8 tongs and $20 pans.

This is pretty good advice in general. The cost value curve of different things is different, and as you suggest, for the majority of things the functional value cut off is at quite a low cost point.

What I find particularly amusing is when the cost value relationship invert, often after a stupidly high price point, especially when they introduce complexity.

Re: Why I'm done with Mouser Electronics

#109

Post by fpgaminer » Wed, May 10, 2023, 10:12 PM UTC

codetrotter wrote: post #34

How do people on HN feel about Arrow Electronics? https://www.arrow.com/ I don't see any mention of them ITT yet. I've used them a bit in the past for a project I was involved with. They were not the cheapest but they seem pretty ok from my experience.

I've worked B2B with Arrow, and B2C. They're a big gorilla in the industry for B2B, but much less well known in the B2C world. (In this instance, for B2C I mean B2Hobbyists like Mouser and Digikey are). I wasn't terribly happy with them on B2B. They just weren't very attentive, and ended up costing our small business countless hours and money. In their defense they tended to always let us shoot up the chain and rectify things after the fact. But after the fact is quite painful for small businesses. On the plus side, they are a big gorilla, and there are advantages to that when you aren't well networked in the industry.

B2C they're okayish. I prefer Mouser/Digikey/etc. But I've never had a bad experience with them, and sometimes they're cheaper, so I keep them in my rotation. For awhile they were making a hard push into B2C and offered free overnight shipping. God, that was amazing.

tl;dr: They're okay, but not the best in any regard.

Re: Why I'm done with Mouser Electronics

#110

Post by fpgaminer » Wed, May 10, 2023, 10:18 PM UTC

The high margin makes sense if their account is mostly ordering low-volume. The margins on cut-tape, for example, are nuts. As a distributor they order in bulk at low per-unit pricing, and then when hobbyists buy onsies twosies they can charge low-volume pricing for a huge markup.

Doesn't mean they're making a lot of money on those types of orders.

(That isn't an argument against the author's complaints, just providing hopefully interesting info).

Off-topic: I clicked through to the author's Sir Box-a-Lot project (https://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/sir-box-a-lot/) and immediately fell in love with the micro rocker switch they used for the power switch. A 7mmx3mm rocker power switch. https://www.mouser.com/datasheet/2/295/GW-1663576.pdf What an absolute beaut.