Electronics Component
Basically electron plumbing
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Basically electron plumbing
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Digikey is one of our favorite suppliers of electronic components. They have one of the largest selections of parts in their inventory along with really handy reference/part search tools. Even if you don't purchase from Digikey, their catalog and search tool is super handy for looking up alternative parts during your design process. Be mindful that Digikey is usually on the little bit more expensive side, but that is the price to pay for their reliable and fast service.
Mouser is basically another version of Digikey. Although we ourselves have never ordered from Mouser before, people we know very well have expressed having a very similar experience to Digikey. Mouser appears to carry a wide selection of components that are hard to acquire on Digi-Key and serves as a good alternative.
LCSC is a sister company of JLCPCB. They are said to offer a cheap and convenient supply of electronic components. In our experience this was only partially true, some of the more expensive components are priced similarly to Digikey. LCSC also had a very long turnaround time of around 1.5 weeks minimum. One of the best features of LCSC however, is its extremely easy automatic component searching/selection feature that operates in conjunction with Easy EDA (Owned by JLCPCB). If you don't mind being in the JLC ecosystem and the longer turnaround time, LCSC can be a cheaper alternative (If you're careful with the part selection). Since this is a Chinese-based company, there can be security concerns for sensitive projects.
Not a secure service for senstivie projects!
Adafruit is one of our go-to suppliers for breakout boards and prefabbed plug-and-play components. Adafruit supplies reliable and quality components. We would say most of the parts are fairly priced, however, don't forget to cross-check prices. Some components were marked up higher than usual, so we do not recommend purchasing more generic components from Adafruit.
Sparksfun is a supplier/manufacturer like Adafruit. They have their own custom brewed boards and ecosystems like Adafruit very convenient for prototyping. We had a positive experience in reliability and product quality. But also like Adafruit, some components were marked higher than usual, so keep in mind. Sparkfun is really the most useful for purchasing one or more of their custom breakout solutions made in their iconic red PCBs. Unlike Adafruit, Sparkfun does carry a wide selection of hard-to-acquire industrial components, though often the markup is on the higher end.
GroupGets is a really cool company. Basically, components only sold through bulk orders can be group bought via campaigns. Through these campaigns, GroupGets has acquired quite a stock of exotic components at a fair price. We source hard-to-get hardware such as thermal camera hardware from GroupGets.
Rokland is a U.S. distributor of various networking, radio hardware, and antennas. They carry a lot of popular radio boards such as the RAK series popular for meshtastic with direct shipping within the U.S. We've had a very positive experience shopping from them, though due to high demand, some items are often back ordered, but it is still is often faster and cheaper than
Newark offer
Some really exotic components can only be sourced from salvaged electronics or sketchy sales. There are always risks and this is by far the most unreliable place to source electronics parts from, but sometimes there is no choice. We reserve this for the last resort, for getting deals on parts such as night vision tubes, surplus military hardware, and extremely exotic enterprise parts.
For every dollar spent on Amazon, Jeff Bezos will do a personal one-on-one laughing session just for you complimentary of the customer service! We admit Amazon has extremely fast turnaround times, large selections, really good customer services, and really good prices. However, this can lead to bad habits, such as simply trusting they are offering the best deals and purchasing before checking prices with other sellers/suppliers. Sellers on Amazon seem to have exploited this since we have noticed sneaky price increases. So don't assume Amazon is always cheaper!
