Where to buy in UK

[h3ro]

Ok, so now I have just moved to U.K (Middlesbrough) to get some education!

But where can I get cheap electronic components here? Or is it still best to buy from digi-key or something?

Thank you

[paulstreats]

hi,

http://www.maplin.co.uk (electronic components but they seem to be phasing out a lot of components in favour of consumer electricals)
http://uk.farnell.com/also electronic components. Very cheap for resistors etc.. I havent used them yet but i will be in a few weeks. I noticed they do a cheap bench oscilloscope for ?80 max 400v ~10mhz(not the best but okay and cheap for the amateur)
http://www.technobots.co.uk/robot kits and components - not too cheap though
http://www.active-robots.co.uk/average price for sensors like sharp ir.

I also notice that sparkfun only charge around $5.30 for postage to the uk on my last order this is around ?2.30 which it costs from most english suppliers.

digikey charge an extremeley large amount for uk shippping so i havent bought from them for this reason alone which is a shame.

If anybody knows of anywhere else, id also be interested to know

[h3ro]

Digi-key is nice if you want to order a lot. The prices are very very low and the ship extremely fast.

sparkfun takes for ever, I ordered something 2 weeks ago and I still haven't got it. It took a few days for my payment to be registered. A few days to pack at sparkfun and after that who knows. Aslo, as I just moved and my family is here with me I cant check if I got it or not =\

Thanks for the links. I looked around but couldn't find find a simple prototype board (Like the ones at sparkfun) and ideas?

[paulstreats]

I havent found anywhere in the uk that sells breakout and prototype boards like sparkfun do. My last order from them took 5 days to arrive in the uk, i know that they have moved premises in the past month so youre order may have been slowed down due to that?

[creedcradle]

But where can I get cheap electronic components here? Or is it still best to buy from digi-key or something?

im far away here in Asia, but i know how things work in UK, all you have to do is to grab all UK-Based electronic magazines... all the website links (online and local store) are there..

 

[h3ro]

Good idea. Seen a few of thous at the shop not far from where I live.

Thanks for the tip

[Joesavage1]

Go to Rapidonline.com, its awsome!

Thanks

Joe

[want2learn]

Steer clear of maplin, they're the only local shop to me (28miles) and never have anything in stock. 'Sorry mate, you'll need to order that online' gets pretty tiresome. Their online site is pretty crap too.
They pushed out the only competition they had up here (who stocked absolutely everything and could answer any question imaginable) then dropped more than half their stock

[paulstreats]

Maplin have been getting worse and worse over the last 10 years. Im half expecting them to stop selling basic components like resistors soon. (they dropped nearly all of the ic's they used to stock. I have an old maplin catalogue that had a huge component section, but now they dont stock a tenth of what they used to).
Also the pricing has become terrible. The last time I looked it was 14p (28 cents) for a resistor. Extortionate

Definately try Farnell for online stuff. I think you can also drop into a shop frontend to their leeds warehouse too.

[frodo]

yes, i have noticed that maplins is getting more expensive and dropping stock. they hardly ever have anything that i want to buy. can't buy online either 

[Webbot]

I havent found anywhere in the uk that sells breakout and prototype boards like sparkfun do.

Checkout rapidonline.co.uk