Just thought I'd toss the question out there... about to populate a bunch of boards with resistors and caps from Mouser, and I'm holding off until my DER EE DE-5000 arrives so I can check each one before populating. Doing that would also make sure none of the parts are faulty.
I don't think I'm going to change my mind about that but I'd like to know what other people do/think.
I don't think I'm going to change my mind about that but I'd like to know what other people do/think.
Both Digikey and Mouser have been very reliable for me. Unlike eBay or Ali Express where I took a few chances a while ago with cheap parts and was bitten by out of spec, fake and faulty parts on more than one occasion. Never again...
I've been ordering from DK since they would send out a 16 page flyer if you were a subscriber to Popular Electronics. Never had a problem, must be almost 40 years. No issues with Mouser.
I always test parts before installing them. It's more about double checking myself, more than anything.
Dan
Dan
I have twice received parts from Mouser that I did not order. In one case, it was clear that someone else’s order was sent to me by mistake because all the individually bagged parts were then in an overall bag, with no part ordered by me and none of the parts I ordered in the box. In another instance, I received all of the parts I ordered but I also received parts that I had not. In both cases the shipping box was correctly addressed to me.
In both cases I reported the issue to Mouser via phone and email, and asked for return shipping labels to return the unordered parts to Mouser. They decided that I should keep the parts in both cases. The unirdered parts erroneously shipped to me were a mix of resistors, caps, and some hardware, and fuses. Reminds me of Amazon’s policies oftentimes when they ship incorrect goods.
Not sure this info helps you though. I try to order resistors that do not use color codes but have the values printed on them. All electrolytic caps have values printed on them. Small ceramics, film and mica caps usually use a code, but a few only use color codes. I have never found a printed value or code to be inaccurate, FWIW. I do not have means to test caps with color codes, so I never have tested those small caps and assume that values on printed bag label or the part number are correct.
In both cases I reported the issue to Mouser via phone and email, and asked for return shipping labels to return the unordered parts to Mouser. They decided that I should keep the parts in both cases. The unirdered parts erroneously shipped to me were a mix of resistors, caps, and some hardware, and fuses. Reminds me of Amazon’s policies oftentimes when they ship incorrect goods.
Not sure this info helps you though. I try to order resistors that do not use color codes but have the values printed on them. All electrolytic caps have values printed on them. Small ceramics, film and mica caps usually use a code, but a few only use color codes. I have never found a printed value or code to be inaccurate, FWIW. I do not have means to test caps with color codes, so I never have tested those small caps and assume that values on printed bag label or the part number are correct.
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I've dealt with Digikey for around 25 years (boy time flies!) and Mouser for close to 20 years. I've had the occasional mistake, which has always been corrected instantly when I contacted them.
Some of the mistakes have been "wrong part shipped". For example, I ordered some resistors from Digikey and received some parts that were definitely not resistors. They were 0805 sized something. Probably inductors or ferrite beads. But not resistors. I called them and they shipped the same not-resistor parts, so I just ordered a different brand of resistor to get parts that worked. I guess they had the wrong part loaded in their machine.
I've also had a case where I ordered 500 angle brackets from Mouser and they didn't close the ziplock bag all the way - or the bag bust open in transit - and the contents emptied into the box. That wouldn't be a big deal except FedEx also managed to mangle the box so the about 60% of the brackets had leaked out by the time the box got to me. That was also fixed instantly just by contacting them.
But I've also had positive "mistakes". For a while it seemed Mouser cut the parts off the reels by hand and sometimes I'd get more parts than I ordered. I think my record is 13 parts when I'd ordered 10. That's kinda nice when the part is a $6 opamp. I've never received too few parts, except for that one time with the angle brackets.
I've had both distributors double my order by accident too. I ordered 500 ceramic capacitors from Digikey. Received 1000. 250 power resistors became 500. I don't mind. I was still only charged for what I ordered.
I've also test driven their return policy. In one case, Mouser told me to keep the parts and refunded my money. That works! But that was for $60 worth of relays. How about with $4k worth of power supplies? I bought a pair of B+K Precision 9115B for testing power amps. This was after a long chat with B+K's tech support to make sure that they'd work for me. Well... They have some wonkiness in their output impedance so they weren't useful to me. After some back/forth, Mouser agreed to take them back. You can see my review here:
I've never sat down and measured each and every resistor that I ordered. If I did find one that was out of spec I would take a good and hard look at my measurement setup to make sure the error wasn't on my end before taking it up with the manufacturer.
I'd say that I've received stellar service from both vendors. I would love it if all online shops were as good as they are. I'm still amazed that I can order from Digikey at 2000 local time and have my order by 1030 the next morning. That's especially impressive as Digikey operates in central time and I'm on mountain time (so an hour behind Digikey).
Tom
Some of the mistakes have been "wrong part shipped". For example, I ordered some resistors from Digikey and received some parts that were definitely not resistors. They were 0805 sized something. Probably inductors or ferrite beads. But not resistors. I called them and they shipped the same not-resistor parts, so I just ordered a different brand of resistor to get parts that worked. I guess they had the wrong part loaded in their machine.
I've also had a case where I ordered 500 angle brackets from Mouser and they didn't close the ziplock bag all the way - or the bag bust open in transit - and the contents emptied into the box. That wouldn't be a big deal except FedEx also managed to mangle the box so the about 60% of the brackets had leaked out by the time the box got to me. That was also fixed instantly just by contacting them.
But I've also had positive "mistakes". For a while it seemed Mouser cut the parts off the reels by hand and sometimes I'd get more parts than I ordered. I think my record is 13 parts when I'd ordered 10. That's kinda nice when the part is a $6 opamp. I've never received too few parts, except for that one time with the angle brackets.
I've had both distributors double my order by accident too. I ordered 500 ceramic capacitors from Digikey. Received 1000. 250 power resistors became 500. I don't mind. I was still only charged for what I ordered.
I've also test driven their return policy. In one case, Mouser told me to keep the parts and refunded my money. That works! But that was for $60 worth of relays. How about with $4k worth of power supplies? I bought a pair of B+K Precision 9115B for testing power amps. This was after a long chat with B+K's tech support to make sure that they'd work for me. Well... They have some wonkiness in their output impedance so they weren't useful to me. After some back/forth, Mouser agreed to take them back. You can see my review here:
I've never sat down and measured each and every resistor that I ordered. If I did find one that was out of spec I would take a good and hard look at my measurement setup to make sure the error wasn't on my end before taking it up with the manufacturer.
I'd say that I've received stellar service from both vendors. I would love it if all online shops were as good as they are. I'm still amazed that I can order from Digikey at 2000 local time and have my order by 1030 the next morning. That's especially impressive as Digikey operates in central time and I'm on mountain time (so an hour behind Digikey).
Tom
I'm in the UK and Digikey usually ship to me from the US within 2 days. For free. Excellent service and a much bigger selection if parts than the UK suppliers like Farnell / RS.
If mistakes are to be made, the probability is 98% that it will be me making them! Like @DCE1198 I test everything, mostly to be sure I'm installing what I think I'm installing.
I also test all electrolytics, coming out and going in, just to keep a mental database of how they degrade and what tolerances manufacturers typically hold.
I also test all electrolytics, coming out and going in, just to keep a mental database of how they degrade and what tolerances manufacturers typically hold.
I forgot to mention that the one time I did not receive the correct parts, Mouser sent me the correct parts, while telling me not to return the incorrectly shipped parts.
Overall, after 35 years of part orders from Mouser, Digikey and other electronic parts vendors like Michael Percy, Antique Audio Supply, I have always received good service.
Overall, after 35 years of part orders from Mouser, Digikey and other electronic parts vendors like Michael Percy, Antique Audio Supply, I have always received good service.
One time of many orders from Mouser, I received a 1 Meg resistor for the ordered 1 K ohm resistor. Overall they are pretty good considering the vast number of different parts they carry.
I mostly order my parts from Mouser. Only once I got wrong parts (1M resistors in a bag labelled for 1k).
Always test parts before mounting them, when possible. Parts from authorized vendors are unlikely to have a problem,
but this serves as a double check to prevent mistakes on your part. Never had a missing part from Digikey or Mouser,
but I have received a few parts that I didn't order.
You'll almost never see out of tolerance parts. Once long ago I received some defective (noisy) Corning CMF resistors.
The Corning production manager replaced them.
but this serves as a double check to prevent mistakes on your part. Never had a missing part from Digikey or Mouser,
but I have received a few parts that I didn't order.
You'll almost never see out of tolerance parts. Once long ago I received some defective (noisy) Corning CMF resistors.
The Corning production manager replaced them.
I have been buying from Mouser since 8 2014 only have had 1 wrong item and they fixed on the spot.
I still have a reel with 1000 thick-film 267 ohm SMD resistors I didn't order in the attic. Mouser accidentally sent it to me instead of to someone in Texas (whose address was on the bag). They didn't want them back. Another time they sent me two rather exotic board-to-board connectors for digital mainboards instead of the relays I had ordered. Everything else was always correct.
I started in college ordering from Digi for a lab I worked in and a few parts for myself occasionally. This was 1978. I always remember the "Thief River Falls, ND" and thought, ND, electronics huh? My boss at the lab had used Newark I think. Digi was less even back then. Almost 50 years. Never a problem. Remember PolyPaks anyone? That was my main supplier, cheap, if they had what you wanted.
Nope, I am who I am 🙂
Just a very weird coincidence we posted pretty much the same hickup at almost the same time...