This is all about samples of parts made by semiconductor companies. Mostly Op-amps. Some other audio-related IC's like perhaps voltage regulators, voltage references, and D/A converters.
I've ordered a variety of samples from National and TI and I havent had to pay anything yet. I'll be trying to get samples from AD and Maxim next... The only problem I've encountered so far was with Fairchild Semi who (it appears) will not provide samples outside of USA and Canada.
Analog Devices
-- AD797
I didn't think the 797s are sampling -- they're expensive even in 1K unit qtys (~ $5/ea I think). If they are though, let me know, I'd love to get my hands on a few.
-- AD797
I didn't think the 797s are sampling -- they're expensive even in 1K unit qtys (~ $5/ea I think). If they are though, let me know, I'd love to get my hands on a few.
free samples
guys, do you really think that makers of conductors, etc... charge you for samples ??/ hahahha
i have had the experience with Molex, Parlex and Juji...
even when i asked them to just send it by usps envelope, they still send it ups of FEDex in super large boxes and they never sent me an invoice.
i spole to one of the people at Molex and he assured me that before they send out an invoice (invoice making costs a lot of money these days) the need some serious order!!!! other wise it is just an internal memo to the warehouse and out it goes!!!!
as long as you deal wiht big producers that are not interested in selling 1 or 2 items you can ask almost anything!
guys, do you really think that makers of conductors, etc... charge you for samples ??/ hahahha
i have had the experience with Molex, Parlex and Juji...
even when i asked them to just send it by usps envelope, they still send it ups of FEDex in super large boxes and they never sent me an invoice.
i spole to one of the people at Molex and he assured me that before they send out an invoice (invoice making costs a lot of money these days) the need some serious order!!!! other wise it is just an internal memo to the warehouse and out it goes!!!!
as long as you deal wiht big producers that are not interested in selling 1 or 2 items you can ask almost anything!
Just dont go nuts guys....
I made the mistake of ordering samples of the same component a few times from NSC.
They dont send me samples any more
BTW... be careful with samples from smaller IC companies.
I cant remeber who they came from, but they got sent to a distributor here in Adelaide who then wanted to charge me the $80s for postage from the US.
I made the mistake of ordering samples of the same component a few times from NSC.
They dont send me samples any more
BTW... be careful with samples from smaller IC companies.
I cant remeber who they came from, but they got sent to a distributor here in Adelaide who then wanted to charge me the $80s for postage from the US.
Does anybody have experience with heatsink samples?
It´s so tempting and for example Aavid Thermalloy offers this.
On the other side I prefer paying to getting in contact with FBI.
Jens
It´s so tempting and for example Aavid Thermalloy offers this.
On the other side I prefer paying to getting in contact with FBI.
Jens
You can escape any and all ethical questions by simply ... acting ethically. If you wonder about free samples, just remember this: the company provides samples programs because they want engineers to get their samples, in order that they might incorporate them into new designs. As a DIYer, you will never order the parts in question, so you are breaking the assumption that underlies the samples system. You are taking a free ride and the company has no hope of any return.
That is what Digi-Key is for. You can order 1 or 2 ICs from them, and it is no problem.
That is what Digi-Key is for. You can order 1 or 2 ICs from them, and it is no problem.
Be careful about ordering free samples. I have some bad experiences about using this option, many companies would call you up the hear your opninon and comments about their components.
Some manufactures would also like to know in what application(s) you are going to use their components.
And of course.. you have the thing about being banned from their "free smples option".
Some manufactures would also like to know in what application(s) you are going to use their components.
And of course.. you have the thing about being banned from their "free smples option".
joensd said:
As if the FBI is going to drop everything and show up at
your door because you've tricked a manufacturer out of
a 35 cent part.
😉
Actually that was a joke to one of the previous posts.😀
Not really funny but...
I´m not one of the hyper-cautious types.
I´d tried at least the big semiconductor companies for samples.
As a student and hobby developer I don´t feel guilty at all.
I think at TI(or NS??) I didn´t even registered with my company but with the status being a student which is really cool.
And the request for some jolly big heatsinks is already sent off.
I´ll press my thumbs but am probably gonna encounter some stupid questions.🙄
BTW: The heatsinks must sell for around 40€($) I guess which is still much cheaper for the company but more than 35 cent.
footsteps
i hear heavy footsteps on the porch, 2 men in black with long leather coats....
ooff no fbi , it's only the kgb!!!
Nelson Pass said:
i hear heavy footsteps on the porch, 2 men in black with long leather coats....
ooff no fbi , it's only the kgb!!!
and the companies call
Analog Devices, Nat Semi and Linear Tech send e-mails for feedback -- at least they have with me. Texas Advanced Optical calls -- they leave a mailbox number for feedback.
Analog Devices, Nat Semi and Linear Tech send e-mails for feedback -- at least they have with me. Texas Advanced Optical calls -- they leave a mailbox number for feedback.
I didn't hear anything from AD or TI.
I had to pay taxes on the TI shipment though (21% on value as mentioned on the packages). It seems the customs pick only those packages with a value of more than 25 EURO here in Belgium.
Better ask less samples per package and more packages.
Gert
I had to pay taxes on the TI shipment though (21% on value as mentioned on the packages). It seems the customs pick only those packages with a value of more than 25 EURO here in Belgium.
Better ask less samples per package and more packages.
Gert
I get charged tax from TI and AD because they ship UPS, while I've gotten samples from Net Semi, Elantec, On Semi, Fairchild and they all shipped FedEx and nothing got taxed at the border.
I have gotten samples twice from TI/BB and once from Fairchild semi. I filled out the forms truthfully. I even filled in 2 as the expected production quantity. I am a EE student so that helps.😀 They don't seem to mind shipping to EE students because they want to sell us parts when we get a job. I also don't really like the idea of getting samples for building a project since you don't really learn much about the parts. I will only use them for testing things that I actually designed. I also don't get samples of simple cheap parts like opamps. The last one I got was an IVC102U switched integrator, an ADS831 8bit 80MHz ADC and an ADS1240e 24bit ADC from TI.
It really is unethical to fill in all those boxes with things like production quanitity = 100000.
Darrell Harmon
It really is unethical to fill in all those boxes with things like production quanitity = 100000.
Darrell Harmon
dlharmon said:
Not smart either. They might toss your request for obvious
reasons, or worse, send a rep to your door. I'd rather have
the FBI.
It is interesting to note that Texas Instruments uses digikey to ship their samples. I noticed this by the similarities in packaging. Holding the invoices next to each other they are the same except DigiKey is Replaced with TI. Same with the box. The shipping address was the same. I haven't found a TI part that digikey doesn't stock yet, but with Linear and Maxim I can't get most of those parts anywhere.
Fairchild ships from Newark and doesn't even try to hide it.
Darrell Harmon
Fairchild ships from Newark and doesn't even try to hide it.
Darrell Harmon
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