Sparkfun overpriced

omg they must be the only ones in the entire world! those poor souls!

or, Im sorry was there a point to that? cause they have rent and taxes in China too there chief

:wink:

yea they dont MAKE them in china (they just order every single bit of it FROM china) but whatever

Can you even GET parts anywhere else?

omg they must be the only ones in the entire world! those poor souls!

I'm just saying that if you compare them to maybe... I don't know.. Seedstudio perhaps... there would clearly be a reason they would need to charge more for even the same parts. Like MAYBE they source parts from DIGI-KEY and don't buy enough to get a good price break. (who knows) Without even checking I'm pretty sure the landlord and the taxman take a bigger cut in the USA and that surely is in the "price" somewhere.

I'm not trying to justify being gouged price-wise. I would hardly consider using a single vendor for EVERYTHING I wanted and factoring cost is often a decision point related to who I'm buying from. There are other times when convenience and quality are part of the decision and not so much the cost.

Sparkfun should be credited for creating at least 70 jobs. (Those people must be paid salaries.)

well yeah sparkfun products are costly. But considering their product quality, they're good.

I would buy their own designs on their site but leave the hardware (nuts bolts headers buttons etc) to local ACE or cheaper places.
All those cheap parts are made in China. I am not concerned that if I don't buy expensive headers from SFE or Mouser, someone in the US will lose their jobs. A job created by selling overpriced items is not that secure anyway. But I do applaud the quality of SFE stuff and their own designs. I bought most my expensive toys from them, GPS, etc.

much of the stuff is not even their own designs, unless you count making a breakout board for a smd part, or directly coping out of the datasheet, or just putting the uno in a "brought to you by sparkfun" box

meh

Yes but they are one of the only (if not the only in many cases) companies that does so, and from what I've heard from their founder - that's why Sparkfun was made - to make electronics more accessible. I agree some of their stuff is overpriced when compared to the same items' prices at digikey or some other hobby e-store, but the circuit designs they sell are special not because they came up with them (your right in saying most are from the datasheets), but because they sell them pre-made to the public.

I'm surprised this thread is still active, how much more is there to say about the subject?

how much more is there to say about the subject?

I like cookies (I was going to go into this whole big thing involving cookies but its too late and I really dont care)

You know what, I like cookies too - especially space invader cookies :slight_smile:

I wouldn't call them overpriced, they have high prices but in my opinion they aren't exactly super high, an online shop in my country charges 18? for a base line picaxe, now that's over priced, sparkfun is like paradise compared to that shop.

I like Dutch cookies, packed in a circular metal box. Always wonder what to do with the empty boxes. Pepperridge farm is also pretty good. If we keep talking about cookies, this topic will hopefully go away.

Dutch Cookies and Girl Scout Cookies are.... omgnomnomy

OMG

dutch girl-scout cookies

FTW!

and what we do with the tins (both my wife and I and my parents and sometimes her dad) is eat up the cookies and next year pack them back up with home made goodies

(or I give them to the paint tech at work where he thoroughly screws them up)

and what we do with the tins (both my wife and I and my parents and sometimes her dad) is eat up the cookies and next year pack them back up with home made goodies

What you should use them for is cool Arduino project boxes!
Waste not want not and all that. Ladyada has a cool project, a portable +5vdc USB power source mounted in a Altoids gum tin:

Lefty

When I was a kid my dad brought back Dutch cookies from West Germany and they were very good (Gummy bears were sausages are good too). Not so good for the Walmart Dutch cookies that I bought sometime ago. I am a sucker for the tin boxes!

Some girl scout cookies from one of my coworker's kid are actually alright. As a foreigner, I don't really understand why little girls have to join scout only to be exploited to be cookie pushers and their parents have to rob money from their coworkers to fuel this scam. Who's getting the money and to do what good? Where did all those bland cookies come from? ::slight_smile:

Mowcius still likes cookies :slight_smile:

As a foreigner, I don't really understand why little girls have to join scout only to be exploited to be cookie pushers and their parents have to rob money from their coworkers to fuel this scam.

Because sending them out to sell crack is illegal and untaxable(government doesnt like that :wink: )

Wow, that's really something. We should do out best to make arduinos ILLIGAL so they may sell like drugs. We should then push our kids to sell arduinos. There won't be need for real drugs as there is right now. As long as kids have things to occupy their brains we're safe. Afterall arduino is electronic weed. :smiley: