Going to be in Concord Ca soon. Just wondering if anyone knows of some "gotta visit" sites or stores for a visiting arduinophile.
note: I live in a place without Best Buy's or Fry's and such. I got a wal-mart and a cell-phone store formerly known as Radio Shack.
Concord is essentially right on the edge of "Silicon Valley" - try this list of surplus electronics places for starters:
http://www.junktronix.com/svss/
You might have to do some driving - but I would be willing to bet you'll find more than you can take back! Have fun!
BTW - check out their online stores first to get an idea of what places have, then give a call to them to make sure they are still in the same place and/or open for the public...
I live about 12 miles west of Concord. Not any pure electronics hobby type stores there that I know of. There is of course Best Buy and a hugh Fry's in town. If your into R/C hobby stuff there is a very nice and large Hobby Town next door in Walnut Creek: Google Maps
Silicon Valley is probably a good hour+ drive away if there is no traffic but there are sure to be something there in electronics surplus, I just don't like the traffic anymore and mostly mail order.
Lefty
I will probably end up checking out a few of those stores listed. What I really need is to get some test bench equipment (power supply, maybe an old O scope) but I don't want to spend too much.
What happened to all of the old analog stuff when all of the univeristies and schools upgraded to digital?
I will probably end up checking out a few of those stores listed. What I really need is to get some test bench equipment (power supply, maybe an old O scope) but I don't want to spend too much.
What happened to all of the old analog stuff when all of the univeristies and schools upgraded to digital?
I've seen a couple of local E-bay sellers that bid or buy that stuff from the local universities in bulk and resell them on E-bay. It's been awhile sense I looked into one of the sellers but they stated no local sales, but local pick-ups allowed. Prices were very good but you never really know the state of such equipment and all were listed as is.
Lefty
Prices were very good but you never really know the state of such equipment and all were listed as is.
I've always been of the opinion that you never want to buy an o-scope or other piece of test equipment used unless you can try it out before purchase; you might end up throwing good money after bad, otherwise...
I have been back to Silicon valley for a few years now. I know that Triangle has closed, though. Too bad: they had a wonderful mix of electronics, mechanical, and optical.
HSC used to have much better deals in the stores than on their website. Probably still do, but find someone who's still local to confirm it.
ACE was also one of my favorite parts sources when I was living there: it was still one of those places where you could take a pile of resistors, caps and connectors to the counter and have someone say "That looks like 5 bucks worth", and make you happy because even at HSC it would be $8-10.
Surplus Computers was great for the Chinese tools and for recently-discontinued PC stuff at surplus prices.
If the electronics swap meet is anything like it was in its Foothill days, you must go if you can, and go early: when I was a regular, there were literally people shopping by flashlight as sellers were trying to set up. And you'll find stuff you can't get anywhere else on Earth: a friend of mine once bought some night-vision gear that (unbeknownst to him) was still classified. The seller was later featured in news stories about his trial: he had been dumpster-diving at some military base where damaged/decommissioned equipment was being scrapped, stealing stuff before it was sent to the crusher so the Commies couldn't copy it.