5 ms·

I've seen the last years of Conrad, and my impression is that it was made obsolete by online retail. Like yes, if its Friday afternoon, and you need parts urgen

by oytis 3y ago

I've seen the last years of Conrad, and my impression is that it was made obsolete by online retail. Like yes, if its Friday afternoon, and you need parts urgently for your weekend project, then you can go there. But otherwise you get better choice for less money online. I still have a bottle of flux I've got from them in my closet. The funny thing about it is it leaves conductive traces unless cleaned. Not the best choice for the only flux on the shelf on an electronic DIY shop.

mschuster91 3y ago
> Like yes, if its Friday afternoon, and you need parts urgently for your weekend project, then you can go there. But otherwise you get better choice for less money online. Yep, agreed. But online has its own problems... Amazon is full of shit with zero supply chain control, including safety-relevant stuff like fuses [1], or stuff secretly dropshipped from China or grey-imported from the UK or shipped from Poland with way more than a day of lead time. eBay is even worse. Bürklin is good but they do take their while to ship because they don't have an insane volume deal with DHL. And all of online is useless if you have stuff like weird connectors you need to find a matching mate or want to make sure <component> physically fits, or want to find a component that fits. No problem at Conrad, a huge and annoying hassle with online. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B90_SNNbcoU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B90_SNNbcoU
- oytis 3y ago
  Amazon has become a more expensive version of Alibaba, I order from there only when I need stuff real quick - and they have a generous return policy if things don't work out. But for components you also have more established suppliers like Digikey, Avnet, Arrow etc.
  - mschuster91 3y ago
    Yeah but as mentioned that's 2-3 days worth of round-trip time for each iteration. Meanwhile, the Conrad in Munich Center was... 15 minutes by bike, less if I ignored traffic rules.

by oytis 3y ago

mschuster91 3y ago

> Like yes, if its Friday afternoon, and you need parts urgently for your weekend project, then you can go there. But otherwise you get better choice for less money online. Yep, agreed. But online has its own problems... Amazon is full of shit with zero supply chain control, including safety-relevant stuff like fuses [1], or stuff secretly dropshipped from China or grey-imported from the UK or shipped from Poland with way more than a day of lead time. eBay is even worse. Bürklin is good but they do take their while to ship because they don't have an insane volume deal with DHL. And all of online is useless if you have stuff like weird connectors you need to find a matching mate or want to make sure <component> physically fits, or want to find a component that fits. No problem at Conrad, a huge and annoying hassle with online. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B90_SNNbcoU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B90_SNNbcoU

oytis 3y ago
Amazon has become a more expensive version of Alibaba, I order from there only when I need stuff real quick - and they have a generous return policy if things don't work out. But for components you also have more established suppliers like Digikey, Avnet, Arrow etc.
- mschuster91 3y ago
  Yeah but as mentioned that's 2-3 days worth of round-trip time for each iteration. Meanwhile, the Conrad in Munich Center was... 15 minutes by bike, less if I ignored traffic rules.