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Chip sources?

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dougal:
I was thinking about ordering a few AVR chips. Maybe about 10 ATTiny85s, and a few others (ATTiny45, ATTiny4313, ATMega328, etc). I was going to order from Mouser.com, but they don't support PayPal, which is my preferred method (because I keep my "mad money" there).

What's a good place to order chips from that:

* Has decent pricing
* Accepts Paypal
* Won't make me wait a month for overseas shipping

MichaelMeissner:
Off the top of my head, Jameco: http://www.jameco.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreCatalogDrillDownView?rf=1&history=aoube68b%7CfreeText~atmega%5Esearch_type~jamecoall%5EprodPage~15%5Epage~SEARCH%252BNAV&app.products.maxperpage=50&sort_field=Relevance&position=1&refine=1&langId=-1&catalogId=10001&storeId=10001

digistump:
Sparkfun as well - though they can be a bit pricey for parts.

You can also try Atmel samples to get some free ones.

dougal:
As a hobbyist with no plans to build a commercial product, it always feels a bit underhanded to ask for samples. I know people do it all the time. But I also know that the intent of free samples is to get them in the hands of businesses who will evaluate them for possible future large-volume orders. And I know I'm not going to do that. And then you get the inevitable follow-up sales call where they ask if you've evaluated the samples, and I feel like a jerk. :)

That's not to say I wouldn't take free parts, if somebody was giving them away for a promotion. I just don't like gaming the system under false pretenses.

I can afford to buy parts. I just want to pay a fair price, and hopefully not end up paying more for shipping than for the actual product. And I want somebody to make it easy to buy the parts. Jameco's web interface makes my brain bleed. I think I'll probably just bite the bullet and order from Mouser. (but I'm still open to suggestions for other sources)

dougal:
Okay, I just did a quick survey of some of the distributors listed from the Atmel site. For each one, I tried ordering qty 10 of ATTiny85-20PU.

Mouser.com: Good shopping experience. Chips $1.08 each. Cheapest shipping method $4.99. No PayPal
Arrow.com: Good shopping experience. Chips $1.00 each. Cheapest shipping method $8.99. Accepts PayPal
AVnet.com: Okay shopping experience. Chips $1.17 each. Cheapest shipping method $8.00. No PayPal
DigiKey.com: Yuck. Chips $1.29 each. Shipping unknown, because you can't proceed until you provide credit card info. Screw that noise.
RocElec.com: Very limited selection of Atmel chips. No ATTiny85.

So, I guess my best bet is to make orders from Mouser and Arrow, and if I can order enough stuff, at better prices, to make up some of the shipping cost differences, Arrow might get the edge.

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