Solved Adafruit Industries

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I've seen some people buying parts from Adafruit, but is it truly a trustworthy site to buy stuff from?
 

Stitches

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They're reliable enough, but nearly everything is overpriced.
 

Shank

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Adafruit sells the same stuff you can by on AliExpress or eBay, but marked up to exorbitant prices. Their customer service is horrendous. Despite their status as a multimillion dollar company, they don't offer any phone or email customer support: its all done exclusively through their forums, which is a ghost town. They want other customers to solve their customers problems, and staff members rarely reply to customer support emails. It took several weeks, threads, emails and tweets to get a reply from someone at the company. I had 2 broken 2" composite screens I paid $40 each for. Adafruit is THE worst customer support I have ever dealt with.

I would suggest eBay, AliExpress, Amazon, or literally anywhere else on the internet. Heres an example:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/20pc-lot-4...Tactile-Micro-Switch-Push-Button/383384075966
 
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Thank you for that link @GingerOfOz, I've looked all over but wasn't able to find the orange ones. Now they are added to my parts list!
 

Stitches

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Dammit why do the few people carrying those not ship internationally *shakes fist*
 

Yamyi

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check aliexpress, it is reliable ,has international shipping and is usually cheap . example
 
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check aliexpress, it is reliable ,has international shipping and is usually cheap . example
Yeah, I know they have stuff for cheap but I was trying to stay towards the eBay, Amazon, Digikey and only a few items from them. This is because my parents don't really trust it, so I'm only buying batteries from it.
 

Stitches

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Yeah, I know they have stuff for cheap but I was trying to stay towards the eBay, Amazon, Digikey and only a few items from them. This is because my parents don't really trust it, so I'm only buying batteries from it.
Oh no don't buy cells from Aliexpress. Nonononononononononononono get them from a reputable Ebay or Amazon seller. If you order cells from Aliexpress you'll just get flour containers.
 
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Oh no don't buy cells from Aliexpress. Nonononononononononononono get them from a reputable Ebay or Amazon seller. If you order cells from Aliexpress you'll just get flour containers.
I understand your concern, but unless this seller has several fake "endorsers" around the world then these batteries: https://m.aliexpress.com/item/40003...ME2AlGvktTC1Vn3aQFXBiAO0i8lQqiThoCO7EQAvD_BwE should be good because many people have tested them and found the capacity relatively true. However, if these "fake" batteries are known have a shorter overall life please let me know.
 

Stitches

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I understand your concern, but unless this seller has several fake "endorsers" around the world then these batteries: https://m.aliexpress.com/item/40003...ME2AlGvktTC1Vn3aQFXBiAO0i8lQqiThoCO7EQAvD_BwE should be good because many people have tested them and found the capacity relatively true. However, if these "fake" batteries are known have a shorter overall life please let me know.
Official BB recommendation is to not buy cells from Aliexpress. You can roll the dice if you want, but we don't support it.
 
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I can totally see that. I'm willing to pay the extra money. Also, alot of them are bogus out there, so I would really appreciate a link or some tips to spot the real ones. Thank you so much for your help!
 

Stitches

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I can totally see that. I'm willing to pay the extra money. Also, alot of them are bogus out there, so I would really appreciate a link or some tips to spot the real ones. Thank you so much for your help!
Generally speaking the real ones are the cells with consistent appearance. Fakes tend to all look slightly different, visibly cheaper materials, slightly off colouring, misaligned text printing, different font, and have a notably lower cost than other stores. Regular online stores with local stock tend to have legit Panasonic cells, and on Ebay you can just have a scroll through a vendor's feedback history and see if there are any reports of fakes or duds. Some local stores may also carry "brand" cells with the same capacity as Panasonics that are actually just reskinned. I bought some 3400mAh from a local shop in Australia and opened them to find they were just re-wrapped Panasonic cells.

I would provide links to trustable vendors, but all mine are local Australian stock and the shipping overseas would be absurd. @Gman and @GingerOfOz would probably have some links though.
 
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