LOW QUALITY COMPONENTS...

[jamiewoody]

hypothetically, are there any component brand names to STAY AWAY FROM? are any of them CRAP? if so, which ones?

i searched amazon, i found a 500k potentiometer for $1.48. i found another for $4.58. radioshack has them for around $5.

[Circuitbenders]

well, the first thing i'd say is that buying components from amazon is probably going to cripple your bank account and radioshack should probably be left for when you need a single component in a hurry and are willing to pay way too much, rather like Maplins in the UK.

I wouldn't say there were certain brands to avoid but you tend to get what you pay for. If someone is offering 10 pots for £1 or something, then you can guarantee that they are either going to be very odd values or complete crap. Push button switches are a case iin point. Most suppliers sell very cheap versions that seem like a bargain but they either just don't work or they fall apart within hours.

One thing people might want to be carefull of is buying rare or obselete chips or transistors from China. If the price seems to good to be true then thats probably because they are in fact something completely different with the markings reprinted on the casing, or so rumour would have it. I got a bunch of so called rare transistors for an x0xb0x project a while back from a popular Hong Kong ebay seller that definately weren't what they claimed to be.

[nochtanseenspecht]

i have bad experience with piher pots, wear out to fast
also i hate things that melt when you heat them for more than 3 sec orso, like the blue miniswitches etc