Experience with Digi-reel

[michaelym]

Does anyone have experiance good or bad with Digi-reels or MouseReel?

Do assemblers prefer cut tape?

[ConKbot]

Havent used either, but a lot of pick and place machines need a leader/trailer so they can run the tape though the appropriate path, hence the re-reeling service by digikey/mouser.  Some machines dont need a leader though, so you can feed cut tape into them as needed, or some assembly houses can re-reel cut tape for you (for a fee of course)  Check with your assembly house.

[Neilm]

I have used them - they mostly worked. Sometimes the leaders are not joined very well to the reel which can cause issues but mostly they worked OK

[nickm]

I tried to save money by just ordering about 25 extra pieces of cut tape for each cheap passive on a build.  On a couple I ended up with several small pieces of cut tape which added up to the total I ordered, but could not be used at all.  Turns out when they say cut tape they don't garentee that it will be one contiguous pieces of tape.  I might have ended up saving money since the 25 extra pieces on each passive was nothing and paying 7$ per would add up quickly. 

[calexanian]

On passives i try to buy full reels. For resistors it makes no sense since a whole reel is typically $15 or less. For i.c.'s its a pretty good deal though. The assembler we use has had good luck with digi reel's I have sent.

[JoeyP]

I have used them - they mostly worked. Sometimes the leaders are not joined very well to the reel which can cause issues but mostly they worked OK

^This has been exactly my experience as well.

In general, cut tape is a pain in the ass, and almost always results in wasted parts and extra labor costs.