ebay for electronics test kit?

[Faringdon]

Hi,
The following is an ESD mat (50x50cm), with 2 poppers, and wrist strap and plug....fo £29 which includes shipping..
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/294453161431?hash=item448ec6add7:g:apkAAOSwkHFb4uIv&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAwDp5CbHd%2BsJLs4E1Te0vSPx7Tg9tOeK81v0KruMdEZiDpO0nAD7WeHhj6FcDBJW%2BSLWUwb3w1CW%2FUU7a4njmJdb%2B7K9RH2l0U4NO67u9S8SrOymQ8q6ZI8k7u%2Fl8v8NdJjw9aXYtD5MnQEg%2FkUchEtsxOjPnJRaGe%2BI%2F6O%2BoMJyrlxD4xlW%2BowA69tBbDxcrRhlDRKctWOVAHgptmYyEF4dm6Cw9kYsG7DGNFTEMlGDondEN4GQxdsd83w7GIrn9eg%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABlBMUI7Oyry1YA

A non poppered esd mat on fanell of this size, without the plug strap and poppers is £42 with shipping..
https://uk.farnell.com/scs/770096/2-layer-rubber-mat-24-x-16-blue/dp/2910852?st=esd%20mat

Why is not everyone buying this sort of kit from ebay?

...i mean, just about everything  in electronics test is massively cheaper on ebay...just looked at an 0805 resistor book (8500pcs) for £34....thats well over £100 on farnell/RS etc etc
Can anybody explain this?.....ive been to >40 electronics co's in UK, and none ever asked me to get test kit from ebay.

[MK14]

So you save £13 now.  Then later, when the (ebay) potentially fake/substandard/poor-quality, one fails.  You then static (ESD) damage/destroy a £1,000 unit, for a big customer.  They get annoyed with your lack of quality, and cancel a £35,000 order.  Also, you lose hundreds of thousands of pounds in lost, future business from that now unsatisfied/annoyed customer.

Wait a minute, I forgot.  You're a hobbyist ONLY.  So, no problem, as no customers, and no expensive devices, that may get damaged.  Only a £0.03 (3 pence)  non-DC rated fuse, which you saved 3 pence on getting the correctly rated fuse.

As a hobbyist you only saved a total of 3 pence on the fuse, as you only needed one of them.  But the pennies eventually add up, over time.   

[tautech]

Wait a minute, I forgot. 

You did and despite what Dave said in the Supporters board:

For reasons I won't go into he wanted to change his forum identity and leave "Treez" behind, and we found his reasoning acceptable.

The leopard has not changed his spots ! 

[MK14]

The leopard has not changed his spots ! 

Do you think, that this person/OP, has made a truthful, accurate, real questioning thread here?

Or do you suspect it is a trolling/false, time-wasting one?

[tautech]

The leopard has not changed his spots ! 

Do you think, that this person/OP, has made a truthful, accurate, real questioning thread here?

Or do you suspect it is a trolling/false, time-wasting one?

This.

Take a step back and check his profile for latest threads ....... can you see a pattern that we have seen before ?

[MK14]

This.

Take a step back and check his profile for latest threads ....... can you see a pattern that we have seen before ?

Thanks.

I suppose they have some kind of personality, that gets way too big a buzz, out of creating fictitious threads, and wasting lots of peoples time.

I just can't really understand why the moderators/administrators, would allow someone, who has been banned numerous times, and was (originally) suppose to be permanently banned back.  If they are just going to keep on creating, way, way too many, possibly trolling threads.

It seems silly really, and wastes many peoples time, and could put off, some people, from joining or staying on the forum.

[Faringdon]

So you save £13 now.  Then later, when the (ebay) potentially fake/substandard/poor-quality, one fails.  You then static (ESD) damage/destroy a £1,000 unit, for a big customer.

Good point.
Thing is, i have  heard people saying how they bought cheap from China and it ended up good.....its a good point though......there is so much money to be saved here that it has to be looked into....i may purchase one and test its impedance, to test its ESD  goodness.

[Gyro]

The leopard has not changed his spots ! 

Do you think, that this person/OP, has made a truthful, accurate, real questioning thread here?

Or do you suspect it is a trolling/false, time-wasting one?

This.

Take a step back and check his profile for latest threads ....... can you see a pattern that we have seen before ?

Frankly, it's just the same slow speed train crash that we've witnessed for years, right back to the lighting exploits. Only the subject changes - I think it the first time he's actually tried to assemble something though ( )

Nothing new to see here, just a peak in the thread frequency and inainity.

[MK14]

So you save £13 now.  Then later, when the (ebay) potentially fake/substandard/poor-quality, one fails.  You then static (ESD) damage/destroy a £1,000 unit, for a big customer.

Good point.
Thing is, i have  heard people saying how they bought cheap from China and it ended up good.....its a good point though......there is so much money to be saved here that it has to be looked into....i may purchase one and test its impedance, to test its ESD  goodness.

Also, usually an engineers time is rather valuable/limited.  So is it worth trying to save small amounts of money, then losing valuable minutes and hours, checking/fixing on the bits and pieces, because the buyer cheaped out on everything.

Buy cheap, buy twice.

[Faringdon]

...Thanks good point, i must admit though, i really dont know what to think now...i once worked for a company where an engineer came to work carrying a  Far Eastern  "cloned" version of our product......absolutely everyone (everyone!) at the co said how disgusted they were that it had been done.....it later emerged...it was the company itself.....i guess they knew that if they didnt do it then someone else would.

I have worked at places where they had arranged bulk builds in  the Far East...and yet assured big customers that everything would be designed and  built in-house in UK.............they would invite the cust round to see our manufacturing facility....at lunchtime the custs were able to walk freely about....i caught them near my desk.....discussing with each other how there was no way that this place could service that size of order...they were absolutely right....

So i am not sure how quick i am to write  something off as being cheap and from Far East..when the "UK alternative" may well not be that...and may be from the Far East anyway.

In the past, PCBs and transformers that i have had ordered from China were always  of superb quality...and the Engineering contact superb aswell.

[MK14]

...Thanks good point, i must admit though, i really dont know what to think now...i once worked for a company where an engineer came to work carrying a  Far Eastern  "cloned" version of our product......absolutely everyone (everyone!) at the co said how disgusted they were that it had been done.....it later emerged...it was the company itself.....i guess they knew that if they didnt do it then someone else would.

I have worked at places where they had arranged bulk builds in  the Far East...and yet assured big customers that everything would be designed and  built in-house in UK.............they would invite the cust round to see our manufacturing facility....at luchtime the custs were able to walk freely about....i caught them near my desk.....discussing with each other how there was no way that this place could service that size of order...they were absolutely right....

So i am not sure how quick i am to right something off as being cheap and from Far East..when the "UK alternative" may well not be that...and may be from the Far East anyway

Well a business, has to make the right decisions, to suit that business.  Hopefully taking some account/notice of things other than immediate profits.

[Faringdon]

Just tested the above ESD mat of the top post and its fine.

50cm x 40cm
4 poppers
one yellow plug
one double poppered cable
one cable with popper and 4mm plug
other bits and bobs

I  measured the resistance through  my body--->through the blue surface of the mat---->and to the popper...it was some 150kOhms...that is absolutely fine for the assembly i am doing.
Woudl have been higher res if i had put insulator under the mat instead of just having it on the floor (lino)