A spin-off from another thread:

80 cent chinese scientific calculators

The link says it all.

And they would be making a profit on those bulk prices...

80 cents is what it cost for just ONE key switch on my uWatch, even in bulk.

Dave.

I just noticed that *everything* on their entire site seems to be 80 cents!

Dave.

Hello!

Quote:

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And they would be making a profit on those bulk prices...

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Absolutely incredible! But not only calculators. Recently I bought a watch from Hongkong through eBay "Buy it Now": Modeled after an Omega Seamaster (but not a fake or replica watch as these get confiscated by our customs), all stainless steel case and bracelet, automatic movement with glass bottom and mineral glass crystal, packaged in a nice gift box. Directly from the manufacturer. The price? One Euro. A replacement mineral glass crystal for watches can not be found for less than 20 Euros here. How much longer can this go on?

Regards,
Max

Edited: 29 July 2011, 7:22 a.m.

Again I recognise the Sharp EL-506P keys. Does that make the EL-506P the most cloned scientific calculator?

Edit: the EL-506P was the first calculator I ever purchased. I think I paid ~£25 at the time :-).

Edited: 29 July 2011, 7:27 a.m.

It gets better, I select curency to GB pound and the prices change to £0.06!!

No company data: buyer beware.

I'd suggest to check with Alibaba (they recently removed lots and lots of fake sellers, so the present sellers are more or less trustworthy...).

While some list calculators for less than 1 USD, most are in the 2-3 USD range.


The huge problem: most listed sellers are just traders and not manufacturer, so not the first choice place to purchase your goods from.

Some of them seem like Casio ripoffs.

This one seems like its keyboard is almost, if not exactly, the same as this one.

dave - have you looked at the prices for small components (including switches) on ebay? the prices out of china are pretty good, and the quality is mostly quite passable. for instance, i've just bought (just 10 as samples) the following through-hole small switches:

10,ALPS 6X6X5MM Tactile Push Button Switch Momentary

these are for an hp-15c desktop clone i'm working on.

or there's these ones, much like the ones you use in the uWatch:

15× EVQPJS04K PUSHBUTTON TACT SWITCH 6×3½×4.3mm SMD/SMT

I sometimes buy electronic parts directly from sellers in China via ebay, DealExtreme or other such places and am generally very pleased with the quality and especially the price. They usually ship for free or nearly so but that's the the rub, it can take a month to get things.

Edited: 29 July 2011, 10:26 a.m.

I'm a bit surprised that a .org web address is obviously commercial in nature. When I bought my .org IIRC it had a no commerce stipulation.

Ren

dona nobis pacem

That's history. No one cares anymore. I think the .gov, .mil and .edu are the only "classics" still restricted.

On a sidenote, I'm still unhappy about the "old rules" - I would have reserved me a nice boehm.de domain, but the .de was only available to companies back then.

So go for boehm.name!

Yes, occasionally I check ebay if I don't care about component quality.

The problem with projects like the uWatch is that many of the components are chosen for very specific physical and/or as aesthetic functional purposes as well as electrical/functional. It's not like buying regular components to just populate a PCB in a box.

Dave.

The supply chain seems to matter. For instance if you want a good LED, you have to buy a known chip through a cmpany with a track record. They are all made in China, but the "warrantee" is what matters....because they all look the same, even when they are not.

Quote:

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A spin-off from another thread:

80 cent chinese scientific calculators

The link says it all.

And they would be making a profit on those bulk prices...

80 cents is what it cost for just ONE key switch on my uWatch, even in bulk.

Dave.

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The News page has this text on it:

This store is for demo purpose only. No order will be proceed.

Just hot air ... after all ... sigh!!!

Namir

Edited: 29 July 2011, 9:16 p.m.

Even if you could buy them, the minimum order is 5000 pieces!!! Keith