OSH Park currently selling Teensy 3.1 at an amazing price

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In Columbus, Ohio, USA: MicroCenter has Teensy 3.1 on a shelf, $16.99, retail price. MicroCener is making a real effort to satisfy the burgeoning DIY/maker market: 3D printers, Arduino, Beagle, MinnowBoard, Nvidia Jetson (!!), PCduino, components, parts, etc. I am optimisitc that their approach is sustainable, since it's a real convenience.
 
In Columbus, Ohio, USA: MicroCenter has Teensy 3.1 on a shelf, $16.99, retail price. MicroCener is making a real effort to satisfy the burgeoning DIY/maker market: 3D printers, Arduino, Beagle, MinnowBoard, Nvidia Jetson (!!), PCduino, components, parts, etc. I am optimisitc that their approach is sustainable, since it's a real convenience.

That would be nice. Unfortunately MicroCenter closed their only store in the bay area, which seems like it would be the best place to be for that business model.
 
That would be nice. Unfortunately MicroCenter closed their only store in the bay area, which seems like it would be the best place to be for that business model.

When things got a bit tight a few years ago, they had to pull back to safer territory. They have remained in markets that didn't already have good suppliers (e.g. Fry's).

They started here in Columbus, and for too many years were a straight (computer) department store. They have really improved which means they're about half as cool as Fry's. I'm slightly less envious now. I can't complain, though. Now I can get a good variety of parts and components on the way home from work or with a short bicycle trip instead of transcontinental air travel. :)
 
Speaking of the SF Bay Area, there's a store called Anchor Electronics that is wonderful for discrete components, connectors, and small ICs like opamps. The have a tiny and outdated selection of microprocessor stuff. It would be cool if they could be talked into updating their processor-related inventory starting with the Teensy 3.1, etc.

I've seen Arduino-compatible boards at both Frys and Radioshack in this area. The Frys near me have gotten pretty bad for discrete components. Seems like nobody minds that part of the store. Maybe either or both could be talked into stocking some PJRC inventory, too.
 
Two Fry's here... I go there maybe every 1-2 months. On average, they have no/short line and 6 cashiers. Way down as compared to when the ecnonomy was better and Newegg/Amazon wasn't a competitor. Fry's is good about matching prices. They just had their 29th anniversary sale.
 
I know that everyone is happy with the price offered by OSH Park, but it was frustrating for me... Living in Brazil, I waited more than 2 months to receive my board, but after I welded the headers, I connected the board to test the pins with the multimeter... do not need much, just plug the USB and the connector crash! Take a look:
DSCN0224.JPG
CHOKED!

I resampled the image to fit here, but if anyone wants to see with a higher resolution, let me know...
 
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Ouch. Here's a page about how to connect to the USB test points on the bottom side. It won't replace the USB connector, but at least you'll be able to make use of the board.

http://forum.pjrc.com/threads/19336-How-to-repair-a-broken-off-Teensy-3-0-USB-connector

Hi Paul, thanks for the help one more time, I already ordered other 3.1, this time, directly from PJRC, because I thinked this was a quality problem (seriously, I did not force the connector). But I realize that is a more common problem than I thought.

Please, can you confirm to me if I've to weld this areas on 3.1 (because the layout is different). Thanks!
card5a_rev5.jpg
 
Recently, I pulled upward a skosh too hard on the USB plug on an OSH Teensy3.1 and the connector tabs lifted off of the pads but the electrical connections were intact. A quick re-soldering of the tabs and it's good to go again. Not faulting OSH here.
Must be gentle with these non-through-hole USB connectors.
 
Anchor is really well-organized. Anchor has a decent catalog of SMT components on reels as well as through-hole and DIP components in the back and mostly new items on the shelves.

Halted has more customer space, but is much less organized and has much more recycled stuff.

I've found valuable components at both. A fair comparison would take much more time and knowledge than I've got, so if you can, go visit both. My guess is that Anchor would be a better candidate as a new distributor for PJRC.
 
I just checked with Laen at OSH Park... it's not a mistake, they really are trying a low $17 price.

http://store.oshpark.com/products/teensy-3-1

My guess is this price might not last very long. Then again, when he started custom PCBs at $5 / sq-inch without any setup fees or shipping, I figured that couldn't last either.

Edit: These really are genuine Teensy 3.1 boards from PJRC. I know Laen, and I personally delivered these boards to him last Friday. Normally you should be suspicious of such a low price, but in this case, I can assure you, it really is real. Well, at least for now. We'll see how long it lasts.

When Paul says they boards are original Teensys and Paul would not to reapply to by them there so why not? And yes the price is a little bit suspicious.

But why purple? Hello I'm not working on an "Hello Kitty" Desk
 
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Having 2 'spare/backup' boards at a good fair price, is quite liberating. WEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeee :eek:)

Yes, so very true.

I usually buy 2 or 3 of any part. When the project is done, it's really nice to have a spare. If another similar need comes along I can do it again quickly, since I already have the experience with the code and a couple spares laying around. Often I build stuff for friends (and especially friends who are Burning Man artists) where it's really nice to have stuff ready-to-go.
 
My guess is that Anchor would be a better candidate as a new distributor for PJRC.

I believe they came by my booth at Maker Faire and asked about distributing Teensy. Or it was some local vendor that began with the letter "A". It was at the end of Sunday, as we were breaking everything down and packing up. After a long weekend, I was more focused on getting things packed. Other than "begins with A", I recall they were wearing Arduino shirts and had been exhibiting all weekend in the Arduino/Atmel area. We talked briefly about them selling Teensy, but honestly, they sounded a little lukewarm to the idea. My guess is they'll probably only stock official Arduino brand boards.

Their contact info isn't in the small pile of business cards and notes I collected over the weekend. I sent them a message through their website. If they reply, there's certainly no reason why PJRC wouldn't add them as a distributor. It's really up to them.

If anyone in the bay area really wants to see this happen, it might be worthwhile to go chat with them, perhaps even taking a project built with Teensy. Like many stores, they probably feel sticking with Arduino brand is safest. A little feedback from real customers can often make quite a difference.
 
Paul,

It's unlikely your contact was Anchor Electronics. They are clueless about microprocessor boards. They don't stock any Arduino stuff. I'd be very surprised if they could even spell 'Arduino'.

I've shown a couple of their employees my little Morse code gadget in an Altoids Smalls container. I feel a little stupid for not realizing it would be harmless to encourage them consider approaching PJRC. I could also show them a white noise generator I whipped up with a Teensy 3. (Complete overkill, but it was fast, cheap, and incredibly easy.)

I can definitely do that next time I'm there, but with a young baby at home, I'm not getting out much. If someone else in the area wants to pick up this torch, that would be great! Otherwise, it may be a couple of month, but I'll happily do it.

John
 
If anyone in the bay area really wants to see this happen, it might be worthwhile to go chat with them, perhaps even taking a project built with Teensy. Like many stores, they probably feel sticking with Arduino brand is safest. A little feedback from real customers can often make quite a difference.
In the Boston area, in the two stores that carry electrical hobby stuff (Micro Center and You-do-it), I don't recall seeing any official Arduino boards there. You-do-it first started carrying OSEPP clones, then added with the Sparkfun redboards, and recently has started carrying some Adafruit stuff and Teensy 3.1's. I don't think MIcro Center yet carries Teensys, but they do carry rasberry pi, digispark and tinyduino as well. The only brick & mortar place I've seen official Arduino boards for sale is Radio Shack. Of course maybe they are in the other stores, and my eyes just glaze over them.
 
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This deal is awesome. I was about to order a Teensy 3.1 from HiTechStoreGermany through amazon for £23, but from OSH Park I got 2 for the same price. In purple no less!
 
Spoke with Orville the lead tech at Anchor Electronics about Anchor becoming a distributor for PJRC. He acknowledged that they hadn't really caught on to the whole Arduino thing (but at least he'd heard of it). Sounded intrigued and took down the URL. I hope he'll contact you... I've got zero experience in this sort of selling but I'm sure at least that I didn't offend him. If you don't hear from them in a month or so, it probably wouldn't hurt to follow up by maybe having Robin phone them? They don't know me by name, but you can certainly use me as a reference.
 
Brazil and Italy have the slowest postal systems of any developed countries.

We've seen 4-5 weeks as normal delivery time to Brazil, so I would guess your package is likely to arrive soon.

Mate i'm italian and i can say that italy can hardly be considered a developed country nowdays ! :D
 
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