Bye bye Maplin / Toys R Us

[Analoguesat]

Both have announced within the last hour they have gone into administration.

 

[TJExcalibur]

Both have announced within the last hour they have gone into administration.

Its the people who work there and thee knock on affects for employees it has who I feel sorry for. Never used Toys R Us but often used Maplins, but a bit expensive.

 

[pontiend]

I found Maplins very handy as TJExcalibur says a bit expensive.If I want it now though I don't mid paying a bit more.In fact last week I bought two packs of shrink tube there.Better that waiting for it to be delivered.

 

[william-1]

I use Maplin & will miss the very knowledgeable staff plus the convenience as it was only 20 minutes away sad loss ,
Where will it end ?
Eventually online shopping will be the only way to shop without the good advice that Maplin offered.

 

[Topper]

Well Toys R Us have been in desperate trouble since just before Xmas and Maplins have priced themselves out of the market, unfortunately it is a reality of life today that no company can afford to have a retail premises in every town, this is nothing new, but sad the way things are going

 

[Llew]

Maplins five minutes walk away for me, and convenient to pop in for something necessary to complete a project rather than wait for an online purchase.
Shame to see them go bust. A fire sale in prospect?

 

[hairybadger]

Shame to see them go bust. A fire sale in prospect?

The vultures gather.....

 

[RustySpoons]

Maplins were going downhill rapidly over the years, they were good for electronic components many years ago and reasonable, then they started focusing on gadgets and things. I must pop in to one of their stores at least once a week, usually looking at stuff in the sale or clearance.
The components they stock are getting less and less and hasn't moved with the times, nothing modern.

RS is free next day delivery, no minimum cost.
CPC is free delivery but takes a few days.
Farnell is free with a minimum spend.

So tend to use the above more often these days.

 

[scopus]

The vultures gather.....

Probably even with 50% off some items, still would be cheaper elsewhere!...I found Maplin too expensive. Handy though if you were desperate...

 

[Archive-8]

I only ever used them when I needed something now.

They are just to expensive.

 

[davemurgtroyd]

I used Maplins a fair bit mail order in the 70's and 80's but very rarely used the local retail shop.

 

[Llew]

When they published a monthly magazine many years ago, there were many running projects of interest, most using their own available PC boards and cases. Quite decent-looking stuff too.
Kits were available, but sometimes I just bought the boards and populated it usually using my own components.
Still have their design of a home alarm system in operation; must be over twenty years old, and proved its worth a few times too...

 

[Ghostleader]

Its the people who work there and thee knock on affects for employees it has who I feel sorry for. Never used Toys R Us but often used Maplins, but a bit expensive.

Too expensive I always found unless the thing you were after was on sale.

 

[Ghostleader]

I used Maplins a fair bit mail order in the 70's and 80's but very rarely used the local retail shop.

Never knew they were about from that time, I remember "Tandy" from being a kid in the 80's.

 

[2cvbloke]

I'm not really surprised they're going under, they went from a component supplier to chinese tat purveyor, the majority of the electronic gadgetry they have in store you can get for far less direct from china on sites like Banggood or DX, like Radioshack across the pond (who set up Tandy here in he UK), they forgot what kept them afloat, the electronic components, once they stopped doing those, that was start of the nails being hammered into their coffin...

 

[RustySpoons]

I cleaned Maplins out of "Lorex" IP Cameras not long ago, they were dirt cheap and could only work on a Lorex system apparently.
Little did anyone know they are Dahua cameras and once I got root access on a terminal I nuked a load of stuff and flashed them with the Dahua firmware.

I love looking for mega discounted items there, you can sometimes get a really good bargain.

 

[Archive-8]

I cleaned Maplins out of "Lorex" IP Cameras not long ago, they were dirt cheap and could only work on a Lorex system apparently.
Little did anyone know they are Dahua cameras and once I got root access on a terminal I nuked a load of stuff and flashed them with the Dahua firmware.

I love looking for mega discounted items there, you can sometimes get a really good bargain.

Tenvis and foscam are virtually the same. Good score

 

[jeallen01]

I liked everything I saw/read of Lorex stuff, and would have bought a 8-camera DVR and 6 cameras last year, but for the prices and the other jobs I had on the go.

Maybe, if someone spots some more of them going cheap, they can give me the nod - and then help me programme them if I have to do more than just "plug the stuff in and watch" as a CCTV system IS probably on the cards this year!

 

[RustySpoons]

I liked everything I saw/read of Lorex stuff, and would have bought a 8-camera DVR and 6 cameras last year, but for the prices and the other jobs I had on the go.

Maybe, if someone spots some more of them going cheap, they can give me the nod - and then help me programme them if I have to do more than just "plug the stuff in and watch" as a CCTV system IS probably on the cards this year!

Already posted this image in the other thread, but this is my setup, these Lorex badged cameras are Dahua, some of the Lorex stuff is Hikvision.
Don't bother buying a kit, do some research and buy individual cameras with the correct focal length and suitability etc. You cant go wrong with Dahua or Hikvision if you are looking for something. The Lorex stuff is "gimped" as they put awful firmware on their products.

 

[Archive-8]

Already posted this image in the other thread, but this is my setup, these Lorex badged cameras are Dahua, some of the Lorex stuff is Hikvision.
Don't bother buying a kit, do some research and buy individual cameras with the correct focal length and suitability etc. You cant go wrong with Dahua or Hikvision if you are looking for something. The Lorex stuff is "gimped" as they put awful firmware on their products.

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Do you happen to know the brand oswoo, do you know who they really are?