nigelmercier
RIP
- Joined
- 20 Jun 2007
- Messages
- 16,234
- Location
- Live in Kent, boat in Canary Islands
Quite so. Overpriced, and out of date gear.
Maplins
- Thread starter doris
- Start date
AntarcticPilot
Well-Known Member
Also high street shops. In currys the other day to get a longer hdmi lead and three tills open. Two had queues with each customer having to have their name and addressed logged. The other till took 5+ minutes to boot up - the guy said their system was based on xp - the money they must lose by having a payment system that pisses off their customers must be enormous.
Edit : just got your joke
Edit 2: totally off topic but re my hdmi lead. They do several qualities the best of which was 5x the price of the cheapest (£6 vs £30). A quick Google showed there was no way there was going to be any difference in performance. Just a blatant con trick imo.
In a different line of business, Screwfix insist on having name and address.
doris
Well-Known Member
But aren't Screwfix a mail order company? Then again they may be a dating agency!
prv
Well-Known Member
You can buy from them over the counter too. I wouldn't be giving them my name and address though.
Pete
duncan99210
Well-Known Member
I always give them the postcode of the nursing home that looks after my Mother. She seems to like getting all the junk mail....
Storyline
Well-Known Member
Not meI thought everyone knew that, years ago
It is strange because although the cheapest is ok with hdmi when it comes to dvi (also digital) I was told by someone who should know that cable quality did make a difference.
(Some of the descriptions on the expensive hdmi cables are borderline con tricks - such as 'hi speed', 'For 1080p', 'needed for FullHD'. It is totally outrageous, I could have paid 25% of the price of the new (amazing) LG TV just for the cable !)
st599
Well-Known Member
I thought everyone knew that, years ago
Not true for HDMI 2.0. The bandwidth required for 4kp60 requires tight tolerances on the transmission line. The cheap leads aren't designed to carry 12Gbps video.
st599
Well-Known Member
Maplin are a vendor of overpriced, out of date gear. Only ever used if you desperately need it today.
Like Currys, staffed by people with no knowledge of what they sell.
Like Currys, staffed by people with no knowledge of what they sell.
st599
Well-Known Member
Not me
It is strange because although the cheapest is ok with hdmi when it comes to dvi (also digital) I was told by someone who should know that cable quality did make a difference.
(Some of the descriptions on the expensive hdmi cables are borderline con tricks - such as 'hi speed', 'For 1080p', 'needed for FullHD'. It is totally outrageous, I could have paid 25% of the price of the new (amazing) LG TV just for the cable !)
Cable quality does make a difference. Some cheaper cables can manage the 1.5Gbps of 1080i but not the 3Gbps of 1080p. The manufacturing tolerances needed to allow 12Gbps of 4kp60 make the cable more expensive.
elton
Well-Known Member
If a cable is labelled as having a bandwidth or specification suitable for the intended application, it will produce no degradation to the picture quality whatsoever. The picture will be as clear as that from a cable ten times the price, carrying whatever claims of "superior picture quality" the vendor might make. If the picture is degraded in any way from that produced from the expensive cable, then it should be returned as faulty.
Bru
Well-Known Member
And yet I'm not alone in finding the opposite to be the case
More expensive, fair enough, than online sellers but not ridiculously so, my (relatively new) local branch carries a good range of components and bits and pieces (some of the less frequently sold stuff like transistors, triacs and so on might not be on display but it's there if you ask) and the staff are helpful and more knowledgeable than I'd frankly expect of shop floor staff in retail
If time permits and I can make up a decent size order I'm likely to go to CPC fit electronics and Thomann for music gear but for odds and ends and need it right now stuff Maplin are very useful
Searush
Well-Known Member
A 30 minute 15 mile drive to their store rather puts me off the "get it now" scenario. It's usually easier to put the job off for a day or two until the part drops thro the letter box. An item ordered for Christmas one evening arrived by the next post at Noon the following day, Those of you with a morning post (& a job) may well have got it before you left for work, but that is a bit exceptional
emnick
Well-Known Member
£34.99 for a 2.9 A/H battery!!! I normally pay under around £10incVAT
gjgm
Well-Known Member
Ok, but you can still get a 2.0 for a few quid ?
How cheap are we thinking !!
Storyline
Well-Known Member
The prices I found when buying one there and then from the retail park (Argos/currys) ranged from c. £6 - £16 for a longer one but they also offered these 'high performance' type ones for around an outrageous £30. The main culprit seemed to be belkin. No doubt they were better made and looked nicer but unnecessary it appears.