I was blown away....

..by the total ignorance of LED replacement bulbs by Radio Shack. I called a couple of local stores and one tried to tell me that a Maglite brand replacment bulb (if it's a Maglite brand bulb, you know it's not an LED item) was an LED based bulb.

Another location said "uhhhh dunno, never heard of them."

One should never expect anything out of the ordinary from Radio Shack, but we're not talking a small nuclear reactor here; just an LED based replacement bulb.

The days of Radio Shack as a store for hobbiests, run by hobbiests, is (sadly) long gone. The worst offender (so far) is the one nearest to my house. It is a glorified television and cell phone store with untrained sales drones who looked at me like I was from mars when I asked them where they kept the multimeters.

Another RS a little further away is much better but I could do with a GOOD electronics parts store these days!

I think part of the reason for lack of LED replacement bulbs for maglites is most stores want about $8 or more which drives the price of a mag+LED beyond an already made LED light and the average ignorant person would rather pay less for a light already made than dissasemble a light and swap parts.
The stuff radio shack sells is more along the line of bean counters more and more. It used to be their parts had a wider selection and took up half the store and now it is less than 1/3 of the store with more tools, adapters and AV cords than anything. I find myself going to a local electronics parts place but am annoyed because you almost have to know exactly what you want due to they keep most of the newer stuff in the back. I find shopping online easier because I can find places with decent pictures, specifications AND cost up front on a whole family of items instead of them having to look up one part after another.

The only thing that annoys me about online electronic stores is most of them use PDF files and my computer isn't super fast nor is my connection, having to download a big PDF of a whole family of parts to look at one part sucks.

RadioShack,
Youve got questions,
we give blank stares....

-PSM

zespectre, sounds like you shop at my local Rat-Shack....

I mostly stopped bothering with brick and mortar stores for my electronics needs over 15 years ago. First I used mail order places like Mouser and Digikey (I still use their online stores once in a while). Now I check eBay first, and then online stores second.

Radio Shack has sucked for a long time, becoming basically just another place to buy overpriced consumer electronics. Their electronics parts selection is small and for the most part overpriced ($5 for a 5mm white LED???). Once in a while I'll go there for a perfboard or a case if I happen to run out and don't have time to mail order. Canal Street in lower Manhattan was a great place for the hobbyist 20 years ago, but the days of the surplus stores are long gone. The few mom-and-pop electronic stores left are grossly overpriced, and probably would have to special order most of the stuff I need. And anyway why would I want to pay $3 to special order a part from them when I can get the same part in 100s from Mouser for $0.30, and in far less time to boot? Don't even get me started on buying things like LEDs from these places. The ones on eBay are 10 to 100 times as bright and cost 1/10 the price.

In a nutshell, it's impossible for a brick and mortar electronics store to turn a profit any more if they just deal in parts. Parts, if they stock them at all, are usually in a small corner selling at ludicrous prices. Of course, since parts are such a small volume of sales, the staff is utterly clueless even for a basic item like a multimeter.

Back in Juneau AK. around 1980, I used to go to Radio Shack all the time (it was near the Nugget Mall, so it was close to home) to buy LEDs, CdS photocells, solar cells, and things like that all the time.

These days, if I want a specific type of LED, I typically have to special order it. :/
So I haven't shopped at a brick and mortar Radio Shack for at least a year now. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif

I was in Eli, Nevada and I found a Radio Shack that looked like the first Radio Shack ever made. When I asked some questions about some bulbs, this guy was very knowledgeable. He must have been the last of the hobbyists that still owned a Radio Shack.

Jeff

I have long since abandoned "Radio Shaft" as a viable source for electornic hobbyist parts. I've seen mentioned an endearing term on this board as well as other forums, the term "Cellphone Shack". And I whole-heartedly have to agree, which is most unfortunate. I too, have been using Jameco, Digi-Key, All-Electronics, Hosfelt Electronics and the ilk, and in all honesty, their prices are much better than any brick and mortar can offer, IMHO.

Just my $0.02

Abbie

I can't resist a plug for a place back in my hometown though. Sad that I live in our nations capitol and I have to mail-order stuff from back-of-beyond. Anyway in case anyone wants to check them out. Unicorn Electronics

What a shame. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jpshakehead.gif
They just are not with it these days.
They seem to be little more than a pricey low end toy store these days.
Tandy Center is just 25 minutes to my west and I just never seem to go to thier "mall" anymore. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sleepy.gif

Oh, you can buy a T5 white led for around 5 bucks there. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

Yes, IMX Radio Shack mostly a waste. But Fry's is only twenty minutes away.

But does anyone remember that Brookstone's used to sell real, useful, hard-to-find tools, or that Banana Republic used to carry travel gear that actually travelled well?

As a kid 25 years ago, Radio Shack was the place to go to get parts and gizmos. Luckily, there are generally electronics supply places to pick up things locally.

In Canada we don't have any radio shacks left. Circuit city recently bought the franchise and renamed all the stores "The Source" by cicuit city. Besides all the ones I've been to don't carry much for hobbyists, I also find the quality to be sub par and most of their stuff is overpriced. I'd rather support smaller independantley owned electronics stores.

[ QUOTE ]
HWilliam said:
Yes, IMX Radio Shack mostly a waste. But Fry's is only twenty minutes away.

But does anyone remember that Brookstone's used to sell real, useful, hard-to-find tools, or that Banana Republic used to carry travel gear that actually travelled well?

[/ QUOTE ]

Of course, Fry's is becoming more of a retail outlet as well, especially compared to where they were (certainly more selection than R/S has.)

I am pretty much now shopping at Newark - They have a massive free paper catalog, a great on line search engine, and an easy check out. Digikey and mouser are great as well (I have the digikey catalog also), but Newark carries a specific part I use, so that just made it easy to stay with them.

Future Electronics has a lot of parts, but I have not yet figured out how to really efficiently use their web site for parts searches. It appears to assume you already know what you want, which is often not the case for me.

Before anyone thinks you need to be an expert to use these places, believe me, you do not. Just 2 years ago, I had never built anything electronic that actually worked, and had no idea what a surface mount resistor was.

Also Radio Hack uses commission pay soevery time you walk in the door you're attacked like pidgeons going after crumbs. There was a bit of a controversy a few tears ago where their managers basically were claiming to be treated worse than grocery store baggers (forced to clean the carpet,couldn't make any real decisions about the store,etc.)Most of the enthusiasts probobly quit years ago...