MAPLINS - ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS : Read reviews and compare prices at Ciao.co.uk

Author's product rating:

Advantages:	Huge stock range covering most electronic/techncial fields
Disadvantages:	Not all prices as low as elsewhere .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

A long while ago, my High St. used to have a Tandy shop. By a tortuous route, our local branch became a Jessops Photographic store, which in itself was no bad thing – you get a bit tired of Dixons being the only place you can buy a camera!

Firstly, Carphone Warehouse, who had bought the Tandy name in the UK, decided to phase out certain branches in favour of Tecno, a photographic chain, and our local branch followed this sequence.

No sooner had I bought a brace of SLR cameras from Tecno, AND taken out the extended warranty, than I got a letter from Jessops, telling me that they had bought Tecno’s interests and assets for Carphone Warehouse, and in future, the Hounslow branch would be a Jessops.

I THOUGHT THIS WAS ABOUT MAPLIN

Calm down, calm down, la’, I know it’s a long preamble to an opinion on Maplin, but bear with me, there’s a point.

I always felt comfortable knowing there was a Tandy shop around – not that I ever bought much there (no-one else did either – perhaps that was the problem!), but just knowing they were there when my latest bit of hi-fi turned up without a lead or vital connector, and on a Sunday, was very comforting. Also, they were always full of gadgets and other stuff that you never knew you needed until you got there!

Another shop precisely like that is Maplin, but I knew my nearest branch was either a tediously long bus ride to Hammersmith, or I could brave almost “Central London” traffic levels to drive there and pay to park in King's Mall, but for what, a long phono lead or a rare battery? Do me a favour!

Then one day, I was actually in Kingston, SW London, on business and decided to have a look in the newly opened Maplin branch (curiously, two doors from where Tandy HAD been), and actually bought something.

Anyway, problem solved. I still had an electronic knick-knack shop, which is famous (or perhaps INfamous) for the size of its catalogue and for the fact that they have the audacity to charge for it! I buy this once a year just for fun mainly. It usually has about 1,000 pages, although a large chunk consists of page after page of “Semi-conductors”. In fact, whilst writing this, I was reminded of the fact that mine is just going out of date now, and went onto the www.maplin.co.uk web site to order the next one for £3.99, post-free. It has now arrived.

SO JUST WHO OR WHAT ARE MAPLIN?

Maplin is an electronics firm deriving their name from the Maplin Sands on the north bank of the Thames Estuary, near their original Southend head office, although their new HQ is at Wombwell, near Barnsley.

Even before the Internet took hold, they enabled on-line mail order, and I did use this once or twice with my faithful “high speed” 1.2K modem – being a text-only affair, even that was quick!

Now part of Carphone Warehouse themselves (at least I think they are, the bag they gave me in Kingston said so on the side), they are in a bullish position, setting up new branches where, traditionally, there had either been a Tandy or none at all. The total now stands at 66*, spread throughout the mainland plus one branch in Belfast and one south of the border in Dublin. To my delight, this list now includes Hounslow High St., my local shopping centre. I also noticed from a recent visit to the in-laws, that Norwich has a branch on Castle Meadows.

*I just rescued the old catalogue from our recycling bin to check - last year there were 60 branches, so 10% more in one year is quite expansive.

They have an extremely wide product range, as anyone with a copy of their catalogue will attest. Almost anything in the electronic and electrical line is covered from computer hardware through to batteries, disco equipment to in-car hi-fi, digital photography to weather station equipment. Looking for a particular lead to tidy up the back of your hi-fi rack? Maplin will no doubt have it. Buying a radio-controlled model car for your son (of COURSE it’s for him, Dad)? Look no further.

The interior of the stores varies in size quite a lot. Kingston is large by comparison with the new Hounslow branch, and I suspect that, compared to the catalogue, this only shows the tip if the iceberg, vis-à-vis stock. Minor items not on show can be requested from the Components desk at the back of the shop, where a member of staff will disappear into the deepest recesses of the premises to check stock position and hopefully come up with the goods.

Concentrating on PC’s, you can buy cases, motherboards, hard drives, processors, RAM, peripheral cards, monitors and keyboards/mice. In fact, the hobbyist can cobble together a complete PC from here. Not necessarily at on-line prices found elsewhere but you do get this massive catalogue to browse at your leisure. BEWARE, BROWSING CAUSES YOU TO DISCOVER HOBBIES THAT YOU NEVER KNEW YOU HAD, AND CAN BE HARMFUL TO YOUR WALLET!

BUYING FROM MAPLIN

Even if you are nowhere near a store, Maplin is still in easy reach for anyone with a phone or Internet access (or a postage stamp!). You can phone orders through to 0870 264 6000 – you will of course be expected to know the stock number of your items, and this is where a copy of the catalogue comes into its own. Even when using the web site for your ordering, a foreknowledge of stock numbers helps, as finding things can depend on whether you know its precise name. For example, many sites include hard disk drives under “Mass Storage”, and if you don’t know this, you can only hope that they’ve got a cross-reference to “Hard Disks”.

You can also send in the order forms supplied with the catalogue by post or FAX. They send you some more with your delivered order.

The catalogue contains a whole sheaf of discount vouchers, amounting to about 5% per purchase.

Price-wise, Maplin is something of a dilemma. Perusal of their pages will trigger such thoughts as “Hmmmm, cheaper in Argos” or “Heh, that’s cheap!” in equal quantities.

However, to sum up, Maplin supply a HUGE range of goods mainly in the electronics field, always in the technical field. Having their catalogue to hand is far faster than some web-searches I know of, but I still think charging 4 quid for it is a bit of a liberty. Holding the cost back against your first purchase would be nice……..