Can I get on a waiting list to buy a Raspberry Pi?
April 20, 2022 5:49 PM Subscribe
I want to buy a Raspberry Pi, but they're sold out everywhere, and a lot of sellers are massively price gouging kits. I'm looking for a board (3b or 4b) but I'd buy a kit if it's priced fairly. Is it possible to find a Pi in stock? If not, is there a shop that that will let me buy one to be shipped when they receive it?
I don't want a waiting list that contacts me when they're in stock since they'd probably be contacting 50 people to let them know they have 5 in stock. Is there someplace that will let me buy one before they have one in stock?
I only need one.
I don't want a waiting list that contacts me when they're in stock since they'd probably be contacting 50 people to let them know they have 5 in stock. Is there someplace that will let me buy one before they have one in stock?
I only need one.
Response by poster: I probably should have mentioned I've been stalking the Pi locator for a while. I'm in the US. The only ones I see come available are in Europe.
posted by 2oh1 at 6:02 PM on April 20, 2022
posted by 2oh1 at 6:02 PM on April 20, 2022
Best answer: I've got one. I've sent you a message.
posted by Floydd at 6:52 PM on April 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Floydd at 6:52 PM on April 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
I work for a reseller, one Approved, one not. Our typical delivery of Raspberry Pis is several hundred units. The waitlist is several thousand. They're typically gone in under an hour, and that's limiting it to one per customer. Other companies have gone more extreme: Adafruit has applied 2FA to their ordering process for Raspberry Pis, and Pimoroni will only let you buy one if you've already bought something from them and are a registered customer. I don't know of any reseller that allows pre-orders: we've had enough folks all up inside our site's javascript looking for ways to blag more of them that all the resellers are sick of it.
You can almost always find a Raspberry Pi 400, if that would work. You might find a SparkFun Raspberry Pi 3 B+ Starter Kit (KIT-15361) lurking around - we have one in stock in our Canadian store. There are also a few Get Started with Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ kits: it's a 3A+, so has limited USB ports.
posted by scruss at 7:57 PM on April 20, 2022
You can almost always find a Raspberry Pi 400, if that would work. You might find a SparkFun Raspberry Pi 3 B+ Starter Kit (KIT-15361) lurking around - we have one in stock in our Canadian store. There are also a few Get Started with Raspberry Pi 3 Model A+ kits: it's a 3A+, so has limited USB ports.
posted by scruss at 7:57 PM on April 20, 2022
For future reference - and I would not suggest this unless you're a little bit tech savvy and could deal with running Armbian and adding software on top - there are a ton of less popular pi-like boards out there. I've bought from Ameridroid in the past. It very much depends what you want to do with them as to whether they will work for you.
They're fine as a server on your network or controlling a USB device (I've never used the I/O ports on either a pi or its clones so I can't speak to that).
This is not going to be helpful for use cases where you're taking a pi specific image with extra software, as the boards are not identical and typically need different drivers.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 9:18 PM on April 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
They're fine as a server on your network or controlling a USB device (I've never used the I/O ports on either a pi or its clones so I can't speak to that).
This is not going to be helpful for use cases where you're taking a pi specific image with extra software, as the boards are not identical and typically need different drivers.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 9:18 PM on April 20, 2022 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Man oh man do I love metafilter. I've been searching for a Pi for weeks. In fact, I've been searching for a Pi for long enough that I lost track of when I started searching.
It took Metafilter exactly one hour and one minute to help me find one. Wowza! Well done! And to Floydd: I thank you, and I shall pay your kindness forward.
re: How much is that froggie in the window
You've introduced me to something new! It's not at all what I'm looking for here, but wow have you piqued my curiosity, and that's always fun. I'm going to file that thought away for when I'm bored and need a project. Projects make me happy.
posted by 2oh1 at 2:07 AM on April 21, 2022
It took Metafilter exactly one hour and one minute to help me find one. Wowza! Well done! And to Floydd: I thank you, and I shall pay your kindness forward.
re: How much is that froggie in the window
You've introduced me to something new! It's not at all what I'm looking for here, but wow have you piqued my curiosity, and that's always fun. I'm going to file that thought away for when I'm bored and need a project. Projects make me happy.
posted by 2oh1 at 2:07 AM on April 21, 2022
Let's hope you derive even half the joy from it that I did packing it up and popping it in the mail today! (I threw some random bonuses in the box for you, too. Have fun!!)
posted by Floydd at 1:15 PM on April 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Floydd at 1:15 PM on April 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
→
which all have roughly the same availability as Raspberry Pis: squat all. I've tried most of these, and even tried stocking some of them, but the support and warranty isn't there. I have so many ARM SBCs mouldering in the basement that can only run ancient kernels that they're effectively useless.
posted by scruss at 3:47 PM on April 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
there are a ton of less popular pi-like boards out there
which all have roughly the same availability as Raspberry Pis: squat all. I've tried most of these, and even tried stocking some of them, but the support and warranty isn't there. I have so many ARM SBCs mouldering in the basement that can only run ancient kernels that they're effectively useless.
posted by scruss at 3:47 PM on April 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: scruss: Thanks for mentioning that.
A big part of what I love about the Raspberry Pi is the community that comes with it. I've had a Pi since 2017. There are so many tutorials, so many forums and guides. Help is everywhere because enthusiasm is so great.
The value of the community online is immense.
posted by 2oh1 at 4:25 PM on April 21, 2022
A big part of what I love about the Raspberry Pi is the community that comes with it. I've had a Pi since 2017. There are so many tutorials, so many forums and guides. Help is everywhere because enthusiasm is so great.
The value of the community online is immense.
posted by 2oh1 at 4:25 PM on April 21, 2022
This has already been answered but I was in the local Boy Scout supply store and they had them for kids doing badges. For people in the future, there may be unusual sources near you.
posted by fiercekitten at 9:07 AM on April 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by fiercekitten at 9:07 AM on April 24, 2022 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by roue at 6:00 PM on April 20, 2022 [2 favorites]