What's the difference in these transistors? All 2n5087s.

[Ashurbanipal]

http://www.mouser.com/index.cfm?&handler=data.listcategory&D=*2n5087*&terms=2n5087&Ntt=*2n5087*&Dk=1&Ns=SField&N=0&crc=true

One from Central Semiconductor is .26, one from Fairchild is .11, and another from Fairchild is .06.

Why are the prices so different? And if I get the cheapest one, does that affect my project? Are the hfe's in a wider range with the cheapy's or something?

[R.G.]

First off, they're made by different suppliers. Presumably the suppliers compete on price. If they were all exactly the same price, I'd be suspicious that the makers had colluded to keep the prices artificially high. All loaves of bread do not cost the same, either.

Next, some are RoHS compliant, some are not. I don't see this, but I'd guess that some are just transistors in a sack, some are pre-prepped with leads bent into position and then pre-attached to tape and reel so they can be automatically inserted, that kind of thing. It is also possible that they're sorted into a, b, c, etc grades, although that's more normal with Japanes type numbers than US types. The real way to tell is to read those datasheets and look for differences.

[Ashurbanipal]

You get the same datasheet for the fairchild ones with no explanation of what the numbers past 2n5087 mean. The hfe range is 250-800. What's the difference in a, b, c grades, and should I care? Thanks.

[RedHouse]

I called Mouser on that very question when I went to order some 2N5088 a while back, they said exactly what RG just said, from different suppliers.

I ordered the Fairchild 512-2N5088TA and 512-2N5087TA (at $0.05/each) and they turned out to be on pieces of cardboard tape with the leads pre-bent (the outside leads were bent out, and down) these were all in the 400-650 hFe range.

I ordered the Central Semiconductor 610-2N5088 and 610-2N5087 (at $0.26/each) and they were normal, loose packed transistors with straight (unbent) leads, ...and... they were all in the range of 300-450 hFe.

For use as input and output buffers the gains don't really matter so I use the 6¢ Fairchilds quite often, but use the 26¢ Central Semi's in builds that need lower range gains or matching hFe's.