We check out the latest Jaycar Catalogue and all the goodies inside!
For those of you in Australia, you would have noticed this massive catalogue is bundled FREE with your subscription. Sadly if you’re beyond Australian shores, including a copy was not practical. However, you can download the digital edition FREE from Jaycar.
It’s been 18 months since the last Jaycar catalogue which isn’t surprising since nothing has been normal since COVID gatecrashed the party in 2020. However, we have to say it’s worth the wait! This monster 572 page catalogue is a beast, with some great goodies inside too. We’ve taken a look.
What we first notice is that it’s presented as a flip book. This means it essentially has TWO front covers. The catalogue is divided down the middle.
40 Years of Jaycar
Before we get to the products, we’d like to talk about how this catalogue pays homage to the history of Jaycar. 40 years of business is no small feat! Central to the catalogue is a stunning snapshot of how Jaycar started with very humble beginnings, and grew into the retail giant we know today.
Throwback to the 80s
They have also dotted throughout the catalogue an illustration of how many items have been carried since the early days of Jaycar. While some of the products have naturally evolved as technology has allowed, some are virtually identical. After all, if it ain’t broke…
DATA SECTION!!
It’s been years since Jaycar had a data section in their catalogue. We suppose it was to make room for products. But within these 572 pages they’ve managed to fit some really useful data pages and reference information. These are always handy to have when calculating resistance values and other really common aspects we come across when making.
Let’s take a look at some of the great new products we found.
3D Printers
First up, we note a good selection of 3D filament and resin printers. Jaycar has really continued to evolve this range, and we’re excited to see new printers, filaments, and resin continuously evolving in the range to make it easier for Makers to get what they need.
Genuine Arduino Kits
We’re happy to see the addition of two genuine Arduino items. The Arduino Starter Kit and the Arduino Sensor Kit. These are great kits we’re very familiar with, and fantastic to see them available at Jaycar.
Build a Catapult!
We love these construction kits, but anything with the word Catapult in it has our attention! We can imagine how much fun this would be to build and play with… then add some electronic control to it with custom modifications - even better!
JST Connector Kit
We love a good assortment pack. This 320pc kit of JST connectors is ultra handy for many projects.
SMD Adjustable Voltage Regulator
Probably the smallest new item we see in this catalogue, but one of the most exciting! The MCP16311 is a 4.4-30V input, 2-24V output 1A voltage regulator. While the SMD form factor can prove a challenge for makers sometimes, this tiny chip made by Microchip is extremely versatile for a huge number of applications.
Remote Controlled Robotic Arm
We’ve been waiting for one of these! Jaycar’s had some great robotic arm kits for years, but they were usually tethered to the controller. This one is rechargeable and wireless, and we’re keen to get our hands on one for a play!
While we’re most excited about the “hardcore” section of the catalogue, there’s some gems in the other half too. Some are still useful for Maker projects, others are just useful for life!
Portable Fridges
We’ve seen these getting around, and particularly coming into the Aussie Summer, we’re sure they’ll be handy. They’re clearly popular, since there’s 11 pages with different models in all sorts of shapes and sizes! Not a maker project (though we do wonder if we could hack one to provide increased cooling to overclocked CPUs)!
100Ah Lithium Batteries
While we expect these batteries are carried for off-grid / camping applications and such, we’re excited to put these through their paces for DIY applications. We’ve typically used big SLA batteries for portable power, but these Lithium batteries hold 2.5kWh of energy at only 24kg, which is just insane. It makes it really feasible for DIY backup power solutions, and more. Naturally, there’s a bunch of 12V versions too.
Qi Charging
We have published a wirelessly charged project or two, but we want to do more. The idea of wireless charging is just so powerful. We think there’s a few experiments to be done with these chargers!
USB-C Chargers
We never seem to have enough of these things. Like car keys and earphones, they seem to disappear all on their own. These ones have huge power output to recharge FAST.
Lithium 26650 Rechargeable Batteries
Packing a whopping 5Ah into such a tiny cell, these are great for rechargeable projects. They do obviously take up more space than the more common 18650s, but 5Ah?!
WS2812 Addressable LED Strip
Needing no introduction, with 60 LEDs per metre, in a 2m strip. Standard WS2812B controlled RGB LEDs, 5V.
Sci-Fi Bluetooth Speaker
While we normally wouldn’t call out something like this, it’s alien-inspired shape makes it worthy of note. Would pair well with any Bluetooth audio projects you have.
WiFi Mesh Network
WiFi is pivotal to so many projects. This extendable mesh provides you great coverage for any size house or office. We have installed the previous model of this unit in several locations with great success, we’re confident this one’s even better!
WANT IT NOW?
Download the entire catalogue as a PDF: https://www.jaycar.com.au/catalogue
Or grab it at your local Jaycar store: BJ5000 $4.95