I like reading and watching end-of-the-year lists. From best new electronic gadgets, to best movies and songs of the year, to top plays on ESPN. BTW, as a volleyball coach, this is my top sports play of the year.
There are plenty of Top 10 lists at Samtec that would make for fascinating reading. Off the top of my head (no pun intended) there’s Top 10 Stupid Comments in Meetings (I would hold about seven of the ten spots), or Top 10 Annoying Coworkers (I like to think I would only be listed once, and hopefully no higher than #5).
But, for job security’s sake, I’ll stick with a more traditional Top 10 list. Here’s a list of the Top 10 most popular Samtec products and product families in 2017. I’m writing this because I am asked frequently by customers what are our most popular products, so here goes. Quick disclaimer: these are generally ranked by sales, but since these are mating connector systems, I have to take some liberties and group certain products into buckets, which does affect the rankings.
1. SEAM, SEAF — also known as SEARAY™, is a high density, high speed, .050″ open pin field grid array system. It’s popular because of the design and pcb routing flexibility.
2. TSM, SSM — are basic .100″ (2.54 mm) SMT terminal and sockets strips. They are popular because they come in all shapes and sizes, and with all kinds of options.
3. FTSH, CLP — like TSM and SSM above, they are basic .050″ (2.54 mm) through-hole and SMT termincal and socket strips. And they are also popular because of the design flexibility available within the product line.
4. TFM, SFM — this is our popular Tiger Eye® contact system that is ideal for rugged, high-cycle, micro pitch applications. And the connectors are available with tons of design options — SMT, through-hole, vertical, right angle, different stacking sizes, etc.
5. TMM, TW, MMS, SQW — these are basic 2 mm pitch terminal and socket systems with tons of design flexibility. You can design just about any stack height, number of positions, and orientation, and in through-hole and SMT.
6. QTH, QSH — our Q-Strip® product line consists of high-speed mezzanine connectors, in stack heights from 5 mm and up (5 mm is the most popular), with an integral ground plane for high speed and/or power applications.
7. HSEC8 — this is a high speed .8 mm pitch edge card socket. It’s in the top 10 because it’s a micro pitch, rugged alternative to standard edge card receptacles. It’s available in right angle, power/signal combos, and differential pair designs, among others.
8. ERM8, ERF8 — these Edge Rate™ interconnects are high-speed, rugged mezzanine connectors.
9. HDR — HDR is not a product series but a family of high speed cable assemblies. These high speed cable assemblies are available with micro coax or twinax cable. Connector terminations are almost limitless; the more popular designs are Twinax Flyover Solutions, high-density arrays, connectors with integral ground planes, hermaphroditic designs, rugged Edge Rate® and high-speed PCI Express® systems, among many others.
10. FFSD — FFSD is an IDC cable assembly with our rugged, high-cycle Tiger Eye® contact. Like most of the other products mentioned above, it’s available in just about any size, shape, or form you can imagine (I’m limiting your imagination to connectors).
If you have any questions about any of these products, contact our Application Support Group at ASG@samtec.com.
