B+H or Adorama?

[Oren Grad]

Neither is perfect, but I prefer dealing with B&H if they have what I need.

I really appreciate the accurate, up-to-the-minute stock information at B&H, and for the most part I've gotten good service from them. The worst experience I've ever had with B&H was ordering a 5L bottle of Ilford Hypam along with a bunch of lighter, more fragile darkroom stuff. I'll think twice about doing that again - they tossed the whole mess into a flimsy box with grossly inadequate filler. The box arrived mostly shredded; it was amazing none of the contents was missing or damaged. A minor peeve is that recently they've started sticking big, obnoxious bar code stickers on the merchanidise you order; if you like keeping your precious jewel in a pristine manufacturer-issue box you can forget it.

My experience with Adorama is mostly limited to used merchandise. I've gotten some good deals, but you have to pay close attention and ask questions if anything seems the slightest bit odd, because they seem to have a relatively high rate of misidentified items. It doesn't appear to be intentional, because it's not systematically in a direction that jacks up the price or makes more money for them. Rather, it just looks like plain old sloppiness.

[Pragmatist]

That said, B&H has the annoying problem that they won't ship certain items at all, such as Rodinal or about half the Kodak color chemistry. If I need such items, I generally order from Adorama or Freestyle, depending on what else I need and whether cross-continent ground shipping is acceptable to me for that order.

Yup. I totalled up what I have spent at B&H in the past few years and was in shock for a bit. I do order from Adorama, and it is when I need a chemistry item that B&H wont ship. Usually, there are a couple trivial bits that have been in the wish list added to that also. There were a couple times that B&H did not have a film in stock that the order also stocked up on chemistry while I was at it. No great preference, but I have had flawless service from B&H.

[ampguy]

Actually, I prefer OneCall, but of the two you mention, have had more success and less hassle with B&H over Adorama.

YMMV, just my .02.

[MikeM1977]

My last three orders from B&H were poorly packed and resulted in damage to 1 or more items. Of course they've replaced every item, but this is getting a bit annoying.

[MikeM1977]

I would like to note that all of my money now goes to Freestyle.

I've had nothing but positive experiences with Freestyle. If only they could compete with prices on color film.

[nc5p]

B&H ships things faster. I always get it on time. The couple of times I've ordered from Adorama some items were not in stock and were delayed by several weeks. I also like KEH in Atlanta. Not only do they sell used but have an inventory of new equipment, too. Not as extensive as B&H but better than the local shops. I've spent several thousand with them this year, not a single problem.

Doug