Erik, in the 30 or so years I've been a privately practicing professional engineer in this part of the country, I've had little difficulty obtaining samples of devices, even devices costing multiple thousands of dollars each, in applications where I freely admitted it was unlikely they'd reach production.

Distributors are difficult to understand with their sample policies. I attempted to buy a dozen EPROMs once when I knew they were available in local stock, for a build of three pieces, only because I need them within a day or so, and been refused, then had the outside sales guy appear with a couple of dozen freebies later that day.

Manufacturers' rep's have seldom been a problem.

It makes my skin crawl to buy $0.05 parts for $1.50 + $6.50 shipping from DigiKey. I do it when I'm in a rush, but it makes my skin crawl. I recently learned that they'll ship via USPS, which often costs <$1. It takes much less time than UPS ground.

RE