Honeywell Components

No — Honeywell discontinued the HMC5883L (the product line was EOL'd years ago, with last-time-buy windows long closed). Genuine Honeywell HMC5883L stock still circulates but is scarce, aged and expensive. Anything sold cheaply as "HMC5883L" today is almost certainly a QMC5883L relabeled. We disclose exactly what die is in every shipment: remaining genuine Honeywell stock (with date codes) or clearly labeled QMC5883L-compatible alternatives — never a mystery part.

Both chips sit at I²C address 0x1E, but their register maps differ. Genuine HMC5883L identification registers 0x0A/0x0B/0x0C return ASCII 'H' (0x48), '4' (0x34), '3' (0x33). The QMC5883L returns different values (0xFF at 0x0D, and its own ID pattern at 0x0C). Data registers also differ in axis order: HMC5883L outputs X, Z, Y while QMC5883L outputs X, Y, Z — the classic symptom of a relabeled part is a compass that works but reads 90° rotated or mirrored. We read the ID registers on samples from every lot.

Functionally, yes — the QMC5883L (from QST Corporation) is a modern AMR magnetometer with comparable or better noise performance, similar ±2 to ±30 gauss range options, and lower cost. It requires a different Arduino library (register map and axis order differ), but once firmware is updated it performs the same heading job. For new designs we recommend sourcing QMC5883L honestly rather than paying HMC5883L prices for a relabeled chip of the same origin.

Honeywell is a US Fortune 100 company founded in 1906 (Charlotte, North Carolina), with a sensing division supplying aerospace and industrial customers worldwide — the HMC line came from its genuine AMR magnetics expertise. Because the HMC5883L is discontinued, we source remaining Honeywell stock only through vetted franchised distributors with date-code and C-of-C documentation, and clearly mark broker-channel or compatible-alternative parts on every quote. We never sell relabeled parts as genuine Honeywell.