Your favorite clip-on tuner, and why?

[JKA]

Just make sure it passes the cup of coffee test before you buy!

[Sax Player Guy]

Originally Posted by JKA

Just make sure it passes the cup of coffee test before you buy!

Those experiments could get costly!

[JKA]

Originally Posted by Sax Player Guy

Those experiments could get costly!

Not if you buy the PolyTone in the first place. The Jacques Cousteau of guitar tuners!

[bufflehead]

Snark, because it's fast and it tends not to get distracted by other instruments in the room unless you want it to.

Nothing worse than sitting in a noisy pub and waiting for someone with one of the ultra-accurate tuners trying to get things centered. There are times I want to shout out, "GET A SNARK!"

Not, ahem, that I'd ever do that.

[phcorrigan]

Originally Posted by stephenT

None of the above. I dislike the look of the larger clip ons. The guitar equivalent of a pocket protector someone said.

The Planet Waves Micro Tuner is my choice. Accurate, small, almost disappears on the headstock and inexpensive. I do indoor and outdoor gigs w/ them on acoustics, always visible even in direct sunlight.

I'll second that. Small and unobtrusive. Mine sits under the headstock near the nut.

[leehop71]

I have a Polytune and a Unitune, both are my go to. Most accurate AND easiest most efficient to use.

[steveh]

I have the Snark, Unitune, and Stroboclip so feel able to give a sensible opinion:

Snark is cheap. That's all it has going for it. It's nowhere near accurate enough and eats batteries all week long. Don't use it unless I have to.

Stroboclip is excellent once you get used to the strobe etc. Very accurate. Relatively expensive. Hardly low profile!

Unitune is both cheap and accurate, and low profile. Can stay on the guitars in the case. Job done.

Cheers,
Steve

[jim1960]

Polls like this aren't very useful since in most product popularity contests, cheaper product are often the most widely purchased. The Snarks will likely see the most purchases for that reason alone. They don't come close to the Peterson or TC Electronics tuners in accuracy.

But to your main point, I own both the Stroboclip and the Polytune. I prefer the Stroboclip for a couple of reasons.
1. I like the strobe graphic and feel it gives me a better sense of how close I am to dialing in the note.
2. I can position the Stroboclip exactly as I like because it has a ball hinge that moves in all directions. The hinge on the Polytune adjusts on a single plane and requires more head movement to see it because I can't position it optimally as I can the Stroboclip.

[robj144]

I've used Snarks for probably close to 10 years and have about a half a dozen of them. I like them and they're good.

However, about a year ago, I bought a Polytune on a deal (might have been on Black Friday). I like it better than my Snarks. It seems to be more accurate... especially when I use the strobe(like) feature,

[robj144]

Originally Posted by stephenT

None of the above. I dislike the look of the larger clip ons. The guitar equivalent of a pocket protector someone said.

The Planet Waves Micro Tuner is my choice. Accurate, small, almost disappears on the headstock and inexpensive. I do indoor and outdoor gigs w/ them on acoustics, always visible even in direct sunlight.

I got two of those on a deal where they were under $10 to try out. As mentioned in another post I also have Snarks and a Polytune.

These work decently... about on the same order as a Snark. But, in my opinion, the Polytune is better than both.

[Sax Player Guy]

Originally Posted by jim1960

Polls like this aren't very useful since in most product popularity contests, cheaper product are often the most widely purchased. The Snarks will likely see the most purchases for that reason alone. They don't come close to the Peterson or TC Electronics tuners in accuracy.
.

Agreed, Jim. And thanks for your comments about the positionability of the Peterson; that is very helpful info.

Yeah, it certainly has occurred to me that the Snarks will likely get more votes due to the fact that there are zillions of them out there. Similarly, the Unitune is relatively new to the scene, so far fewer people have them, thus they receive fewer votes.

Needless to say, polls such as this are far from scientific. Nonetheless, I think they can be helpful as they engender discussion, and the comments people leave, such as yours, often have great info in them. For example, I hadn't thought of the differences in the users' ability to dial in the tuner's position between the Peterson and the TC Electronics models. That is valuable info to me.

[flaggerphil]

Snark. Why? The name. SNARK. Perfect.

It's also inexpensive, tunes well enough for me, and it comes in nifty colors. I have three or four of 'em.

[5th Element]

StroboClip HD, although I voted for the StroboClip. It's fast, accurate, and I like the sweetenings. Also, I prefer strobes. It's good enough that I'm looking forward to the release of the new StroboStomp HD for my pedalboard. It has a good chance of unseating my Turbo Tuner, which I've been using for years.

Honorable mention: Boss TU-10. It works great, although a bit large.

The Planet Waves NS Micro I had was awful. Guitars did not sound in tune and it disagreed with my Turbo Tuners. I have a new one that I was gifted, so I could test it and perhaps revise my opinion — but I like the Peterson sweetenings so I probably wouldn't use the PW Micro anyhow.

[GibsonJ15]

I own and have tried various ones. My favourite is the D’Addario Eclipse. It has a nice, colourful, easily-read display and fits nicely on all my guitars. I have also a D’Addario NS Micro which works fine but is a little small for my eyesight and also not as versatile in terms of placement. I also have a Peterson Stroboclip which is incredibly accurate and has numerous presets but I find it frustrating to use as the display often won’t stabilise and it seems a little too sensitive sometimes. It does have the sweetened tunings but I have only used one of them. I have had others, one of the better ones was a Crafter, which I believe is the same model that Taylor sell under their own name. So the Eclipse is the go to tuner for me.

[Fro]

Stroboclip HD