Comparison of Clip-on Tuners

[@pahhaw4251]

I am just picking up the ukulele after 25+ years away from string instruments and I find videos like this extremely helpful, even if they are a few years old! Thanks for the post!

[@autocrow]

It was nice to see them all in action at the same time. My eyes kept gravitating to the snark. The display and response time was good.

[@JamesBaker41]

I just bought a Snark. For $7 it's one of my favorite purchases in recent memory. Absolutely LOVE it. And it doesn't dance around like a lot of tuners. Play the note, straight to the point.

[@autocrow]

Glad to hear that you like it. I just ordered the original black snark for the same (6.99 online). I wanted the smaller black one, but they cost 35 bucks! They so make many different ones, it took a lot of research to figure out which one I wanted. The snark web site shows a few with no prices, youtube videos show others, and the retailers show different models as well. The red one has a metronome, but the metronome has no sound. lol Just a flashing light. Don't want that, especially when people say the batteries don't last long. They make a smaller white one for 15 bucks and a smaller black one 35 bucks. They appear identical in every way except color. Why the black one costs over twice the price as the white one is a mystery to me. I almost bought a different brand because of all the confusion. One is even the same as the guitar one I bought, but labeled "Ukulele" for some strange reason. I will be extremely careful with mine as they are prone to break easily I've read. The display (shown here in this video) sold me on the snark.

[@rangerdoc1029]

I have several different clip tuners. Most are in the drawer & the snark is my go-to tuner.

[@sparkyguitar0058]

@@autocrow Snark does break easily. I've had 3 of them. Guess I'm kinda rough on tools. Now I got a Kliq Uber and its great. So much so I bought a Kliq mini tune for my pedalboard. Just a fancy on/off switch. Cause I'm still using the clip-on a lot of the time. I also noticed the pedalboard tuner feels like it's sharp goin through the board. It's not but it just feels that way. That's where I would like a strobe tuner, to really scope these two out for sure. Even if it's only 2 cents off, it's still OFF

[@johnbrady1211]

Yes the Snark is a great tuner but very fragile. The rubber foot on the bottom keeps coming off and the ball joints loosen up. They need to address these issues and it will be right up at the top.

[@rubykaufman5361]

Great example of the tuners, It helped me decide which one suited me best, Thanks.

[@sunnyskyez]

Great job- very unique way to test the tuners. It really helped me to see that the Snark is really the better of them all for tuning for seeing, accuracy and speed. That is what I will get for my Uke. Thanks!

[@thespontaneousidiots1058]

7:08 that is how you make sure a guitar is in tune

[@XtraLateNightVisitor]

😂😂

[@TheAVJ2]

ive bought snark twice but they always fall apart at the ball joint attachments ive bought $50 worth of them and both fell apart the same way even the clip attachment for the joint cracked off, good response and design its just the plastic joints that i dont like too much

[@jimjim7008]

I had the same problem and chose to never buy Snark again despite simplicity and accuracy.

[@Majik53]

I have a lot of tuners, Snark red black and blue (the red ones suck batteries like they are going out of style) TC Electronics clip on, A Peterson strobe clip on, and I just got some Mr Power MT-05 micro tuners, which are USB rechargable. Peterson has the most functions and is most accurate; The TC is just hard to read, but you can apparently see which strings are out of tune when you strum; I'm still testing the MT-05s, which light up green when you are in tune, will be testing their accuracy as soon as I can get to it.

[@da1510]

I have read other people say good things about the Peterson tuners too.

[@Majik53]

@@da1510 - They are really pricey, but worth it.

[@adventuredogranch]

@@da1510 I loved my Peterson Strobo Clip, (1st version,) but the damned thing broke after about 2 years of light usage. I put it in a box and recently took it out again after about 10 years. I can get a few minutes use out of it, but I have to take the battery out and put it back in again to get it to work each time I use it. I've broken 3 Snarks at the ball joint. I just can't bear the thought of dropping another $60+ on a strobo after the last one broke on me. The TC Poly Clip will be my next clip on tuner.

[@johnbrady1211]

I see some like the Snark tuners in general but don't like their being so fragile. I always have the lower rubber foot come off and the "ball" joints loosen up. I have tried to glue the rubber foot back on with all different types of glue but eventually they fall off again. The Snark tuner itself works very well. The rest of it needs to be redesigned. I have a D'adarrio Eclipse on the way. I'll see how that works.

[@noroyalbloodline3983]

How do you get these tuner to tune it to a specific note

[@TRICK-OR-TREAT236]

ALL THOSE TUNERS ON THERE AT THE SAME TIME HAS GOT TO EFFECT ACCURACY. THEY WOULD BE DAMPENING THE VIBRATIONS GOING THROUGH THE HEAD STOCK.

[@da1510]

At first, I tried them individually at the same clip location at centre top. That’s when I noticed a difference between how they each responded (and readability of display) and prompted me to make the video highlighting this. I probably should have mentioned this originally.

[@tajeshdey2298]

So which would be the best tuner for bass . I want to buy one

[@LottieSue]

Howdy, may I ask if you have an update? This video is a couple years old now. Perhaps there are better more accurate tuners? I'm looking to tune ukulele and guitar.

[@RonaldvanHoove]

When it comes to accuracy, there is nothing like the TC electronic polytune cliptuner, although it is relatively expensive. Would be great if you put this tuner to the test. (I am not getting paid to promote this tuner, I am just pleased with it).

[@da1510]

Ronald van Hoove I agree. When I tried all of these with my electric guitar, all perform mediocre in terms of detecting the note.

[@georgewhite9299]

I've had TWO Snarks which tune well but break at the pivot point and I've tried to store them safely in my gig bags unsuccessfully. I'm still searching for accuracy and durability!😲🤔

[@da1510]

I’ve heard this is common. It’s surprisingly that after all these years, they still haven’t fixed the problem.

[@Dan-ms4oq]

Yoyo, I paid £2 (about $3.50) for it and it works great and the batttery lasts around 4 months (heavy use).

[@ВасилийКаа]

thanks for such a good review)

[@alejandrov444]

nice review! is there anyway for them to just show the note that is played (no trying ot compare it to some tunning)?

[@JordyChristo1]

Great review. Which one is the most accurate for tuning though? I have two snarks and neither one tunes accurately . I have a tuner app on my phone that tunes perfectly. The snarks tend to tune some strings slightly sharp and perhaps another slightly flat, leaving the guitar, "slightly" out of tune.

[@buffycleaveland8116]

So what is the difference between a tuner on your phone and a bought tuner like the shark?

[@da1510]

The clip tuners’ advantage is the ability to work in a noisy environment. For example, if other musical instruments are being played while you are trying to tune. The tuner apps can have advantages such as being able to plot a line graph of the picked up note. I use an app on the iPhone called Elegantune.

[@redheli1]

Thanks. Good comparison demonstration.

[@bjorn1000]

Hi! Thanks... Do the tuners have auto off function (if you are not pressing any button to turn it off, will they shut off themselves)?

[@Majik53]

Most of them do, Snarks and Peterson (which I misspelled in former posts, sigh) for sure.

[@kimsantosmalonzo5429]

Snark sn5x or fender fx004? I'm trying to get the best and cheapest tuner from amazon.

[@ymelfilm]

what a pity the Korg PC1 is out of production. I liked it best - no any complication, so it was fast and correct - I lost it :(

[@zitosonic]

I just got one at Amazon for $10.00.

[@ymelfilm]

Zito Sonic no amazon in vietnam, though the korg pc1 was made in here

[@zitosonic]

The PC1 is still produced and Amazon is global... I check on the Korg store at Amazon and they does ship to Vietman.

[@ymelfilm]

it says to me it does not ship this item to vn. I ordered another one from alie www.amazon.com/Korg-PITCHCLIP-Low-Profile-Clip-On-Tuner/dp/B004VVFZHW

[@thingsdemystified]

Which tuner would be the best for monitoring your notes while you're playing a fretless instrument like an upright bass?

[@da1510]

Content Updating I haven’t any experience with that instrument. However, from what I have noticed with all the clip-on tuners I have tried, the response time between changing notes and showing up on the tuner is not that good. Sorry, I can’t be more helpful.

[@thingsdemystified]

You're review is very helpful. The Snark looks like it responds pretty quickly.

[@alanp6773]

Snark SN-5X clearly the winner. Simple but very accurate and if you around you will find them under $10.00. Got one a few weeks ago and love it. Small and bright display. What more do you want?

[@Majik53]

Here's a tip: Grab a sharpie and put the date you installed it on the battery, then check how long it takes before you have to replace it. You'll be able to see if it is an economical unit or not. The red ones, as I said above, eat batteries -- every 24 days on average. I love the tuner, but its eating me alive keeping it juiced up. Snark needs to make a rechargable one.

[@Majik53]

Oh, to add.. The blue Snarks are really good, long lasting, bright display, fairly accurate, built in metronome, like the one in the video.

[@iamvenk0]

Can you use the snark sn 6 on an acoustic guitar.. I bought it of amazon, it didn't arrive yet. On amazon says ukulele i didn't see that.. I was wondering if i can use it on my guitar that has 6 strings.. i mean if i can use it or i have to get it back and buy another. Please answer fast.

[@da1510]

deYjaVu Gaming Yes it should work fine. In fact, I was using mine for my guitar until my wife complained I took it away from her ukulele. I bought the Snark HZ-1 as a replacement. Snark says the SN-6 is “optimized for Ukulele tuning range. If you look at the chart showing “range of notes of standard ukulele types” and a classical guitar listed here, there is more than enough overlap. Https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukulele

[@nstv23]

What’s a good one around 20 bucks ?

[@santiagoduron3808]

Awesome review , appreciate it!

[@Drinkyoghurt]

Hmm, I just bought the EMT-300 thinking it would perform the same as the snark since I couldn't find anything about it. Seems I was wrong :D

[@JordyChristo1]

Which tuner do you think is the most accurate?

[@da1510]

Jordy Christo I’m not an expert on how to test this. However, when compared to a tuner app on my phone which claims 0.1c accuracy, from what I could tell with all these clip on ones, they were all about the same.

[@cookiecutter5162]

What app is that if you don't mind me asking?

[@Gabi-enby]

Surely it's GuitarTuna. There you can check an option called Professional Mode, which lets you fine tune any instrument (only guitar in free mode).

[@Pauld58]

Great video man - very very useful

[@_pant0m]

flanger looks good

[@RogerioDuarte]

I have a boss Tu01

[@dinnerwithfranklin2451]

Good review, thanks

[@DeadShred9]

I have a Snark I like it but wonder if Im getting enough bite on my head stock ? I play a Kramer and have a Banana head stock . I like the size of the Korg C-1 you showed but Korg hasnt always been know for quality but I been playing 30 + yrs so things could have changed ?? Anyone have any advice ?

[@Mimi-io9hd]

I do not use my Korg as much as the Snark but it is still working. For what it's worth, the physical construction does not feel cheap out of the bunch. A little above average.

[@isoEH]

Very good! Thank you!.

[@boilingaction]

Which one would you recomment for a violin?

[@da1510]

boilingaction I have no experience with a violin but for the least hassle, I would choose a Snark.

[@boilingaction]

Thank you very much

[@kentuckymandolin]

Why not thow some of the high end tuners (Peterson, Polytune) into the mix.?

[@da1510]

kentuckymandolin I would like to but it would be too expensive for me. I. I had most of these initially because they were cheap or came with something else. I thought it would be interesting to compare what I had. I tried monetizing the video with KZbin but that was a failure :) I haven’t even reached the point where they will pay anything (at which point it would be about $20). Now with their new higher limit of view hours, there will be no chance.

[@kentuckymandolin]

You didn't say that, the title leads one to think that the video is a review of clip on tuners in general.

[@da1510]

kentuckymandolin Sorry, I should have been more clear. I’ll see if I can update the description. I was and still am very amateur at posting things.

[@DaynJo]

Great video thanks.

[@dumpstercat2229]

With all those tuners, your guitar should be extra in tune

[@brettrauscher2494]

There is a reason why you dont mention polytune tuners. Known for 20 yeats.

[@kurtn4819]

Intellitouch PT-1 ?

[@Darrenmccarthymusica]

Great comparison, thanks!

[@arshaddean6295]

Are they good for electric?

[@da1510]

These work but not as well as for acoustic instruments. If the electric is very loud unplugged, it works better. Inline plug in tuners are definitely better for electrics.

[@adensguitarlessons7015]

Thats cool

[@AlfredoTorres-hn2ml]

Peterson

[@devolve42]

>not trying to be silly >has a ukelele

[@vidablueify]

The Snarks are the worst . No calibration , no screen inversion ,

[@da1510]

Nick Urech Not the best but from this test, I certainly wouldn’t say they are the worst. In this price range is good for a simple and quick clip tuner.

[@2000SkyView]

You are comparing apples with oranges.

[@MrDordeEl]

you talk too much

[@da1510]

MrDordeEl Thanks for the feedback. Speaking is not my strength and that is the first recording of anything recorded for public. If I were to do another in the future, I will keep that in mind.