Snark tuner improvement

Excessive battery consumption? The batteries in my Snark last a lot longer than six months.

John Colter
 
Excessive battery consumption? The batteries in my Snark last a lot longer than six months.

John Colter

There are a lot of complaints online of Snark tuners going through batteries in a day. It must have been a bad batch but its still an indictment of Snarks quality control.
It depends on how often you use your tuner. As a professional busker I use mine a lot, just about everyday and they last at least 6 months. After that I lose track and as I said, I use my tuner quite a bit each day.
I also don't like the leeway in the Snark display. I expect way more accuracy than that.
 
There are a lot of complaints online of Snark tuners going through batteries in a day. It must have been a bad batch but its still an indictment of Snarks quality control.
It depends on how often you use your tuner. As a professional busker I use mine a lot, just about everyday and they last at least 6 months. After that I lose track and as I said, I use my tuner quite a bit each day.
I also don't like the leeway in the Snark display. I expect way more accuracy than that.

Well, my Snark (and past Snark) never had any excessive battery usage issues.
As for accuracy, I agree with you. I think they are not very accurate; I feel they are +/- 5 cents.
However, being a clip-on tuner, the speed (for a clip-on tuner) more than makes up for it.

Being kind of curious, I decided to check the Snark accuracy specs. But I couldn't find any!
 
My Snark is now about six years old and on the third or fourth set of batteries with use several times a week. I find that it sometimes does not pick up the vibrations any more which may be a symptom of joint separation, so I try to move them as little as possible. I already have a new back up one but without the improvement. I hope that the improvement will also delay or stop this gradual deterioration. Otherwise I am very happy with its performance.
 
Well, my Snark (and past Snark) never had any excessive battery usage issues.
As for accuracy, I agree with you. I think they are not very accurate; I feel they are +/- 5 cents.
However, being a clip-on tuner, the speed (for a clip-on tuner) more than makes up for it.

Being kind of curious, I decided to check the Snark accuracy specs. But I couldn't find any!

I've also broken them before, which is irritating. More importantly (to me), I've never been happy with their performance. I can't tell if it's accuracy or precision that's lacking but my ear tells me that my banjo or uke is not in tune even if the Snark says it is. On my double bass, it basically doesn't even register the low notes, so it's useless there too. I occasionally use the Peterson app on my phone but my favorite tuner for years has been a Korg CA-20. It's not as convenient but it's as good as my ear or better and it picks up all the instruments.

My planet waves headstock tuner is okay too. I have another Korg clip-on tuner but its not available anymore and its arm is flimsy. It is really accurate, though.
 
Snark should offer the collars separately as a retrofit kit to repair or strengthen the older Snarks in the wild.
 
Yeah, after the 6th one broke on me, I ditched them and went to D'Addario/Planet Waves Micros. I have had exactly one of those go bad, and it was replaced within 3 days.

I look forward to your evaluation.

Gee, once again I'm behind the pack. I still haven't broken one. :(
 
I've also broken them before, which is irritating. More importantly (to me), I've never been happy with their performance. I can't tell if it's accuracy or precision that's lacking but my ear tells me that my banjo or uke is not in tune even if the Snark says it is. On my double bass, it basically doesn't even register the low notes, so it's useless there too. I occasionally use the Peterson app on my phone but my favorite tuner for years has been a Korg CA-20. It's not as convenient but it's as good as my ear or better and it picks up all the instruments.

My planet waves headstock tuner is okay too. I have another Korg clip-on tuner but its not available anymore and its arm is flimsy. It is really accurate, though.

I did a little bit of testing. The Snark latches on accurately when faced with a simple tone but gets inaccurate with a signal with many overtones. I think it is +/- 8 cents accurate when it comes to guitars and maybe a little better with ukes. So, it is possible for a uke tuned with Snark to have 16 cents difference between 2 strings; which I think many would be able to tell.

NOTE: I should add that my testing was done with a tone generator and guitar. I didn't measure with a uke.
 
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Snark should offer the collars separately as a retrofit kit to repair or strengthen the older Snarks in the wild.

I wonder how many are already in landfills or at the bottom of the ocean...
 
I did a little bit of testing. The Snark latches on accurately when faced with a simple tone but gets inaccurate with a signal with many overtones. I think it is +/- 8 cents accurate when it comes to guitars and maybe a little better with ukes. So, it is possible for a uke tuned with Snark to have 16 cents difference between 2 strings; which I think many would be able to tell.

NOTE: I should add that my testing was done with a tone generator and guitar. I didn't measure with a uke.

Thanks for the testing report. For the record, I consider that +/- 8 cent accuracy to be terrible. Might as well use a pitch pipe or pitch fork.
 
I did a little bit of testing. The Snark latches on accurately when faced with a simple tone but gets inaccurate with a signal with many overtones. I think it is +/- 8 cents accurate when it comes to guitars and maybe a little better with ukes. So, it is possible for a uke tuned with Snark to have 16 cents difference between 2 strings; which I think many would be able to tell.

NOTE: I should add that my testing was done with a tone generator and guitar. I didn't measure with a uke.

I'm not surprised at all by this. I've noticed the same just by using my Snark on ukes that produce more prominent overtones. Sometimes the reading can vary greatly with subsequent plucks of the same string/note. To be fair, my Peterson strobe tuner doesn't seem to show the fundamental note/frequency any more accurately but at least you can see from the screen that there's something else going on with tone than just the fundamental.
 
I'm not surprised at all by this. I've noticed the same just by using my Snark on ukes that produce more prominent overtones. Sometimes the reading can vary greatly with subsequent plucks of the same string/note. To be fair, my Peterson strobe tuner doesn't seem to show the fundamental note/frequency any more accurately but at least you can see from the screen that there's something else going on with tone than just the fundamental.

Yes, I think this is the reason for Snark's perceived inaccuracy; and I think I need to retract my statement about my Snark being inaccurate. When faced with many overtones that makes the fundamental frequency not as prominent, the Snark seems to not want to move off its initial frequency display. So, if the Snark initially latches onto one of the overtones, it'll show an incorrect note.
 
All clip on tuners have to work in the same environment and some do a far better job than others do.
Even if they improved the tuning leeway to only +/- 5cents, its still terrible and no where near good enough for me.
Snarks have name recognition and are cheap. Other than that, just buy something better already.

I have two Boss Tu-10 units. Not the cheapest, yet they are solidly made and very accurate. Quality is remembered long after price is forgotten.
 
I just had a quick look online and noticed that there is now a Snark Super Tight model. Maybe (see the review that clear just posted on the next page) this model might be accurate enough yet its tantamount to Snark admitting how inaccurate their standard model is.
 
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Tuners

I got a Snark with a used banjo, so I have no idea how old it is. I have had it several years with no breakage, although one of the rubber cushions for the gripper part came off and disappeared. I replaced with a stick on rubber furniture foot, and it works fine. My only problem is seeing the display in sunlight.

My go-to tuner is now a Cool1, model T 01, recommended by the counter person at my favorite guitar store, Stutzman's, in Rochester, NY.
It has a square 1 1/4 inch large display, bright enough to see in sunlight. It also has a rechargeable battery which recharges with a phone charger.

I was foolish enough to step on it and break off one of the clip-on legs.
I remembered a trick I learned recently to fix it: super glue and baking soda! I cut a few half-inch lengths of .09 used guitar string to put across the broken pieces, then layered a sixteenth inch coating of baking soda over/around them. A few drops of thin CA glue, and the tuner clips onto a headstock just like new. Someone explained to me that the baking soda causes the super glue to form bonds in all directions, and forms a plastic-like shell. Plain super glue only bonds in one direction.
 
Yes, I think this is the reason for Snark's perceived inaccuracy; and I think I need to retract my statement about my Snark being inaccurate. When faced with many overtones that makes the fundamental frequency not as prominent, the Snark seems to not want to move off its initial frequency display. So, if the Snark initially latches onto one of the overtones, it'll show an incorrect note.

Indeed. The actual issue may not be the accuracy of the tuner but rather how it displays the frequency. As mentioned, a strobe tuner (Peterson in my case) may not be that much better at recognizing the fundamental frequency because of the existence of the overtones (although I assume it still is at least a little bit) but it sure as hell can display much better that there are other frequencies at play. This is exactly why I always play the same note at least a couple of times when checking the tuning with the Snark. Depending on the uke, the results with the Snark can vary somewhat if overtones are present.
 
Tuners

I got a Snark with a used banjo, so I have no idea how old it is. I have had it several years with no breakage, although one of the rubber cushions for the gripper part came off and disappeared. I replaced with a stick on rubber furniture foot, and it works fine. My only problem is seeing the display in sunlight.

My go-to tuner is now a Cool1, model T 01, recommended by the counter person at my favorite guitar store, Stutzman's, in Rochester, NY.
It has a square 1 1/4 inch large display, bright enough to see in sunlight. It also has a rechargeable battery which recharges with a phone charger.

I was foolish enough to step on it and break off one of the clip-on legs.
I remembered a trick I learned recently to fix it: super glue and baking soda! I cut a few half-inch lengths of .09 used guitar string to put across the broken pieces, then layered a sixteenth inch coating of baking soda over/around them. A few drops of thin CA glue, and the tuner clips onto a headstock just like new. Someone explained to me that the baking soda causes the super glue to form bonds in all directions, and forms a plastic-like shell. Plain super glue only bonds in one direction.
 
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