Thomann CTC-50 Black

The hinges are not as tough as in my Fender or Planet Waves tuners but the spring clip is. During the first couple of days something inside it made a faint buzzing sound when I played certain notes but this has stopped now.

Sometimes it hesitates for one or two seconds before registering the note but that is resolved if it's clipped somewhere else on the headstock. The on/off switch is situated at a convenient place. The screen is large and bright.

The luminous needles on the screen show the pitch with enough accuracy but not as finely as the Planet Waves (three times the price) or the Fender (twice the price). However the display is precise enough to set an intonation if I also listen carefully.

I trust my other tuners a little more but it can be done with this one, too. At times it does not display the right note, say an A instead of an E, but it indicates the right pitch anyway, I guess it mixes up some harmonics but it doesn't matter, and other tuners also do that sometimes. The letters are big and bright.

I like the satin but not toyish bright color, and the plastic is not slippery. It works with my bass, too, without having to change the mode. I keep it on my desk all the time because not all my guitars have their own tuner. For only 7 euros battery included I'm happy with it.

Edit: I pulled the battery out and rubbed both sides on rough fabric for a minute. Put it back in and the digital needle doesn't fluctuate anymore. Seems that a greasy film or some oxidation on the battery reduced the power coming out of it.

Clip on tuners are like lighters nowadays for me. Either they break, run out, get lost or get taken by well wishing friends who just clipped it on their headstock to tune up and then take it home without knowing.

When I saw Tomann did an affordable clip on, I put 5 in the basket straight away knowing I realistically did need that many. I since dropped it down to 3 for now.

No real rating to give them except they work fine. Battery is included. It has a cents counter for tuning and the build isn't too flimsy.

Happy enough for now until they all go missing again.

It was my first clip-on tuner and I liked it. I mean it's quiet precise and the battery lasts very long (about 6 months in my case). Can be used with lots of different instruments. There's only one thing you should take into account - it's mainly good for the home practice. When I tried to use it at my band's rehearsal place it happened to be pretty useless. Probably it was too distracted by lots of noises around and I couldn't tell everybody to shut up every time I needed to check my tuning :) So if you'd like to buy it for home practice - go ahead, it's good, especially for the price. For the real rehearsals you'd rather need a pedal tuner.