tc electronic UniTune Clip Tuner

I bought two of these. I'm deffo sold on the idea of not having to pay for a PolyTune function I never use anyway. So these do everything I need them too and come at a somewhat lower price. That said, overpriced they are all. They tune well, but workmanship-wise they are, well, seriously overpriced.

One of these has a very loose shoe to tuner swivel connection, meaning it moves about very easily. I use it on a guitar, so it's not too bad as it's not too far away; on one of my basses, fast access would come with the risk of actually moving it, rather than hitting the on button; or maybe that's my fault of having proportionally the correct arm length for my body size.

The second one doesn't deal well with basses (it's not the bass, I have four tuners and three basses, so have plenty of comparison). It actually tunes fine, but displays the wrong note, usually a fifth apart; i.e. it seems to pick up the route very well but the first overtone. It's not much of a biggie, coz you should be tuned-up beforehand and only need it for minor adjustments. It's just not acceptable at this price!

These UniTunes, whilst cheaper than the PolyTunes (and I never used that functionality, so welcome their simpler cousins) are not exactly cheap, so I'd expect them to live up to their price - at least a little.

But this has always been a problem with these tuners: good tuning features (bar that one UniTune), fast, but paired with cheap, nasty housing and cobbling together. On one of my 5-year old PolyTunes the housing rattles; and not only on basses but also guitars. Give it a tap and it'll stop for quite some time. But again, not at this price point!

SUMMARY: These are fast and accurate (usually), there's a reason why you see them on so many bass and guitar player's headstocks. But they a badly and carelessly cobbled together and somewhat awkward to use. Exchanging the battery should be a breeze, not a fiddle. The on-button is not in the greatest position if they're strapped to a bass, depending on where you have space to clip them. On a positive note, you can of course turn them around, to sit behind the headstock. The display will simply turn round for you.

I've not found better, so I have four of these (2x Uni, 2x Poly), they do outperform the rest. But, basically, they'll have to do until the real thing comes along.

I've had various tuners in my life, for a multitude of electric, acoustic and bass guitars.

I'm probably a cheapskate which is why I've always only purchased affordable tuners. All of them always had some annoying quirks, or were slow, or just straight out wrong on a certain string, etc.

This one just works. Always. Period. Just get this, forget all the other crap, do yourself a favour.

The only thing I wish it had is rotation, since some of my guitars have a strange shaped headstock (and/or I have pick holders on the back), which means sometimes I cannot easily make it face me when clipping it.

Totally recommended (in case it wasn't clear...)