Snark clip-on vs TC Electronic Polytune 3

I have read on the internet, multiple times of setting your intonation with a strobe tuner.

I assume that most likely this would be a tuner that would be suited for an electric guitar that you plug into. I personally have 2 TC Electronic Polytune 3’s and 3 or 4 Snark clip on tuners – the red one.

I personally haven’t heard of Snark until 2 years ago. They seem to be very popular but like cell phones, there seems to be a new one every year. I have tried a few of them and I personally find the red one to be the better one. It has no problems picking up 6 string electric guitars and 4 string basses but starts getting unreliable if you have a 7 string guitar or a 5 string bass. Barely picks up a reading on the dial when you drop or down tune those low strings.

After I put strings on a guitar, I use the Snark to quickly dial in the strings and then stretch them. When I intonate a guitar, I go with the Snark first and if it’s an electric guitar, I will then plug into a Polytune 3. I do keep the Snark on just to compare how the two read from each other.

I can say that the two read the same most of the time, but when they are reading different, it’s usually 2 sticks off. I’ve had a few times where the difference is 4 sticks – which is a lot.

I know the Polytune isn’t the best tuner out there but I think it’s good for the price. It was rated pretty high amongst what is available on the market when I purchased them.