Snark making a BIG mistake! Buy yours now!

[petermwright]

Perhaps I'm being cynical, but I imagined that the reason so many gadgets have become rechargeable instead of taking batteries is planned obsolescence - when the built in battery can't hold much charge anymore, you need to buy a new gadget, not just a new battery.

I like the OP's take on it being about safety with the coin cells. I'd like to think it was about that.

 

[winston]

TBH the Snark I had was more accurate and much more stable than the little D'Addario clip-ons.
Prefer inline tuners to headstock tuner, and but never liked replacing batteries on these, I am fine with rechargeable.

 

[Rich Fiscus]

Woah… y’all tune?

I like to always leave 1, randomly chosen, string dramatically out of tune. I call it the mystery string. You’ll know it when I play it.

 

[tom-g]

My dealer friend tells me that all Snark tuners in the future will be rechargeable, instead of using coin cells! What a bad idea for musicians - dead at a gig a no way to revive it, needing to remember to re-charge yet another piece of gear. And - rechargeable batteries self-discharge, so even if you don't use it, it can be dead when you need it. Their marketing department really dropped the ball here.

This is likely in response to the "danger" of children thinking coin cells are something good to eat and figuring out how to open your tuner. Other makers simple put a screw in.

Anybody getting caught with a dead battery at gig, no matter tuner, wireless, or bass didn‘t adequately prepare for the gig. Why go on stage at all, if it‘s too much trouble to do that? And rechargeable tuners are a great idea. They did that one right.

 

[petermwright]

Anybody getting caught with a dead battery at gig, no matter tuner, wireless, or bass didn‘t adequately prepare for the gig. Why go on stage at all, if it‘s too much trouble to do that? And rechargeable tuners are a great idea. They did that one right.

The issue is that if your tuner has reached the stage that its battery won't hold enough charge to last from when you charge it at home to when you need it at the gig, you might not discover that until you're at the gig. So it's not the same as having one with a coin cell, and having spare coin cell.

Sure, you can bring more than one tuner to the gig.

But the issue for me is that when the battery becomes useless, the whole device becomes useless, because you can't change the battery. So those devices are potentially quite wasteful.

 

[tom-g]

The issue is that if your tuner has reached the stage that its battery won't hold enough charge to last from when you charge it at home to when you need it at the gig, you might not discover that until you're at the gig. So it's not the same as having one with a coin cell, and having spare coin cell.

Sure, you can bring more than one tuner to the gig.

But the issue for me is that when the battery becomes useless, the whole device becomes useless, because you can't change the battery. So those devices are potentially quite wasteful.

If it doesn‘t hold a charge, it‘s broke. If you‘re going on with a broke tuner you‘re not prepared.

I have found that most of those devices can be repaired even though they do not look like it. The waste with dead regular batteries will most likely be greater.

 

[petermwright]

If it doesn‘t hold a charge, it‘s broke. If you‘re going on with a broke tuner you‘re not prepared.

I have found that most of those devices can be repaired even though they do not look like it. The waste with dead regular batteries will most likely be greater.

All rechargeable batteries eventually get to the point where they don't hold charge for long. But you don't know when you're at the point until you're at that point.

 

[mcnach]

The battery on a tuner like that would last a looooong time. It's a low power thing, it'll likely charge really fast too. I get it, we all have our preferences, but all the 'negatives' I've read so far don't seem anything significant

Other tuners are available.

 

[petermwright]

Don't get me wrong, I like rechargeable batteries, I use them with my wireless guitar and IEM packs. But I like rechargeable batteries that I can take out of the device and replace.

 

[tom-g]

All rechargeable batteries eventually get to the point where they don't hold charge for long. But you don't know when you're at the point until you're at that point.

That‘s not my experience. I notice the deterioration very well, before it ever creates a problem for me.

 

[mcnach]

I have never liked or needed clip on tuners. The most basic requirement of my basses that I gig with is that they stay in tune for a minimum of 1 set. I use my tuner at most once before each set and 99% of the time, that is only to verify tuning. My pedal tuner is plenty adequate and convenient for that and it is more reliable than clip ons.

This is pure anecdote, but I'm sure there are other situations that lead to the same outcome.

Not long ago I was playing at a venue that had some kind of curtain of LEDs at the back. Very light wiring. I was stage right that time, and I turned to the drummer between songs for some reason, and my headstock got caught in the LED curtain. I shook it lightly but all I did was wrap more wire around a couple of tuners. I pulled harder... it wasn't doing anything and I feared I'd make the whole thing drop on the drummer's head, which would be hilaaaaarious, no doubt, but not what I had in mind. Fortunately somebody came to the rescue, untangling the wires from my headstock, all while I was playing (singer hadn't realised what was going on with me or heard the drummer laughing, we're a 7 piece). Eventually I was freed, but a couple of strings were slightly off. Make one note last a whole beat while I turn the clip-on tuner on, and I could 'see' as I was playing exactly just how off I was and corrected it on the fly.

My tuning is stable as is most people's, but... things happen to interfere with tuning happiness while onstage.

They're handy little things, but they're not the only way, of course. Just saying that no matter how stable your bass is, things happen, like a guy who joined us singing for a couple of songs, comes on stage from behind me and rather than announcing his presence to me somehow, he (gently, I admit) moves my bass neck aside... by holding it at the headstock and slightly detuning my D string...
I would always have some kind of tuner ready, whether clip-on or as floor tuner.

 

[mcnach]

I’ve got a tuning fork. Hold it between my teeth for A 440 in stereo.

That only works if you have 2 teeth.

 

[mcnach]

Woah… y’all tune?

Yeah, but not to the same reference.

 

[burgerdj]

I already have one. I have to recharge it after four or five months of use. Plus, there is a battery display on the face that shows the power reserve.

Likewise. The internal battery charges fast and lasts a looong time. I’m not a big fan of clip-on tuners, but this one is pretty good…and less heavy metal going to the local landfill is always a good thing.

 

[mcnach]

The issue is that if your tuner has reached the stage that its battery won't hold enough charge to last from when you charge it at home to when you need it at the gig, you might not discover that until you're at the gig. So it's not the same as having one with a coin cell, and having spare coin cell.

Sure, you can bring more than one tuner to the gig.

But the issue for me is that when the battery becomes useless, the whole device becomes useless, because you can't change the battery. So those devices are potentially quite wasteful.

If the tuner doesn't hold charge, then it's malfunctioning. Why keep using it? If a cable starts cutting out you'd replace it, right?

I get what you mean about bad battery = waste of the whole unit, 'though. I don't like the relatively short life of a lot of products which is due purely to an internal battery dying. It should be compulsory to make internal batteries user-serviceable and replaceable.

 

[mcnach]

If it doesn‘t hold a charge, it‘s broke. If you‘re going on with a broke tuner you‘re not prepared.

I have found that most of those devices can be repaired even though they do not look like it. The waste with dead regular batteries will most likely be greater.

True, and a replacement battery is typically very cheap as we're talking low capacity ones. However it can often be fiddly and require soldering, which is not a problem for many, but not for everybody. They should make the internal battery more accessible.

 

[mcnach]

All rechargeable batteries eventually get to the point where they don't hold charge for long. But you don't know when you're at the point until you're at that point.

It doesn't happen overnight.

 

[petermwright]

It should be compulsory to make internal batteries user-serviceable and replaceable.

^^^ this.

I'd be more than happy for everything to be rechargeable if this was the deal.

But I suspect planned obsolescence is part of the strategy.

 

[azureblue]

WTH are you on about? You have no idea at all. I have one and guess what? 1- they go for more than a month or more on a charge and, amazingly enough, there is a charge meter right there on the display. Clever! And, it uses the common cell phone charger, so, if your entire world is falling apart, you are mere inches from a psychotic breakdown, because you ignored the meter and forgot to charge, it - you can plug it into your cell phone charger or car USB A port and charge it back up. Heaven forbid you are forced, by means of whips and chains, to actually use your ears to tune your bass...

 

[mikecd1]

Just like you need ID to buy alcohol or rec weed, they should have plain old tuners with good old batteries for folks too old to have kids