I had been studying the Intellitouch line of clip-on tuners for a while but had seen mixed reviews. Recently, I occurred to see a brief evaluate of the Intelli IMT500 clip-on tuner. After a bit of study, I made a decision to present it a try. The body is sort of small at slightly better than 2.25 inches measured diagonally. The meter display itself is sq. at about 1.25 inches diagonally. The display backlighting is kind of brilliant and the dimensions itself is definitely read when checked out straight on with some blurring if seen at some angles. The dimensions is typical for a lot of electronic tuners and easily understood. It has a calibration characteristic which takes it from a 430 to a 449-A reference. It also has a flatting function for use in tuning with a capo. I’ve used neither of these features as of yet. After I first used it, there was an irritating rattling sound after I played. I discovered that the three buttons, POWER-LIGHT / FLAT / CALIB, have been vibrating within the tuner. I disassembled the unit and using a toothpick, positioned a very small amount of clear silicone RTV sealant alongside the within edges of these buttons. I left it to remedy for a couple of hours after which reassembled it. The rattling was gone and the buttons labored fine. Hopefully this fix will last a while but is well repeated if needed. I then compared its tuning accuracy with that of a KORG Chromatic Tuner Mannequin CA-30 using a Martin DR acoustic with gentle bronze strings which have a moderate quantity of age on them. With the Intelli lifeless on, the KORG showed a few cents sharp. That is obviously not enough variance to be involved about. The position on the headstock did not appear to impact the tuning at all. The one situation I’ve thus far is that the tuner has a harder time sensing the low E string. Nonetheless, I’ve heard that this is common with the clip-on tuners. I know that even my KORG and SABINE each have problem in picking up the lower notes. Additionally, after I get the sixth string tuned it seems a hair sharp to my ear and I took it down ’till it sounded right. I’ll change the strings out sometime soon and give it another try. Also, I struck a 440-A tuning fork and clipped the tuner on the shaft end of the fork. The tuner registered a dead on 440-A!

!

I am happy with the tuner overall. If it holds up, I imagine that it will fit the bill quite well for noisy venues. I gave it four stars only because of the rattle. If I can add to this at a later date, I will replace my opinion as needed.

At Violinforsale.org find information about Intelli Imt 600 and Intelli Imt 1000.