Peterson - StroboPlus HDC, Chromatic Handheld Strobe Tuner

Large, unmistakably clear way of making sure my cello is in tune.Comes with ‘sweeteners’ specially calibrated to countless instruments.So visually pleasing and simple that I still get goosebumps every time I tune my cello.Yes, sure, there are cheaper alternatives out there.What sets this one from the rest ( in fact, what separates Peterson tuners from the rest ) is the instantaneous feedback of the strobe.Simple and highly customisable via the intuitive menu.Has metronome functionality also.

Design:A solid and visually appealing unit with rubbery bits around the side which makes it feel solid. The buttons are clear and make accessing settings easy. The display is excellent in terms of brightness and ease of viewing. The rechargable battery lasts ages. The built in stand feature makes using this on a flat surface ideal for viewing angle.Basic tuning use:Without any of the additional features, you have a superb, ridiculously accurate tuner. The screen makes knowing where you are (relative to your 'in tune' target pitch) really intuitive. What's great is how quick the machine is to respond ... it's the lowest latency tuner I've used in terms of picking up string/pitch so you're right where you you need to be, fast.As well as the 1/4" Jack input, there's a built in Mic, for tuning acoustic only instruments. This works fine. (Uke, acoustic guitar). 5-string bass (plugged in) doesn't present any issues on the low-B, which some tuners can't handle. This is a multi-instrument tuner."Sweetened Tunings"These can be anything you want. Simply put, there are loads built in and more than most could need downloadable from the free web sortware/account you set up and log in to. As far as I understand it, much reseach has taken place around the idiosyncratic tuning charcteristics of all different instruments, and imperfections (say, with fretted guitar, that you can - technically speaking - only ever be perfectly in tune at one fret) and these are factored so that when using one, you are tuning your instrument not to a standard/concert pitch per-se, but (in a very very subtle way) factoring for these 'things' so that the instrument sounds more in tune with itself than it would via conventional tuning. You can create your own sweetened presets also. You can name and colour the display settings for each one differently also. You have sweetened settings for more instruments than I care to scroll through, and MANY for several of each type of instrument. This - in the example of guitar - includes ones for different tunings, different numbers of strings, etc.It's NOT a gimmick. There may be times or even particular reasons or tastes meaning you don't want to use these, but I've never had my guitars/bass/uke sound so 'in tune' in a musical way before now.Sophisticated Metronome:I wasn't aware of how deep-dive the metronome can be when I got this. As well as most of the standard features typical of vaguely decent digital metronomes, the software also allows you to set up remarkably complex tempo maps and timing signatures as well. Check out videos on this to get a better idea.Peterson care about their customers in my experience:The company making this product are wonderfully helpful and highly responsive. I've had a couple of questions over the 8-ish months of having this and they've gone above and beyond to help.Any gripes?:For this price point, an included zip-around pouch type case would be really good to have included. It's such a great piece of kit and it's a shame to have to pay more, separately, for a case. Even if an complimentary one was of a lower standard than the additional purchase one, some form of protective covering would round off the product perfectly.In summary, this is more than a tuner + metronome. It's a highly sophisticated, super accurate tuner, which has the added benefit of taking instrument characteristics into account to give a better 'in use' in-tune-ness than by merely tuning to an established frequency. It's also a highly sophisticated metronome that can do so much. All in a very user friendly chassis that feels solid/robust and is a breeze to use.Note: all this complexity is not an impact on ease of use. These features can be ignored, they can work transparently in the background, you can merely load the best one for your needs into the unit (if not there already), or you can deep-dive into editing them and creating all sorts of variations using the website interface.