3 Responses to “Intelli IMT500 Clip-on Chromatic Digital Tuner for Strings”

1. Xiang
   October 21st, 2009 @ 10:25 pm

   The Intelli IMT-500–The tuner that killed the Intellitouch!

   There are scores of chromatic tuners on the market. Most work by using a small built-in microphone that picks up sound waves. In order to be used effectively, the tuning space must be relatively quiet. Many of these tuners have input jacks that allow electric guitars to be connected directly and tuned by the electronic signal they produce. A bunch of years ago a variety of clip-on-microphones began to be marketed. The microphone could be clipped to any instrument and its cord attach to an electronic tuner. Now, anyone could tune an instrument no matter what the background noise.

   Then, the Intellitouch tuner hit the market. The entire tuner clipped onto the instrument. One could tune an acoustic instrument in a noisy environment. There was no cord to deal with and the instrument could stay clipped to the headstock or quickly removed and slid into a pocket or case. Talk about convenience. Jams and festivals (bluegrass, folk, whatever) became seas of Intellitouch tuners.

   Intellitouch owned the market even though there were so many situations where they did not work well. In particular, they have trouble with the bass notes of dreadnought sized guitars. The more overtones an instrument produces, the worse the tuner behaves. The bass string of a Martin rosewood dreadnought was near impossible to tune without using one of the many workarounds that owners developed. So, it was very much a love-hate relationship. The shortcomings were huge, but the convenience meant that they were tolerated.

   Then, came the Intelli. It was an Intellitouch that worked, if not perfectly, then a whole lot better. The amazing thing is that the switch from Intellitouch to Intelli wasn’t gradual. Within six months of its introduction, jams and festivals became seas of Intelli tuners. People were throwing their Intellitouches into drawers (if they weren’t lucky enough to find a die hard holdout willing to buy one second-hand) to get the Intelli. That’s a considerable investment to abandon. But, why not? The Intelli is half the price of the Intellitouch and works a whole lot better. They are so inexpensive that it’s easy to justify getting one for the practice area and one for the case so that you don’t have to worry about forgetting to pack it.

   Anyone who will ever have to tune an acoustic instrument in a noisy environment will quickly find this tuner indispensable. And it works darn well in a quiet environment, too!

   Highly recommended!

2. Michal
   October 22nd, 2009 @ 2:34 am

   I had been studying the Intellitouch line of clip-on tuners for some time but had seen mixed reviews. Recently, I happened to see a short review of the Intelli IMT-500 clip-on tuner. After a bit of study, I decided to give it a try. The body is quite small at slightly greater than 2.25 inches measured diagonally. The meter screen itself is square at about 1.25 inches diagonally. The screen backlighting is quite bright and the scale itself is easily read when looked at straight on with some blurring if viewed at some angles. The scale is typical for many electronic tuners and easily understood. It has a calibration feature which takes it from a 430 to a 449-A reference. It also has a flatting feature for use in tuning with a capo. I have used neither of these features as of yet. When I first used it, there was an irritating rattling sound when I played. I discovered that the three buttons, POWER-LIGHT / FLAT / CALIB, were vibrating in the tuner. I disassembled the unit and using a toothpick, placed a very small amount of clear silicone RTV sealant along the inside edges of these buttons. I left it to cure for a couple of hours and then reassembled it. The rattling was gone and the buttons worked fine. Hopefully this fix will last a while but is easily repeated if needed. I then compared its tuning accuracy with that of a KORG Chromatic Tuner Model CA-30 using a Martin DR acoustic with light bronze strings that have a moderate amount of age on them. With the Intelli dead on, the KORG showed a few cents sharp. This is obviously not enough variance to be concerned about. The placement on the headstock did not seem to effect the tuning at all. The only issue I have thus far is that the tuner has a more difficult time sensing the low E string. However, I have heard that this is common with the clip-on tuners. I know that even my KORG and SABINE both have difficulty in picking up the lower notes. Also, when I get the sixth string tuned it seems a hair sharp to my ear and I took it down ’till it sounded right. I will 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 pleased with the tuner overall. If it holds up, I believe that it will fit the bill quite well for noisy venues. I gave it 4 stars only because of the rattle. If I can add to this at a later date, I will update my opinion as needed.

3. Vivienne
   October 22nd, 2009 @ 8:27 am

   1st off, I have 3 months of guitar experience. I barely know the difference between an “A” and an “E”. Tuning was a pain because I havnt developed an ear for it yet. I just received the IMT-500 and its great. Just clip it on and pluck a string. It alreaady knows which string you are trying to tune. When the note is in tune, the tuner line is centered and you move on to the next string. I should have bought this when I bought the guitar. Its small, compact, and the screen lights up a bright green and easy to read. Since it works off vibration, its probably more accurate than a microphone tuner and its MUCH more accurate than when I try and match a tune off a tuning fork.

Leave a Reply