Violin tuner

[EssexYumMum]

Has anyone used a violin tuner and how accurate is it? Any particular types you'd recommend? We're going away but my DD wants to take her violin along and there'll be no teachers around to tune it.

I have one that cost about £15.

It is not great tbh. It tells me that it's in tune, but my ears tell me otherwise although we are only talking about being a fraction out of tune.

But if you are just looking for approximate tuning then they are ok. You also can get tuner apps for smart phones but I have no idea which ones are good.

I have never used one, not even when I was 7yo, but if you're getting a tuner just get a regular chromatic tuner which can be used for any instrument. I caved in and got one for my harp because it's so much quicker than going round the cycle of fifths.

My teeth buzz when my violin is perfectly in tune (vibrations transferred through the chinrest) which is probably cheating.

Thanks for the replies. I'll have to You Tube to see how they actually work. I envisage it making the violin more out of tune if we don't use it properly. My daughter is able to tell if the violin is out of tune, using a piano, but if out of tune, cannot actually tune it.

I hope to pick order a tuner today as unfortunately the music store near us is closed.

I use an app called Cleartune on my iPhone, also available for iPad, iPod, etc.
It is easier to use than tuning against the piano, as you get a visual on how flat or sharp you are, and you can continue tweaking the tuning until you hit it perfectly. My 10 yo uses it with reasonable success.

Don't kids learn to tune by ear any more ? I can understand beginners and harpists but by secondary age I could tune effectively and I don't have perfect pitch at ll.

It's easy enough to tune by ear if there is an A to tune against... once you've been playing for a while. The trick is the internalised A=440Hz. ;-)