I'm not a great guitarist - I play for my own amusement and probably prefer when nobody else is listening. Although I don't sound great, I sound much better when I'm in tune, and because guitar strings can very easily go out of tune, I need a quick and easy way of correcting this.

I chose the "Qwik Tune" for about a tenner, as one of my friends also had the same model and thought it was great. It's a relatively simple and compact device, which works in several different ways. Firstly you can press a small button and hear the notes (E, A, D, G, B, E) and then tune your strings to match those notes by ear. Now, if you're a relative novice or don't have a good ear for pitch (I don't) it can be difficult to tune your guitar by ear. You may think you have it, but as soon as you start to play it will be truly awful even if it's a little but out - so a more accurate and easy method is called for.

Fortunately the Qwik Tune has 2 other functions for tuning:

1 - If you have an electric guitar with a lead, plug the guitar directly into the Qwik Tune, and pluck your strings. The tuner will pick up the notes directly and highlight whether the note is too high or too low.

2 - If you have an acoustic or classical guitar, the Qwik Tune also has a microphone built in. If you play your strings next to the tuner, it will 'hear' what you are playing an indicate how horribly out of tune it is. I find this works best if you rest the tuner on the guitar as you play the notes, which allows it to pick up the vibrations even better.

In each of these cases, the screen uses a small scale, like a speedometer, to show whether you are flat (the digital indicator will point to the left, accompanied by a red light), or sharp (pointing to the right, with a red light) or in tune (the indicator will be vertical in the centre, accompanied by a little green light).

The display system is nice and clear, and easy to understand, making tuning simple and quick; it's not the most complex of gadgets, but does its job effectively. The pitching is pretty much spot on, and my guitars always sound good after tuning with the Qwik Tune.

The unit is also very small and compact, making it easily portable and perfect for your guitar bag or case. Finally, it's battery-powered, taking 2x AA batteries, which should last you quite a while!