Tachometers, what type have you used?

[country]

Who has used a laser or photo type, a vibration type, and how do you like it?

[wilm169]

My 916DA has the vibration type on it, not sure if right or not but also shows hours on engine.

[JohnMBerst]

Just ordered a laser type of e-bay today. Will let you know what I think. Found the link on another blog, and good results were noted. Total cost with shipping was under $15.

[HubbardRA]

I have a Vibratach that I use to set the governors on my engines. At one time when I was tractor pulling, I converted an automobile tach to work on a one cylinder engine. It worked, but not as good as I would have liked.

[RayS]

I have a Tiny Tac that I set my with.

[country]

John, I've been looking at many on ebay, but I'm leary about anything that doesn't ship from the U.S. The cheapest I found in the U.S. is around $30, and it took some time and a couple of days for something from the U.S. to show up. Where did your's ship from? I'm definately interested to know how well it works.

[xenon172]

We're using the latest version of the TinyTac. Since it is now programmable it will do all engines and offers a lot of bang for the bucks.

[CarlH]

I have an optical tach I got from Harbor Freight on sale for ~$30 (regularly $40). It works OK, but I have nothing to compare it to so whether it is great or just OK, I can't say.

[sammiefish]

Can anyone tell me the # of sparks per 2 revolutions for a breakerless ign kohler vs the points ign kohler K.... Im thinking the breakerless may fire 1 spark / 360 degrees ??? does the points ign fire 1 / 720 degrees ???

[country]

I'm a little late with this response, but here it is nonetheless. I bought a digital laser type tachometer off ebay, from a US listed seller, for about $15. I brought it into work, and tested it with a lathe in the machine shop. Up to 1800 rpm on the lathe, it was within 12 rpm. That was within the error listed for these types of digital tachometers. I'm comfortable that it is within ~20-24 rpm at 3600 rpm, where the Kohler is supposed to be set. I actually set it to about 3500-3550 rpm, so if the error is to the high side, the engine is still about 3600 rpm or a little less.

[JohnMBerst]

As noted I have a laser type, and against the CNC spindle at work was within 5 at 1000 RPM. For the few times I'm going to use it, think it is a great tool / investment. Did take about two weeks to arrive, but came as promised. Using a standard 9 volt battery is also good.

[gregnorth]

equus has 2 different ones that they say will work on 1 to 12 cylinders 6068 is black face and 8068 is white face. o'reilly auto parts sells the 8068 for $69.95. the black one is $20 more not sure why. later, greg

[glennsjr]

I have two different laser photoelectric tacks one is a harbor freight the other I bought from napa both seem to be very accurate also have one that you hold next to spark-plug wire I bought at napa which is very accurate and I have a snap-on timing light which has a tach built in. I found that you don't have to always use the tape on the photoelectric ones if the flywheel screen is black just put a small white line on it with paint and it will read the paint and its always there so the next time just point and read. Plus you can read pulleys on anything else that spins. The napa one even has a counting mode to let you know how many times it has rotated.