Recommendations for a timing light / gun

[SumGuy]

I've been looking at Amazon for a new timing gun, one that will display RPM, and like a lot of product reviews you'll see half to 75% of the reviews give a high rating and then 5 to 15 % will say the device didn't work at all or it failed upon the second use.

There seems to be maybe 4 different basic models of these guns sold by 3 dozen different vendors.

Anyone buy one recently, that still works?

I had an old Penske gun, it used a direct pickup (spring wire that pushed on directly to the plug, not inductive pickup). I don't see that style for anything sold today. Why is that?

 

[Astro14]

I've been looking at Amazon for a new timing gun, one that will display RPM, and like a lot of product reviews you'll see half to 75% of the reviews give a high rating and then 5 to 15 % will say the device didn't work at all or it failed upon the second use.

There seems to be maybe 4 different basic models of these guns sold by 3 dozen different vendors.

Anyone buy one recently, that still works?

I had an old Penske gun, it used a direct pickup (spring wire that pushed on directly to the plug, not inductive pickup). I don't see that style for anything sold today. Why is that?

For your second question - the inductive pickup doesn’t cause shorts/sparks to ground or misfires. The in line pick-up was fine with points ignition, but not with the electronic ignitions that stared in the 1970s.

My Craftsman from about 1980 is inductive, and still works. I have only one car for which I even need a timing light, and that 40+ year old Craftsman is still good.

 

[Dave Sherman]

My timing light is one I got from Autozone in the 2000s for the MG. It's an inductive pickup. Since the instructions on mine say to flip the pickup 180 degrees if it doesn't light, I wonder if some of the ones saying they don't work aren't aware that sometimes the polarity of the pickup matters.

 

[atikovi]

Got one of these a few years ago to replace an 80s Craftsman that quit. Only used it once since, but works great, if a bit plasticy in comparison. https://www.amazon.com/INNOVA-5568-Pro-Timing-Light-Tool/dp/B000EVU8J8?

 

[D60]

I honestly haven't used it yet, but as you said there really aren't THAT many options. SnapOn's top end seems to be proprietary (and priced as you'd expect). One of the ignition companies (MSD?) sells their own that seems well liked on hot rod boards. Or, the Innova:

New tool thread

SK day. 1/4” semi deep nos, and a used 1/4 set. I love theb1/4 set. This one has seen some use. My biggest issue is the broken box clasps. Can they be replaced?

bobistheoilguy.com

I'm speaking "higher end" digital ones. I didn't research the "old school" metal/chrome guns with fewer features when I was shopping.

 

[Snagglefoot]

I find you almost always get 5 to 15% are unhappy people doing bad reviews. I’ll bet some of them don’t understand how it worked. 10-15% of the population wears their T shirt backwards.

Inductive pickup is a modern requirement. RPM is nice. I believe with some you can dial in the advance to see how it would run with a different amount of advance. Dwell is excellent if the car still has points. It’s hard to find a dwell meter any more.

 

[SumGuy]

It would be nice if there were (digital) timing guns with an extra wire you could attach to the coil low-voltage side so that you could get a dwell reading. That is something I've not seen anywhere.

If you're going to still make and sell timing guns these days why not cater to what is the largest market for them - people with old cars that don't have fancy aftermarket electronic ignition control systems?

The Innova 5568 seems to be the one to get. I don't know how it does dwell unless it has a wire for it. ?

I checked my dwell with an oscilloscope looking at the coil low-voltage lead coming from the distributor points. Had to do some math but it's not hard.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Back when I needed one I had one like this. Maybe the same one as @Astro14. I imagine I might still find it packed away in my dad's garage somewhere. If I needed one now I would go to ebay and buy one rather than mess with some chinese made thing.

No affiliation - just posting for the pic.