Timing light,

im looking at needing a timing light soon,
so i figured buy one.
i have no idea which are the best,

INDUCTIVE
XENON
MAC
SNAP-ON

what would you guys recommend.

thx guys.

For consideration.

Timing Light from Z1E

Good Luck!

Is there a difference between a timing light for a motorcycle and a car?

they all work off the coil firing so if all you want is one to double check your timing from time to time save your money and buy an equus or some cheapy that you can pick up at any discount tool place or auto parts place if you need it to verifiy exactly how many degrees of advance you have at a certain rpm or in a certain gear like a big horse nitrious bike might need then by all means spend the big bucks i have a digital snap -on but only because i won it at a race years ago the one i use every day is a 35 dollar cheapy. just make sure it has an inductive pick-up and uses good quality clamps

Ok; car/bike timing lights are the same. You definitely want one with inductive pickup. All this means is that it has a little insulated clamp gizmo that you hook around a sparkplug wire and it senses the spark. The old non-inductive type suck (trust me) because they use a bare metal spring between the sparkplug cap and sparkplug and you clamp a little alligator clamp to the spring to sense the spark. Of course they can short out against the motor or your hand if you're not careful (how do I know?) or the spring falls out of the plugcap and rolls down the driveway into the street where an oncoming trash truck runs over it when you start the engine.

Xenon refers to the bulb. It's nice and bright.

Some have a timing advace feature that isn't necessary for tuning a Kawasaki.

Some use batteries instead of 2 little alligator clamps that attach to the bike battery. I guess this type would be ok, but I can't imagine it would be as bright as one powered by the bike battery.

Check eBay if only to see the wide variety of timing light types available. Keep in mind these are very simple devices that you may use 20 minutes per year (if that). You don't need a $200 light; I bought a new Craftsman from eBay that works great for about $12.
Ed

great info guys thx,
ill be watching e-bay

Anyhting brand of Snap-On will be overpriced. Since you will only use it on occasion, buy a decent quality no-name light with inductive (clip on) pickup. Pep Boys probably has some. You can also check harbor Freight tools. They have one for $16:

www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=3343

The web address is above this line in case it doesn't show up.

Kano, you live on an island or something right....

If you find one you want and can't get, I'll buy it & mail it to you... Harbor freight tools... 1 mile away...

Let me know,

Dave

I bought the base model EQUUS a couple of years ago and it works great. Very simple, no bells or whistles. $ 30? Very bright/white light, work great, even in full daylight.

BH

Old Man Rock wrote:

Kano, you live on an island or something right....

If you find one you want and can't get, I'll buy it & mail it to you... Harbor freight tools... 1 mile away...

Let me know,

Dave

nice one dave!
your a real stand up guy thx,
no hurry motor going off island got put back a week,
so ill get back to you on that one.

I have had a Sears timing light for a zillion years. Induction is the way to go....chris3