How painful is a shock collar?

there is a lot of shock collar stuff flying around at the mo,

im fine with correcting a dog with a touch or a lead tug,
and if an e collar from what i have read can be adjusted power wise from just feeling it to, ouch that hurts,
was used on a setting that was no worse than a lead tug,
then are they that bad,
say a dog was running off and you were able to correct it with a lead to stop running off, then a e collar could be used at a greater range to correct the dog from running off.
(Im not ever planning to use one btw just want facts about them) Its just that the name of the device puts a horrible picture in your head and you think of the electric chair and other horrible high voltage things, i was a powder coater for 6 years and got static shocks every day and they were not painful, you can even but static shock games from argos.
so i would like to know from people who have actually tried them on themselves what they feel like,
im not condoning the use of them and im not planning to use one, its just that the word electric shock brings thoughts of terror and a static shock is just a small nuisance, as i have never felt an e collar its hard to understand there use

if it was only meant to be a 'tingle' it would not have settings that go so high...its meant to hurt!

Honest answer....

No-one knows.

Pain thresholds are different not only between different species but also between individuals within that species.

But bottom line - if they are going to work - it is because they hurt.

They are very unpleasant even on the lowest setting (which is what I tried on myself). I didn't go any higher, it was horrible.

One of the biggest problems with the devices is that it's impossible to tell what any individual may feel from a shock collar. As an example, a group of us examined various equipment including a shock collar. On one single setting, different people experienced a different sensation from nothing at all to that of a heavy static shock. The setting was very low.

The other problem, of course, is that dogs can't tell us what they feel and are excellent at covering up feelings of pain. It's a survival mechanism and one that is essential for them. However, as when dogs are ill, we can never really say by looking at them and how they react just how much they are or are not suffering

If they make a dog yelp then I'm pretty sure they must hurt. A dog yelps if it's made the mistake of lying infront of a doorway and someone trips over it, or if someone accidentally steps on its tail, or if a dog is too rough in play, a yelp isn't an exclamation of "Ooh, that tingles", it's an "Ouch!"

well i put one on my neck...full tilt...it did not hurt the way i thought it would,strange numming like,and it was not a zap persay...on high,its seemed more intence, not more painfull.......i feel it would freak a dog out.let alone the ,pain,...iv seen it all in behaviour problems,,,never needed one ...i feel there is mental abuse there also..

I work with polythenes/plastics and tissue papers and can get static shocks.
Some actually make a cracking noise.
Can't say they hurt particularly, but always make me jump.
It's not something I would choose to happen.
Definitely would not like one around my head/neck area.
An e collar will give quicker results. But only for people who dont care about deliberately inflicting pain or unpleasantness to their dogs

so people need to be aware that at some point in setting up the collar to no how high to set it they are going to hurt there pet dog at least once ,
i have had shocks from car spark plug leads that hurts, ive had shocks form the mains that hurts, but the static shocks ive had dont hurt but im sure a large static shock would and a prolonged static shock would hurt too.
the main reason for this thread is that i find myself getting drawn into threads about e collars giving advise not to use them but with no real knowledge of using them and lots of people are guilty of this too.

Are you seriously discussing how much to hurt a dog?
I don`t hurt my dogs. I train them.