Is there a state of the art Stud Finder?

[Sam Murdoch]

Are there any out there that really work? Basic dry wall to wood stud situation and occasional lathe and plaster over studs.

Thanks for any real world experience you can share about stud finders.

[Jamie Buxton]

I've got a stud finder that works well for studs behind drywall. Zircon, I think. Yellow, not expensive at Home Despot.
It doesn't work well finding studs behind lath and plaster. I think it can't distinguish between the lath wood and the stud wood. For that situation, I use a metal detector intended to find buried metal in lumber before you send it through the planer. It is a bit touchy, but can usually see the nails holding the lath to the stud.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I bought a Bosch "Wall Scanner" a while back. Have to say it works a little better than the normal stud finders. Not perfect though.

[Rick Potter]

Funny you should ask. I just got home from Costco, where they have a try it yourself display of a new type detector. It is long and skinny and you use it sideways. A row of led's allow it to show the entire width of the stud, single double or even triple, I think.

I have three stud finders, including a Zircon and a Ryobi, and still use a nail to find the width of studs. I think I will try one of these.

I forget the brand, but it's blue, with a small wall display to play with, at least at my local Costco.

[Sam Murdoch]

Funny you should ask. I just got home from Costco, where they have a try it yourself display of a new type detector. It is long and skinny and you use it sideways. A row of led's allow it to show the entire width of the stud, single double or even triple, I think.

I have three stud finders, including a Zircon and a Ryobi, and still use a nail to find the width of studs. I think I will try one of these.

I forget the brand, but it's blue, with a small wall display to play with, at least at my local Costco.

That's been my experience and so I asked in this thread. I have not had any other tool that has so constantly failed its mission - its purpose!

I'll need to look for the one you write about.

[Kelby Van Patten]

The Franklin ProSensor 710 is the be-all, end-all stud finder. It's awesome.

[Rich Riddle]

I own the Franklin and it gets a solid "B" for performance which is much higher than many others. It has a series of lights that illuminate to show you the outer limits of the stud so that you can center your nails.

[Lee Reep]

The Franklin ProSensor 710 is the be-all, end-all stud finder. It's awesome.

That's the one at Costco. The price a few months ago was about $10 less than I saw in an ad in one of the many magazines I get.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I have 2. One is a 30 year old Craftsman that you have to manually adjust the sensitivity and a 3 year old yellow Zircon.

I much prefer the old Craftsman as I can set the sensitivity manually and it appears more accurate.

[Kevin Jenness]

My favorite studfinder is a 3/4" rare earth magnet wrapped with a loop of blue tape.It does a perfect job of locating drywall screws. The electronic ones, not so much.

[Wakahisa Shinta]

I use a CH Hanson magnetic stud finder. Had a Zircon but it was frustrating to use.

[Keith Outten]

I purchased the Franklin from Lee Valley. Its the best I have used so far for sign installs.

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=69828&cat=1,43513

I also keep one of the old magnetic stud finders in my tool bag just in case.
.

[Mike Null]

I have a Craftsman that's at lest 30 years old. Works just fine and I think it does a good job of finding the centers.

[Tom M King]

Da Bomb: http://www.amazon.com/ProSensor-710-Franklin-Sensors-Precision/dp/B0064EICKG/ref=zg_bs_553280_2

No finding an edge and then guesswork to where the stud center is. Makes putting up crown a breeze.

[Greg R Bradley]

The Franklin works well but I have to agree with Rich Riddle that it gets a "B" grade as it isn't perfect. That, or a copy of, or a lower end model of, is the one at Costco. Their test setup is one that shows how the lights work showing the edges of the studs. It doesn't show how well it works detecting studs in the real world.

I also have the Bosch Wall Scanner and it works really well for some uses. It works OK for studs but really shines for electrical cables, water pipes, etc.

Nice to have a rare earth magnet and sometimes the older style magnet sensor that they sold 30 years ago. Different sensors for different walls. It would be nice to have one solution but I haven't seen that and I've looked hard. We have the $800 Bosch D-Tect and it is really great for finding rebar in concrete and not so great on studs behind drywall.

[Peter Hartman]

by far the most reliable I have ever used.

http://www.amazon.com/CH-Hanson-03040-Magnetic-Finder/dp/B000IKK0OI/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1423230363&sr=1-1&keywords=stud+finder

[Sam Murdoch]

Great - thanks for all the replies. I do have a magnet one and an icepick but sounds like the Franklin will be just right. Watched a couple of videos and along with your recommendations I'm sold. If I had $669.99 to spend the Bosch D- Text Wall Scanner would be the way to go as it will tell you if you are scanning, studs, PVC pipes, duct work and/or live wires. Now that's a stud finder? According to Greg B in the post above - not so much.

[Steve Baumgartner]

I have an older house (late 1800's), and I have never found any brand of sensor that works reliably with plaster on lath. I get both false positives and false negatives from all of them.

[john lawson]

http://www.amazon.com/Biary-Innovations-MSFL-T1003-Targets-included/dp/B001IIJY8C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1423237547&sr=8-1&keywords=magic+stud+finder+plus

[Gregory King]

Have a Zircon. Not fool proof, but my 16 oz. Estwing sure is. A bit of joint fill covers the holes after the fact. Greg

[Kent A Bathurst]

I have an older house (late 1800's), and I have never found any brand of sensor that works reliably with plaster on lath. I get both false positives and false negatives from all of them.

Ditto. OUr houses have all been 20's bungalows - lath & plaster. I don't even use a stud finder anymore - an exercise in futility. Take my best guess - drill a hole. Flip a coin to decide L or R, then start a line of holes 1" OC. Always works, and for what I have ben doing, the holes are hidden behind shelves/cabinets.

[Ellen Benkin]

I use the Zircon but I also use the "tap and listen" method. I've gotten pretty good at finding studs without any mechanical devices and then I use the Zircon to try to determine the edges of the stud.

[Steve Peterson]

That's the one at Costco. The price a few months ago was about $10 less than I saw in an ad in one of the many magazines I get.

The Costco version is supposedly identical except it is blue instead of yellow. I saw somewhere that Franklin confirms the functionality of both units to be identical. It is my favorite stud sensor by a long shot, although I don't have any other really good ones to compare it against.

Steve

[Erik Loza]

My yellow Zircon false-positives at least 50% of the time. It finds the stud and then "keeps indicating there's a stud" as I continue to run it across the wall, even though I know it's clear behind the drywall. And this is new construction. I hate it but not enough to buy something else. Tap and knock works for me too.

Erik Loza
Minimax

[Fred LeBail]

Ditto on the Franklin !

[lowell holmes]

I have piece of junk electronic stud finder that goes crazy around electric wires, That makes it useless. The old magnetic plastic stud finder is the one I use.

[Joe Kieve]

The only thing I have ever found that works with any consistency is a hammer and a 6 penny nail. Works every time!

[Tom M King]

Looking for nails in baseboard works sometimes too.

[Sam Murdoch]

Looking for nails in baseboard works sometimes too.

Yup - that's a good one too "sometimes" :)

[Rick Potter]

I just read the FAQ section on the Franklin site, and they clearly state that it does not work reliably on Lath and Plaster walls. As far as I know, all of them are questionable on L&P. I am gonna get the one at Costco.

[Phil Thien]

I have plasterboard with plaster over that (not just a skim). The old electronic finder I have (don't know the brand) works fairly well but leaves a bit of guesswork.

I know Franklin says their unit doesn't work on lath and plaster but I wonder how it would work on plasterboard + plaster. And some of the reviews indicate it DOES work on lath and plaster, BTW.

[Bill Orbine]

The only thing I have ever found that works with any consistency is a hammer and a 6 penny nail. Works every time!

YES! And in addition to hammer and nail, the 'ol knocker. Rapping on the wall feeling something solid behind it get me pretty much "just about right there" most of the time. The hammer&nails confirms the stud and not a pipe or some other oddity. I chunked my electronic stud finder long time ago.

[Dan Rude]

I have the Franklin it works well on my Rock lath plaster walls. The other ones, not so well. I'm glad I got it since plaster repairs are a real pain compared to Drywall. Dan

[Mac Cambra]

I will throw in a vote for the Franklin, it has worked great for me.

[scott vroom]

Is there a state of the art Stud Finder?

Yeah, and she's standing to my left in my avitar pic. :D:D:D

[Sam Murdoch]

Yeah, and she's standing to my left in my avitar pic. :D:D:D


HMMM - interessssting - She was saying something altogether different :rolleyes: :D

[Brian W Evans]

+1 on the Franklin for drywall. Haven't tried plaster & lath, though.

[scott vroom]

HMMM - interessssting - She was saying something altogether different :rolleyes: :D

Nah, that was her evil twin talking :p

[Clint Baxter]

I Have the Bosch and two of the Zircoms. The Bosch has been iffy and the Zircoms seem to work better. I've pretty much gone to a spherical rare earth magnet now. You can get them fromtLee Valley http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=45088&cat=1,42363,42348
just hold them loosely and roll them against the wall. Nice thing is they will stick to the top of the screw/nail when it's found the stud so there is no marking. The hemispherical works as well, but doesn't rolll as easily as the larger, and more expensive, spherical one.
Clint

[Phil Thien]

Yeah, and she's standing to my left in my avitar pic. :D:D:D

Yeah, but you only get a single use out of those.

And I can't afford multiples.

[Jason Roehl]

Have a Zircon. Not fool proof, but my 16 oz. Estwing sure is. A bit of joint fill covers the holes after the fact. Greg

Nothing wrong with that if you're the one doing the patching and painting. If it's someone else, don't. This method lands on the list of "justifiable homicide" with painters.

I've had good success with a couple different Zircon models. I've found that you have to double-check what you're doing. That is, for a single stud, you want to start the scan in a different place, as it's based on relative density, so if you start the scan on a stud, you'll get a screwy reading. That said, I usually keep a telescoping magnetic pick-up tool in my pocket that works well if I lightly swing it across the wall while moving it up and down to find drywall screws. I also do pretty well tapping lightly on the wall with my knuckle, listening for a change in the sound. And, especially in very new houses, I can usually see the areas where drywall screws have been mudded over in the field of a piece of drywall. Oh, and there's usually a stud on one side of a receptacle. Take the cover plate off and probe between the drywall and the box.