Is there a state of the art Stud Finder?

[Peter Hartman]

by far the most reliable I have ever used.

http://www.amazon.com/CH-Hanson-0304...ds=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-Innovati...ud+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.