Electric cable and pipe detector

Stick with the cheapy, none of them are much better ...

Cables seldom detect accurately under drywall with an electric field based detector (most of them) - the PB is always slightly conductive and spreads the field far and wide IME.

Solid masonry works better.

If you want pin point accuracy for electric cables, you need a magentic field based detector. Relies on you putting a load on the cable but when an inch matters, when I used on, it worked. I can't remember the make though - it was a while ago.

I have a PlasPlugs 'stud' detector which 'finds' cables, studs, etc - provided they aren't too 'deep'. I was surprised when it even worked and found wooden blocks through the metal skin of my motorhome body. I've had it years- probably 20. It isn't sold as anything but a stud detector, I tried it where I knew there was a cable and it found it, and I've used it since.

As others have said, I doubt there is much difference between them. Plus, I use then to indicate the region where things are. I'd not, for example, drill right up to the 'edge' indicated by the device.

:)

I have a Zircon triscanner pro (don't know if you can still get them), which I find works well in most cases. Its stud finder capability is not good with foil backed PB though. (in which case I use it in metal detection mode to find the fixings into the stud instead).

Zircon MetalliScanner m40 for metal/pipe detection

Not necessarily for cable but it works very well for finding metal. It has adjustable sensitivity - calibrate it away from the metal and it will give a rough indication of position. Once that is found calibrate it within the rough area to pinpoint the position. Calibration is just a press of a button.

Chris Hogg pretended :

After owning one for several years and not finding it detected any studs, I eventually found some success holding it flat against the surface. I cannot see any of them being 100% when detecting studs. Its other detections methods were more definite, such metal and live cables.

The one I have, and /don't/ recommend, is the Bosch GMS120(?) it manages both false positives and false negatives for live wires in plasterboard (not foil-backed stuff) and block.

I'd expect studs would be hardest to detect, but somehow it manages to detect them better than pipes and wires despite having three dedicated modes for studs, metalwork and wiring.