Stud/Voltage Finder

[RJH]

Any recommendations?

My 20-odd year old Lidl seems to have developed a mind of its own, giving random false positives and wildly sensitive positives. The reviews at Screwfix etc seem to be mixed.

[Thomas Prufer]

I have an older Fluke and a newer non-Fluke -- I like the newer one better. It beeps in addition to lighting up, so I can stick it somewhere, go to the panel and flip breakers until it stops beeping. Sometimes useful if no line of sight.

Thomas Prufer

[RJH]

Thanks - but not sure they do them anymore, I can only see voltage detectors on their web site. And likely to be too expensive for me, even second hand.

I'd need at least metal and voltage (like my current Lidl - doesn't do studs, my mistake) - stud would be nice too.

[alan_m]

My house is built 1908 with lathe and plaster walls where the plaster can be an inch thick in place. I have various stud finders and none of them find studs reliably giving both false positives and failing to find anything in the wall.

I've had a lot more success with a Ziron M40 metal detector which can find the nails in the lathe which in turn are nailed into studs/joists. However owing to the thickness of the plaster, and maybe the old plaster composition, this is not always 100% reliable. And, before anyone suggests it, the magnet method doesn't work at all except on one wall where the old plaster was knocked off and replaced with plasterboard and then skimmed.

I have two multi-purpose stud finders that claim to detect voltage. On a wall that has been chased out for wiring, the chase plastered back over and then tiled these also completely fail to detect mains voltage beneath the surface. The problem with voltage detectors is that people using them and not finding mains voltage/wires assume that it is safe to drill.

If you view Youtube videos on these products they are always demonstrated under favourable conditions but read the (Amazon) reviews and there are many low score reviews indicating that they possibly don't work that well in real world condition.

[Andy Burns]

I'd recommend against the Bosch GMS120, it gives both false positive and false negative readings, for volts and studs :-(

[Theo]

I had good results with a Zircon - it found studs where all the other tricks (magnets, tapping, 1980s stud finder etc) had failed. Can't remember the model but it was yellow and looked like a computer mouse. Might have been:

but they no doubt have newer models now.

Theo