Engineers TEST Stud Finders | Dewalt vs Zircon vs JAXWQ
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- Опубликовано: 16 июн 2024
- WE TESTED 8 OF THE BEST STUD FINDERS WE COULD FIND From Amazon's best sellers to well know brands like DeWalt and Zircon. We measured their accuracy , their ability to detect live wire and their ability to detect PVC, Metal Conduit and Copper.
Product Links (No Specific Order):
Dewalt - amzn.to/3UY5PP0
JAXWQ - amzn.to/3y9hh0O
Craftsman - amzn.to/3RvUUJx
Franklin Pro Sensor - amzn.to/3UVLFW5
Stud Buddy - amzn.to/3C0ozFe
Zircon HD55 - www.homedepot.com/p/Zircon-St...
Zircon HD900 - www.homedepot.com/p/Zircon-Mu...
Hart - goto.walmart.com/c/3675674/565706/9383?veh=aff&sourceid=imp_000011112222333344&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.walmart.com%2Fip%2FHART-Basic-3-LED-Stud-Finder%2F502549653&intsrc=PRODUCT_UI_V2
0:00 - How do Stud Finders Work
1:39 - Test Setup
1:58 - Craftsman
3:10 - Dewalt
5:02 - Zircon HD900
7:05 - Zircon HD55
8:32 - Franklin ProSensor 710+
10:03 - Hart
11:13 - JAXWQ
Whether you are putting up some nice floating shelves you just bought, hanging some pieces of art or setting up your brand new TV, being able to determine where your studs are is critical.
Before the advent of stud finders, you had to hammer in a small nail into the wall until you found a stud.
There are two main technologies used in stud finders, magnetic and electronic ones. Magnetic ones like the stud buddy here, use a strong magnet to find the screws in the drywall.
To use magnetic stud finders, you simply zig-zag across the wall and hope that you find a screw. These types of stud finders are cost effective and easy to use. If you have the patience and your budget is tight, this might be the right stud finder for you, just make sure you find several screws to confirm this is indeed a stud.
Moving on… electronic stud finders are the most common out there. They detect changes in capacitance to determine the presence of a stud.
Within the electronic stud finder category, you have edge stud finders and center or whole stud finders. Edge stud finders utilize only one magnetic field; thus they can detect only one edge at a time and requires you to come from the other side to determine the other.
For a whole or center stud finder, engineers employed the use of multiple magnetic fields to detect several changes in density and thus detect the entirety of the stud or even two studs at the same time.
To test the stud finders, we built a wall with studs spaced at 16 inches apart on center. We installed electrical conduit, PVC, PEX and Copper piping. We added an electrical outlet and light switch to test the live wire detection capabilities of the stud finders. Finally, we installed 5/8 in drywall and applied 3 coats of satin paint.
One of the most affordable options we will be testing today is the Craftsman edge stud finder. This stud finder has a limited lifetime warranty and claims it can detect wood and metal studs up to 3/4 in. It also features a marking channel for convenience.
Next up we have the Dewalt center stud finder, this stud finder offers a three year limited warranty and it claims it can detect wood studs up to 1 inch deep, metal studs up to 1.5 inches deep and live wires up to 2 inches deep. Additional features include a convenient center marking channel, directional LED arrows for visual guidance and constant auto calibration, allowing you to begin on a stud.
We have the ZIRCON HD900. It offers a limited lifetime warranty and claims it can detect Wood studs up to 1.5 inches deep and metal ones up to 3 inches deep. It has an AC SCAN mode to detect live wires as well as a wire warning detection in any mode.
Also from Zircon, we have the HD55 edge stud finder. It offers a limited lifetime warranty and claims to detect wood and metal studs up to ¾ of an inch or 1.5 inches " in deep scan mode". It features live wire detection up to 2 inches and a unique arrow projection for ease of use.
One of the most expensive stud finders we will be testing today is the Franklin Pro Sensor. It offers a 1-year warranty and claims to detect wood and metal studs up to 1.6 inches deep because 1.5 just wouldn’t cut it.
The most economic stud finder we will be testing today will be the HART center stud Finder, at a low price of 9.88 at Walmart, It offers a 3 Year Warranty and claims to detect wood and metals studs up to 1 inch deep.
Next in line, we have the JAXWQ. It offers a 2 year warranty and claims to detect wood and metal studs up to 1.5 inches deep and live wires up to 2 in deep.
**Some of the links and other products that appear on this video are from companies which Brand Ranks will earn an affiliate commission or referral bonus. Brand Ranks is part of an affiliate network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites. The content in this video is accurate as of the posting date. Some of the offers mentioned may no longer be available. 
Хобби
We built a shuttle to go the moon but we still can't find the center of a stud 😐
🤣 🤣 Agree. Maybe if companies had NASA's budget.🤔
I'm a carpenter and I've had some customers say the same thing. I always tell them that "don't feel bad, professional astronauts went to the moon, I'm a professional carpenter I can find you the center of a stud. After all, you didn't build the house and you're not a carpenter, so don't feel bad."
Allegedly 😂
Actually…the Space Shuttle never went to the moon, nor was it capable of doing so. It was designed for low earth orbit and did not have the fuel capacity to entertain a trip to the moon…just sayin. However, your point is well taken.
i doubt we went the moon, over 60 years ago, my calculator is more capable than the best computer during that time. gtfo
I had a Bosch and also a Stanley branded stud finder and sometimes they also gave false live wire alarms. I’m not sure with the DEWALT but I found that you could prevent the false detection by putting your free hand flat on the wall while using the stud detector with your other hand. You may need to put your free hand on the wall close to the stud finder. This is due to your body absorbing the surface charge on the wall in order to prevent false live wire detections.
I have that Craftsman, it took me about a half hour to talk myself into trusting it when I was mounting my tv. The price was awesome, it did it’s job and I’m happy with it.
@Yuna Agreed! For the price, the craftsman is really good. A little tedious given it doesn't mark the center, but unless you're using a stud finder frequently, it'll do the job just fine. Thanks for sharing and supporting this small channel! We appreciate it and motivates us to make more videos to help people out.🙂
I use a $20 Zircon stud edge finder and tiny dot sized neodymium magnets. The magnets are just to rule out the possiblity of a pipe. The nails should be spaced out a few inches. if the magnets stick to every inch, it could be a pipe. Once I'm confident it's a stud, I mark the edges of both sides of the stud up and down the wall to get a silhouette of the stud. Confirm if there is another stud 16 inches to the side. If it looks like it all makes sense, I mark the middle of the silhouette and drill a small pilot hole. I've hung a lot of heavy stuff using this method. works great.
Awesome technique! Thanks for sharing. Tip: You can also start near an outlet as there always will be a stud next to it and work your way to your desired location by measuring the 16in (Some older homes can have studson exterior walls at 24in). Again thank you for sharing and supporting our small channel! It means a lot.🙂
That's about what I do. That "silhouette" you describe alleviates any doubt... Best way...
Dewalt is garbage for me too but in my experience I have tried 4 different stud finders both cheap and expensive and they are all terrible. This market seriously needs some new tools that actually work.
@Daryl Fortney I agree, the DeWalt was very underwhelming. We found that the only one with 100% accuracy was the stud buddy 🤣. Although you'll never know if that's the center of the stud. There's definitely room for improvement in this market. Thanks for the support and don't forget to subscribe for future videos.
This is an excellent review. Very helpful. Something that I would love to see someone address is the ability of a stud finder to work on uneven surfaces. I grew up in the NE and flat painted walls were the norm. Now that I live in the SW US you will never find a flat painted wall. Almost every wall in every house has texture sprayed on them. It makes finding Studs a huge pain.
Ugh That's the issue I am dealing with right now. Disappointed they didn't do that
We are going to build a wall divider and we have popcorn ceilings that may or may not have asbestos. I am trying to find the best stud finder possible to work with the popcorn. I don't know whose idea it was to create the blasted popcorn ceiling, but I wish they would never have done it. They're ugly and they make things so difficult, especially since, even though asbestos was removed from the market, a lot of builders still had a ton of the old popcorn stuff on hand. Near where we live, a thirty year old husband redid their house that was built long after asbestos was supposed to be no longer used. Soon after, he developed lung cancer and passed away. Their house was much newer than ours. It was incredibly sad, because his wife was pregnant when he died.
I have the Franklin, Hanson Magnetic, and a Ziron i700 (~$55-60). The Franklin is my 1st choice especially if there is a possiblity of double or triple studs which it readily shows. It is the fastest tool. The Hanson's magnet will pull the device from your hand if loosely held. It never gives a false reading unless the worker missed the stud and did not pull the nail out. The Ziron is a multi-mode tool and works OK but really finding the center of the stud takes some work.
I'm thinking we'll get a good one for all of the extra stuff, and then use our current basic stud finder with it because it's been really good at finding the studs.
It's hard to beat a good knuckle tapping to find a stud. And if the drywall flexes enough you can push on the drywall a little bit to find the exact center of the stud by pushing the drywall left and right of the stud, like a vertical seesaw with drywall and wooden studs.
Awesome suggestion! Thanks for watching and supporting the channel!
I'm a finish carpenter (install lots of cabinets, shelving etc) and the most reliable method in my experience is just knocking on the wall. You can hear and feel the difference on a stud with some practice. It also eliminates false positives on pipes becuse it only works where the drywall is fastened tight to the stud. If in doubt, drill a tiny test hole right above the baseboard so you can caulk it unnoticeably.
What about brick wall?
@@jacquelinemcmillan2793 well you don't have to find studs in a brick wall...
I got a Franklin several years ago. One of the LEDs was burned out almost immediately (should have returned it) and then another one went out some time after. At least it has enough area to just use a different area of the sensor. I wish it did have a higher resolution.
It makes a difference as to what the purpose of detection is. I typically don't want to know what's behind the wall. I only want to know where there is a stud. Thus the name. I don't want to detect copper/pvc pipe or electrical conduit because I'm not going to mount anything there. I'm only going to mount to a stud. So you can throw all the other detections out AFAIC. And if it's a deep stud..I don't want to know that either since I won't be able to mount anything there anyway.
if you ever visit stud finders again I would be interested in the performance of the Ryobi whole stud finder..thanks!
Interestingly, we had an old Ryobi stud finder we started testing, you can actually see it "cutt off " on the middle of the thumbnail. We decided to remove it from the test at the end given the results were very unreliable. We tried changing batteries, but no improvement, given it was old, we felt it was not a fair comparison, so we decided to eliminate it, but if we do revisit them we'll be sure to include it! Thanks for your feedback
I have a craftsman stud finder and it has a mind of it's own some days it works and some not
@Tim Whit 😂 Happened to us with a Ryobi stud finder we intended to test, but it was just so inconsistent, we though we must've gotten a bad one so we took it out of the video. You can actually see half of that Ryobi on the thumbnail 🤫🤫. Thanks for watching and supporting our small channel!
Totally agree with your comments on the DeWalt tester I'm not impressed it felt loosey goosey for want of a better word. Instruction sheet was good for a laugh...and Thanks for doing this, good job!
@perrydear Yes, we were very disappointed at the quality DeWalt was offering. Thank you for your support and feedback!
Please advise the distance from the edge of the wire to the edge of the stud and from the wire to the inside and outside faces of the drywall in your tests. If the wire is deeper, the scanners will not locate them as accurately. If the wire is too deep, the scanners will not alert to the presence of electricity at all. Comparing the Zircon M4 to the Franklin M150, both can detect wires relatively accurately at a total depth of 0.88 inches from the exterior face of the drywall. No detection by the Franklin device if the distance is increased to 1.59 inches or more based on measurements with our drywall test wall. In ac scan mode, the Zircon M4 detected wire at 1.59 inches, but location was 8 inches left of the wire (when scanning right to left). How does this compare with your results?
I bought a Walbot for $160 and so far it’s been the best one I tried. It picked up an electrical line I didn’t know was in my wall.
I have the Zircon and the stud buddy. The zircon finds the stud well but is not always the center. Typically use the stud buddy to get the ballpark then use the zircon but always verify the center with a nail.
Great technique! I agree, the Stud buddy is super fast at getting you in the right area. Like you said, the zircon can sometimes be fairly inaccurate with it's center marking. A metal detection feature is always a good add on as well. We appreciate the comment and hope you enjoyed the content. It helps our small channel a lot!
Dropped my Franklin pro off of a ladder onto hard surface when trying to locate ceiling studs. Still going strong.
@James Norris thanks for sharing! You actually gave us a great testing idea for future videos. Drop Testing! We appreciate you supporting our small channel!
mine broke doing the exact same 🥲
The Franklin looks identical to the hart one I have. My guess is they are identical except the color. It is hands down the fastest and most reliable stud finder I have used as a trim carpenter. The zircons have always given me issues.
@Phillip Chisholm You have a keen eye! During our research for this video, we actually found out that Franklin Sensors Manufactures all of the HART stud finders for Walmart. This is why they both have those Teflon pads (which are amazing btw). Thanks for supporting our small channel🙂, and be sure to subscribe so you don't miss upcoming product testing videos.
I have like 6 stud finders and the hart from Walmart is the most accurate of all of them. Was the cheapest too
@b_onthemove87 Agree, the HART performed very well and was extremely cheap comparatively. You can't go wrong with that one. They also have some higher end ones that perform just like the Franklin since they are manufactured by the same company. Thanks for sharing and supporting the channel!
Yeah for trim carpentry I agree that the Franklin is awesome. It's super fast installing baseboard since you're shooting brads and it doesn't have to be dead center. Just run down the line and shoot when there's lights.
Ryobi, Hart & Sapphire all use Franklin's tech, there's a few others but Franklin just let companies pay for the use of their patents
So I own the $20 Zircon (old yeller center stud finder) that I bought at walmart 3 years ago and it outperforms the Zircon M2 (Big orange cheap feeling clunky center stud finder)
Yeah, sometimes they pack so many features into some stud finders that they have to cut corners on materials, making them feel cheap. Thanks for sharing!
How would they do on walls with plaster walls. I can't find 1. The wall in my house are 2 levels of plaster
I feel like it's a massive problem if it defects pipes as studs. If it differentiates between them, that's wonderful. But if it's producing the same signal for both, it's gonna make somebody drill into a pipe and cause a large and expensive leak.
Yeah i have the DeWalt stud finder and a zircon, the dewalt is constantly telling me i have live wire where i know i dont. It fails to find studs and is telling me i have studs where i dont! I know because i put a nail there and no stud. After i tyvek a house i use a stud finder to locate them for putting up siding. You miss a stud you get a wave in it. (Thats why you see wavy siding lol)
Great video
@Brooklynapoli Thank you so much for your support!🙂
You missed both finding the stud and making the requisite dad joke that goes with this type of video. If it beeps or lights up when you place the stud finder on yourself, then you've found a confirmed stud.
I have a zircon stud finder and its garbage. i tried it out on a stud and put a dot where it says it detected the edge. i went up about 3 feet on both sides moving up about 2 inches at a time.
by the time i connected the dots it looked like like someone was playing pin the tail on the donkey absolutely wasted drunk.
sure it "detected" the stud but you could definitely miss putting in a few screws.
i just picked up a Hart brand stud finder with 9 sensors. i have yet to do the same test.
What about the Walabot?
I paid $20.00 for the dewalt 150, works good on wood, the ac light was on constantly too😢
Thank You, Boys
You are welcome! Thank you so much for watching and supporting our channel!
To me a stud detector sensing conduit and pipe without very reliable differentiation is a fail. I use a stud to see where to put nails and screws, I don't want pipes and conduit showing up the same as studs.
@Munch517 Agreed, that's why a metal detection feature is very useful. Although, those features were very unreliable as well.
What about the Walabot? I would like to see someone besides the maker show what it can do.
I know, sorry! One thing we learned on our first video is that this is not cheap and unfortunately couldn't test them all. In the future we may do a round 2!. Thank you for your watching and supporting our channel!
+1
Walabot works great. But it's too unwieldy for everyday use. I've used it to verify studs when installing a pet door that was supposed to be framed by the builder.
I notice you didn't use new batteries on the Franklin unit. Did you confirm the voltage was good on them?
Hey, thanks for watching! They were indeed both new, one was just IKEA branded. The Franklin was a great stud finder. Amazon has a smaller one for like 30 bucks that's very comparable.
@@BrandRanks I'm glad to have come across your channel! You have some great rigs for testing and I look forward to seeing more! I enjoyed your electrical tape review, Super 88 is my go-to. It costs a lot, but it's worth every penny to me.
Hey! So glad you found us. That is great to hear. Yeah that tape was amazing and if you do car stuff I recommend that Tesa one, life changer. Thank you for supporting us!
Can any of the Stud Finders tested be used to find Studs behind bathroom walls with 6 mm thick tiles?
@Aloma08 Glass, stone and ceramic tiles are very dense and can sometimes interfere with a stud finders ability to find a stud. Given there can be metal, PEX and plastic pipes behind a bathroom wall, I recommend you go with a stud finder that has a metal detection feature and can penetrate deep enough to find a stud, such as the Zircon HD900.
Thanks! Makes sense.
Excelente
Muchas gracias por apollar nuestro canal pequeño! Espero que le halla gustado. No se olvide de subscribirse para futuros videos!🙂
Hart was 'grossly inaccurate' at finding woods studs then it was 'exceptionally accurate'. So which one is it?
Having the ability to detect pipes and conduits without distinction against the actual studs is actually not a positive thing. It would be false positives, which should be "green" and not "red." The ones that detected these rather than studs should be "red" for being false positives.
@Volatile Memory thank you for your feedback. You are correct that would indeed not be a positive thing. When doing the rankings, we weighted this very low as it was not really as important as the accuracy detecting wood studs and metals studs, which influenced the final rankings a lot more. But again, thank you so much for your feedback! We want to do the best we can when we test products so people can make better informed decisions when deciding what to buy and feedback like yours is invaluable towards this goal! Thank you for supporting our small channel🙂.
an experienced tradesman taught me to find studs by just knocking on the wall, i still use a stud finder just in case there's electrical behind it.
@thatcheeseguy that's awesome. I would've love to test that technique but don't know how you would do that through video🤣 Thanks for sharing and supporting the channel!
this is how my dad taught me several years ago. never fails but I still like to confirm it as well.
@Moldy Zucchinis Thanks for sharing and supporting the channel.🙂
My drywaller friend taught me to find the stud by just looking for the hump created when they cover the screw holes.
Great feedback, I imagine you are referring to the drywall mud they use over the screws, that if not flatten creates a bump?
Best stud finder ever is a damn magnet, period
They are indeed great! You can't beat not having to replace the batteries or giving you false positives! Thanks for watching🙂
Actually, a magnet finds fasteners, not studs.
My Dewalt showed me where a stud was then found out it was lying 🤣
🤣Hopefully not a water pipe! Thanks for watching and supporting the channel!
Yes it was a water line 😓. Fixed and primed within 6 hrs nice $80 fix in materials plus the labour 🤣
😱 That's terrible. 6 hours is a long time for water to be leaking! Maybe one of those shark-bite fittings would make quick work of the repair. You just gave me some great video ideas. 💡 Thank you and hope that doesn't happen again.
@@BrandRanks nope. I wouldn’t let a water line leak for 6 hrs 😂. I turned the water off and drained the line.
Of course you would! Silly me here picturing a 6 hour scramble🤣🤣 Thanks for the laugh.
how do these compare to the Walabot 2... you should compare the Franklin & Zircon to the Walabot2. So far, I've not found any being close to 100% to fully trust.
@dougcjohn Thanks for the recommendation, we might do a round two to compare the Wallabot, been seeing a lot of buzz around it lately.
@@BrandRanks Recently received my Wallabot 2, and unless mine is defective... it's crap. All the YT's show how wonderful it is. After calibration, mine won't hit on a fraction of the normal stud finders as outlined in your review. I see if exchange unit is any better.
Just use a magnetic one, you don't have to worry about finding other stuff
Zircon uses 9volt batteries. Thats a negative to me.
Even though the Craftsman preformed well I wouldn't pay much attention to their warranty, I have a new craftsman shop vac that broke after only two use's & lowes nor craftsman will stand behind it.
@Scotty Ellis Interesting...does that shop vac have a lifetime warranty? I remember when it used to be SEARS, I never had a problem replacing my craftsman wratchets for new ones.
@@BrandRanks me either, I've returned all types of tools back in the day with no problem.
No the shop vac had a 3 year warranty but I only had it a month & a half, but Lowe's where I got it from said they couldn't do anything pass 30 days & gave me a craftsman number to call & all they did was ran me around in circles.
@Scotty Ellis Lowe's should have a 90 day return policy, so if they told you that, you may want to try another Lowes. Sorry to hear that, if we ever do a shop vac video, we will be sure to check that one out. For now, we are a very small channel so we can't afford the expensive items, but one day, with support from people like you watching our videos and sharing, we will build a community. Thanks for your support Scotty!
Franklin sensor
Is my go to. I think I've had it for around 8 years.
Amazing stud finder! Thank you so much for watching and supporting the channel.
I have the Dewalt and it absolutely sucks! Just like you, that warning light is on all the time. It never detected a live wire, any kind of piping or even a single stud accurately. Leaving me about 1/2 inch away from any stud when indicating dead center 🙄 I’ve never been so disappointed in a stud finder, let alone a Dewalt product.
I will only buy Franklin sensors. It's easy to use, doesn't make sound (hallelujah), and is more resistant to false positives as it usually only finds studs not wires or pipes. The last thing you want is to hang a bathroom mirror on the upstairs toilet drain.The switch is the weakest link. It's hinged on microscopic plastic tabs that are obviously too wimpy for repeat use. If only they could mount a basic toggle switch instead. That would be ideal. Buy it anyway and grip it gently and baby it. Gorilla gripping will break it.
Me after 10 seconds: is this Project Farms second channel? 😂
slay with that thumbnail face💅💅
LOL, thanks for the feedback!
Walabot beats them all. No contest
Great idea for a round 2! Thanks for the feedback Gary.
Craft Man?!
Redo this with Walabot please
I didnt see the walabot?
I must have a defective Franklin. I tried to avoid a stud & ended up drilling in a stud
Stud finders are for amateurs , find an outlet the stud is on one side or the other, look for nails in the baseboard or echo locate
@Sean Gelarden I agree studs next to an outlet and then measure 16 in to the next stud is a Great strategy! Thanks for sharing and supporting our small channel!🙂
If you want to add to this i can lend you my Walabot DIY 2. Let me know.
👍 Subscribed
Thank you so much for supporting the channel!!
No Walabot. Dang.
Neodymium magnet = about 25 cents from Harbor Freight or free from kitchen junk drawer. Period..
@Warrior Dugan No debate here! Sometimes the simplest solution is the best. Thanks for watching.
looks like turtle from entourage
@0:18 hubba hubba
😂
Not much advice for brick walls in old houses
No a magnet is better and more accurate.
Thanks for the suggestion
Why the hell would you toenail those in if you can just do it the normal way? Makes no sense
😂We just want to make it harder on ourselves.
So imo
The dewalt is the better option
I didn't see my girlfriend on your list and she's top notch
🤣🤣🤣 Thanks for the laugh and supporting our channel!
Lol knock on the drywall if it sounds flat it's a stud, if it rings for a extra half second it's the gap, or measure 11 inches from exterior corner if you have a tape, but interior walls can have 2 ft centers so about 19 inches if that's the case, interior to exterior corner that is, interior and interior corner 20 inches
Thanks for sharing and the insight @C is Life
This video is very sloppy, especially with the Hart review. Examples included saying that the hart failed to detect PVC and moments later said it could detect it as well as earlier in the video adding on-screen text based corrections to misstatements about detection range. This isn’t exactly a one-take. There’s enough visual cuts that you would have been just fine voicing over a correction instead of getting lazy with the on screen corrections.
Thanks for the feedback.
The rest of the world doesn't have this problem, even the third world XD
None of these are worth a cr** until they can find a stud through plaster
@Randy Heinbaugh You have a good point! I know LRN2DIY has a great stud finder video utilizing plaster. Unfortunately, we are small channel doing this content for free and we're not able to go through all the scenarios one might encounter. We appreciate your feedback!
Under promise and over-deliver.
Thank you!🙂
All stud finders are a waste of money. Just use a small stack of rare earth magnets to find the drywall screw heads.
Thanks for the feedback!
Stud buddy 10 bucks never dies no errors all magnet
@SLEEK TONE Agreed, especially given you have to shell out extra cash for batteries for almost all the other ones. Only problem we found with the STUD BUDDY was that depending who put your drywall up, if they did not center those screws on the stud, you might also be drilling off center. Thanks for watching and supporting our small channel 🙂!