Best Stud Finder? $262 Bosch vs $10 CH Hanson vs 9 Other Wall Stud Scanners! Let's find out!

when it comes to stud finders there's a huge difference in cost with the least expensive brand we'll be testing costing five dollars and fifty cents and the most expensive one costing over two hundred and sixty two dollars the question is is that 262 dollar stud finder really that much better well let's find out i went ahead and built a test wall that we'll be using to compare the stud finders the studs are spaced 16 inches apart with an extra stud added to one end of the wall i added some half inch drywall some wall texture and two coats of paint before the testing i allowed the paint to dry for five days in the first test we'll see which stud finder is the most accurate at finding studs then we'll see what stud finder locates electrical wiring water filled pvc pipe metal conduit copper pipe and speaker wire at a price of just five dollars and fifty cents is this stanley magnetic stud finder designed to locate nails and screws we'll toggle back and forth indicating that you've found a nail or screw and then it has a cutout which allows you to mark the location made in china the stanley uses a magnet to find metal or in this case a drywall screw which anchors the drywall to the stud the first test area has an extra stud built into the wall so let's begin with stanley the magnet is actually pretty good and did a great job finding the drywall screw at a price of 10.29 the second least expensive brand we'll be testing is made by ch hanson it's a magnetic stud finder positively locate screws and studs with powerful rare earth magnets rotating vial for level and plumb made in china simply slide the magnetic stud finder over the wall in an s-shaped pattern until it locates a screw or a steel stud the ch hanson definitely has a much stronger magnet and seems to do a better job detecting and sticking to the drywall screw at 21.99 the third least expensive brand we'll be testing is made by dewalt detects wood and metal studs center fine stud finder detects live wire we're going to test that for wooden metal studs the depth detection is only three quarters of an inch for live wires two inches made in china once the dewalt is placed against the drywall holding down the power button calibrates the device the dewalt didn't have any problem locating the stud there's a cutout in the center of the scanner to allow for marking the wall also costing 21.99 is this pearlsmith stud finder made in china calibrating the tool place the multi-function wall scanner against the wall before pressing the on off button press the scan button to start calibration the decreasing bars will disappear and the buzzer will beep one time and the calibration is completed when scanning for studs use a half-inch scan mode to quickly locate center and edges while holding the scan button press the tool flat against the wall and slowly slide the scanner across the surface mark the point we get the most middle bars on the screen if it is a strong target the top indicated arrow will show and a steady beep will sound continue in the same direction until the splay bar is reduced reverse direction and mark the spot where the display bars peak from the reverse direction at a price of 22.99 is this zircon edge finding a100 the zircon is made in china the instructions are on the back of the unit select stud scan or deep scan mode place tool flat against surface press and hold in power button when spotlight pointer flashes and tool beeps tool is calibrated and ready to use continue to hold power button in and slide left or right across the surface without lifting or tilting when full indication bars display spotlight pointer shines and a steady beep sounds mark stud edge continue in same direction until some bars turn off without releasing the power button reverse direction to find other stud edge center of stud is between the two marks at a price of 23.99 is this jax wz wall stud finder the jex wz and the pearlsmith seem like the exact same tool with a different appearance it too has an arrow and a vertical line on the display to indicate the edge of the stud the arrow in the beeping sound indicates that we found the center of the stud at a price of 24.99 is this franklin sensor's pro sensor t6 professional stud finder accurate six sensors easy one step operation three inch wide display one half inch maximum depth six sensors made in usa from global components place the pro sensor t6 firmly against the surface and press the on button with the button depressed you may immediately begin scanning the wall no calibration is required as you scan the led will immediately display the location of any hidden objects at a price of this tack life 29.99 finder test measure and inspect made in china hold the tool straight up and down position it on a surface to be scanned and do not rotate the tool press the buttons briefly to enter the wood stud detection mode the wood symbol will flash on the screen do not move until the symbol stops flashing and the green light is on move the tool uniformly and slowly over the surface during the scan the tool must cling to the wall otherwise it will automatically calibrate again as the tool gets closer to the stud the yellow indicator will light at a price of 54.98 is this bosch gms 120 multi-mode detection for wood studs metal objects and live wiring made in malaysia position the detector on the surface and move it to the right when the detector comes closer to an object the amplitude of the indicator increases and the ring lights up orange with no tone signal when it moves away from the object the amplitude decreases at the position of maximum amplitude the object is located approximately below the center of the sensor at a price of 59.99 is this franklin sensors pro sensor t13 it claims to be a professional stud finder instantly fine studs no calibration required displays stud center and edges simultaneously detects wood and metal 13 precision sensors maximum depth 1.7 inches made in the usa from global components just like the franklin t6 the t13 makes it really easy to locate the stud behind the wall and the most expensive brand we'll be testing at 262 dollars and four cents is this bosch detect 120. it comes with a certificate of inspection positioning the measuring tool against the surface to be inspected if an object has not yet been detected when the tool is placed down the movement indicator is displayed and the led lights up yellow move the measuring tool over the surface without lifting it off until the movement indicator disappears then the led lights up green at places where the measuring device has not detected an object when the measuring tool approaches an object the deflection in the measuring indicator increases and the led lights up red the deflection decreases when the measuring tool moves away from the object with smaller low-lying objects the led can continue to light up yellow and the signal does not sound determining the object's center if an object is detected the led lights up red and with sufficient signal strength the orientation arrows are displayed to determine the object's center to specifically locate the object's center move the measuring tool in the direction of the orientation arrows if the orientation arrows are not displayed an object may nevertheless be located in the immediate vicinity the stanley as well as the c h hanson only provide a center mark for the stud but all the other brands provide edge finding capability there definitely seems to be some variants so let's take a closer look at each one of these you want missed the edge of the stud by about a quarter of an inch the dewalt definitely hit the stud on the right side the pearl smith was off by half inch on the left the pearl smith hit the stud on the right side zircon missed the edge of the stud by a quarter inch on the left side the zircon did a terrific job finding the edge of the stud the jex wz found the very edge of the stud on the left side it hit the stud on the right side so we'll come back to it in a minute the franklin t6 found the very edge of the stud on the left side the t6 barely missed the edge of the stud on the right side tack life did a terrific job missing the edge of the stud by about an eighth of an inch very good job by tack life finding the edge of the stud on the right side the bosch hit the stud on the left side the bosch missed the stud on the right side by a quarter inch franklin t-13 hit the stud on the left side the t-13 barely missed the edge of the stud on the right now the box hit the edge of the stud you just can't get any closer than that you missed the stud on the right side by a quarter inch i'll remove the screws that didn't hit the stud and then we'll take a closer look at the remaining screws to see how close they came to the edge of the stud we have five drywall screws that hit wood so let's see how close they were to hitting the edge the dewalt was off by a quarter of an inch the pearlsmith actually did pretty good at about an eighth of an inch the jex w q also did very good off by about an eighth of an inch the bosch gms 120 was off by a quarter of an inch the pro sensor t13 was off by a third of an inch while all the tools accurately located this stud if you need a stud finder provides precise edge finding technology the jxwz franklin t6 and the tack life tied for first but all the other brands weren't that far behind the next test area has live electrical wiring with one section of the wiring touching the wall and another section an inch and a quarter behind the wall we'll first shut off the electricity and we'll see if the stud finders can locate the wiring i'll first test the dewalt without electricity the dewalt found both the shallow and the deep wire i plugged in the electricity so let's test the dewalt again dewalt's doing a great job of sensing the electricity and in both instances is finding the exact same spot i placed the pearlsmith in a setting that allows for the deepest detection at an inch and a half the pearl smith only found one of the two wires the pearlsmith display is showing a warning for live electric for the first wire the pearlsmith did not detect the location of the second wire which is located about an inch and a quarter behind the drywall i've got the zircon set in the deep scan mode to give it the best chance to locate the wire the zircon found the center of the wire and also showed an area on both sides of the wire the zircon did not detect the second wire i went ahead and powered up the electricity and the zircon located both of the wires jax wz found the first wire but did not locate the second wire the upper right side of the screen indicates that there is electricity in this wall it also located the first live wire but not the second one the franklin t6 located the first wire but not the second franklin t6 does not provide a warning for live electric it only indicates that an object is found behind the drywall attack life has a weak signal but it did find the second wire and the indicator is letting us know there is live electric in the wall the fast beeping sound indicates that it's found electricity i found the second wire again but it's not providing a warning for live electric i'm placing the boss gms 120 in the metal finder mode since the electric is off gms 120 found both strands of wire in the wall i changed the setting to electric the gms 120s fast beep warns of electric in the wall while i found the first wire it did not find the second one however the display did indicate live electric in the area franklin t-13 is only finding the wire that's up against the drywall the t-13 found the first live electric but not the second wire just like the t6 it doesn't have any sort of warning for electric current the bosch dtek 120 is finding both the shallow and the deep wire the bosch detect 120 is indicating that both wires are live i made a cut through the wall on the left side of the electric wire and the dewalt did a good job off by a quarter of an inch the pearl smith did a terrific job right on top of the electric wire zircon and jax wz were right on top of the electrical wire but the tack light from the gms 120 missed the wire by a quarter inch the franklin t-13 and the box detect were also right on top of the electric wire i'm gonna go ahead and cut through the wall on this side this time cutting through each one of these lines to see if it lines up on the other side of the wall with the electric wire the dewalt was off by half inch the zircon was right on top of the wire the tack life and the boss gms 120 were also right on top the bosch detect 120 was off by half inch for the wire touching the drywall all but three brands were right on top of the wire and the ones that missed were only off by a quarter inch out of the 11 stud detectors only five of them were able to locate the electrical wire that was an inch and a half behind the drywall so the zircon attack life and the boss gms 120 were right on top of the wire but the dewalt and the bosch dtek 120 were off center by a half inch up next let's see if these detectors can find water filled pvc pipe both up against the wall and offset by an inch and a quarter dewalt quickly found the pipe that's up against the drywall but did not locate the pipe located an inch and a quarter behind the wall just like dewalt pearl smith found the first pipe but not the second one zircon found both pipes the jax wz found just one pipe the franklin t6 only found one of the two pipes the tack life also found just one pipe the bosch gms 120 only found one of the two pipes only one pipe located by the franklin t-13 the bosch detect 120 found both water pipes so only the zircon and the boss detect found both pipes all the scanners quickly and accurately located the first water pipe but realistically most water pipes inside of a wall are unlikely to be pressed firmly up against the drywall zircon was lined up with the water pipe flash detect 120 was lined up on the water pipe we'll see how the scanners perform looking for metal conduit both the stanley and the ch hanson found the metal conduit that was pressed up against the drywall but not the conduit offset from the wall the dewalt found both pieces of conduit the pearlsmith only found the conduit that's pressed up against the drywall the zircon found both pieces of conduit the jax wz found the conduit that's pressed up against the drywall the franklin t6 only found one of the two the tacklife in the boss gms120 found both pieces of pipe franklin only found one of the two the detect 120 found both pipes stanley c.h hanson dewalt and the pearl smith were right on target the zircon doesn't always locate center but it was within a half inch the je xwz was off by a quarter inch the franklin t6 was right on target the tack life and the boss gms 120 were off by a quarter inch the franklin t13 and the bosch detect were right on target only five scanners located the second metal pipe the drought was off center by a quarter inch the zircon taclife bosch gms 120 and bosch dtek 120 located the center of the metal conduit so once again only five scanners were able to locate the metal conduit that was offset from the drywall the zircon tack life and both bosch scanners were right on target and the dewalt was only off by a quarter inch let's see if the scanners can locate copper pipe one against the wall and another offset by an inch and a quarter the dewalt located both copper pipes in deep scan mode the pearl smith only found one copper pipe the zircon found both of them the jx wz and the franklin t6 only found one the tacklife and the boss gms-120 found both copper pipes the franklin t-13 only found one of the two pipes the bosch detect 120 found both pipes the dewalt found the center of the first pipe but was off target on the second pipe by half inch pearl smith only found the pipe that was touching the wall and was off by a quarter inch it took a little approximation with the zircon but it did a great job jxwz was right on target franklin t6 was on target taclife and the boss gms 120 were both right on target for both pipes the franklin t13 was right on target the detex 120 was right on target for the shallow pipe but off by a quarter inch for the offset pipe the same five scanners were once again able to locate the copper pipe offset from the drywall the zircon taclife and bosch gms 120 were right on top of the pipe but the bosch detect 120 and dewalt were only off by a quarter inch and half inch respectively let's see if the scanners can find speaker wire all the scanners found the first speaker wire but only the boss detect 120 found the second speaker wire the dewalt was right on target but the pearl smith was off by an eighth of an inch the zircon was right on target but the jax wz was off by a quarter inch the franklin t6 was right on but the tack life was off by a quarter inch the boss gms 120 franklin t13 and the bosch detect were all on target the detect 120 was the only scanner to find the offset wire and it was off by a half inch wow 11 different stud detectors and 11 different test objectives is a lot to take in so i'll try to summarize things if you need a scanner with limited capability that only finds objects pressed up against the drywall all the scanners met that objective with acceptable accuracy however the franklin t6 and the t13 do not need calibrated and are very quick to use of the top 5 scanners what if you need to know if the object behind the wall is made of metal or non-metal in that instance only the two boss scanners in the tack life provide that capability if you're just putting up drywall you know the studs are equally spaced it's going to be very hard to beat the franklin t6 for both price as well as efficiency it's a very quick scanner if you're looking for a scanner that's very good overall i'm very impressed with the zircon if you need a little bit more capability to determine metal versus non-metal the tack life's going to be very hard to beat for just 30. obviously i didn't test every possible skinner out there and i'm willing to have another round please let me know if you'd like to have one and which brand you'd like to see tested all the videos in this channel are recommended by viewers so if you have a video idea i hope you'll take time to leave a comment thanks so much for watching please take care and look forward to next time

Channel: Project Farm

Views: 1,532,443

Keywords: Seafoam, project farm, Stud finders, detectors, wall scanners, Zircon, Franklin T6, Franklin T13, C.H. Hanson, Bosch GMS 120, Bosch D-TECT 120, Zircon A100, Stanley, Perlesmith, JAXWQ, wall stud finder, wall stud scanner, studfinder, stud finder, stud sensor, comparison, showdown, stud, wall sensor, best stud finder brand, how to, how to use, how to use a stud finder, how to find a stud in a wall, bosch, dewalt stud finder, bosch stud, bosch stud finder review, stud locator

Id: sWMJhfMPWn4

Length: 16min 41sec (1001 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 28 2020