The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.
- By finding a solid piece of wood or metal behind the drywall, a good stud finder can help you hang shelves, cabinets, or decorative items.
- Many can also help you avoid drilling or hammering into a water pipe or electrical wire.
- The Franklin Sensors ProSensor 710 is the best stud finder because it takes readings rapidly without requiring any sliding back and forth along the walls.
A stud finder can make the difference between that framed painting hanging majestically for years to come and it crashing to the ground an hour after you hang it as a chunk of drywall rips out in the process. Many stud finders can also make the difference between you drilling a hole or hammering a nail into a water pipe, thereby turning a modest project like putting up a shelf or mounting a TV into a serious home repair almost surely involving pricey professionals.
In short, a stud finder is an important tool if you value doing a job right and avoiding potentially serious mishaps. But don't worry, this important tool is also affordable and easy to use. Many operate with the push of a single button and use easily interpreted lights to indicate the location of hidden studs. Some have an even more basic operation, simply adhering to the wall near studs thanks to magnetism. And many can also detect electrical wires, helping keep you safe and preventing accidental damage to the wiring in your home, office, or wherever you're working.
Electric stud finders rely on the dielectric constant of various materials, detecting the density of the surface in close proximity to their sensor plate. In other words, they can tell when they're beaming an electric charge into hollow space beyond the drywall and when they are hovering near a solid wooden stud or a metal stud. Magnetic stud finders literally just magnetize themselves to metal behind the drywall, whether to metal studs or to the screws, nails, bolts, and other materials in a wooden beam.
For most DIY projects, a basic stud finder will serve fine. If you're worried about the wiring or pipes hidden in your walls, consider a more advanced unit that can detect various materials. The price of a comprehensive sensor will pay for itself time and time again in the money you save by not ruining your plumbing or electrical system.
And while you can always aim any stud finder at yourself and say: "Found the stud right here!" note that the best hardware for this activity is a mirror into which you can gaze before coming to the realization that it was only funny the first time.
Here are the best stud finders you can buy:
Read on in the slides below to check out our top picks.
The best stud finder overall
Why you'll love it: The Franklin ProSensor 710 detects studs instantly with no sliding back and forth along the wall required.
Any decent stud finder is going to ultimately locate a wall stud, but usually not without an annoying process of calibration and sliding the thing back and forth along the wall, usually with a few false positives before you're confident you have indeed found a stud and approximated the location of its center. Not so with the Franklin ProSensor 710.
This high-accuracy tool simultaneously detects the wall and framing hardware below it at 13 distinct points, instantly creating an accurate readout of the hidden materials. Its extra wide body makes detection easier, and only those lights directly before the stud will illuminate, making end detection easy even without any sliding back and forth to be sure. That wide body design also helps you identify double studs.
The high sensitivity of the sensors does more than detect quickly and without sliding, too. It also ensures an accurate detection even through uneven materials, such as multiple layers of paint or wallpaper, textured plasters, and more. All that high tech, high accuracy detection requires nothing but the push of one button.
I will say that I'd expect AC power detection from a stud finder that costs 50 bucks, but the Franklin ProSensor 710 certainly does its primary job with poise.
More than 3,000 Amazon customers agree with me: The ProSensor 710 enjoys a 4.5-star average rating and positively glowing reviews. A gentleman named Brian hits the nail on the head, as it were, when he calls it "outstanding" and so accurate it "could be used by surgeons."
A writer from Digital Trends called out the "remarkable stud-finding ability" of the ProSensor 710 that les you "mark exactly where objects begin and end for more detailed work."
Pros: Instant detection without sliding, wide design for precision readings, can identify multiple studs
Cons: No AC detection
The best low-cost stud finder
Why you'll love it: The CH Hanson Stud 4 Sure Magnetic Stud Finder may be low tech, but it's highly effective in most applications, and it's super affordable, too.
The CH Hanson Stud 4 Sure Magnetic Stud Finder is basically a fancy magnet, to be frank. Or rather it's a collection of magnets oriented in a solid plastic case with a soft grip rubber exterior.
It locates studs through attraction to a metal stud itself or to the screws and nails sunk into a wooden beam. If the CH Hanson Stud 4 Sure Magnetic Stud Finder is sticking to your wall, there's a stud under there. If not, no stud. Get it?
Of course this device is going to be less accurate than an electric stud finder. Some wooden studs have relatively little metal hardware stuck through them, so it's not impossible that you'll miss a piece of framing if you don't move the stud finder up and down and side to side. That extra work is easily justified by the minute $8 price tag of the CH Hanson Stud 4 Sure Magnetic Stud Finder, though.
The addition of a bubble level makes it easy to keep track of the stud's position behind the wall, while the fact that the unit stays adhered to the wall hands free allows for easy markings and measurements.
At the time of this writing, the CH Hanson Stud 4 Sure Magnetic Stud Finder is approaching a stunning 9,000 reviews on Amazon, and with a solid 4.5-star average rating to boot. A shopper named Leonard calls it "remarkably accurate and dirt cheap," while a buyer named Amanda said it "sticks to the studs perfectly."
A writer from The Architect's Guide appreciated how the Stud 4 Sure "doesn't require batteries" and "never needs calibration."
Pros: Very low cost, no batteries needed, features bubble level
Cons: Misses some wooden studs
The best durable stud finder
Why you'll love it: You can toss your Ryobi LED Whole Stud Detector in the tool box or drop it on the floor and it will keep on working, stud after stud. I know because I have.
I keep my Ryobi LED Whole Stud Detector in the top of my tool box, where it nestles snugly among a couple of hammers, seven or eight screwdrivers, wrenches, pliers, a box of nails, and all the other stuff tossed in as well. In other words, I'm not all that gentle with it.
But hey, after multiple projects in multiple residences, not to mention 2,800 miles bouncing along during a cross-country move, the thing still works well every time.
The Ryobi LED Whole Stud Detector uses seven LED lights that do indeed help indicate an entire stud's span as only the lights above the stud illuminate. Even more helpful is the center indication function that clearly displays the middle of a stud for the most solid sinking of nails or screws by illuminating a circle of green light when you have hit the central spot.
The tool also has an AC detection system that uses both a red light and a beep to warn when you are near active electrical current, a feature I've appreciated many times. There is also a center punch button that can make a small divot on the wall behind the stud finder, so you don't have to use a pen or pencil to mark the spot.
And while many people complain that this stud finder requires two hands to use, it really doesn't: You just turn the thing upside down and use your index and pinky finger to operate its two buttons. Though single button operation would still be a lot easier.
One Home Depot customer reported that "being able to identify the edges and center of the stud is something this tool" made easy, while another reported it working well even on "texturized walls."
Popular Mechanics highlighted the Ryobi LED Whole Stud Detector's ability to "show proximity of [a] stud on either end" of the hidden hardware.
Pros: Durable construction, center indication light, built in center punch marker, sensitive AC detection
Cons: Awkward two button operation
See the rest of the story at Business Insider