Cheap VS Expensive Stud Finder test - Electrician 

The lightning bolt is showing on everything due to static if you put your other hand flat on the wall… you won’t get that false reading anymore…. Your other hand acts as a earth path removing all static 👌🏻

A well put together demo there Nick. I have had a cheap old-style Draper one for years know what its limitations are but has found metal and wood studs ok. Mostly use it for buried k.o.boxes plastered over.

Great demo. I've had a few detectors over the years and none have really worked. Looks like the technology has improved.

Really appreciate your detailed demonstration. I’m in the process of replacing my 30+ years old stud finder and your video convinced me to buy the Amazon one; in fact I just ordered it !

Great content as always Nick.... After drilling between 2 pipes the other day I think I'm going to treat myself to one of the Amazon specials as well as a lottery ticket 🤣

"Wow, just found a stud!" Love the humour.

Having drilled through a microbore radiator pipe embedded into wall and going off at an angle, I've always used a detector. Had a few cheaper ones, but now own a Bosch GMS 120 which sit's nicely price wise and is more accurate I find. Only £85 and you've got quality over the cheaper units. That being said, I still carry cheap ones in the van too! Sometimes even use both if I'm really uncertain. If only they'll track deeper into wall as there's still no guarantee you won't hit something. Nice video though to show the differences and limitations.

Thanks for the vid bought the cheap one myself after having a look and seeing a few others with the expensive ones ,its a few months old and not had chance to use it least now i know how to use it without reading instruction cheers

The major advantage of the Bosch is that is "sees" through tile and masonry.

Thanks Nick! Interesting. I wonder if either one picks up reo in concrete slab floor and whether it just detects constantly with the mesh spacing?

You will find that most things like laser distance finders are all made in the same factories and things like spindle sanders are almost identical but with different brands attached to them . People don't realise that most watch brands use the exact same mechanism inside but are branded differently.

Thank you Nick, quality content very clear and precise information, I am in Australia just about the purchase the D-TECT 120 PROFESSIONAL DETECTOR at the cost of $279. I've watched most the RU-vid reviews this one by far the best. I am sold on the product that is performs for what I need . I'll be looking out for more of you content, please keep it coming

Concrete floor in your unit will maybe have, square grid style, rebar in it. Worth a try! 👍

Good review Nick showing cheap does not always mean crap

Great demo/vid. Thanks Man!!

Thanks! Bought the Amazon tool immediately. 👍

Great video as usual. That said, no review of stud finders is complete if leaves out the STUDPOP magnetic stud finder. I've been using it since it came out 10 years ago. Unlike every other stud finder---electronic or magnetic---it is able to find studs (via the metal fasteners) in any kind of wall: sheetrock, tile over sheetrock, plasterboard, wood lath and plaster. It's actually...fun? to use, if that's possible : )

As a diy-er I'd just get the cheap one and middle on but if I needed it professionally, there's no contest, no point having a tool if you can't trust it. Especially if it pays your wage. Nothing worse than a tool that gives false positives etc.

Would be great to see a test on copper pipe in screed floor. I have a £40 Bosch Truvo green detector and its also no better than my £15 amazon. I've seen some reviews that suggest static is a problem for the Bosch 120. Earthing yourself on the test surface seems to improve results.

How about testing these on foil backed board? That metal layer makes finding cables much more tricky.

Thank you for your video. They have a new version with updated sensor model TH530. Like to see that. Also the TH530 says it continuously looks for AC wires in stud modes.

Nice demo Nick!

Thank you for this useful video. I bought the cheapo one. It worked well for studs but I couldn't get consistent results for finding electric cables. Maybe mine were buried too deep. They were under dot and dab dry wall.

A brilliant video. Thank you for this information.

brilliant mate, i need one for work in the house after new years, will be chucking £15 at amazon.

Doesn't the Amazon one have separate metal and A/C modes? Did you try these on the final test with the extra plywood? It seemed to find the stud which you would expect as the 3 depth settings are for stud work only

NOTE i have the bosch one to stop the meter reading mains on everything the manual tells you to have your other hand flat on the wall while testing. something to do with capacitance and static from your body... please test and try again.

Great test - very very surprised how well the cheap one performed !!!👍

Great video. Very useful. Thanks. 👍🏻

I wonder if insulation and plywood backer would confuse them more.

The only thing I would like to see added to this test is how they both perform when the wall is filled with batt style insulation. Will the density of the insulation throw off the detector. I have a cheap stud finder and sometimes it just cant find anything as it must think it is all the same density.

very useful test, thank you

Really appreciate this!

The only thing I ever worry about is gas pipes. I can fix water and electrics myself and always have an emergency leak repair kit on hand no matter what job I am tackling.

Which setting do you use on the cheaper stud finder to find standard 2x4 studs? Thanks

What about water pipes, what if they're PVC and the water is cold

Fantastic video nick,👍 I have the cheep stud finder And it’s never let down . You have proved what I have been saying for years, cheep doesn’t mean crap, all the brand junkies need to re think , and accept the fact that they are all made in the same factory in China and given different brand names. All your bosh drills do you really think they are made by bosh in Germany, well they are not they made in China by a company who also make de Walt black and decker as well as many others, fantastic review 👍👍❤️

So, me being a rookie in this topic, could use that cheap one to find wood studs that I wanted to drill into to mount pictures and things on the wall, would receive the same beeps not only for the studs I’m looking for but also the gas lines, water lines and electrical lines? How am i supposed to know what I’m drilling into exactly if it beeps at everything?

I had this discussion with another trader the other day. He was using the Bosch and picking up an electrical signal, I knew the building and there was definitely no electrical cable there. Told him it was a false reading and he wouldn’t have it. Either metal or no metal, the rest is about drilling a hole and having a dig about lol

Interested to know if they work where Cellotex is present?

Been looking into the bosch. Apparently finding everything live is common. Place your other hand on the plasterboard and it won't give you any current warnings. Even on live cables. :/

I'd like to see if it would show a layer pipe or a live / dead cable buried in plaster

Good job, Thank you.

Really wanted to watch this video cus I have the cheap one and it is shockingly bad. Even comes with an Amazon £5 voucher if you drop them 5 stars. My cheap one was giving false positives all over the place and wouldn't pick up anything easy like yours did. I also had no idea what setting to put it in as the instructions were for a different machines 🤣. For me personally, I'd go for the Bosch one cus I think even at that price, it's still way cheaper than if you drilled through a water pipe.

Would those work of you was trying to find 1mm cable say if it was In the ceiling but had insulation in?

the bosh one how are you going to screw into the stud if every one came up live wire if it says live wire you are not going to put a screw in to hang a shelf

I find by holding your hand other hand on the wall make the Bosch more reliable 👍

Studs are easy with a magnet or tapping and some volt-sticks will show wires... the biggy would be cable/pipes under floor boarding and checking for underfloor heating elements... also checking path before using a wall-chaser (pipes and cables buried in plaster) I would be uncomfortable relying on the cheaper one in those circumstances. I think you were wise to get the Bosch, if it saves one mishap, it will have paid for itself

Hi Nick be interesting to see how they cope with a T&E clipped to a stud , like it is in the real world.

I want to find wiring with low voltage behind plasterboard is this the right equipment

Do they distinguish between stud and gas/water?

Thanks for the video pal

thank you for this, I have ordered a cheap one, I want it just to mount TV's etc on a dry wall, so it should be good for what I want to do.

Still got one I bought from maplin 20 years ago for £25. I wouldn't pay out for the bosch unless it used better tech. Now if bosch got one of their smart tech savvy employees in the r&d department to combine microwave radar and some mathmatical magic to display density on a screen, like an ultrasound or thermal image then we would be laughing. Just give me 10% of sales.

How can u identified studs vs water line or electrical?

Think it would be worth trying with some different insultations behind?

Great. Thanks.

Enjoyed the video, however, if I understood your findings correctly, neither detector differentiated between Live Wire & Dead Wire. Or have I misunderstood? Cheers Robert

Actually it's picking up ferro and non-ferro metals as it shows the lightning thingy on the copper pipes as well and so it does on the water pipe !

So how do you find studs with the bosch if it reads everything as a live wire?

I’ve a cheap Bosch stud finder and it beeps to show live cables. But it also does it for dead cables sometimes. Which is confusing. I wonder if it has something to do with a dead cable being in proximity to a live one? Just odd.

If I was able to see what is behind the board like in this video, I would definitely buy the cheep one.

So was it showing him on the display what was there, it appeared to me to give a very similar signal wether it was stud or pipe.

Hi, can you provide some product names that are good to detect live wires in a concrete wall?

Holds against himself and says "Whoa it's found a stud" I'm dead ahahahahaha 🙂 Right, 15 quid one it is then, thanks for the video dude excellent presentation and saved me a ton of cash.

Thanks for the video I'll use your link to help ya out.

Drop test! Which one would make you cry more? 😂 great to see cheap will do sometimes for that odd job. What about battery level will the cheap one play up with flat batteries?

Finding water pipes in screeded underfloor heating loops might be a useful test. Not often you need to drill into a floor, but when you do the absolute last thing you ever want to do is bust into an underfloor heating loop.

I have green bosch and same cheaper version. The bosch is a bitch to calibrate. It gets confused when checking for pipes behind plasterboard because there is stud and copper detected near to each other so needs calibration sequence for accuracy. Cheap one has specific material settings so it bypass the stud when looking for copper etc..

Hi, I have a Kulec tm200 is it good in cement? Please advise and thank you

I wonder if there's a difference with the D tect 200?

Do you have to calibrate the cheap unit every time you use it?

But the last two, the live and dead cable, with the plywood also applied, you forgot to change the setting on the cheap model! If you had, I bet it would have picked it up.

I had a Bosch one about 4yrs ago about £90 biggest pile of poo ever. Dot and dab wall I waved it above the live light switch and nothing then around walls that I knew had nothing but it was just going mental... Would seem the dabs of adhesive in the wall confused it.

I need to be finding studs to drill into them for hanging. If the Bosch is telling me everything is a live wire that’s terrible

excellent- solid vid

Thanks for sharing this with us take care

Nice video. Was the water pipe filled with water? The Bosch is radar based and looks for background refection changes as you move it. The cheaper one must use some change in induction hence limited in depth. you get what you pay for.

This might be a stupid question. But if im trying to locate a stud and it detects a pipe. How can i tell which is a stud and which is a pipe???

on the water pipe did u had water inside the pipe?

Shouldn't you have hold the plaster board with your other hand when using the Bosch like you did next with the cheap one. The static electricity charge of the test wall is different leading to inaccuracy. Also you are using a Bluetooth microphone? If so it could affect results. Thank you for the very insightful review nevertheless. Pricey products seem unfortunately the ones to go to.

Shame you left out the Dilithium Crystals test. The Amazon kit would almost certainly outperform the Bosch unit seeing as it's based, as you say, on the Star Trek Tricorder.

Interesting results 🤔👍

Love the unicorn

Would be interested to know if it still works on plastered surface ?

Nick: "Here you go Adam." Adam: "Thanks Boss, what is it?" Nick: "Call it an Early Christmas Present. For all your hard work ." Adam: "It's a cheap Stud Finder..." Nick: "You're welcome." Adam: 'Jailbreaks' Stud Finder into (2v) Taser... To be continued...

Nick, regarding the stud finders, they didn’t distinguish between wood or Metal? What I mean is you could run the stud finder across a wall it bleeps, but what is it? wood or metal? it could mean the difference in drilling into a stud, Gas pipe or water pipe

Pleased the £15 one did its job, no contest for me 👍

Would be interested to know if it still works on plastered surface

Did you have water in the water pipe or was it just empty? I would expect that to have a difference but it was good that the Bosch detected it in either case.

I get what you're saying about the £15 being good enough, but in real world conditions things can be a bit different. It's also a case of whether you want to risk doing potentially hundreds of pounds worth of damage to a clients house on the basis of a £15 DIY special or a professional brand that backs up its own products....

Did you enable the AC mode during the last test on the cheap one

Both should be better than my Bosch PD60 but I have coped for years

Good test but should also have tried it on more blank plasterboard to check for false positives.

I’ve got the Amazon one works fine for me.

Do you really only work in houses with drywall? No plaster?

Great Demo. So, for the DIY'er, the Amazon one does the job it's meant to do, but perhaps for a Professional, the Bosch would warrant the extra expense to protect your professional reputation.

Is it possible to use the cheap stud finder for brick wall

Actually the Amazon one takes a square 9V battery. I own this finder!

Given what you’re making for Bosch on their ads, you’d have thought they’d have given you the D-Tect 200