When hanging heavy items around the house, it pays to know exactly where the studs are behind your walls. Sure, you could take your chances just using drywall, but if you can locate the studs, you’ll have the perfect anchor points for hanging picture frames, installing TV mounts, stabilizing heavy furniture and attaching shelves.
In older days, you’d have to make do with inexact methods like knocking on walls or using magnetic stud finders to locate studs, but for a stud finder that precisely locates the center of a stud, with no ifs, ands or buts, the Franklin Sensors ProSensor M210 Stud Finder is a great pick. With 13 sensors and live wire detection, it’s the best stud finder for the money.
Franklin Sensors ProSensor M210 Stud Finder, $59.97
One of the reasons the Franklin Sensors ProSensor M210 Stud Finder is so great is that you can use it straight out of the box. All you have to do is install AA batteries, run it over your wall, and the row of LED lights at the top of your finder will light up when it detects a stud — no calibrations or adjustments needed. And you won’t need guesswork to find the center of the stud — the same row of lights will glow green when the center is detected. The finder can detect steel or wooden studs, automatically adjusting for different materials (i.e., drywall or sheetrock), textures and depths as you use it. For example, if you have a stucco wall in your house, the Franklin Sensors Stud Finder will work just fine, compared to other models which can get “confused” by the wall texture and won’t register the studs underneath.
The other major attraction of the M210 Stud Finder is its live wire detection. If the finder comes across any live wiring, such as around a lightswitch, two yellow lights on the finder will alert you. For anyone who is always wary of drilling around live wires, this is a crucial feature. The built-in bubble level is also great, as it allows you to use the finder as a leveler if you’re hanging a frame or a shelf. And in terms of accuracy, the Franklin Sensors Stud Finder’s readings are spot-on, even when compared to the readings of much more expensive, professional-grade stud finders.
Amazon users give the Franklin Sensors M210 Stud Finder high marks for its “price, accuracy and simplicity of use,“ and that’s not really a better way to sum up this finder than with those words. Take the guesswork (and resulting potential damage) out of finding the studs in your walls with this finder, and you’ll be surprised and pleased by how much easier hanging items on your walls and home DIY projects can be!
