Review on VIVREAL 4 In 1 Stud Finder Wall Scanner With LCD Display - Center Finding Beam Finder And Sound Warning For Wood, AC Wire, And Metal Studs (Black/Silver) by Kenneth Harris

For ages I'd used a simple stud-only finder with just red and green LEDs. It served me well but died after 20 years. So I decided to get something more sophisticated; this may have been a mistake. Perhaps this device is trying to do too much but regardless, in order to use it successfully one has to appreciate how it works and that it is after all, limited. Firstly it's unreliable in simply finding studs behind drywall; unless everything you can't see back there is perfect (e.g. in untouched new construction) it gives very inconsistent readings. I find myself repeating-to-be-sure to the order of 3 or 4 times using different blank reference points to iterate in to where the studs are and even then the 'center' indicator is way off (I mark the edges from each side and take the middle instead). I can't rely on the power line feature - it has simply failed to detect known live cables right where the switch/fitting is (I use a little pen-type finder instead which for $10 works well). The 'deep' feature does not seem to do anything at all, the metal finder I've not tried. What is does seem to do well is warning when live wires are nearby whilst looking for wooden studs; ironically it does this better than than using the actual live wire mode.