Review on 1AC-A1-II Fluke 💡 VoltAlert Non-Contact Voltage Tester by Edgar Gomez

All non-contact voltage testers are a compromise. You can get one that is clear enough to avoid false readings, but then it has a very short range. You can get a sensitive sensor, but then false readings become a problem. and you can get one with variable sensitivity, but then it gets awkward and ambiguous. Since none of these options is clearly better than the others, all three types are available on the market from well-known manufacturers. Fluke belongs to the 1st category. It is not adjustable and does not display the signal level as a bar graph. This is low sensitivity discrimination. To detect voltage, it must be touching or nearly touching the wire, and it must be on the same _side_ of the wire as the live conductor, not neutral or ground. It takes a few seconds to alarm and a few seconds to shut down again if you move it away from the cable. That's all it does, and it does it reliably. Forget about searching for cables in a wall or in a cable duct; it won't happen, and you'll know it's not worth the time to try. Before buying Fluke I tried Klein NCVT2 and NCVT3. I could get both of them to generate false positives simply by holding them in one hand and leading the other hand to the top, and for that reason I rejected them. However, if you need higher sensitivity for applications that Fluke doesn't cover, I suggest looking at these models as they appear to be the highest quality in the high sensitivity class. As for the adjustable type, take a look at the Sperry adjustable model. I've seen some complaints about Fluke not recognizing a live outlet (the tip is too thick to fit the slot). That's right. I find that an acceptable compromise: the easiest way to test an outlet is with a plug-in tester, and I would always prefer one to a non-contact tester because it's also more reliable. Since you don't _need_ a non-contact outlet tester, I don't think it's worth compromising other design aspects to support this use case. Also, while reading these reviews, keep in mind that all the different models have merged into one. You can filter the reviews based on the specific model you really need.