Walabot studfinders are a useless gimmick

I kept getting ads for these, so asked for one for xmas as "don't really need it but it looks cool" category of gift. While it's neat, it's pain-in-the-ass factor far outweighs it's usefulness. You have to sync it with your phone via wifi, which works about 75% of the time. EVERY time you turn it on, you have to go through a calibration procedure which takes about 30 seconds of rubbing it on the wall in a circle. The app kind of sucks, because once you sync, it's about 4 clicks/presses to bypass notes like "hey, don't store your device in the freezer or in a really hot place" and get to the calibration, a few more to start that, then a few more to get to actually detecting stuff in your wall. If you're on a ladder or someplace awkward, you have to find a place to put your phone where you can see it while sliding the device along the wall. In the time it takes to get the thing set up and running, I could just dig out a "normal" studfinder and find a stud 10 times over. Sure, it shows electrical wires and pipes in the wall (in theory) but I honestly have never found that useful, since if I'm screwing into a stud, those should be protected anyway, or not where a stud it. submitted by /u/mrbigbusiness [link] [comments]

Mar 14, 2025 - 17:09

I kept getting ads for these, so asked for one for xmas as "don't really need it but it looks cool" category of gift. While it's neat, it's pain-in-the-ass factor far outweighs it's usefulness. You have to sync it with your phone via wifi, which works about 75% of the time. EVERY time you turn it on, you have to go through a calibration procedure which takes about 30 seconds of rubbing it on the wall in a circle. The app kind of sucks, because once you sync, it's about 4 clicks/presses to bypass notes like "hey, don't store your device in the freezer or in a really hot place" and get to the calibration, a few more to start that, then a few more to get to actually detecting stuff in your wall. If you're on a ladder or someplace awkward, you have to find a place to put your phone where you can see it while sliding the device along the wall.

In the time it takes to get the thing set up and running, I could just dig out a "normal" studfinder and find a stud 10 times over. Sure, it shows electrical wires and pipes in the wall (in theory) but I honestly have never found that useful, since if I'm screwing into a stud, those should be protected anyway, or not where a stud it.

submitted by /u/mrbigbusiness
[link] [comments]