Model # ESF5000
There are a lot of great tools from a lot of great companies on the market today, but for some reason, the one thing they all seem to struggle with is making a decent stud finder.
I have tried many of the "new and improved" stud finder over the years, and to be honest, most of them are just plain junk in a fancy package.
Many of them come with fancy upgrades like AC current detectors, and bright flashing lights that do whatever. Though they look cool with all the buttons and led screens, they fail to do one thing well......find studs!
I can't even tell you how many times I thought I found a stud in the wall to hang a picture from, only to find an empty void in the wall that eventually needed patched because the tool failed to deliver.
Now, you would think that with all the technology out there someone, some how, someday would come out with a stud finder that actually works. Today seems to be that day.
After a subscriber reached out to me asking to review the Ryobi Whole Stud Finder, I took a trip up to my local Home Depot store and picked one up. The price was somewhat reasonable at $29.00, and was in the same price range as the others hanging next to it.
Build Quality:
When I got it home and opened up the package, I noticed that it was a bit bulky in the hands. It almost feels like an old Xbox controller, and was a little heavier than expected. The entire tool is made of a hard plastic and felt pretty solid. There were seven led lights on the top, an AC current light on the right and a bit old push button in the middle.As a guy, my only focus at this point was to PUSH THE BIG ROUND BUTTON! Once I did, I felt a little poke on my hand. I turned the unit around and found a small little plastic spike looking object going in and out every time I pressed the button.
I then started messing around with the led with the seven led lights located on the top of the device. Ryobi definitely borrowed from the competition when designing this finder as you can find these on a couple different models on the market.
The light will light up when you are over a stud, and the three middle lights, as well as the light around the button with illuminate once you find the center of the stud. If you are close to two studs, the lights will also illuminate over the second stud indicating it's location. The best part is, this stud finder only takes one AA battery to power the entire unit which is amazing as the lights are extremely bright,
How well does it find studs?
Downsides to the Ryobi Stud Finder:
As for the AC detector, I feel that it be fine tuned as it alerted when no electrical was present, and also failed to alert when there was. This was probably the biggest let down for me, but I bought this to find studs, not help rewire my house.The other downside while using this though is that you need to use two hands while pressing down the two buttons on the bottom side of the unit. These buttons are what turn the unit on, but If you do not push them in and hold them at the same time, the stud finder will not work. That being said, it's not like you will need your second hand to hold a pencil to mark the wall since they already thought of that for you.
Summary:
All in all the build is solid and the led stud finder function worked perfectly. I can say that I have never used a stud finder that was as precise as the Ryobi Whole Stud Finder, and was blown away from how well it worked on textured areas.Because of how well this works, I am giving it a solid four star review. I removed one star for the AC detector, and needing two hands for use, but I think this could possible be the best stud finder on the market.
Ryobi Whole Stud Finder Video Review
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