My $12 stud finder lied to me, now I use a magnet and a pencil

Used to trust that little blinking light for hanging shelves and TV mounts. Last month in my hallway it said there was a stud at 14 inches, so I drilled in and hit nothing but drywall, tore a 3 inch hole. Bought a $12 magnet on a string from Home Depot and now I just slide it until it sticks to drywall screws, that tells me the real edge. Takes an extra minute but I have not messed up one anchor since. Anyone else ditch the fancy tools for the dumb simple trick?

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wadefoster1mo ago

I've had a $40 one for six years and it's never steered me wrong, so I'm not ready to toss it just yet. The catch is you gotta know how it works, because it finds the change in density and not the stud itself. You also have to slide it slow and mark both edges of the stud since it reads wide. Sorry about your hallway, that one stings.

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