Customer Reviews

Stanley 77-220 IntelliSensor Pro Wood, Metal, and Live Wire Stud Sensor

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(11)

 

 

Because most of my walls are plaster, I ordered the most expensive stud finder, the Stanley 77-220. At first it gave contradictory readings, and later I found that it could not find studs reliably even in a new wall with 1/2" drywall. After I tried to use it for a while, I left it on a table. Later, I heard it beeping and figured I had forgotten to turn it off. I turned it off, and it turned itself back on. It did this several times, and I finally pulled the battery out. Another time, it turned itself off while I was using it. My sense is that Stanley's quality has slipped in recent years.

I was in the middle of a project, and so I bought a Zircon 3.0 stud finder...It performed perfectly on drywall and reasonably well on plaster, even though it makes no claim to work through plaster. I also found it simpler and easier to use than the Stanley.

The bottom line: In my case, the Zircon worked much better than the Stanley.

I've used stud finders before but this one surprised me with it ability to locate studs under my homes 1-1/2" thick combination gypsum board/plaster walls (in the 1950's they called them lath-less plaster walls, consisting of 1/2" gypsum board, covered with 1" of hard-as-rock plaster). Easily allows centering on wooden studs and as a bonus, helps you avoid those pesky electric wires apparently ran at random through the wall studs.

I purchased the Stanley Intellisensor Pro electronic stud finder before I checked the product reviews on the Internet. Now I wish I would have looked at the reviews first, then I would have chosen a different brand.
The unit is not "auto calibrating". Each time you turn it on, you need to calibrate it. You have to put it against the wall, then turn it on. You need to hold it completely still until the green light flashes, then move it around on the wall until the green light flashes and you hear a long beep. OK--now you can begin using it.
The stud finder did work, but it was inconsistent in the readings and not always accurate. It is also somewhat clumsy to hold on to.
After I was through using it, I turned it off as per the instructions. Several minutes later, it had turned itself back on and was beeping away. I removed the battery for a couple of minutes, then put it back in. The unit was off. So I went to bed, and just as I was falling asleep I heard it beeping in the other room. I couldn't believe it! So I got up, and sure enough the lights were flashing on it and it was beeping. That was enough for me. I took the battery back out, and I plan to return it to the store for exchange or refund.
Maybe the unit I got was just a "dud". But I personally wouldn't buy this model.

To begin this product did NOT satisfy my needs in locating studs. I purchased this product and found it to be inconsistent in locating studs accurately. Ever time I re-caled the device I got different results. In addition the handling of the unit was awkward and not comfortable. I felt that metal locating and AC locating was also inaccurate. Due to this product I have 3 extra holes in my walls at home.

I wish I had read the forum before buying one. It seems I am not alone.

This device appears to be completely useless in every application I have tried. It's only possible function is to run down 9v batteries. (And yes, I read the manual).

Stanley really should know better.

Not only is this product time consuming (you have to calibrate the unit each time it's turned on), it's also mostly innacurate. After trying the product four our five times, I wound up only with holes in my walls, no studs.

Buy this product, and make sure you have plenty of drywall anchors around your house!

Bought it, but had lots of problems. Live wire detection was extremely sensitive: it went off roughly 2 feet from the wire. The wood sensor never detected anything. I scanned a 8 foot drywall and the wood sensor never went off. This is a product that should not be on the market.

The Stanely's Intellisensor Pro is absolutely useless piece of junk. Since the time I bought I could not get it to detect any stud. Initially, I thought that I was not using it correctly so I asked several other people to use it. All of them came with the same disappointing results. Then a serach on internet revealed that almost all the people bought had the same results. What is disconcerting is that Stanley has not done a single thing to resolve this issue. Shame on Stanley. Next time, I will not be that trusting of Stanley tools.

Amazon could do us a favor by pulling this product. My unit was unable to find a single stud. It didn't seem to matter if the wall was insulated or not, the result was the same. The wire finder would occasionally go off, but not in consistent places. From the other reviews, it looks like I'm not alone.

To begin this product did NOT satisfy my needs in locating studs. I purchased this product and found it to be inconsistent in locating studs accurately. Ever time I re-caled the device I got different results. In addition the handling of the unit was awkward and not comfortable. I felt that metal locating and AC locating was also inaccurate. Due to this product I have 3 extra holes in my walls at home. I returned the device and purchased a MetalliScanner by Zircon. I found that product to work much better.