Do professionals actually use stud finders — or are they just a DIY gimmick?
I've been using stud finders for home DIY for years and I genuinely like them — but I've always wondered if professional contractors, finish carpenters, or remodelers actually rely on them, or if they have better methods.
My biggest frustration: no stud finder I've tried reliably marks the center. The best one I've used is the Franklin — I like the multi-indicator bar across the top. But even then, you're doing the "scan from both directions and split the difference" dance on every single stud. For a few nails, fine. But when I'm mounting wall cabinets and need a clean vertical line up an entire stud run, it gets tedious fast.
Why doesn't any product just project a vertical laser line along the stud center? It seems like an obvious gap. And it would be also very helpful that if it can find horizontal stud as well. Am I missing something — is this already solved by a product I don't know about?
A few things I'm curious about:
- Do pros use stud finders, or do they rely on measurement/tapping/other tricks instead?
- What features do you actually wish existed on a stud finder?
- What's your most frustrating use case where current tools fall short?