Walabot DIY 2 vs Stud Finder

[@markhenderson3771]

We were able to find the stud without it because it was particle board and we could see the studs. I didn't know that before the project, so this was nice to have. Thanks again for your content. Very helpful.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

👍🏼👍🏼

[@LANPOCALYPSE]

Does the Walabot have the ability to mark the location on the wall? If not, might need an extra arm to work well with it.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

If you’re talking about making an actual mark on the wall, no. I usually lay my phone down and watch it as I scan the wall. This way I can mark the wall where needed without juggling two devices.

[@SerenoOunce]

You're supposed to hold the phone over the finder with one hand. He was only using 2 hands for demo purposes.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

@@SerenoOunce Actually, with the DIY2 you do not need to hold your phone over the Walabot. Many times I lay my phone on the floor while I scan. I just watch the phone to see what the Walabot is finding.

[@jimkough2945]

What about efficacy on detecting studs behind lath and plaster or drywall covered with skip trowel?

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Hey Jim, thanks for watching! I can’t speak to its ability to handle trowel covered drywall. However, In conversations with someone at Walabot, they informed me that the device works very well on lathe and plaster. I have not personally tested this yet. I hope this helps!

[@SerenoOunce]

Detecting studs through plaster walls is a maybe. Drywall over plaster, might as well show chirping crickets on the screen.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

The DIYX is actually made specifically to handle lathe and plaster.

[@andrewdavis464]

Will it locate PEX pipe?

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Yes it will. I have tested this personally. Thx for watching Andrew!

[@roddick1185]

can it find a buried electrical box?

[@ReluctantDIYers]

It can only find things behind drywall.

[@jeffalan6339]

Now that is really cool. I have a Zircon for my job the walabot is gimmicky yet acts like x ray machine. Nice job, thanks for the video.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Jeff thanks for watching! I’m glad you liked it. I have to say that I have really enjoyed using the Walabot so far. Have a great day!

[@SerenoOunce]

Tried the walabot on 2x walls and cement board. In those cases it's just as useless so complete waste of $.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Did you try expert mode with high sensitivity in these situations?

[@jeffalan6339]

@@SerenoOunce Other contractors give praise to the franklin 700 or 710 good reviews,

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Thx for sharing that Jeff!

[@casfox]

I’m wanting to put a closet in my room and wanted a device that would prevent me from damaging wires/pipes (and myself possibly lol) sounds like the walabot is probably the most accurate.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

No stud finder is perfect, but the radar images in expert mode with the Walabot have made a big difference for me in questionable situations. 👍🏼👍🏼

[@PartyMTLcom]

Nothing said about calibrating the Walabot. Calibrate by placing the Walabot on the wall and move in a large circular motion until it says Ready. Without removing the Walabot from the wall..start scanning for wood or metal studs, pvc and copper pipes, and electrical cables. It will also work on tiles, concrete and flooring. The ultimate tool before drilling in my opinion..

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Thanks for watching. We covered the calibration of the Walabot in our separate review video and show the process there. I agree that it’s a great tool also. Have a great day!

[@kalpataro]

There is another videos that shows Walabot is useless on concrete. So do not give a false information to the people.

[@DuelDragun]

I never see anyone do these tests/reviews with insulation in them. I guess they assume no one is going to try and hang anything on the outside walls and only on interior walls? I want to know how the insulation affects the scanning of the tool

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Great question! I actually used it in the video below where the wall is full of foam insulation. Hide TV Wires Behind the Wall kzbin.info/www/bejne/h5vaiGR3hqp-eJY It worked just fine. 👍🏼

[@othername1000]

Do it thru plaster and lath. And the layer of drywall over that.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

The DIY 2 won’t work on plaster, but I wonder if the DIYX will be able to do that… might be a good test.

[@othername1000]

@@ReluctantDIYers Would be nice if it could. I imagine there are others out there who would also be interested in checking that out.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

@@othername1000 I’ll have to see if I can get a DIY X and try this. It might take me a while to do so.

[@marke2401]

What about insulated walls?

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Mark, thanks for watching! I use my Walabot on insulated walls frequently. The insulation in my case was spray foam and the detection of electrical wires vs studs has been very accurate, for me. I hope this helps!

[@marke2401]

@@ReluctantDIYers Actually it hadn’t occurred to me about spray foam. That is all good to know. Thank you for your response. Have a great day!

[@jimmybooles9447]

Need to test on wall that has been textured and painted a few times. Most will find studs on a bare wall

[@ReluctantDIYers]

This would be a great test. Unfortunately, I don’t have a wall like that. However, I did test on a wall that has rough stick wood planks on top of it and it worked very well. This can be seen in my dedicated Walabot review video. Thanks for reaching out Jimmy!

[@mgpvii]

A review of products typically takes cost into account. Most times a product that is 3-5 times the price of another product will be better. But is is worth it. From this review I would say the walabot is not worth it. It showed to be only slightly better than a much cheaper product. “For those reasons I’m out” on the walabot.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

I appreciate your viewpoint, thanks for watching and commenting!

[@johnbarbuto5387]

We live in an older house that has old, thick drywall. I have two Stud Finders and neither one of them works very well. I need something more powerful that really works for this older house.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Is it thick drywall of lath and plaster?

[@j.malave445]

Hi, You said iPhone but I thought it didn’t support apple? Please clarify. Thank you

[@ReluctantDIYers]

J. Malave, thanks for watching! The Walabot DIY 2 is compatible with the iPhone. However, the other Walabot models only work with Android. I hope this helps. Have a great day!

[@j.malave445]

@@ReluctantDIYers thank you very much. This helps. Great video!!

[@ReluctantDIYers]

@@j.malave445 No problem! Thanks for the feedback, I’m glad you liked it. Have a great weekend!

[@craigoliver4631]

Just an observation. In Amazon Canada the Walabot is $319.00 compared to the Zircon HD90 which was $55.00 at Home Depot. For the average DIYer is the Walabot worth $264.00 more. Also with the Walabot you have the inconvenience of having to use both hands. Can't justify almost 5 times the cost for the Walabot.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Great points, and I totally get where you’re coming from. My biggest concern with any stud finder is accuracy. I’ve been burned too many times by my other stud finders, so I was able to justify the cost when I bought mine. Quick heads up, I heard that Walabot is releasing a bracket to hold your phone on the device to eliminate that two hand concern (which I agree with). Once I get my hands on one I’ll post a video on it. Thx for watching and taking the time to share your thoughts! I truly appreciate it. 👍🏼

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Have you tried the Walabot? What has been your experience? Walabot DIY 2: shrsl.com/3s8ls

[@jq8166]

Great video thanks!

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Thanks for watching JQ! I hope you have a great day.

[@dangerdoberman]

I have a ZIRCON I've been using for years. I'll stick with it for the price alone.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Totally get it… 👍🏼👍🏼

[@frndssayaugust306]

Walabot depicted the horizontal blocking as a vertical stud. At best it’s making an educated guess and generating a graphic that may or may not be accurate. I purchased Walabot to work on 100 year old timber framed homes in New England that have very unconventional structure. Studs here are often not uniform in size or placement. Many times supports are running on an angle behind the wallboard. Walabot will not depict the image correctly if I am not mistaken. I will have to think long and hard about what is actually going on behind the wallboard. The commercials for this product are misleading.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

I would suggest using expert mode to see if this helps. This is one way I’ve overcome questionable situations that my other stud finders even struggle with. That mode will give you a radar image that can help you make some decisions. Image mode is nice, but the real power in this tool is with expert mode IMHO. I hope this helps. 👍🏼👍🏼

[@frndssayaugust306]

@@ReluctantDIYers I’m returning it to Amazon. It does not live up to the hype. I’ve been doing this work for decades. I was hoping it would be a tool I could bring with me when I measure for bids to impress my customers, not as impressive as commercial makes it look. Definitely not going to show me mice im the wall… Please!

[@danijelbajic4312]

I have only one question.Can Walabot see hidden gold inside the house wall?Does Walabot provides some orientation of the size of the object inside the wall?Does Walabot provides material recognization?I mean does walabot provides different colors for different material?Thank you.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Danijel, thanks for watching! Here are some responses… 1) Hidden gold - no, but I wish it did. 2) Object size - for studs pipes and wires, no. 3 & 4) Material recognition - only what I show in this video and my dedicated Walabot review video. I hope this helps. Have a great day!

[@danijelbajic4312]

@@ReluctantDIYers Is there any kind of X-ray that can see hidden objects in the walls?Im not interested in humans behind the walls...only hidden objects.If there is any kind of device available that can do the job...I would like to know.Thank you.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

@@danijelbajic4312 Not that I’m aware of. Your best bet in a case like this would probably be a borescope/endoscope.

[@danijelbajic4312]

@@ReluctantDIYers No.I use endoscopes for something else.I need something like X-ray or else.We are a team of couple men hunting for ancient gold using metal detector,geo radar system,3 scanners...But...for walls of the old houses we assume there is nazi gold hidden or just a private gold...we need something to be more precise.Because the owner of the houses wont let us damage the wall just like that.Only if we are 100% sure we found it...he would let us dig the wall inside his house.We know there is gold but where?Ancestors of that house came back in 70s...they were germans.Two times tried to persuade todays owner of the house to let them in and dig the gold out and to split in two halfs 50%-50%.But the grandfather of todays owner of the house was a strong communist.He pointed a gun on those people and told them to not come back again or he will kill them all.And now we searched and 3d scanned whole backyard and garden of the house and around house.Now only walls are left.So Im trying to find some system that can make this done.Metal detector and 3d scanner is blind in the walls...he can see metals but cant be sure is it gold or something else.So its not usable.

[@kennethspengler9934]

Why don’t you do this test with a textured wall? Every review I’ve seen have non-textured walls.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Kenneth… check out my latest KZbin short video. I just posted it this week and I did just that.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

My apologies… I posted it a few weeks ago. (I just posted to IG and TikTok in the last week). Here’s a link… Will the Walabot work on textured walls? kzbin.infogl4SFQS23VU?feature=share

[@madpatzz1]

Have to create walbot account and log in to use it. Had I known this, would never have bought it.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Really? I don’t recall ever making a Walabot account. It’s been a while since I set mine up though.

[@SerenoOunce]

Agreed, there is ZERO reason to provide personal info just to use a PHYSICAL product you paid good $ for.

[@nonelost1]

@@SerenoOunce You’re spot on! I take it Wallabot just wants your name and number so that they can sell it down the river, and make even more money. Prepare to get a lot more spam mail!

[@janetmiz]

Tnx

[@ReluctantDIYers]

You’re welcome!

[@jetmartin9501]

But the Walabot miscategorized the horizontal stud as a vertical stud...WTH? That's a major fail..IMO.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Jet, this is a really good point. I’ve thought about this test for a long while and it would be nice if it could discern the difference between stud widths and stud position, visually. The challenge is that we don’t always know that we need to turn the stud finder sideways to detect a horizontal stud… no stud finder handles this one perfectly, unfortunately. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

[@zzaa2691]

So... the $170 Walabot is about equal to the $26 Zircon, but way cooler.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Yes. LOL! The visualization and ability to see the difference between a stud and a pipe or a wire is really nice and has been very helpful for me several times.

[@fireyourrocketts]

@ $189.00 for a glorified image of a stud the walabot it is just not worth it in my opinion for a typical DIY, now for a contractor, maybe, depending if one likes fancy tools; I did when I was working crapentry

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and I hear you. I will say this though… I’ve been using expert mode much more lately and the imaging I get in that mode is light years ahead of any other stud finder.

[@danstheman33]

I don't trust Zircon, they make about a hundred different models of stud finders, many have exactly the same features and capabilities, they're just all packaged into housings of different shapes and sizes and colors, even though they all basically use the same technology. Seems suspicious or at least gimmicky to me. I don't trust the Wallabot either, but at least it uses radar technology that can scan into the walls better. I would buy one to try if they made one that was an actual fully-functioning tool, not just a phone accessory.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Thanks for watching and sharing your thoughts! What do you like to use?

[@aebniala]

wall a bot is best to rent it rather bying it....

[@ReluctantDIYers]

You can rent one? I didn’t know that.

[@theebikeguy3852]

Looks like 90% of the wlabot are paid off. One guy was even wering there hat 😆

[@ReluctantDIYers]

HA! Thankfully this video wasn’t sponsored nor was I paid by them for any aspect of it. 👍🏼👍🏼

[@impulsiveurge5837]

3:28 What the actual F. Youre using it wrong. Of course the sensor is in the middle of the device not on the plastic edge youre talking about. You sounded like my mom who doesnt know how to use her smartphone.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

HAHAHAHA!!! Wow, thanks for the encouragement. Have a great day!

[@RDlinkenhoker]

Sorry, to me this test is not even close. The Walabot is much, much better for seeing the center of the stud. That is something that is extremely important if you need strength for heavy objects. I have used Zircons for years, and they're fairly reliable and accurate, but far from perfect. And the accuracy of finding stud centers can be considerably hindered by thicker drywall and other individual variables. If you do a lot of wall work the Walabot looks to be the clear winner, and worth the money, IMO. All it has to do is keep a pipe or wire from getting cut or drilled once to more than pay for itself. I cut a hole in a wall to mount an iPad once. Used a stud finder to locate the studs. When I pulled the square of drywall out I was shocked to find every Pex pipe in my house coming from my valve body downstairs to the various faucets and toilets running behind that wall cavity. Fortunately I didn't hit them.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Roger, thanks for watching and sharing your feedback! I completely agree that, in my practical use at home, the Walabot has been invaluable and extremely accurate. I hope you have a great day!

[@zack_120]

The bot even gives you the images of whatever it is seeing, so way better than the stud finder, comparatively a primitive device.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Thx for watching!

[@kwinzman]

The issues of the Wallabot are huge. Accuracy aside. Their app doesn't even work if you don't register an account. Good luck finding studs if their server goes down. They are nagging you in the app to buy their extended warranty. And to connect to it you're supposed to scan the QR code which they printed on the wall side, which will get scratched almost instantly. The USB is not spec compliant real USB because it doesn't accept a Type C charger (C2C). It really feels like a 1st gen product for a 5th generation price. Do NOT buy!

[@ReluctantDIYers]

I’m sorry you feel that way because I absolutely love mine. I haven’t seen anything about an extended warranty in my app but I’ll keep an eye out for that.

[@emilianozapata7352]

Walabot It's crap. For $200, no one thought about the fact that work sites don't have WiFi. How are you going to use it in a house that isn't yours? If you do a contractor's job, are you going to ask your client for WiFi? It's crap.

[@ReluctantDIYers]

@@emilianozapata7352 I appreciate your opinion. Let me clarify the WIFI thing… you don’t need a WIFI network to make this work. The device connects to your phone via WIFI. It’s a direct connection. Due to the size of the data that is transmitted between the device and the phone, they have to use WIFI since Bluetooth can’t handle the load. I hope that helps.

[@replicant357]

The joke got me !!!🤦🏻🤣

[@ReluctantDIYers]

🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@TruthSeekerAi]

i needed this cause i have them both and more but to lazy to test them 1 luv Reema age47 nyc

[@ReluctantDIYers]

Excellent! Thanks for watching!

[@HieuTran-iy3ui]

I don’t know how good the wallabot is but the yellow stud finder, just throw it away

[@ReluctantDIYers]

HAHAHA!!! Yeah, it’s old. I don’t throw anything away. LOL!

[@crisco1818]

This was a horrible review

[@ReluctantDIYers]

I’m sorry I didn’t hit this one on the head for you. Thanks for watching though. Have a great day!