I love quoting movie lines. If you want to see my wife roll her eyes faster than Roadrunner leaving Wile E. Coyote in the dust, then just get me started on quotes from The Princess Bride or Airplane.
“Johnny, what can you make of this?” “I can make a hat. I can make a brooch. I can make a pterodactyl.”
In the pivotal scene from Grease where Olivia Newton-John’s character reveals her new look, Travolta’s Danny Zuko falls to the ground, 
panting like a dog in heat as Sandy says, “Tell me about it….stud.”
Ok, so this has been a real round-about way of introducing today’s topic: Stud finders!
Be honest. How many of these contraptions have you had or used over the course of a lifetime? I remember several years back – in fact, it was just before the theatrical release of Grease in the late 70’s – I had this cheap, plexiglass holder that had a magnet mounted on a single rotating axis. The concept was the 
magnet would locate the metal nails holding the drywall against the studs. I hated that thing.
The electronic versions (can you say, Zircon?) weren’t that much better. Slide it horizontally and wait for the red lights to show you the edge of the stud……you hope. I believe I had at least 10-12 of those types trying to find one that was at least 80% accurate.
Everything changed for me maybe 8 years or so ago. I was in Las Vegas shooting an episode of the TV show I was on and saw this new style of stud finder from Franklin Sensors. This was not the same old shape as every other stud finder on the market; and, instead of 1-3 LEDs in the center of the unit, it had a bank of LEDs from one side to the other. There was no need to slide it across the wall. Just place it on the wall and press the button. If you weren’t on a stud, then no lights lit up. But….if you were on a stud, every LED that was over 
the stud lit up. If you were on a double stud, e.g., a king stud next to a jack stud, twice the lights would light up.
It was love at first sight. Not only did I know immediately if I was on a stud, but I knew exactly where the edges were and how many studs were stacked together. The one drawback: Franklin is mighty proud of their product with a suggested retail price tag of 50-bucks. Of course, when I think of the “Franklins” I’ve shelled out in my lifetime for a long line of less-than-impressive stud finders, then trading a “Grant” for a Franklin just made sense. After all these years, it’s still the same stud finder in my toolbox today, proving the point that you shouldn’t scrimp and pinch pennies when it comes to buying and using quality tools. After all, the old saying is 100% correct: You get what you pay for.
Surely, the industry has improved its technology enough in the past 8 years to build an even better stud finder that costs less than $50, right?
Probably. But I like my Franklin…..
……..and don’t call me Shirley.
