DIY (Android only) - Stud Finder In-Wall Imager (Only Compatible with Android smartphones)

I have been a DIY guy for more than 50 years and have tool boxes at home, vacation house, office, RV, boat, for almost everything. As a design engineer if it is a new tool I'm interested. I have some old stud finders that work OK and new ones that work great. My most recent acquisiton was the ProSensor 710 Franklin Sensors ProSensor Yellow in 2015 which is terrific! Best stud finder I have ever used! Love it. So why did I buy the Walabot? We live in Panama City Fl where a "little" category 5 hurricane Michael came ashore last October (it has just been upgraded to a Cat 5 - 3rd strongest storm in history to hit the US mainland). We are still living in an RV at the office hoping to get back into our home in a couple more months. Really needed to add a LIBERTY 129848 Hook Rail/Coat Rack with 5 Flared Tri Hooks and knew that small office shower wall had not only power lines but Pex water lines. Trying to get a good contractor to respond is like pulling teeth with a pair of tweezers. There are now THOUSANDS of them but hundreds of thousands of jobs that desperately needed to be done -so making a mistake would be just UNACCEPTABLE!! Last year my son in law had pointed out a "new gadget" that seemed cool at the time - but I did not need it. Now my Franklin sensor was in NOLA where we continue to use it to hang pictures. And now I needed not to not only just find studs but to be DARNED SURE I missed the known pipes or wires. And the pipes and wires don't lay up against the sheet rock - I needed something that would find them and inch of so away. Read the reviews - and DARN, etc! It does not work with an iPhone and we are an Apple family. Wait! The storm took out the Verizon towers - so we had used the Buick's On-Star to call my Team Rubicon daughter and son who were driving from NOLA to help and asked them to pick up a prepaid ATT phone for communication! So 'Droid phone problem solved when I found it! Ordered the Walabot, downloaded the app - watched all the how to videos (which I strongly recommend) and started scanning just as they suggested. And there it all was in the wall. You can pick a actual view (which is fuzzy outlines) or intelligent view which interprets it for you. FANTASTIC! Hit the center of the one stud I could use (which one of my >20 year old finders could easily do) - but drilled through for the wall anchor with absolute confidence I wasn't going to hit water or power lines. Worth every penny. And if I hadn't had the prepaid phone sitting there I would have just bought a used one on line. Great tool! Epilog - loan it to my DIY lady office manager for a succesful multi-shelf-mounting-project on a problem filled wall! SUCCESS 2X! Highly recommend it. Can't speak to the 1 star ratings except to say it is more complicated than a stud finder and once again recommend taking the time to watch all the videos!

When I first saw the video for the Walabot DIY a year or so ago, I was pretty impressed. I thought, "If this thing really works like they're showing, this would be MUCH better than just a regular stud finder." At the time, Amazon wasn't carrying the Walabot DIY, but I added it to my Amazon Wish List anyway, pointing to the external Walabot site. No one bought it for me for Christmas or for my birthday, so it languished on my Wish List. Then a specific need for it arose. We purchased a 42" flat screen TV for our guest bedroom and bought a wall mount so we could mount it. Because of how the furniture in the guest bedroom is arranged, we needed to mount the TV on the north wall of the bedroom, directly across from the wall where the bed is. As it turns out, that wall is the dividing wall between that bedroom and the master bathroom. The walls in the bedroom and bathroom are both drywall and we know there are wood studs in the wall, but because it's also a main plumbing wall, there are also pipes as well as electrical wires and some plywood in the wall. When I used my old trusty stud finder to try to find either of the two studs that should have been near the center of the wall, it would not reliably find either one. It would find what it thought was a stud lower down in the wall but at the height we wanted to install the TV mount, it would not find it. I knew I could hammer a nail in the wall to in the three places where the mounting lag screws for the TV mount would go, but I was worried that if there was a pipe back there, I would punch a hole in the pipe with the nail and that would be really bad news. Or worse, I might hit a pipe with the drill when I went to drill the holes. Then I thought about the Walabot DIY. I checked my Amazon Wish List and discovered that although I could still buy the Walabot directly from the manufacture's Website, Amazon was also now carrying it. The Amazon listing had over 1,200 reviews and it had 3.6 star rating out of 5 stars. Not spectacular, but not bad. I decided to check the ratings on Fakespot.com, which I often do. To my dismay, the ratings got a "D" grade on Fakespot with a note that there appeared to be a high degree of deception and misleading reviews. Not good. I almost decided not to buy it, but then I thought, "Hey, it's Amazon. If I get it and it turns out not to work nearly as well as they claim it works, I can just return it and get a refund and maybe look for a different type of stud finder to try instead." Boy, am I glad I decided to get it. I followed the setup instructions in the "Get Started" section of the very small user guide, then watched all of the video tutorials that the manual referenced on the Walabot site. I went in to the guest bedroom and calibrated the Walabot DIY on the wall as described in the video tutorial and started scanning. I first did a pan scan across about a 24" horizontal section of the wall near the center to get an idea of what the Walabot DIY thought was back there, then switched to the "Image" setting to get better detail. Sure enough, right where I thought a stud should be, the Walabot DIY said there was a stud. As I moved the Walabot DIY up and down on the wall in that spot, it cleared indicated the stud continuing both up and down from the spot where I had started scanning. Slightly below the level I wanted to install the TV mount, it also showed there was a pipe running horizontally across the wall -- exactly the type of object I wanted to make sure I avoided. I would have never know that was there in that area if I had relied simply on a regular stud finder. Some further scanning of the area I wanted to install the TV mount in, both the "Image" and "Expert" setting, gave me confidence that there were no other pipes or electrical wiring in that area that I might hit, so I lined up the mount on the wall, marked the drill holes in what was indicated to be the center of the stud, and drilled my holes. It was perfect! The TV mount is now attached securely to that stud in the wall and we hung the TV on the mount. This turned out to be a fully successful project, thanks to the Walabot DIY wall scanner. I'm happy to report that, at least from our use of it, it worked just as advertised and we're fully satisfied with it.

So got this for a gift, and it works pretty good. Definitely more accurate than the reviews make it out to be. Seems as most were expecting like 100% accuracy, but that's very unrealistic for any stud finder. I did note that it picks up wires a bit less than hoped for, and it works on all android devices I have used it on. Ultimately it performs better than my nice stud finder. I noted a large issue with calibration staying calibrated so honestly the reviews on this product seem like they're from not so tech oriented people. First the cable can be increased in length, they do sell longer cables similar to the one on the device, I already had one so it was easy enough to increase the length therefore allowing me to remove the phone from the device. Also it is not every mode that requires holding the "button" but the only mode that is like that is the initial scan mode, the image and expert stay on without holding. The other thing I noted is most are complaining about sticky and wall marks and alike... well first I have to say learn to clean your phone and the little pad it came with, it should be alcohol wiped before attaching, similar to the strips or the protective films. Much better results are had, I have a note 4 running Android 8.1 Pie and has a nice heavy case, which held no issues during an hour plus playing around with the item. It DOES do concrete, but you have to be a bit more intelligent then the device. As the account holders husband (I am not Sarah) I do run a computer business and tech install, as a licensed contractor I definitely find that this will be useful, but most seem to be failing to realize that the calibration must be done each time you accidentally lift from the wall, move to a different surface or section, or in general every so often if you would like a good accurate result. Overall I am impressed, all the negative reviews are NOT justified to the tech. Most scanners can be up to an inch off if not used properly, lots of new versions of stud finders require calibration just like this one, most stud finders require you to hold a button to find a stud. NO Stud finder for this price will show heat signatures in expert mode, none allow for such a graphical image for the view, and none! are anywhere close to this advanced. I think this is a great idea, the only negatives I can see are: - I was required to sign in with Google account!!! This is stupid and as a security researcher I am very disappointed in that fact and will be designing an app for myself to rid me of that really bad concept! - The cable it comes with should and must be longer, holding the phone on the scanner is ridiculous! I had a longer cable and it is much better to hold one hand phone and the other moving the scanner. - The film is a starter idea, switch to a padded backing on the device itself, like a nice soft foam rubber or alike and make it built in not attached during open, or at minimum pre-attach the film for the customer therefore removing the incorrect install of the film and eliminating most of the bad reviews. - Bluetooth the darn thing, why you even have a wire is beyond me, I mean it's almost 2020 and you did not bluetooth enable the darn thing....? - Seriously the app connecting to google is why you lost a star its dumb dumb dumb. - Warranty your product without purchasing an extended warranty that is stupid and bad service... Purchase extra support sure, but a warranty should be free... - What the heck requiring me to have Youtube app installed??? Why not just link me to the darn site itself I think anyone that has an app when a perfectly good website is available is a waste of space since they are wasting space anyway on their phones doing dumb things like that. - Increase the images that it shows... I personally hate purple... why purple? Can I not customize that or at least opt to not have purple, how about a wire color like white or yellow... I mean really. - The marketing folks are killing your company, get rid of them and sell the device for its merit not for what they make you think it will do, most probably thought they were getting some sort of xray device for the wall.... You can thank your confusing marketing for that. Pros - Great device, works well and is as accurate or more accurate than the stud finders I do have. - inexpensive for what it is - Calibration is fairly easy - marks do not appear on the wall if used correctly - goes very deep and works where other stud finders I have do not - graphical view of the inside of the wall, even finds plates that cover wiring, but shows as metal studs, maybe fix for the programming on that. - app use, so I hope to get updates to increase features or accuracy. - hopefully there wont be multiple flipping versions and I can get extra features with updates to the app - Small and useful and not sure why they did not improve the graphics a bit, but it is miles better than some leds or a small display that kind of shows a stud or similar. - Shows the direction of the wire! This is so much better than a small symbol showing during wire find, it helps trace a wire REALLY well and something I have not found anything else to do at all that is remotely in this price range! Reviewers need to ensure they are reading directions and following instructions to a T and this will work great, also make sure your seller is the manufacturer there is something called fakes online and Amazon has lots

First off, this is a great little product. Basically a premium stud finder that alerts you to pipes and wires in the wall (if you're just drilling holes), or if you are doing work on the house and wondering where electrical and plumbing are going, a full-fledged wall scanner. My experience in stucco walls has been hit or miss, but my house is old and the stucco walls not very flat, so that may have something to do with it. Regular sheet rock, wood, etc. has been great. I even tried this on my floor to see where the water tube was that goes to my fridge, and it found something, but I haven't climbed under the house to verify! As a stud finder, it works great, as a wire and pipe finder, it works well, but since I try to drill in studs and not in pipes or wires, I can only positively say it found the studs! When I first got this, they had an older version of the app that just told you to "calibrate" the sensor on the wall. Not much explanation, and my experience with scanning was spotty. Some walls worked great, others didn't. The new app tells you to scan in a circle on the wall, and that has improved my results. My biggest complaint is that the plastic film you put on the Walabot DIY to protect the device comes off too easy. Less than a week and a dozen or so walls and it lost it's stickiness. They told me they are working on a new film, and even told me that they would send me a replacement, so that's great customer service. I liken this product to a Wifi Router. Most people only complain that the Wifi isn't working, and rarely praise it if it is working well. This is a piece of technology, and as such it needs people with patience and the ability to calibrate and trouble shoot. If you are the kind of person that would rub this on the wall, and upon seeing no studs proclaim that this is a piece of junk and throw it in a drawer, this is not the product for you. Stick with a stud finder or knocking on the wall. If you are the kind of person that will calibrate this on every wall (takes a few seconds) and take a second to wonder why you may not be getting the results you expected, than this is a great product for you.

I am a contractor who needs to know what is inside walls. We use a Fluke Thermal camera as well as various stud finders and other methods including GPR and x-ray. When I saw this unit for sale, I was interested as it would be a nice addition to have in all my employees tool bags without much worry of it being lost, stolen, or damaged. We tried this device using a Google Pixel and a Samsung Galaxy. Both were extremely simple to set up to use the software. We found that the only mode worth using is the expert mode and it is inaccurate as a regular stud finder. Small amounts of sheet-rock mud can cause this device to completely lose target reference. The device will not work correctly on textured walls. Most all walls have a slight texture on them. We found that even a very slight texture interferes with the device accuracy immensely. Additionally, the device does not find electrical wires or pipes unless they are close to the testing surface. We tried to reproduce the tests shown on the videos and were completely unsuccessful. An electrical engineer, a software engineer, and a master electrician tried using this device with similarly poor results here at our offices. You do, it seems, get what you pay for. Perhaps the $500 model is better. We feel that this device is a gimmick and should not be purchased by anyone looking for accuracy beyond 40%. When we contacted support as suggested in the instructional video in order to see about locating in lathe and plaster walls. We were told by support that the device does not work with lathe and plaster walls but there may be a software update in the future that will address this. A standard Zircon stud-finder on deep penetration works on lathe and plaster walls so perhaps you would be better off purchasing a Zircon product with deep scan.

Before purchasing this item I tried to find technical data on requirements for the phone it’d be interfacing with, but all I found was “android phones”- well, having 2 android phones both with newer versions of that os, I assumed it’d work. Nope. Actually requires an android phone with usb otg (on the go), which, apparently uses yet another, newer USB port design. I’ve wasted 2 days waiting for this, only to find its not something I can use. Yet another bogus purchase from some virtual company that I won’t have the satisfaction of yelling at, face to face, over a returns counter. I’ll have to go to Lowe’s and buy something I don’t like, return that, and yell at them instead. EDIT: After leaving this review a couple of days ago, and with the Walabot box sitting on my dresser waiting to be returned, I got to reading about USB-OTG. As it turns out, it's not a physical port, but, rather a protocol (well, ok, a group of 3 protocols, i guess) that manages the way a device communicates with another device, or devices, via usb. And, after reading far too much about this nifty bit of tech it suddenly occurred to me that I may have tried using the Walabot incorrectly. So, I opened the Walabot box again, and while there's really not much inside, I was able to previously overlook a second cable- the cable i needed to connect the device to my phone. Using that cable, I got the phone and Walabot talking to one another- finally. After doing additional reading and watching a few youtube videos I was able to use the Walabot as intended. Keep in mind, I spent about 2 hours reading, watching videos and playing with the Walabot to get to the point where I was able to find the recessed lighting canisters in the ceiling behind the new sheetrock that had been installed (installed sans any markings as to where the canisters were located). In the end, the Walabot does work! The biggest issue I see with this device is the COMPLETE lack of documentation, either in the box that the device comes in, or on-line. When you open the box, there's a nice little pamphlet, in about a dozen languages. The English section provides a URL for downloading the Walabot app. That's basically all it does. And, once you get the app on the phone, it tells you to calibrate the device. It doesn't show you how to use the device; it doesn't walk you through the basics of using the software. Heck, I was initially calibrating the device while using it backwards- I had the wrong side of the device against the wall- and it calibrated itself! I wasn't able to use it to see anything behind the wall, and, it didn't provide any error messages of any type to warn me that I was using it incorrectly. I had to watch a video on youtube to figure that out. As a friend pointed out to me, I was probably suffering from sleep deprivation at the time I was trying to figure this out. And, he was right. But this device, especially at this price, should come with CLEAR and DETAILED WRITTEN DOCUMENTATION. There's a lot of tech in this little black box; a lot of tech that can be very useful for the DIYers out there. It saved me from having to randomly cut into new drywall trying to find recessed lighting devices. I was able to use it to pinpoint the location of 3 lights behind 5/8" drywall in the ceiling. It's a shame that the lack of something so basic as written instructions may be the down-fall of this product. I was 98% ready to return this thing and dismiss it as a waste of time. I'm glad I didn't, but all this could have been avoided with a little thing called a USER GUIDE.

REVIEW AFTER 4 YEARS OF USE: I bought this Walabot Stud Finder almost 4 years ago to help me with some projects that I was doing in my new home. I never got around to reviewing it, so here is my honest review after several years of use with many different projects. First, it is a bit pricy which made me drag my feet on purchasing it. But now that I own it, I'm glad that I spent the money. It is easy to set up, even if you haven't used it in a while, it's easy enough to figure out how to re-use it. The device sticks onto the back of your bare phone (without the case on) and the little adhesive is still sticky for me after 4 years and multiple times taking the device on and off my phone. I have used it with multiple different Android phones with the same results. The app is simple and easy to use, and it walks you through how to calibrate and use it every time. It is lightweight and accurate! I compared it to 2 different cheaper stud finders, and the magnet test (less accurate way to find studs, but works in a pinch). The reason that I love this thing is that it will show you PIPES AND WIRES which is something that my other stud finders couldn't do at all. It also shows you the angle/path that each stud, wire, pipe travels in your wall. It tells you if the stud is wood or metal to help you choose the best drill bit. This gives you the peace of mind that you won't be drilling directly into a wire or pipe, which is a HUGE advantage. I highly recommend investing in one of these for home improvement projects. I think that any negative reviews for this product are because of unrealistic expectations or improper use, because after many years of using this Walabot, I am still impressed with its capabilities. I hope this review was helpful!

Love this device. Used extensively in my home and bathrooms renovations. Find pipes, wires, studs hidden in the walls. Saved me from a lot of problems. Dislike the short cable, nor the affixing to the back my phone. Rather, I used both hands, one supporting the Walabot and one the phone. Put blue masking tape on Walabot to keep from marring a finished wall when calibrating.

Well, I used it to hang some lights on a seeling. It found metal studs and wires. Yes to find wires needed moooooore time and using expert mode to detect where to look. On one wall it cannot find wires, but I have working electricity there is a plug... Overall I have a great opinion on this product. Very nice. Interesting, how long it will take the sticker to the phone not to work... But it is not essential.

Hola saludos a todos, yo instalo equipos de aire acondicionado, y me interesó x lo practico y por el precio, tenia mis dudas x los comentarios negativos, pero ya tengo un mes usándolo y si lo recomiendo, es como todo hay que dedicarle su tiempo pero si me ha sido efectivo, lo recomiendo.

Works just like in the demo video. Easy to use. I am using it on an older smart phone a Galaxy note 4. But it comes with cables for both the older phones and the newer ones. I like the fact that you see whats there and not just follow some lights to see the studs. Being able to see wires and pipe is fantastic.

هذا الجهاز ضعيف جدا في وظيفته ولا يخدم الغاية منه وكشفه للعناصر داخل الجدار غير دقيق ولا حتى مقبول فأحيانا قليله يكتشف وفي الغالب لايكتشف شيئالذلك فإن هامش الخطأ عالي جدا وبالتالي هناك خطوره عاليه في الاعتماد عليه ومثل هذه الاجهزه لابد ان تكون صارمه في نتائجها ولكن هذا الجهاز ضعيف جدا في نتائجه ولا اعلم لماذا يتم انتاج مثل هذه الاجهزه الناقصة الكفائه وتقييمي لهذا الجهاز هو 5% او أقل.

This product scans up to a depth of 12mm i.e. O.5inch only. None of the video or detail specifications declace this. And this is of no use at all. Any thing within 12mm is of no use. Finding a rebar is required, it can't find ; since rebars are in depth of usally 25mm or more. This is simply of no use total money waste. I wrote email to walabot, then only came to know that it works only up to max 20mm in drywall i.e. gypsum board.