BLACK+DECKER BDS200-XJ Pipe and Live Wire Detector, 9 V, 5 x 10.5 x 21 cm, 1-Piece

A massive improvement on the dire cheaper detectors, which all have tiny detection ranges. This black and decker on the other hand has worked well in all the older houses I've used it in. It gave me a reliable enough signal to know what was behind the wall, and multiple sweeps across the wall (go slowly!) gave exactly the same result. That's great as it gives good confidence that you've found a wire / trunking and not just a screw or other bit of metal. For the price it's great, compact and a really useful addition to my tool kit (I'm a trainee plumber).One word of warning though - point it at a wall with foil insulation / foil backed boards and it will detect no electricity (as foil screens electromagnetic waves) and will detect metal everywhere (because foil is a metal - so there _is_ metal everywhere). You can easily test this though, by setting to metal, minimum sensitivity, and sweeping the wall. If it beeps constantly then it's foil backed.

It CAN BE over-sensitive. When testing it straight out of the box, with the sensitivity dial set according to the instructions (bog-standard for these devices, by the way), it was detecting live wires leading to a wall switch from several FEET away - but simply turning the sensitivity dial down a LITTLE - we're talking millimetres here - fixed that. And you do need a gentle touch on the dial - seriously.I suppose, being scrupulously honest, that's a fault, but it's not one that makes it unusable and familiarising yourself with it gets past it. Had it worked as described it would have warranted 5 stars. My having to figure it out cost it 2. But, now I know how to make it work properly, judged solely on how effective it is, it should get 5.For pipework and, presumably, other embedded metal, the instructions do actually apply and should be followed.I DO have a gripe, though, with Black and Decker - there's no justification for a bubble pack that needs a Stanley knife to get into. Doesn't affect the product, though.

I'd previously returned a similar tool made by Bosch (it apparently found electricity in a piece of solid wooden furntiure) and this was the replacement tool. Really easy to calibrate (put it over an in-use plug socket and dial it round until it beeps, then you can draw it further away and dial-up the sensitiviy to adjust for depth of hole being drilled) and had me drilling away in safety in no time

I was a bit dubious about using this following all of the mixed reviews. Reading other user's advice plus the instructions, I found it worked absolutely fine. It helped me to put up 3 wall mounted dispensers in an old building without too much concern I was drilling into something I shouldn't. If it weren't for the negative reviews giving me some level of doubt about the product, I may have thought to give it 5/5 stars. I'd use it again and recommend it

Very easy to use and seems to do a good job of detecting pipes and cables.You can set the sensitivity using the dial and it takes a small amount of adjustment to get it working right.Testing it against real pipes and electrical cables shows it seems to pick them up well.

I bought the item because of mainly good positive reviews some from electricians and the price. I want to put some shelves up at home and tv stands. This item seemed perfect to safetly drill into my walls at home.When the item arrived it was well packaged with a 9v battery. I found the housing to insert the battery was tight and difficult to insert the battery and keep the wires inside when closing the battery case cover. The instructions come in a small pamphlet with the tiniest of writing font which is hard to read. This product is supposed to detect live wires and pipes behind walls.The pipes detection worked fine, spot on every time but the live wire detection left something to be desired.I have had some bedrooms improved with new plastering, radiators and additional mains sockets for tv's and game consoles. I want to put up shelves safetly without being zapped or cause damage to my home. I have a twenty year old stud and live wire detector but I thought I would by a new device thinking there would be improvements on detection. Well I was wrong when comparing this device to my old device.I decided to by this item because of the price and after reading mainly good Amazon reviews and that it could detect up to 50mm depth, with a good product name, Black and Decker, I thought I could trust.I followed the instructions (written with the tiny font) and advice from some of the reviewers, carefully and slowly moving the detector over the walls to test. I tested the product on known live wire in a wall (above light switches and mains sockets) with no results when I knew the wire is fed down to a switch and could see it fed down when I was upstairs with the floor boards up? I tested it on an outside wall which recently had extra mains sockets added, well the detector lit up and bleeped no matter where I placed the detector and when slowly moving the detector left to right with fine adjustments to the dial sensitivity to try to isolate the bleeping. I could not find an area where there was supposed to be no live wire on the said wall with confidence? I swept the walls slowly at different angles to no avail. I tried it on different walls with the product bleeping most of the time?On a cavity wall which had new mains sockets added it did not bleep near the sockets but about 1.5 feet away from the mains cable past studs where I knew the cable had recently been fed up the wall? I used my twenty year old device which picked up more accuratly where the live wires could be?With no sure confidence in the product as it will bleep or not over different walls. I have returned the product back through the Amazon returns procedure which I must say was very easy to use.Instead, I purchased the Bosch PMD 7 digital detector, it costs a little more but is very accurate well built and easy to use. This too has very good reviews and I feel confident I can drill safetly into my walls. I used the new item over the same locations and found it accurate each time only indicating when correctly near or over the live wire. The outside wall which was supposed to be completely live using the Black + Decker device earlier only bleeped with the Bosch detector at the correct locations on the wall instead of all the wall so I know the Black and Decker device is useless and it is not something I am doiing wrong.I would rather pay a little more when it comes to my safety. I want to put shelves up safetly and confidently without having to guess and hope I don't hit a live wire. I don't want to cause damage to my home electrics.In my experience and reading the low star reviews of others don't waste your money on this item it doesn't work, it is utterly useless for live wire detection except for the pipe detection. I don't think I had a faulty product but the build quality, fiddly battery housing and poor instructions that came with the item put me off exchanging for the same item but for another device instead which I am very pleased I did. I am not a electrician but a home DIY'er with some electrical knowledge and training in the field.The one star rating is because the pipe detection does work. The low star reviews from others they all turned out to have the same problems I have had. I hope this will help others if they want to put shelves up!All I want to do is some drilling at home with something that works and I have no confidence with this product it cannot detect live wire. I want to put shelves up safetly without getting hurt or causing damage to my electrics at home and I have no confidence with this product it can detect live wire.The item is useless and a waste of money. I gave it one star because the pipe detection works!

This product works well for me. I have been using it to check for wires before hanging pictures, and it does the job. I haven't had problems with sensitivity levels, hold it near a wall socket or light switch and it beeps and on other parts of the wall it doesn't, so it's doing what it should