WALABOT DIY 2 Advanced Wall Scanner for Android & iOS

Best one I own and I have 5 of them

When I saw that the new DIY 2 had Wifi and didn't have to be physically plugged into my phone (like my DIY PLUS has to be), I was immediately excited to get it. Then, I saw the almost $200 price tag attached to it, (and it really caught me off guard because my DIY PLUS was only $35), but I finally talked myself into it, because as far as I was concerned, the only shortcoming the DIY PLUS had was its inability to go wireless. However, it turns out that the DIY 2 does about a third of what my DIY PLUS does. And had I actually read all the fine print, I probably would've known that before purchasing it. It will scan drywall... and that's it. But for the past few years, I've been using my DIY PLUS to scan through drywall, wood, lathe & plaster, and even concrete. And time and time again, those last two were more invaluable than the first, by far. And I got that kind of performance out of a device which cost me $35. And now I have a device which scans one of those things, at five times the price simply because it's wireless. All in all, I very much regret this purchase. But... it works.

After seeing so many videos and commercial on Amazon, I was so much in love and looking forward to using this product. I think conceptually this was the holly grail of X-ray vision behind your wall. I hate making holes in my drywall, so much so that we have hugely delayed and procrastinated hanging things on the wall. We are always scared not knowing what's behind and God forbid if there is a water pipe or electrical lines. Disappointment #1 - We ran into several instance where it told us that a stud was located behind the dry-wall and we were at dead center of it. Because we didn't trust the unit initially we resorted to making pilot holes and what we discovered was that there was no studs where it indicated and eventually by poking enough pilot hoes we did find the stud but that's not the point. We should be able to predicably rely on the product and without fear drill straight into the stud. Disappointment #2 - Re-connecting & Recalibration, Re-connecting & recalibration, Re-connecting & recalibration... It was so frustrating that you have to re-calibrate the unit each and every single time you have to use it. Come-on, are you serious. God forbid that your phone is locked or you put it away in your pocket while you make drill some holes or screw something in the wall. The moment you want to reuse the product you have to start the process of re-connecting your phone to the device and proceed with calibrating the unit again. After a while it's a very tiring process and it burns a lot of time. Which makes this product not practical at all. Disappointment #3 - Advance Mode = Completely Useless. I am not quite sure what that mode does, but the moment you turn the advanced mode, immediately there is a reddish spots in the center of the unit mainly because of it's own heat. It just didn't matter how many times I passed a stud it never changed the color. So maybe it's use case is to find a rat, in which case call it a "rat" mode. But calling it an advance mode was misleading and utterly useless. I am returning the product even though I really don't want to. I am hoping secretly it will just start working but I know that this is wishful thinking. I can't express how badly I want this product to work. I hope and wish others end up having better result and I just happen to the unlucky guy with faulty unit.

This Walabot is the bomb! I have used so many different kinds of stud finders over the years with marginal success. My toolbox is full of them! With previous stud finders I would have to drill several small holes in the vicinity of an indication and finally find (sometimes not find) the stud. I figured That if the Walabot worked it would be well worth the money. I tested it at home on a piece of drywall and studs I put together in the garage. It worked great. I then tested it in my house (recently built) where I know where studs are. It worked perfectly. Now the real test. I went to hang a TV at my daughters house that is over a hundred years old and has been renovated numerous times so Lord knows where studs are. I calibrated my Walabot and immediately it started showing studs and wires. We marked them, drilled small holes at the marks and low and behold, we hit studs first try! Amazing! This Walabot is worth every penny!

I liked the ideas behind the technology and it did work as described. But the sensitivity I would like to be better.

When I first got my Walabot 2, I could not wait to try out The visual stud finder feature to see just how good it was at finding and displaying the studs through post 50s wallboard as per accompanying Walabot 2 instructions. So I put up a 2‘ x 2‘ piece of wallboard in the garage where to 2” x 4” studs crossed and extend it from behind the wallboard. I found setup, and calibration was very easy. After charging, I was ready to begin scanning the piece of wallboard I had nailed up with the walabot 2. As I move the Walabot 2 over the area of the wallboard where the stud was located, the image appeared on my display. The demarcation lines helped to locate the stud center. I found it to be very accurate. The imaging stud finding feature is definitely a keeper. There’s another mode on the Walabot 2. Which displays a real-time thermal image of what’s inside the wall. Which is a very cool and handy feature, I have no personal use for it at this time. However I am happily secure in the knowledge that when that time comes, I already have my Wallabot 2 and couldn’t be more satisfied. A very useful device.

This product is advertised as being able to see through drywall. That appears to be true, although I haven't seen quite the same stunning accuracy that the videos showed. Unfortunately, most of my house is lath (plaster on wood lattice) and it's like lead to Superman's x-ray vision. Product is not so effective there. Not as useful to me as I had hoped. Be warned, and be wary of what material you are using it on.