Zircon MultiScanner i520 Center-Finding Stud Finder with Metal and AC Electrical Scanning
- Locates the edges and center of wood or metal studs up to 1 1/2-Inches (38 mm) deep
- Scans for metal and live AC wires
- Easy-to-read LCD display, audio tone, and the patented SpotLite Pointing System indicate stud center
- WireWarning detection indicates the presence of live, unshielded electrical wiring up to 2-Inches (51 mm) deep
- Have questions? Need more information? Call the Zircon Customer Service department at 1-800-245-9265, Monday-Friday 9am – 5pm PST. We’ll be happy to help!
Product Description
Patent pending CenterVision technology finds the stud center in 1 step. Finds the center and edges of studs and joists, finds copper pipes (and other nonferrous metal) up to 1 1 2″ (38mm) deep, finds rebar (ferrous metal) in concrete up to 3″ (76mm) deep,Amazon.com Product Description
i520 Scanning Modes
Stud Scan mode for finding studs in drywall.
DeepScan mode for finding studs and joists in thicker walls, floors, and ceilings.
Metal Scan mode for finding pipes or other metal. Metal Scan mode can also help find studs in lath and plaster walls.
Electrical Scan mode for locating live, unshielded AC wires.
Watch the i520 in action.
See how all the features of an i520 are used.
Zircon’s Top-of-the-Line Multifunction Scanner for Finding Studs, Metal, and ElectricalOur Best Scanner
The MultiScanner i520 is the most advanced wall scann… More >>
Zircon MultiScanner i520 Center-Finding Stud Finder with Metal and AC Electrical Scanning
I replaced an older scanner with this new Zircon. I researched on the Zircon site and found the videos to help me understand how the scanner works. This scanner works exactly as advertised. It is like looking into the wall. Scanning across the wall you see the edges of the stud and the unit clearly indicates the center. The electric wire sensor works well. Overall I am very impressed.
Though this scanner will not penetrate well through carpet, it does a good job on wall studs and floor joists through linoleum. I’ve owned three different scanners and this one is the best performer yet.
I have tried various methods of finding studs to hang heavy items, e.g., Large Vanity Mirror Cabinet. The “hunt and peck” method leaves a lot of holes. The magnetic stud finders can find the stud nails all right, but I found out they also find copper metal hot water pipes and could not tell me the difference. Drilling into one of those hot water pipes by mistake was quite an experience I do not want to repeat. This Zircon i520 Stud finder is a lot cheaper than the plumber I had to call out on an emergency to fix my mistake. The Zircon i520 easily found and correctly identified the same copper metal water pipes I drilled into by mistake. It also found live electrical lines, plus the studs I was looking for. Great device. Clearly shows you the edges and center of the studs. Very easy to use. DVD How-to guide (plus, there are training videos on line at Zircon’s website. I can highly recommended this stud finder.
Background: I’m coming from using one of the those clip-on stud scanner from a cordless drill. That thing was crap as it thought it found a stud but it was an empty space. I’ve use old ‘dumb’ stud scanners before as well.
I bought this stud finder for multiple reason. Primary: I just got a LCD TV mount and wanted a real scanner. This particular scanner is a bonus in that it can also find AC signals (with load on sockets) AND metal. The last thing I needed was to drill down and find a power cable or air duct!
This scanner is great, with the graph on the display it’s easy to find the center and the automatic beep with light pinpoints the center. Steps are 1. slap on wall, 2. swipe across, 3. stop when beep. On a test setup it found the stud perfectly. I was curious about the dvd it came with but it’s a bit tedious to go through so after the first 10 minutes and only watching ‘how to use the AC scanner’ I gave up on the videos and applied the same method to the other functions.
The idea to search for the AC signal is a bit weird, it dynamically changes the sensitivity to find the middle. Basically one would swipe across and find the first boundary, at the max of one boundary reset the scanner and you will find new boundaries within parent… keep going until the side-to-side swipes meet in the middle or where the signal is. Same applies to metal scanner. Make sure to not have you hand above the scanner (or where the light is)… the hand adsorbs the signal and messes up the measurements.
Only (very minor) gripe is that there is no toggle on-off switch. Using the side button is a bit of a pain in a tight or long reach area and easily turns off when not pressing hard. It doesn’t help the unit is on the large size.
Improvements: Would be nice to have a bubble so you can scan and mark in a straight horizontal line (or vertical).
Additional thoughts:
Signal ‘bars’ is a nice addition to help determine the true stud (not some random crap behind the dry-wall).
final thoughts: Very impressed at quality and consistency of finding studs. Very happy I didn’t get the basic stud finder!
I’m not as enthusiastic about this product as some of the other reviewers. I previously used a Zircon PRO SL before it broke and I was hoping for better performance. First, I was annoyed by the large size of the device. This made it difficult to get into smaller spaces and was hard to hold with the spring loaded on/off switch. I then found that the LCD screen was very difficult to read at awkward angles. Yes, it looks great and bright straight on but when working on baseboards, the display faded to near invisibility. Finally, the calibration process now takes an extra second, which turns out to be annoying and slows you down.
For stud finding, it was no better than the very old PRO SL. There was still plenty of ambiguity with some walls (no, it’s not a shear wall) but not others. The suggestion to use a piece of smooth cardboard on “rough” walls did not help to resolve the ambiguity. Sometimes just knocking on the wall and listening to the sound proved more definitive.
Detecting AC was reasonably useful as it did always indicate when a hot wire was near. However, trying to trace electrical wiring without opening the drywall has proved elusive. Wires seem to vanish mid-wall with no detectable resume point on the wall. On well, the product never claimed this as a feature.
I have not tried the metal detection feature. The deep scan worked no better at finding studs through 5/8″ drywall or on my shear wall which has an additional 3/8″ ply. I think I’ll just go back to the cheap $10 version since I’m now convinced that technology is the same and only the display is different (but not better).