I work as a home inspector and this is my go-to outlet tester because it is easy enough for my clients to read and shows up well in pictures because you don't have to decipher the 3 light codes of the more traditional testers. Green = good. The green light is easier for me read as well and only requires a quick look and then I can move on to the next outlet. It is very efficient with my time. While the non-contact voltage tester is extremely sensitive, it is very helpful in telling me if the wires I am looking at are live or not. It is a little too sensitive though, as it registers hot wires when it is between 1-2" away, so if there are two wires, I can only confirm that at least one of them is live. Not a problem, I keep a higher quality voltage tester in my truck and can go grab it when I need more accuracy. I only need to get my higher quality one about once every 6 months or so, so I'm not dinging this tester for being too sensitive, as it doesn't affect my job that much, but YMMV. I also love that it has a large, easy to grasp handle, and the length makes it easy to plug in and pull out. Overall, between the light and the ease of use, each outlet I test with this is 1-2 seconds faster than the little 3 light ones. This time saving adds up when I am evaluating 2-3 houses per day in the summer. When I first started buying these, I would get about 4-6 months out of it, using it every day for 50-150 outlets per day. What happens is that the ground pin gets loose and all of the outlets show up as ungrounded and you can no longer test GFCI-rated outlets/circuit breakers. Another problem is that I keep the tester in my tool pouch and constantly pulling it out and putting it back in begins to rub off the words. That isn't a problem for me, as I have the positions memorized, but it defeats the purpose of using this tester because clients can't read it and the pictures don't show the problem. You may be wondering why I still use this product and am giving it 4 stars if it only lasts 4-6 months. Well, after I bought my third one, I figured out some fixes and I have been using my current tester for over 16 months now. 1. There is just a little screw holding the ground pin into the tester. After repeated use, the screw will eventually strip out the plastic screw hole and the pin will become loose inside of the unit. Once this happens, the 26 gauge wire connecting the ground pin to the testers computer/processor pulls out and no more ground. This can be fixed after this happens if you have good soldering skills, and you can solder the wire back into place, then superglue the ground pin back into place. This is what I did on my most recent one, and it is still going strong. If/when this one finally breaks, my plan is to purchase a new one and then preemptively superglue the thing right away, which should keep the tester going strong. 2. To prevent the words from rubbing off, I treat the housing with a couple coats of clear coat. I tape up the speaker, the GFCI tester and the pins first. It actually looks nicer and shinier when you do this and I have had no issues with the words rubbing off. This might seem a bit drastic, but this is the perfect outlet testing tool for my business, and a little preventative maintenance has gone a long way.
