They are clearly marketing it at the apprentices. Its a toy for nearly men. It lights up and looks all pretty. They can pretend to be dr who with his sonic screwdriver.
We had volt stick with a proving unit, as a polarity checker, not to prove a supply was live or dead. For that we had Drummond tester, again with proving unit.
As all the ole boys (no insult intended) have mentioned, a non contact volt stick should never be used to confirm voltage nor for safe isolation/ dead test its merely an indication. Ive had it before where i can pick up EMFs from other sources with a volt stick giving me false indications! Especially around flourescent lights and particularly in substations, walk into some subs with a volt stick on and they go mad! Drummond test lamps are actually a pre-requisite for working with our local DNO, outside of that I use my fluke t130.
My bathroom fitter mate rang me up yesterday all confused as he didn’t know whether a circuit was live or not as his volt stick kept lighting up when he put it down on the loft insulation
I have a Martindale TEC 100 that went through the wash. removed battery and dryed it out and it still works!!
Currently waiting on a new one as although I've tested it around the house I don't trust it. (not that you should trust them. but good for an indication)
My old Fluke volt stick which had no on/off button, the white end bit broke off.
I used superglue to stick it back on and wrapped white electrical tape around it.
I then found, if I walked into a room with live circuits, it would light up.
Soon as I removed the tape, it worked correctly.
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