Klein Tools ET140 Pinless Moisture Meter

No. The ET140 is a pinless meter, so it reads through the surface using an electromagnetic field sensor instead of driving probes into the material. Nothing gets punctured, which is why it works on finished drywall, trim, and hardwood floors you do not want to repair afterward. Just set the meter flat against the surface so the 1.25 x 2 inch sensor pad makes full contact.

Up to 3/4 inch (1.9 cm) below the surface. That covers standard drywall and the face of most wood and masonry, so it will find wet gypsum or a damp subfloor near the surface. It will not tell you what is happening deep inside a stud cavity or behind a double layer of board, so for that you would still need to open up or use a probe-type meter.

Four: drywall, masonry, hardwood, and softwood, selected with the mode button. Readings on anything outside those four are not calibrated, so a reading on tile, carpet, or insulation should not be treated as accurate. For a property manager chasing a leak, that covers the usual suspects, gypsum board, concrete or block, and wood flooring or framing.

No. The ET140 is not insulated and offers no protection against electrical shock, so keep it off and away from live circuits. If you are investigating water near energized equipment, de-energize first. Eye protection is called for during use.

It reads relative moisture on a 0 to 100 percent scale with 0.10 percent resolution, shown on a bright reverse-contrast screen backed by a nine-bar LED graph that indicates the relative moisture range at a glance. Stated accuracy is +/-4 percent. In practice most people scan for the bar graph climbing, then use the hold function to freeze the number when they hit the wet spot.

It is built to survive a 6.6 foot (2 m) drop, with an ABS plastic housing. At 0.3 lbs and 6 x 2.5 x 1 inches overall it rides in a pouch or a back pocket, and auto-power off keeps the 9V from draining when it gets left on in the truck.

The meter ships with a 9V battery and the instruction manual, so it works out of the box. It runs on a single 9V and uses no external electrode or remote probe, the sensor is built into the back of the housing. Nothing else to order.

Pinless is the right call when you are scanning large areas fast and cannot mark the finish, for example walking a unit after a flood or checking a ceiling under a roof leak. The ET140 covers a 1.25 x 2 inch sensor footprint per reading and goes 3/4 inch deep without a mark. A pin meter is the better tool when you need a reading at a specific depth inside framing or below the surface layer, since pins measure between the two contact points rather than the surface zone.

Both. There is an audible alert plus visual notification alongside the LED bar graph, so you can sweep a wall with the meter down at knee level and still hear when the reading jumps. Hold freezes the reading, and a low battery indicator tells you when the 9V is going.