IDEAL INDUSTRIES INC. SureTrace 61-959 Circuit Tracer Open/Closed with Clamp

Stop looking around for tracers. This is hands down the best tracer I have ever used. It'll find shorts, crossed neutrals, breaks in the wire. All on a hot or dead circuit. The inductive clamp is a literal life saver. Other tracers I have to open a 277V+ light to be able to hook on. The clamp provided make it so you don't even have to risk opening the wirenut. Clamp it on around the wire and attach it to the battery pack. Then put the magent on the battery pack and hang it from the fixture. Then take the lift down and go trace it. I will never ever, ever even think about another tracer. All the different attachments and clamps making tapping into circuits a breeze. This has changed my professional life night and day. Residential and commercial troubleshooting is so unbelievably easy the client get mad when the problem is found so fast. There are electrical companies that don't even own one of these. Its a huge advantage competitively. Please buy this tracer. Don't cheap out. Buy it nice or buy it twice. Embrace the easy way of troubleshooting.

I recently bought this tracer to replace the sure test tracer that I purchased 15 years ago that still works, just not as accurately. I use this tracer to identify wires, find circuits in a panel, find wires in the wall, I use this to find wires in the ground. I use this tracer find wires beneath parking lots , I use this tracer to find in faults and breaks in lines in the ground and beneath parking lots. It is a good product. It’s not cheap, but it works, and if you take care of it, It will last. I also own the Klein open close circuit tracer, there is no comparison, this tracer is way better. The ideal tracer works exceptionally well for interior work and surprisingly well for underground work. There are certainly underground tracers that do more and are probably more accurate, but not at this price point.

This unit is not easy to use at first. but the good thing is, you will be able to label panels, locate circuit really fast. No need to flip breakers anymore. Also it can tell you if an outlet bos is part of the circuit or not, so you dont have to take things apart that is not. also can locate path of conduits. So,you can get your feet wet as you learn how to use. comes with cables to help assist in locating problem, etc. Only drawback is both units have 4 aa batteries,and you need to shut off asap or batteries will die. there is an auto off but maybe like 5 or 10 mins or something like that.

The tool works as described and traces wires nicely even in concrete walls. Make sure you read the manual carefully for tips. It is too bad that the tool doesn't come with spare prongs. Other than that, and the overall price, it is really a great tool. Update: For detecting circuit breakers in 3-phase panels, the tool appears to be unreliable. I had the tool point out clearly the wrong circuit breaker which was from a completely different phase than the one feeding the receptacle that was tested. Disappointing.

My boss has this model and now that I'm getting closer to journeying out I'm doing more independent work and don't have his available. Being able to use it to trace things through the wall, the ground, and find the circuits I'm working on is super helpful.

I am a professional electrical contractor. I'm still learning this tool, but I am convinced of it's value. I haven't found it 100% reliable in tracking wires, but that might be user error. It has MOSTLY, however, done what I hoped it would. I have traced a U.F. wire underground to a short in a hidden box that I might never have found. I have tracked damaged wire to the exact bolt a carpenter drove through it, and traced it through the drywall one the other side to the precise spot to cut for repair. I have quickly traced circuits back to breaker panels customers forgot they had. I have saved TIME. A LOT of time. Time is money, and you learn that in this industry. Stop wasting time, stop opening up box after box while troubleshooting and looking like a fool. This is a very expensive tool, but I do recommend it if you can swing it.

I bought this to chase wires in a home done wrong,It worked beyond what I thought it could do, chased 12/2 from outside finished garage through house to back wall 50 ft. walking good 80 ft. of wire (why put these switches here, I thought it was a joke at first) worked through 5/8 drywall no problem, circuit was dead so I jump the neutral from a cord with the attachment

Didn’t work out of the box. Had batteries in it like some stuck one that was returned to seller and seller sent to me another customer. Total disappointment wasted my time .

Works great. Already making me money.