Sperry Instruments GFI6302 GFCI Outlet/Receptacle Tester, Standard 120V AC Outlets, 7 Visual Indication/Wiring Legend, Home & Professional Use, Yellow & Black (Black pack of 4)

I first saw how many reviews it had and the stars it had and thought this would be a good item to get. I mean how can all these 1k reviews be wrong? When I first received the 3 sperry testers I was super excited. The size was perfect, compact and it doesn't block the outlet either above or below of the one you plug it into. They felt solid and the rubber molding on the sides was a nice feature. I go to plug it into an outlet and Major disapointment. It was so difficult to tell which lights were on. The small bulbs in there are not bright so they are hard to see during the day time and worse of all the light of one bulb will bleed into the compartment of the bulb next to it making it seem like the other bulb is on also on. I believe a tool should help you solve problems, not add the problem of then trying to decipher what code its throwing with the lights. So I start plugging in the other 2 sperry testers and find out one of the testers has a bulb that won't light. Bummer but hey it happens things get dropped during shipping etc. But what was really concerning to me was the bad reading for open ground. I plug the tester into an outlet that has no ground hooked up to it and it would read as correctly wired. I was already going to return because of how difficult it was to read it due to the bad lighs but this was really reassuring I was doing the right thing sending it back. Trust me, I am not the type of person to send back items for something minor things but this just adds problems. I recommend you go for a different tester.

I really do like this device, now that I've figured it out, i know what to expect of it. I took off a star for the lack of clarification on the device about odd readings (readings that are not described)So, I've seen some reviews about light bleeding from one light to another, giving a somewhat confusing reading. This isn't light just bleeding through plastic, the bulbs in there are indeed lighting up but very faintly. I rewired a bunch of outlets, and in the process learned a few things about this device:-It's made very nice, feels good-It Cannot diagnose every problem-The chart does Not describe every possible indication you may see-It Does let you know overall if something is wrong.So, what i mean is that on the device it shows you a list of all possible light configurations. However, two situations are notably missing: all lights on, lights partially on. I've encountered situations where all lights illuminate, but the chart doesn't show this situation. I've also seen variations of lights being on, but only slightly. This is where i think some folks thought it was due to one bright light bleeding into the next light making it seem like it might be on, but it's really an indicator of some other issue. Either way, unless you get two solid orange lights, something isn't right.You might think that they would mention this in the manual. Nope. Nothing. That's really unacceptable for a device intended for electrical work.Overall, this device indicates two things reliably: Everything is OK, or something is Wrong. If you get anything but two solid orange lights, something to some extent is wrong. Even if i get solid light indications, i check everything again with a multimeter. You can get decent ones for around $25, and they will tell you exactly what's going on with the outlet. Why not just get a multimeter? That's certainly an option, but my preference is to have the little tester for blanket sweep checks of everything, marking the bad outlets, then going back and checking the bad ones with the multimeter to see exactly what's going on.Bonus round:Testing an outlet with a multimeter is easy: set it to voltage reading and: red probe to the (hot)small outlet slit, black to the (neutral)big slit. should be 120(ish) volts, then do red to small slit, black to ground (bottom outlet hole), should also be 120v. Then one probe to big slit, the other to ground, should be zero or near zero reading.

After being an electrician for over 39 years & being an electrical inspector for over 15 years I have found that this tester is the best I have ever used, & I have used them all!

My wife and I were recently shopping for a new house (our first home, no less), and I brought this product along to make sure that the "updated" electrical systems in the 90-100 year houses were truly updated and not just grounded outlets slapped onto non-grounded wiring. This device quickly and accurately let me know which houses had major problems which potentially saved us tons of money in the long run. Would recommend to anybody who needs to test outlets that they have installed, or to test outlets in potential future homes.P.S., I understand that testing the outlets in somebody else's home is probably borderline unethical, but I think that selling a home on the pretense that the electrical is updated when it actually isn't is far worse!

It's never a bad idea to check.Homeowners often bite off more than they can chew. Not knowing what they are doing is not an obstacle.It is easy to get one's wires crossed.Wiring is supposed to be color coded. White goes to the larger slot. Black goes to the smaller slot. Bare copper goes to that third prong. It's supposed to be foolproof.Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently motivated fool with power tools.I checked an extension cord my wife was about to use.The tester indicated that the black and white (large slot and small slot) were crossedI assumed that the former owner had miss wired the receptacle.The wall receptacle was fine.It was the 30 year old power strip. I had used it for years, never know that I had dodged a bulletIt's always nice to be able to test the ground fault receptacles too.