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dye is the way to go.especialy for small/slow leaks.sniffers usually won't detect those.They really work good when a leak is leaking out at that time.(eg) leak that you can hear but can't find.Small leak/one that might take a week or more.sniffer is useless.They do give off false alarms.need to triple check before trusting a sniffer.Using dye- there is no question.but an evap. leak might not show up right away.dye will come out the havc case drain.but sometime takes another charge or 2 to wash down the drain.I do have a wand type sniffer with a heated tip and different range settings.Was about $250.Just a dust collector.





The dye injection and light is the way to go between the two if your trying to decide which to invest in. I bought a package deal a couple years ago from a local shop that was retiring, got a Matco/robinair 134 reclaimer/recyler,Matco dye injector/light and a 250 dollar detector from a guy for 675 bucks. Found it on Craigs List. The guy made a point of telling me how expensive the detector was.
About a month ago I had to replace the evaporator on 2000 F 450 truck. The dye never showed up but you could smell freon in the cab when I recharged the system with dye. Had a hole right in the middle of it.