I was recently tasked with mounting an aging, heavy, 42-inch TV on our bedroom wall and the first thing I did, of course, was go try to find the cheapest standard articulating wall mount I could find. Something like this mount, which I’ve used in the past.

Those things are good because they’re cheap and reasonably easy to install but because the mounting arm always sticks out from the wall a bit, the TV ends up looking like it belongs in a hospital.

I wanted to flush-mount the TV, so I moved on to looking at this mount, which I’m using for our big 55-inch TV in the basement. It installed fine but the whole process was a bit clunky, and it’s a big mount for a big TV.

I finally stumbled across this $20 studless TV mount, which I ended up buying. You can see it in the above video. It’s cheap, discrete, and installed faster than any mount I’ve installed before.

The main selling point is that you don’t need a wall stud. The mount is held in place by nails, faith, and some sort of scientific concept I’ll never grasp. One of the Amazon commenters mentioned something about a French cleat, so let’s go with that.

So I see this being ideal for renters who don’t want to put a bunch of big screw-holes in the wall, people who can’t find or don’t have a stud on the wall where they really want to mount a TV, and people like me: lazy, cheap, and looking for the thrill of constantly wondering if their TV’s going to crash to the ground because they don’t understand how a French cleat works.

Long story short, I will absolutely re-buy this mount for the next TV I want to flush-mount. It’s great in every way except for two: a) hammering the nails leaves little nicks in the wall if you’re not careful and b) there’s very little room to work with behind the TV once it’s mounted.

The first thing can probably be solved by not being a sasquatch with a hammer. The second I solved with this right-angle power cord and this right-angle HDMI adapter. I eventually realized that I had a fourth HDMI port on the side of my TV that I hadn’t noticed before, so check your set for one of those to avoid buying the HDMI adapter. You will absolutely need the right-angle power cord, though. That’s how tight it is behind the TV when it’s mounted.

Aside from that, though, I’m sold on these studless TV mounts. They’re cheap, easy, and nearly invisible.

Studless TV wall mount [Amazon]