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Go get a boroscope camera if you don't already have one

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CoogarXR

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Jan 11, 2016
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Ohio
I bought one a while back just to solve some mysteries in my new house. But man, I have been using it to death lately! Just yesterday I used it twice working on my truck. I stuck it inside the catalytic converter to see if it was broken (it was), and I stuck it in the blower duct to see if there were any leaves inside that I missed (common problem on old Ford Explorers- leaves get into the ductwork plenum and sit against the blower resistor and burn). I've used it running wires in the walls to see if there are any obstructions, etc. I used it to see the inlet plumbing into my septic tanks. it has just been so handy!

I honestly thought it was a tool I'd use a time or two and forget about it. But once you realize that you can see inside of things, it changes your diagnostic skills for the better.
 
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finn

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The UP, God's country
The borescopes we used in the engine lab forty to fifty years ago were works of art, but cost three to four hundred dollars th 1975 dollars, and didn’t have a camera!
I bought one last spring with a 50 foot probe to look for obstructions in the pipe, and paid $23.

Just got another one yesterday for engine and general work with a shorter probe. This time I splurged and paid $79.

It really hurt your pride when you forgot to pull one of those $400 ridged shaft borescopes out of the injector hole before you barred the engine and bent the shaft. Don’t remember if the manufacturer offered a reman service, but I doubt it.
 
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T444e

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Feb 25, 2016
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I have an M12 Milwaukee. I don't know that it is the best, but I always have a charged battery.
 
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Nutria

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Eastern Sierra
I think these things are great. I just still sometimes forget that I have a better option than tying myself into a pretzel trying to see something.
 
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WildBill

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I use mine constantly, from looking in walls for plumbing and wiring issues to checking cylinder walls and valve seats. Its great.
 
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Dr.JohnnyFever

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Jun 15, 2008
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703
T444e said:
I have an M12 Milwaukee. I don't know that it is the best, but I always have a charged battery.
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I have one of those. There are probably cheaper or better available but it is incredibly handy and I have a lot of M12 batteries.

Used it last week to look for wiring before hitting the wall with a hole saw. Good thing I did!
 
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Crazyjake8493

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Sep 26, 2014
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Upstate NY
I bought one of the 33ft cheapo $25 boroscopes over ten years ago thinking I'd get a few jobs out of it and upgrade. It's still going except for the battery life being nearly non-existent. I just keep a small M12 battery and power adapter with it and it'll run a few hours.

It's been in hundreds of walls, up a few chimneys, in a septic tank, a few drain lines, engine bays, behind appliances to get model numbers. Really my only gripe has been that it connects to your phone via Wifi instead of bluetooth, so you have to disconnect from your Wifi internet while using it, not really a big deal. Just an odd quirk about it.
 
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charbar

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I have a Snap On BK8500 that I use all the time but I would like to find something with a better picture, maybe a bigger screen, and I for sure would like a smaller camera head. Currently has a 5.5mm head.....I didn't realize until right now you can get a smaller 3.8mm camera from Snappy but they are side view or end view only, so you have to buy two separate camera cords for around $1200. Hard to swallow when I think I only paid $1200 for the whole setup. The 5.5mm head I have now has an end and side view camera so you just have to push a button to change views. Super handy


The cameras that you can curl the end are neat too.

Anybody have any experience with the USB powered ones that you plug into a smartphone or tablet? Tablet would get me a nice big screen at least. Not sure how small of a camera head you can get or what the picture quality is like with any of those though.
 
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cvairwerks

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Within hearing distance of Texas Motor Speedway
charbar said:
The cameras that you can curl the end are neat too.

Anybody have any experience with the USB powered ones that you plug into a smartphone or tablet? Tablet would get me a nice big screen at least. Not sure how small of a camera head you can get or what the picture quality is like with any of those though.
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Don't think that any of the USB ones have steerable heads. Resolution is going to be pretty limited too. We use XL-Go's at work now, but had Olympus ones before. All of ours have to be steerable heads. The XL's have various lenses available to change the view angle and optical magnification, while the control head does have digital magnification as well, and are either 3.9 or 6.1 mm heads, depending on which one is ordered from the tool crib. They also have audio for note taking on the fly.
 
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tncatadjuster

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Memphis, TN
whateg01 said:
Mine has such a short focal range I don't think I could use it that way. How does that work on yours?
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I keep the unit in the cab and run it out the open window and place the camera hanging over the tailgate. My truck is not inside the shop so I took this photo to show you the image I see.
 

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gsanvi

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Poland
I wanted to for a long time but I don't know which one to buy. Are those ones that you connect to your smartphone any good? I mean the type where the phone serves as a screen connected to a joystick.
 
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CoogarXR

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i personally didn't want the phone-connected style, just because I like to be able to count on my tools for years to come. And what are the odds that the app for these off-brand cameras will still be around (or supported by more modern phone OSs) in a few years? I prefer a stand-alone model. Even if the battery croaks at some point, I can probably rig something up. But if software support ends, I'm hosed.
 
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whateg01

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doo dah, kansas, usa
My bore scope connects as a generic camera, same as the microscope. They are all just another camera. There's nothing special about them. There are probably some that have some proprietary app.
 
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finn

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Mar 27, 2005
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Location
The UP, God's country
CoogarXR said:
i personally didn't want the phone-connected style, just because I like to be able to count on my tools for years to come. And what are the odds that the app for these off-brand cameras will still be around (or supported by more modern phone OSs) in a few years? I prefer a stand-alone model. Even if the battery croaks at some point, I can probably rig something up. But if software support ends, I'm hosed.
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If it cost $30, who GAF if it’s still viable in five years. That $1700 dollar Snappy will likely be obsolete by then anyway.

Electronics are fast moving technology.
 
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Blue Chips

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Jan 25, 2012
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Maine
Rinspeed said:
One of the guys at the shop has one you plug into your Iphone and it works pretty damn well for $30-40.
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I have an old straight-tube optical borescope that I bought at a military surplus auction about 30 years ago. It works fine, but there's no camera, and you can't bend the tube, so it often won't go where you want it to go.

I recently bought a very low-cost borescope from Vevor that plugs into an iPhone. So far, it has been working really well. It has decent resolution (1920x1440), two cameras (front and side), variable LED lighting, etc. It's handy. There are no extra batteries to charge, it takes up little space, and when you take photos or videos they are right on the iPhone, which makes it easy to do anything you want with them. As to long-term reliability, we'll see how it goes.

borescope-in-shipping-box-smaller-image.jpg

Here is a view from the side camera looking under the throttle linkage assembly of one of my garden tractors:

throttle-linkage-springs-2-smaller-image.png

Here, I'm taking a few photos of a candy tin to test the front and side cameras.

borescope-taking-photo-of-tin.jpg

Below are a couple of images of the details on the candy tin from the front and side cameras. The little halftone dots in the small purple image show up quite clearly.

These photos might have been even sharper if I had held the camera steady instead of holding the camera with one hand while trying to push the phone's camera button with the other hand. I have a remote button for the iPhone camera somewhere.

borescope-close-up-of-tin-1.jpg borescope-candy-tin-from-side-camera.jpg

It also came with a little hook and a magnet that you can attach to the camera for retrieving objects.

I think these also work with Android phones.
 
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dscheidt

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Apr 26, 2017
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2,894
Bagherra said:
Are the ones I see on Amazon that attach to phone, are they worth a damn?
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the decent ones are, well, decent. But unless you're packing for the absolute smallest kit, one with its own screen is much handier. You can just grab it and use it, lend it to someone, etc. No worries about messing up a phone, whether you have the right cable, bluetooth settings, software, or whatever, it just works when you turn it on. If you remembered to charge it, of course..... They all record to a memory card, so you can transfer the images or video off, if you need or want to.
 
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Rinspeed

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NY
Blue Chips said:
I recently bought a very low-cost borescope from Vevor that plugs into an iPhone. So far, it has been working really well. It has decent resolution (1920x1440), two cameras (front and side), variable LED lighting, etc. It's handy. There are no extra batteries to charge, it takes up little space, and when you take photos or videos they are right on the iPhone, which makes it easy to do anything you want with them. As to long-term reliability, we'll see how it goes.
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You have a link or model number please.
 
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Blue Chips

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Maine
Rinspeed said:
Thank you Sir, this one has a little better reviews and is even cheaper. Probably made in the same damn factory. :)
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There are a ton of very similar low-cost borescopes/endoscopes that I'm guessing would yield the same or comparable quality images. One reason I bought from Vevor is that they had a link to the user manual, which admittedly was far from perfect, but at least I was able to figure out what it was saying, which is more than I can say for the manuals for a lot of low-cost imports. I hesitate to buy anything without having a look at the user manual.

I have not looked at any of the documentation for the camera you linked to, so I can't make a comparison.
 
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