Borescopes?

[fasteddie313]

What do you guys think about borescopes?
How much better would something really high end like THIS be over something midrange like THIS or even a cheapie Android plug in borescope?

Is the need to spend a lot of money on one of these a thing of the past or is their still a valueable advantage to the higher end ones in today's technology?
What do you have? What do you use?

 

[dogdog]

I got the generic 30' ones for my own chimney inspection works fine for my needs for $30.... but if you are buying those you might also consider if the cable is just flexible (regular cable) or rigid flexible (stays at a bend shape) ..... Mine don't stay at a shape I set it to sometime it is useless in some situations.

Not sure who uses those higher end ones....

 

[cvairwerks]

I use several that are all well over 25-40k$. They all have steerable, interchangable tips and lenses. Fiber lengths are all over 8', and several of the units have working channels for use with various tools. I've probably spent several thousand hours over the last 15 years with my face in the scope monitor and fingers on the head controls and hundreds of hours manipulating tools inserted thru the scopes.
There are lots of factors to take into account in buying one, and a single scope might not cover the majority of your needs. The more it can do, coupled with higher quality video, is going to translate into a higher cost unit. Tip size and capability also has a very large effect on both quality and price.

 

[IndyGarage]

I have a milwaukee M12 one that I have used quite a bit and it works fine, but mine is the one with a pretty big head on it - won't fit into spark plug holes.

About a year ago I bought a DBPower usb one for $25. It has about a 10 foot cable on it. When you plug it into a computer, it is recognized as a camera. It works great. I was able to inspect an engine and determine it had a bad head gasket easily. I've used it several times, and haven't pulled the Milwaukee out since. The only problem with it is the cable is not real stiff like the Milwaukee is, it's more like plain stiff network cable (that might be what it is) - that could be considered good or bad, depending on your needs.

 

[Brian_WK]

The Extech cables are garbage they say they are waterproof they are not we have went through 3 now. The company is good about replacing them but they all let water into the camera head. I have THIS But have not tried it submerged. Picture is fine at 6 inches anything closer gets really tough to see. Connects to your phone with WIFI and allows you to snap a picture or video and save to your phone.

Brian

 

[jubilee]

If you can live with 3' of cable, Harbor Freight for under $60. I've had one for about a year and it works great. Use it mostly in engines. Don't use it everyday.

 

[fasteddie313]

I use several that are all well over 25-40k$. They all have steerable, interchangable tips and lenses. Fiber lengths are all over 8', and several of the units have working channels for use with various tools. I've probably spent several thousand hours over the last 15 years with my face in the scope monitor and fingers on the head controls and hundreds of hours manipulating tools inserted thru the scopes.
There are lots of factors to take into account in buying one, and a single scope might not cover the majority of your needs. The more it can do, coupled with higher quality video, is going to translate into a higher cost unit. Tip size and capability also has a very large effect on both quality and price.

Wow, are you in the aircraft inspection business or something?

 

[larry_g]

Wow, are you in the aircraft inspection business or something?

I was thinking medical, proctologist?

lg
no neat sig line

 

[rattle_snake]

I have a $20 'plug in' USB type (DB power). I think the expensive part of the old school self contained type was the screen. Now that a typical ($600)phone has a very, very good screen....I would look for a good 'plug in' type.

It's a handy tool for under $20 and I have found uses for it, that I wouldn't have before I had one.

 

[DFB]

I guess you have to define your needs and budget hey.

I have the Milwaukee model but with a 360 degree rotating screen . The 1213 M Spector 360.
I prefer the removable rechargeable battery unit since I'm on that tool platform and its always there and ready for me. The rotation feature allows you to adjust the view if the camera end is not oriented exactly the way you expected it be, otherwise it may take a bit of finessing twisting the cable etc. to position the camera head exactly how you may want it

Does fit in a sparkplug hole. Works well within reason viewing distance is not far ranging its in inches not feet you have to be fairly close to what you want to see. not going to looking four feet down a wall cavity.

There are longer cable models designed for plumbing /construction inspections and they also have a 9v battery operated model available no need to buy into the cordless battery system so that would be much more similar to what you gave as a midrange example. (the Extech ) or even what was recommended from HF.

If your not hesitant about spending money Milwaukee has a new unit with removable screen and a controllable rotating camera head Pivot View

Can see them all here

https://www.milwaukeetool.com/instruments/inspection-and-detection

 

[anndel]

I have an Autel MaxiVideo MV400 and love it. I use it for working on cars and our house.

 

[diggerrick]

I bought a cheap $16 Android endoscope from Amazon a couple months ago. It's OK for finding wires in the wall and some plumbing is inspection, but it just doesn't have the resolution to be useful to inspect my racing engines.

 

[diggerrick]

Inside one of my engines.

 

[dsmnickk90]

Wow, are you in the aircraft inspection business or something?

I'd guess that or NDE/pipe inspection

 

[DFB]

Wow the user feedback on few of the posts makes me feel pretty good about the Milwaukee unit I have. Does as much I need for both construction and mechanical. the bare tool runs about $130 retail but it can be had cheaper with percentage discounts.
.
I tried to take screen picture with my phone camera but that just isn't happening.

You can easily put the camera tip 3/4" away from something and see a very clear picture. With 4 levels of light you can adjust up or down and even turn it off if you want too. But I most usually have it turned all the way up for close quarters viewing in a dark spot. That generally seems to work the best for me.

I really should point out that when I mentioned earlier its not for looking any distance down a wall cavity that's also to mean by only using the built camera light. Like if you were to just make a small access hole and look inside you wouldn't see much more than few inches from the camera. Illumination range is pretty much limited to under 6 inches like that. But if you add an additional light source lets say by lighting up the area with something like a flashlight you could clearly see a fair distance easily like 4 ft. Obviously there may be a situations you couldn't angle your head to see something but with the camera cable and maybe a flex light you could get a decent overall view with good picture resolution.

The 2315/16 Flex are the full blown contractor models. 12.5mm camera size and high intensity 15x lighting. And about $500 a kit. Flex PivotView models are even more.


I was just comparing features at the Milwaukee link.

For the uninitiated the 9v battery 2309-20 has a 9mm camera. The 2313 has a 9.5mm camera as does the 2312. These all work well for automotive applications. (Note that the 2311 model has a much larger 17dia mm camera as does the 2310)

The 2312 has most options of the automotive type ones, with a picture capture card and an additional 4x zoom capability along with 4x lighting. Plus there is USB download. The entire -21 kit including a battery, charger unit and storage case is around $350 but the camera by itself doesn't seem to be available as a -20 bare tool option.

There are quite a few Milwaukee inspection tools found on Ebay and there some on Amazon too. So its always good know just what your looking at.

 

[rsanter]

Look at the specifications.
Look for camera resolution and focul length

Now how good do you need for what you are doing?
For many things that one that goes on the phone should be fine

For other things you may need something better

Bob

 

[anndel]

Inside one of my engines.

That's a very clean engine

 

[cvairwerks]

Fasteddie313: Close, I work for an aircraft manufacturer...

Larry_g: Some days I feet like a proctologist with my arm buried in some greasy, nasty hole on an airplane trying to accomplish a task with the borescope so we don't have to remove hundreds of screws and spend numerous days taking the airplane apart and putting it back together because someone didn't do their job correctly.

 

[619DioFan]

I have the HF unit, works well for my needs. the end is too big to fit into a spark plug hole but other then that it has been a very helpful tool.

 

[DFB]

Looks like the current HF has a smaller camera now than the earlier units had. I always like read the reviews at HF starting from the lowest work my way back

Strangely coincidental this was in my email today!

Pro Tool Reviews published their experiences with the new 2317-21 M12 M-Spector Flex with PivotView

https://www.protoolreviews.com/tool...est_news_reviews_for_pros&utm_term=2017-03-09

There is also a link in the article to a prior review of the M-Spector AV M12 Multimedia Camera Kit 2311/12 model

 

[kelpaso1]

One thing I would like to see that I don't see even on the Milwaukee "pivot view" cameras is they cant look backwards on themselves. Like when you need to stick it down the cylinder and look back and see the bottom of the head and valves. I know it can be done with mirrors but that can be clunky to work with. I would like to see one with a very small head that can pivot back on itself plus all other directions, hooks up via usb or bluetooth (so you're not paying for the screen), for $100 or less.

 

[diggerrick]

That's a very clean engine

Alcohol!

 

[bwringer]

I have one of the cheapies that plugs into a phone and sorta found by accident that it works perfectly with my Chromebook laptop (which is basically Android) with no added software.

Very, VERY nice to have a larger screen to peer at.

For less than $20 for the scope on Amazon (for some reason, these are often listed under "endoscope"), why the hell not have one around? It's been very useful and interesting, even if it isn't the very highest resolution.