All, Can anyone suggest a good borescope for use around a car? My requirements would be: good resolution, small enough and long enough probe to use around a car, view convertible from end-looking to side-looking (if thats possible), images transferable to a PC, less than $300. Lyman has one that has great resolution and is $280 but the probe is rigid and only 22 and not sure about end-looking capability. Costco has a $60 unit but resolution is not the best. So many manufacturers dont show images from their devices and dont offer much information for comparison. Tom 2007 F430F1 Coupé (Izzy)
OK, don't laugh: I got this waterproof USB endoscope that plugs into the USB port on my tablet. It's got adjustable LED lighting, 640 x 480 resolution, came with software for a PC that records, saves, etc. Probe diameter is 10mm, cable length is 6'. I found Android software on the net, and an adapter for USB to micro-usb. Just go on TheBay and type in "USB endoscope" prices range from under $10 to a bit over. It works just fine for my needs. If you already have a tablet or a laptop why pay for the innards all over again? "El Cheapo is always the best, but watch out for El Junko"
Thanks, Mike. Another concern is focus. The Lyman, which was actually designed as a borescope, can, as expected, focus at zero to small distances (< 1"). Don't know how far its focus goes. Preferred would be 1mm to 30cm, but I don't know if that's even possible. Too fuzzy is not useful. Tom 2007 F430F1 Coupé (Izzy)
The best ones are the ones used in medicine and called bronchoscope to look inside the lungs. They are super sharp and super flexible and the diameter is as small as 3 mm to 5 mm. You can add a camera and watch on monitor but they are very expensive and the best ones are made by Olympus.
I've got the same one! Not the best but works great. Also I use software from a lab I found online as the stupid little CD disk won't work in my laptop drive, works better then what came on the CD. Point is that there is better software then what it comes with. Being so cheap i don't have to worry about it getting damaged. Lab and medical equipment I keep in the lab.
FWIW, I've found that for automotive use, you really need to have these critical features ---- Flexible shaft / cable at least 18" long Diameter no larger than 8mm Adjustable light intensity Anything without all those is not very useful most of the time. Various tip attachment tools are quite handy as well. And, the very expensive (more than say $250) scopes are not at all practical either --- they will get damaged too easily. I've gone through 3 scopes over the last 10 years so it's best to keep them "cheap". Using a medical grade scope costing well into the $2-4K (used) price range in the garage is stupid --- unless you are getting well paid each time you use it (i.e., you are a professional mechanic) or you have so much money that you don't care about damaging it.
