Engine: Borescope

[jpepper]

Has anybody tried a borescope that uses your smart phone as the screen. They sound good for not a lot of money. I thought I'd ask before buying one.

[RadioRoy]

I bought one on eBay, even though not having a smart phone. It was cheap, less than ten bucks, but came with ZERO instructions (I did not ever realize it needed a smart phone) and no idea where to get the app to load on the phone. I planned to use it with a laptop, but was not smart enough to make it work.

[Larry R]

When I dropped a broken piece of a pushrod that went down the intake manifold and into the port, I purchased one of these: https://www.harborfreight.com/digita...era-62359.html It worked surprisingly well and has a magnet on the end of it so I could retrieve the part without removing the manifold.

[sweetolbob]

Thanks for the heads up, I didn't know these existed but just ordered a USB-C one from Amazon for $18 for my new Pixel 2 phone. We'll see Sunday how it works.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071HYRPND/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Can't afford to not have one for that price.

Bob

[garyash]

Here's one from Circuit Specialists for iPhones, etc. for $109. I like the idea of the 1280x720 resolution, the WiFi-type connection to the phone, and the 10 ft long probe only 0.31" diameter. I may have to buy one. I've bought a few very useful electronic things from them, like a 200 MHz oscilloscope and a 4-1/2 digit multimeter that can measure 1.5 volts to an accuracy of 1 millivolt - and I checked it with a precision calibrator. Quality has been good.

https://www.circuitspecialists.com/aardvark-wireless-inspection-camera.html

[Tommy Kagi]

Read about them on another forum (Xweb). There are a lot of them on e-bay and some will hook up to your laptop. They are cheap and some have options like hooks and magnet. Makes me almost want a smart phone, almost. My little brother just got one and he is all excited about it. Way cheaper then a dedicated bore-scope. He said something about streaming it to his portable computer. I guess you have to make sure your phone will recognize the camera. His came with a very long cable. Worth looking into for little money.

[bensherb]

I bought one on Ebay for under $10 delivered. It has a standard usb and about a 1/4" cable around 20ft long and works on my laptop. It works surprisingly well. Only problem I've had with it is being able to tell where up is if I run it out very far.

[Ron Dame]

I'd avoid the cheapest, even though the photos look exactly like the more expensive ones... same stock photo maybe? At any rate one popped up on my feed for $5.95, so I decided, sure I need this! Poor resolution and a floppy cable that you can't feed anywhere.

[jpepper]

Thanks for the info.

[wittsend]

35 year television production experience here. A lot of the problem with these cameras is the light. They can't see in the dark and often any built in light will reflect off close surfaces. This causes the cameras system to react to the glare and dark areas go darker yet the too bright areas still tend to flare out. So, anything you can do to making the light consistent helps. But hey, for $10 I'd say give it a try. Next time your wife drops a ring down the drain you will be a hero.

[kxet]

Used my Harbor freight one for looking inside walls on old house wiring. worked ok but pix could be better, as wittsend said,lights reflect and change contrast.

[sweetolbob]

The borescope/endoscope came in from Amazon yesterday so I downloaded the software they suggested from the Google store (camerfi) opened it up and inserted the borescope in the mini-C jack. These are the pictures I took with it right out of the box. BTW the light output is adjustable on the camera.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071HYRPND/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I took several pictures. I can't find a way to take video yet so I have no idea if it's available with this software or not. On the plus side, I'm about 5 minutes into the technology and got these.

Phone - Google Pixel 2XL. It uses the mini c connector on the unit but the camera came with usb and mini d adapters.

The first two pictures are with the bore scope set at max brightness and taken in my office.

Distance from egg about 18"

Distance from lettering about 4-6"

Pictures taken inside a storage box through the handle opening of a Belkin Router box inside. Cover is on.

Distance about 3" light set to minimum

Light set to maximum distance apparently slightly closer than above.

All-in-all it seems like a pretty decent unit for $18.

One negative is it has a small ad window at the top of the screen which is how, IWG, they fund the software. I'll see down the road if there are any other drawbacks to installing the software on the phone. Note - I don't share contacts with any software and this one asked but didn't require I do so.

Bob

[jpepper]

The borescope/endoscope came in from Amazon yesterday so I downloaded the software they suggested from the Google store (camerfi) opened it up and inserted the borescope in the mini-C jack. These are the pictures I took with it right out of the box. BTW the light output is adjustable on the camera.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071HYRPND/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I took several pictures. I can't find a way to take video yet so I have no idea if it's available with this software or not. On the plus side, I'm about 5 minutes into the technology and got these.

Phone - Google Pixel 2XL. It uses the mini c connector on the unit but the camera came with usb and mini d adapters.

The first two pictures are with the bore scope set at max brightness and taken in my office.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]69878[/ATTACH] Distance from egg about 18"

[ATTACH=CONFIG]69879[/ATTACH] Distance from lettering about 4-6"

Pictures taken inside a storage box through the handle opening of a Belkin Router box inside. Cover is on.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]69880[/ATTACH] Distance about 3" light set to minimum

[ATTACH=CONFIG]69881[/ATTACH] Light set to maximum distance apparently slightly closer than above.

All-in-all it seems like a pretty decent unit for $18.

One negative is it has a small ad window at the top of the screen which is how, IWG, they fund the software. I'll see down the road if there are any other drawbacks to installing the software on the phone. Note - I don't share contacts with any software and this one asked but didn't require I do so.

Bob

That is impressive. I'll have to get one.

[GeoffC312]

I just got one for Christmas but I knew ahead of time what I was getting and how much it cost. It's a unit on wish.com (or their app) amongst other places. It's about $13 before shipping and the feature I liked about it was they highlight it works with iOS, Android, Windows phones & personal computers.

It comes with a hook attachment (to grab the above mentioned ring), an angled mirror attachment for seeing around corners, and what looks like a lens for zooming in.

I have the 5 meter long cable and the 8 mm diameter camera version. There are other lengths and a 6.5 mm diameter camera. The manufacturer of this one is CrazyFire.

I have yet to stuff it into any holes, I just tested it in a room but the image looks nice and clear.

[bezhawk]

Wow that's cheap enough that I may never have to go to the doctor again!