Borescopes...what is recommended to buy

[911 tweaks]

I am looking for an after xmas present for the shop...what have you guys tried and liked & disliked... My budget is $500 max unless their is a model that "YOU HAVE TO HAVE".
Many models and features on these...i.e. do I want to get the type that have a hand held monitor or the eye look into thingie...uses are cylindar bores, body hidden areas, ect.
Thx in advance for your input!!
Bob

[freezing14]

i got a seesnake , from home depot, or anyone else, made by millwaukee

gurantee for life, has the screen ,

make sure you get the 9 mm probe, not the 13 mm ( wont fit in the hole)

also works great to do plumbing work ( thats what they sell it for)

waterproof, gas proof

299$

[GH85Carrera]

I have heard that the cheap ones have horrible screen resolution. Please post a follow-up on what you buy and how you like it.

[wachuko]

I want to hear feedback on these units as well...

It would be great to have the one that you can connect to a computer and copy over the photos or video to share with folks here...

Please chime in if you have one. Any of the models.

[cgarr]

I get my Colonoscopy on January 18th I will ask.

[Grady Clay]

Bob,

This is a diagnostic tool I want to add also.

I think the issues are size (diameter & length), degree of articulation and image resolution. Obviously durability in an automotive environment is critical – even more so in a service shop. These are not rejects from your proctologist.

As noted, the scope must fit through a sparkplug opening. Race heads use 12 mm sparkplugs and scope clearance is about 10.2 mm.

Semi-rigid scopes may be OK for use on an engine dyno but only a very flexible one will work in a 911 engine compartment. Many have the feature to articulate the shaft and/or the ‘head’. Some heads have mirrors to view in a larger range of angles.

Lighting choices seem to be light supplied through fiber optics and in-head light. Having extra lights on a ‘wand’ allows you to feed light past an open valve, etc.

With my lame old eyesight (I can no longer run the Daytona 24), I would prefer a camera and display on my laptop. This also allows easy image capture and printing. In a shop environment, this is a great tool for communicating with your customers. Clearly there is a resolution / cost balance.

Part of that ‘balance’ may be having the ability to measure. What is the width of the valve seating surfaces? How deep is that scratch on the cylinder? What are those carbon deposits – detonation? Microscopic inspection can tell.



It is worthwhile to look at the uses for this tool. The most common is to look through the sparkplug hole and inspect the top of the piston, inside of the combustion chamber and the seating surfaces of the valves and seats.

Another can be to remove the valve springs and inspect the ‘wobble’ clearance of the valve to guide.

A long scope can pass up a heat exchanger and inspect the ‘down-side’ of the exhaust valve. Also down a carburetor or past throttle bodies (even CIS or DME) and inspect the topside of the intake valve.

How do you locate that missing intake manifold washer that ‘may’ have slipped into the intake? This is an inexpensive confirmation that there is nothing in a cylinder. This also facilitates the recovery of an errant piece of hardware.

How about inspecting the bottom of the oil tank during an oil change?

When you have the chain covers off, it is very useful to inspect the jackshaft sprockets. This is particularly important if an early rubber chain ramp has lost pieces.

On some engines you can inspect the crank, rods and lower parts of the pistons and cylinders via the sump.

It would be easy to find a shredded shop towel on top of the cylinders via the fan.

You can look into the holes above the clutch and see if there are debris.

Think looking inside a transmission or fuel tank.

In a PPI, you can take up the door threshold and photo the inside of the rocker panel.

Lets think up more uses.


Lets review everything available in the market.
Clearly there is a wide range of products available.
Lets find the best for each situation.
I’m sure there are ‘high-end’ version available for equally high cost, there are also a wide range available for our varied uses. Lets find ‘the best deal’ for each.

Best,
Grady

[911 tweaks]

Thanks all...great start here summarizing uses for the borescope & to get us all up to speed collecting info to make the best ~ affordable tool selection.

The 2 different types of borescopes are:

1. use your eye to view into an eye piece... this type uses glass fibers i.e. fiber optics, and is nice, however, both hands are needed most of the time to articulate the instruments' probe and the eye pc at your eye to see where the probe is going...

2. The other borescope type has a 2~4" crt tv screen to view what is going on with the probe + you have data collection options + the tv screen can be removed up to a specified distance to allow positioning the probe in limited space places (which our Porsche cars have) not allowing you to put your head to view into the eye pc as on the other style scopes.

Money for these ranges from $100-400 for what seems like basic units. More $$ can be spent for more resolution + features if needed.
Lets see if we all can come up with, as Grady was saying, a durable unit for the many potential uses Porsche engine & body spots our inquiring minds want to check out...

I will stop at the home depot and report back how the "SeeSnake" by Ridgid product works..

Thx, Bob

[ShakinJoe]

Guys,

A good solution is the TESTO 318V Video Scope. Below are features and I have sold these to PCar Mechanics because of the small 10.5 mm head. (They also have a 6mm head option) I can sell them directly if you want to use paypal, or I can point you to a local distributor. PM me if you are interested.

Testo is a 50+ year old German company and stands behind their stuff.

Specs & Pic PRICE is $260 plus S&H




318-V Video PRO Inspection Scope
Includes 42" digital inspection scope, mirror tip, magnetic tip, carrying case and 4 AA batteries
This premier digital inspection scope with video output is an ideal tool for examining hard to reach areas normally hidden from sight. It features a 2.5" full color LCD screen, auto-focus and viewing capacity as close as 3/8" with crystal clear output. Use the 318-V as a bore scope in high end industrial inspections as well as daily HVAC diagnostic tasks. The viewing capabilities of the 318-V across a wide range of applications are almost limitless.

2.5" high resolution color LCD display (320x240)
42" water-tight flexible shaft
Video output jack (RCA)
Powerful white LED illumination
Clip-on mirror for 90° viewing
Clip-on magnet to retrieve objects up to 1/4 lb

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by cgarr

I get my Colonoscopy on January 18th I will ask.

Will you be posting pictures?

[ShakinJoe]

When I demostrate this video camera, many people instantly put the probe in their mouth to look at teeth or whatever.....

My comment is that it was used earlier in that day for a colonoscopy which brings panic to most..........

[CurtEgerer]

I use the Rigid MicroExplorer almost daily for business (not to be confused with the one sold at Home Defect). It's very good. Large screen. Video and still capture to SD card. Self-leveling feature is useful. Pan/Zoom function. Adjustable lighting. Lo-light viewing. You can add multiple extensions. Optional 9.5mm head. $700 or so, as I recall.

Rigid MicroExplorer

Here's a pan inspection I did with it.

[CurtEgerer]

BTW, that Testo that Joe posted looks like a GREAT deal if you don't need built-in video capture. I've got other Testo instruments and they're well built.

[Green 912]

I was surprised to find that the Milwaukee unit has poor resolution compared to both the Rigid digital and the old school fiber optic I have. I did a side by side and there is a marked difference. Be careful of the version you purchase. Rigid makes 2 versions of the home use See snake. The early one that Home depot was selling for $199 and a later and FAR BETTER one that I have not seen at a Home Depot yet. I suspect that HD got a deal on the early ones as they were selling them while the upper end tool sellers had the later improved version. Do not bother with the early unit, the head does not fit in a spark plug hole. The later one sells in the $250 range.
The good one has a much smaller camera head and has the on/off and light brightness controls on the upper part of the handle under the screen. the resolution of the smaller camera unit is much better than the larger one. It is far better than my older fiber optic unit and you can add extensions to increase the length up to 30 feet or so.

[Emery G.]

we use he snap-on hand unit at the shop it seems to work well and i think there top of the line unit is around 500$

[James Brown]

I looked at alot of these, got spoiled in the Nave using a $30,000 boarscope unit to look into jet engines. it had a eye vewfinder with a handheld joystick that could slew around the tip, great unit. But for around 500 buck, I think the snap-on is by far the best, it has a lcd screan that looks good.