Boreoscope / Inspection Camera... Recommendations?

[InsuredApple]

I'm looking into getting an inspection camera. Primarily I want to be able to quickly check out the props, zincs, and thru-hulls without having to jump into the water. Of course, I've got plenty of other, more traditional uses for one, such as trying to trace cables etc... It looks like the Milwaukee camera could be the best option, with a 9' camera/cable.

Any thoughts?

[ranger58sb]

We have a Milwaukee camera. It's OK. The stalk length is only about 3' though, something like that.. so not long enough for your underwater purpose. (Do they make one that's longer?)

Not easy to get it aimed at the target, sometimes not easy to interpret what's visible... although I've mostly only used it in dark areas that are hard to interpret anyway. The light at the end of the stalk helps, but it's not perfect.

Would be better if it could take pics.

I have other Milwaukee battery stuff on board, and in our case battery compatibility is an important feature.

-Chris

[skipmac]

Interested in recommendations on this as well. I've looked at a couple owned by friends and had the same problem IE hard to aim and sometimes hard to figure out what I'm seeing.

[Dennis.G]

I also have a Milwaukee inspection camera. Can say that while nice to use in a few cases, it has fallen far short of my expectations. Have many times been looking at the displayed image wondering what am I looking at and where the hell is it?

[Cpt Mark]

This connects to your cell phone. But I don't think you want any kind of scope. Picture is too small of area to be of use. Depending on your boat, you might take a bucket, cut a hole in the bottom, silicone in a piece of acrylic or plexiglass and use that to see what you want from the dock easily. Doesn't work on my Cat because of where the props are but I've used them on sailboats and they work great. Don't know what their proper name is but you can buy them. Or, use your go-pro or whatever else you might have on a stick.

https://www.amazon.com/Depstech-Endo...-1-spons&psc=1

[FabioC]

I have the RYOBI camera scope (the one that connects to smartphone).
It is practically unusable, stay away from it. The Milwaukee is a bit better, but what other posters have pointed out are real issues.

To inspect the bottom, I use my GoPro on a stick, but with limited success, since the WiFi tends to disconnect the moment you immerse the camera, so remote real time viewing is not easy. Of course, it captures video very well, but it is a bit of a trial and error thing, since once the WiFi disconnects, you can't see where you point it. Anyway, once you figure out the direction to point it, the video quality is of course excellent.

[Jeanneau 45.2]

While not generally a fan of Harbor Freight, this bore scope has proven to be excellent, and has provisions for taking photos, albeit a cumbersome process.
I would purchase again.

https://www.harborfreight.com/digita...era-61839.html

[artisanmach]

I have the Harbor Freight inspection camera. it was purchased in an emergency had to fix it now situation... three years later it still works perfectly. it takes pictures and videos saves them to micro SD card. it only has a 39" flexible cable. it does have a variable intensity light which comes in handy. very pleased with it.

[flyingfin]

Just bought one with 5m long cable, works great on both laptop and android phone. Have not used underwater yet, but for the price you cannot go wrong.
Go to TMart.com and search for this:

5M 6-LED 5.5mm Lens IP67 Waterproof 1.3MP Endoscope for Android

[jlincoln04078]

I have an ANWA scope. 16 foot rigid but bendable wire. Feeds to my iPhone that can sit on the supplied hand held tripod. Takes pics @ 1200 dpi. Seems to be no longer available from several US sources but I found it at Alibaba. One problem might be that you need to order ten units. Price seems to be around $17/unit.


https://www.alibaba.com/product-deta...1c42238euypF8Z


Let me know if you can't find it on their web site.

[oleman]

Really no reason to get anything more than a USB camera dongle. Attached to a lap-top it is big screen portable. I have one off of ebay for less than $30. US. it has LED's for dark spaces. Looks like a length of coax RG-58U with a slightly larger end, it will easily fit through a .375" hole. I have used it to inspect through the spark-plug hole of an engine.

[zboss]

I have both a Dewalt inspection camera that I paid maybe $100 for years ago and an endoscope that transmits the picture to my iphone I bought for maybe $25 and the cheap endoscope beats the dewalt by a massive margin.

The endoscope is longer by 3x to 4x but more compact overall when stored, its much thinner and thus able to get into smaller holes and around corners easier, the picture quality is far superior, and the light is so much brighter.

[LoudMusic]

You don't need one with a long wire and you don't need wireless. Frankly I find mine cumbersome. Fortunately I can also plug it into my computer and use generic software to view it.

Attachments are good, such as angle mirrors, hook, and magnet.

Mine also has a stupid close focal distance. I wish it could focus at about 18 inches. It focuses at like ... 2 inches.

[HopCar]

I bought one of the endoscopes previously mentioned. The extremely short focal length limits it’s usefulness.

I think something like Aqua Vu makes would do a better job of inspecting your hull underwater. AV Micro Plus

[apirate]

We have a power ray underwater drone for this. It also allows for stunning underwater video.