Which endoscope?

[bobmcd625]

It seems like a no-brainer to have an endoscope on board for looking into the many inaccessible spots on a boat, but I have not seen much, if anything, about which ones are best and most suitable. I definitely want to get one to look into the bilge under the engine on my DownEaster 38, but which one? Probably one with wi-fi connection to a cell phone, with a pretty long cable, but what other attributes are important? All tips will be appreciated.
Fair winds

[thinwater]

Following.


I have an inexpensive wifi/iphone scope that has proved it's $25 worth in just a few boat and home uses. But I wouldn't want to say what is "best."

*Waterproof
*Lighted
*At least 10'... but not too long. Just a nuisance.

[bobmcd625]

Thanks. Makes sense. Just wonder about using wi fi but I guess one can use the cell phone as hot spot if other wi fi network is not available.
Good point about cord not too long. Some have 30' which for my boat would be really dumb. 15' looks pretty good and some are semi-rigid which would probably make sense.
Cheers

[KompetentKrew]

I bought a USB endoscope from Amazon for about $20 around the time I first bought the boat. Like you, I thought it was a no brainer to have one on board, but I can't say it's been invaluable.

The main problem is that it's hard to position, on all axes. Commonly you get it too close and can't see squat, and the image is often upside down - both of these can be surprisingly hard to correct; the cable is thick, so you twist the stick to get the image the right way up, then look away the screen and, in that moment of carelessness, it untwists itself back upside down.

Often I find it more useful to use my phone to take a photo of an inaccessible place.

[bobmcd625]

Thanks for those good points. It seems that technology has advances to correct some of those faults. I do use my cell phone a lot, but nearly lost it yesterday into the deep bilge while trying to get some images! Hence this inquiry!!!