# Forum Home Renovation General Odds & Sods  USB Endoscope Borescope Inspection Tube Camera

## Bart1080

Anyone used one of these cheap usb inspection camera's? 
Are they any good at seeing in wall cavities at say a 200 to 300mm distance from the surface your wanting to look at?  https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/29407251...gaApmpEALw_wcB

----------


## havabeer

i bought a cheapish one off amazon with a few good reviews. its ok, used it to look down behind the couch cushions to see if we've lost anything. 
they are a bit fiddly to operate as in trying to bed them to the right shape to even get to what you might want to look at.   https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product...?ie=UTF8&psc=1   
i Wouldn't expect a $10.25 item (that includes shipping) from china to be of great quality.

----------


## doovalacky

I found the one I tried a few years ago to be useless without autofocus ability. Too far, or near and it was just a blur.
Looks like there is ones starting at around $75 that has that built in.

----------


## Bart1080

Tkx, the autofocus is a good tip and the link is just for the purposes of an example...not nessessarly the one I want  :Smilie:  
After all the drama's I've had with both the showers leaking, I've Demo'd the main shower back on Oct 2021, scope of works with the builders is completed and trades are scheduled to arrive starting next week. 
Thinking of running a 12mm tube or 20mm electricial condiut to get the stiffness with bottom cutouts (windows) in the tube to view each of cavity btwn each stud as "potentially" an easy way to check if the water proofing has failed at some point in the future.  
If the borescopes are good enough to see and have a horizontal attachment (mirror) like some do and hopefully it also reflects the light, then I'II put a tube in next week before the plasterers arrive.  
I'd thoughts of putting the tube in at 200mm above the base plate with access via a blank power point cover, pop it off and feed in the cam to inspect.

----------


## wozzzzza

you get what you pay for. i have found these cheap ones are good for about 10cm of viewing anything

----------


## Gooner

I read this thread last night and decided that having an endoscope/borescope would actually be quite handy. Been plenty of situations where having one would have made life easier. Looked at the phone compatible ones but read about some issues. Ended up buying this one;  https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 
Ordered it last night at around 10pm, delivered today. Amazon can be very good that way with some of these items. 
I have no immediate use for it, but will have play and see how it goes.

----------


## Bros

> I have no immediate use for it, but will have play and see how it goes.

   Gee you let your head go just for a toy.

----------


## wozzzzza

> I read this thread last night and decided that having an endoscope/borescope would actually be quite handy. Been plenty of situations where having one would have made life easier. Looked at the phone compatible ones but read about some issues. Ended up buying this one;  https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 
> Ordered it last night at around 10pm, delivered today. Amazon can be very good that way with some of these items. 
> I have no immediate use for it, but will have play and see how it goes.

  let me know how it goes, even post some footage of it.

----------


## Bart1080

...seems even the more expensive ones like Gooners only have a 100mm focal point, so thats the height I'II install the inspection tube.

----------


## Gooner

> I read this thread last night and decided that having an endoscope/borescope would actually be quite handy. Been plenty of situations where having one would have made life easier. Looked at the phone compatible ones but read about some issues. Ended up buying this one;  https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 
> Ordered it last night at around 10pm, delivered today. Amazon can be very good that way with some of these items. 
> I have no immediate use for it, but will have play and see how it goes.

  
Sooooo... I bought the endoscope gadget about 10 days ago with no particular/urgent use other than I thought it would come in handy. 
So today my wife did something stupid with the car by running over a very steep curb in an area under development and see-sawing the car on the curb. Getting it out was an ordeal, but that's another story. 
 So when I got the car out, I noticed a lot of water dripping out of the bottom of the car. So much so I just assumed the radiator was stuffed. 
Got it home but couldn't really see where it was coming from. So after 10 minutes of trying to search with the torch and prying little spaces into the plastics under the car, I remembered... "Hang on. I have an endoscope!". 
So I trotted off and got the endoscope and happy with myself about the random purchase. 
Long story short, it helped me identify the cause of the leak. Looks like it is coming from the air conditioner hose and therefore I assume "normal". Although I am not sure why it is leaking so much? It may be that the car was on a 25 degree angle or so hanging off the curb and maybe caused some some water movement. Don't know, but will keep an eye on it. 
Either way, it came in handy. Photo attached. The photo probably doesn't do it justice as it the camera can shake around when in use and when holding the camera while trying to click on the photo button. I could see most things in focus quite well on the screen. The visuals on the handheld screen looks decent. 
Overall - not bad. Not stellar but certainly does the job. Not overly ergonomic. Picture quality is "good enough". Depth of view is "OK". The screen has this polarization type of effect where if not viewed at the right angle starts to wash out. That, combined with the ergonomics, is the weak point. Still, came in handy today.

----------

