That $220 borescope I bought off Amazon has been worth every penny

Back in March I finally broke down and got a cheap borescope for inspecting cylinders on small engines we get in the shop. Cost me $220 and it hooks right up to my phone. I used it last week on a Cessna 172 that had a rough mag check and found a chipped exhaust valve in about 20 minutes without pulling the jug. The customer was watching and asked me if I was a doctor or something. It's paid for itself already with the time it saves me on borescope inspections I used to have to send out. Anyone else use an inexpensive scope for this or do you stick with the fancy brand names? Has anyone had one of these cheap units fail on them after heavy use?

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joel_singh8412d ago

The 172's cylinders are pretty easy to scope compared to some other engines, so that saved time makes sense. But I mean, $220 for a borescope that hooks to your phone, that's actually on the cheaper side, most of the good budget ones I've seen are more like $150 to $180. Not saying you got ripped off or anything, but the price tag stood out to me. I've had a $140 one last me three years of heavy use before the camera lens got too scratched up to be useful, so they can hold up fine. The main thing to watch is the app compatibility, those cheap ones sometimes stop working after a phone update, which is annoying.