Video inspection scopes are now quite affordable.

Doctors have used fiber optic bore-scopes and endoscopes in the medical field for a longer period of time than automotive technicians have used inspection scopes in the automotive repair field. The high cost for these gadgets in the past prevented lower income fields from justifying the purchase of them.

Like with many technology driven items, the cost of these useful tools has came down since their introduction. The lower cost, first on fiber optic borescopes and now more recently on video based inspection scopes has opened the market up and made the purchase of inspection scopes more feasible for other markets besides the medical field.

The fiber optic borescope was once the only specialty tool of it’s type made for automotive and other inspections that require access to very tight areas. Using fiber optic borescopes can be a little awkward though. The small eyepiece on most fiberoptic borescopes require your eye to be positioned at just the right distance from the view finder to view the object. In addition, the distance from the wand to the subject and manual focusing is must be adjusted to view properly.

Video based inspection scope prices have came down to a very affordable range and are are easier to use compared to fiber optic borescopes. Most video inspection scopes have color monitors, not just a small eyepiece for viewing. Most video inspection scopes have an automatic focus feature instead of the manual focus found on fiberoptic borescopes. Image quality is superior in comparison and can be viewed by several people at the same time. Some video based scopes allow the capability to transfer still images and video to a lap top computer. Once saved as a file on the computer, the footage can be shared easily with clients if desired. This is sure to become a standard practice for after market extended car warranty companies. Auto warranty Inspectors can email their car inspection video to the warranty company as easily as they now send jpegs.

If considering the purchase of an inspection scope, then a video based inspection scope is worth a look (no pun intended).