Best Inspection Cameras In 2022

The 8MM Teslong Inspection Camera is one of the best-loved products in this category. If you want to skip past all the research and buy one of the best all-rounders, just go ahead and pick this one, you won’t be disappointed. It has every feature you’ll need for DIY inspection jobs. The two most important things to talk about are the length of the cable (16.4 feet) and the quality of the camera (HD 1080p). This waterproof, gooseneck cable allows you to journey deep into whatever you’re inspecting and diagnose the problem. It also has an extra HD camera on the side of the main camera for pipe inspections. 

Of course, an HD camera is useless without a screen to view it on. Fortunately, this handheld inspection camera has a 4.5” IPS HD screen that’s protected by toughened glass. Using the button controls, you can adjust the screen angle, zoom up to 2X, and save images to the built-in 32GB memory card. The other thing worth mentioning is that the rechargeable battery lasts up to six hours, which is plenty of time to work out what’s going on. 

The DEPSTECH Wireless Endoscope is an affordable and reliable inspection camera, designed for use around the house. If you’re a DIY enthusiast, this tool could come in really handy in a number of situations. It has an 11.5-foot semi-rigid snake cable, which bends and can hold its shape for easy access to confined spaces. On the end is a 2.0MP inspection camera with adjustable resolutions from 640×480 to 1600×1200. It’s not the best image quality we’ve seen on an inspection camera but it’s good enough to see what’s going on. 

Crucially, it also has six adjustable LED lights to illuminate the confined space you’re working in. The thing we love best about this inspection camera is that it sends the video straight to your smartphone or tablet. That makes it cheaper and easier to use than a lot of more expensive borescopes on this list. 

The Ridgid is another impressive plumbing inspection camera for less than $100. One of the things we really like about this camera is the way the screen is mounted onto the handle. The screen itself is only small (2.4” color LCD), but it sits on top of the handle and allows you to point the cable like a gun. It gives the whole thing an ergonomic feel.

Aside from that, RIDGID 40043 Model Hand-Held Inspection Camera is not as impressive as some of the other inspection cameras around this price range. They don’t say much about the quality of the camera, but it provides reasonably clear images and is helped by the use of 4 LED lights. The camera is at the end of a reasonably short 1.2m (4 foot) cable, but unfortunately, it’s not extendable. To be honest, this will be long enough for 90% of jobs, but for a professional tradesman, it might not be long enough.

The Bosch GIC 120C is undoubtedly the holy grail of inspection cameras. On the face of it, it doesn’t look that different from the cheapest inspection cameras on the market – except that everything is slightly better. The tool has that high-quality, ergonomic feel that you get with all high-end Bosch products.

It has a 1.2m (3.9ft) cable that is flexible and stays in position perfectly. On the end of that is the super clear camera, surrounded by a bright LED light. The best thing about this camera is that the LED lighting doesn’t actually affect the quality of the image. Instead, it sends a consistent and well-lit image to the hi-def 3.5-inch display. It also features innovative ‘up is up’ technology that automatically rotates the image to the correct orientation. It doesn’t matter how much you twist the cable; the camera always knows which way is up. This saves a lot of time and effort to adjust your viewpoint.

Borescopes are one of those tools that you can’t really get for cheap. The technology is too expensive for a company to come out with a $10 model, and even if they did it wouldn’t be worth buying. At first, we were slightly skeptical about the Vividia inspection scope, because it costs less than $60. But, when we actually looked into it, it’s a great budget option.

Of course, you can’t expect it to be amazing for that price. A quick read through the Amazon reviews and you’ll find plenty of customers who were expecting a perfect product. It’s not perfect, but in most cases, it’s good enough. The cable is just a meter (3.3ft) long, but you can add extensions to it, which is a pretty useful feature if you don’t know how much length you need.

The Dewalt DCT412S1 is a much more serious tool than the ones we’ve looked at so far. The first clue that it’s a professional standard tool is the price – it costs around $340, which is over 3X as much as anything else. The second clue is the quality. It does pretty much the same job as any other inspection camera that we’ve featured, but it does it a lot better.

They don’t publish the specs of the camera, but it produces a much clearer picture than the cheaper models. Plus, it’s got the 3X zoom to help you focus in on the problem area, and it’s lit with a LED light that’s attached to the tip of the cable. The cable itself isn’t that impressive – it’s only 0.9m (3ft), which doesn’t give you a huge amount of reach. You can buy extension cables, but it feels a bit like a slap in the face after you’ve spent so much already. Let’s just hope that the 0.9m is long enough for you.

If you can’t quite afford the Dewalt DCT412S1, but you still want a serious inspection tool, then check out the Extech BR80. It’s still expensive, but you’re not paying the really premium prices that you find with Dewalt and Bosch products. So, how does it compare to the best?

The simple answer is it compares pretty well. You can tell that this product is really high-quality. Everything, from the picture quality to the feel of the buttons, makes it feel like your money has been well-spent. It has a great little camera that sends images to a 2.4” color TFT LCD monitor. Unfortunately, it’s not detachable, so it’s not as versatile as products like the Dewalt and the DEPSTECH camera probes. The camera is 17mm thin and is attached to a 1m (3.3ft) gooseneck cable that’s designed to retain its original shape. Plus, it has four bright LED lights that can be adjusted to find the perfect amount of illumination.

The Extech BR100 inspection camera is the ‘big brother’ of the camera we just looked at, the BR80. A quick read of the specs and you’ll be left confused as to why you’d spend the extra money on this model because they’re pretty much the same. They both feature a 1m (3.3ft) flexible gooseneck cable. They both have a 2.4-inch color TFT LCD display. They’re both rated IP67 waterproof. You get the picture.

In fact, underneath the hood, they’re almost identical. The only difference is that this camera is pistol-shaped, and you can remove the monitor. We already talked about how we prefer this shape of the inspection camera in the Ridgid 40043 review. It’s not just because it feels more comfortable in your hand, although that is true. It’s because it makes it much easier to use. When you’re down on your hands and knees trying to fit the camera’s probe through a tiny hole, you need it to be as easy as possible to use. The detachable screen means that you can reach and adjust the camera with one hand and get it further into a small space.

Milwaukee is one of the world’s most respected tool manufacturers. Problem is, you usually have to pay a premium price to own their amazing tools. That’s why we couldn’t believe that this Milwaukee M-Spector Inspection Kit is under $100. It’s on offer at the minute with over $50 taken off the RRP, so you better scoop it up quickly.

As with all Milwaukee tools, it comes in an awesome red toolbox. Not only is this super strong and keeps your camera safe, but it also looks great in your tool collection. It has a small 2.7-inch LCD screen that is placed on top of the handle, in an upright position. This isn’t as user-friendly as the pistol-shaped inspection cameras, but it still works pretty well. But you get a clear, crisp image on the screen and it’s easy enough to see what you’re doing.

The problem with a lot of the inspection cameras on the market is the size of the screen. They feature powerful cameras and a long snake camera but you can barely see what’s happening on the screen. The SkyBasic Industrial Endoscope doesn’t have that problem. It comes with a 4.3-inch color LCD screen that gives you a clear view and allows you to perform accurate live analysis on the application area. The camera is also capable of shooting in 1080p, so the images that are sent to the screen are crisp and clear.

With a built-in 32GB TF card, there’s plenty of storage space to record videos and take pictures, if you need them as evidence. You can then remove the card and upload the files onto a computer or phone. One of the only downsides is that the cable is only 5M long. This should be long enough for most applications but it might fall short for some plumbing work. It’s also worth mentioning the rechargeable battery, which provides around four hours of continuous use. 

On the face of it, the NIDAGE Wireless Endoscope Camera might look like outdated technology – it doesn’t have a screen, the housing looks cheap, and it definitely doesn’t look as premium as some of the inspection cameras on this list. However, when you dig down into the details, you’ll quickly realize that this is one of the most advanced inspection cameras on this list. The reason it doesn’t have a screen is that it sends images straight to your smartphone or tablet. That means you can view the 1080p image on a larger screen, allowing you to perform a more accurate live analysis. 

The other amazing thing about the NIDAGE Wireless Endoscope Camera is the 10M (33ft) semi-rigid snake cable. It can bend and hold its shape to access pretty much anywhere. Plus, the extra length means you can get deep into an area without worrying about reaching the problem. At the end of the snake cable, there are six adjustable 6,500K LEDs to illuminate the work area.