Inspection cameras can help to fix a wide range of hard-to-see problems, such as assessing the extent of corrosion inside a sill, identifying why a cylinder in an engine isn’t firing and looking for the cause of a fuel blockage inside a tank.
We have tested 10 different inspection cameras, which range in price from as little as £26 up to almost £480. They’ve certainly been challenging to compare, and some aspects have been subjective.
For instance, some of the equipment is powered by AA batteries, whereas others are powered by an inbuilt lithium-ion rechargeable battery. There’s no clear winner between the two because it could be argued that due to the infrequent use of an inspection camera (it’s not every day you need to use it), disposable AA batteries are better than potentially finding a lithium battery needs recharging whenever the occasion arises to use it (providing you always have a supply of AA batteries of course).
We wondered whether it was a bonus that several of the inspection cameras are supplied in a large plastic carrycase.
It looks impressive, but if you want to store it inside a lockable toolbox for instance, it will take up a lot of space.
We were impressed by several inspection cameras that can be connected to a TV via an AV cable in which to live view inside a sill or an engine. However, the resolution of the enlarged view was often quite poor, and the length of the AV cable supplied (in most cases) was too short, even if the TV could be manoeuvred closer.
HOW WE TESTED THE CAMERAS
We needed some real-world situations where an inspection camera could be used in order to effectively test all of our products. Luckily, our local garage, MJ Motors, had a customer's three-cylinder Renault Clio in for overheating
