Teslong Auto Focus Endoscope 5 Megapixels HD Multifunction Household Inspection Camera with Semi-Rigid Cable, Waterproof Borescope, Soldering (5 m/16ft)

Ultimate

So far only looked inside my dryer but picture is clear and high def. Cable is stiff but easy to manipulate. Bought it to look into septic tank through a six inch vent pipe. Tip will bend 90 degrees in about 4 inches so I should be able to insert it through and get a picture of inside top of tank.

Buying this was a learning experience about this device and endoscopes in general.This scope's plusses are high resolution and automatic and close-up focus. But its lack of a wide viewing angle means having to reposition multiple times to get a view of a wide area. Its less rigid cable makes that difficult, but there's a workaround.(Update: After two years, I'm really glad I got this. I don't use it often enough to justify paying more, but every once in a while it makes an impossible job easy. My original review below talks a lot about the viewing angle, but I made it sound worse than it is. Its critical features are autofocus, which cheaper scopes don't have, and good illumination.)An endoscope seems like an attractive solution to viewing an inaccessible area. Just push it in and look around, right? Well, it's not that simple.I learned this trying to view a ceiling space through a light fixture hole using an Android tablet. The difficulties included finding a good app, placing and positioning the device, and getting a good view.I used ShenYao's USB camera Android app. It has multiple adjustments, touch zoom and pan, and respectfully unobtrusive ads. The Android app from this scope's manual couldn't find the camera. (Their Windows app worked OK.) Several "endoscope OTG" apps I tried were a morass of adware, despite 4.5+ ratings and thousands of reviews claiming "ad free".The camera's viewing angle is only about 55 degrees, creating two problems. One is that viewing something requires more exact positioning of the camera, and viewing a larger area requires repeatedly moving it. If the camera has to be pushed somewhere, the lack of rigidity in the cable makes it harder. Also, the image will be randomly rotated. A fix for all of these was to tape the camera into a cradle made from a vinyl coated wire coat hanger - see photos. It was easier to push into position, and the hook on the other end of the wire kept it level. (The camera case needs a mark at the top of the image.)The lack of wide angle also reduces the depth of field. The autofocus helps, but it takes a few seconds to focus, during which the camera has to be held steady. It shows sharp images as close as half an inch, making this a good camera for viewing and working on small objects.In dark areas, exposure is an issue. The light illuminates whatever is close to the camera. If you want to see something further off it will be dark. The apps have some brightness adjustment, but it would be helpful to find an app that could adjust the exposure by touching the desired spot.If I had to start over, I'd pay more attention to a wider viewing angle. But I might still wind up with this high resolution autofocus camera.

Having autofocus makes this camera actually useable unlike others that have a very limited field of view

I bought this unit after I could not find the endoscope I had purchased about a year ago. This scope is far better than the one I couldn't find, and if I do find it, it's going on Craigslist.There are two primary reasons. One - the autofocus is works very well. With my old scope, I had about a 2 inch focal length. This means that one can only see about 2 inches away with clarity, making it difficult to gain an overall view of your search area.With this endoscope, I can look at objects as far away as 15 inches and that means it's possible to see the overall scene before coming in for a closer look. For example, I was looking for a collapsed spot in a 4 inch sewer line. I was able to clearly see the entire sewer pipe as I inserted the scope, then was able to take a closeup look where the pipe had collapsed.Two - Very good image quality, much better than my old scope. I don't know what they mean by 5 MP but the resolution is more than satisfactory.I gave a three for ease of use. First, the endoscope is very stiff. I understand that it needs to be stiff to push 16 feet of scope wherever you want it to go. My old endoscope is the same way so this is not a product complaint, just noting that it can be challenging to get this to go where you want if there are curves and bends.And second, while the Android software works, you have to download an ad laden app, then apply a code so that it works without ads for this product. I would much rather see an app in the store, ready to download, without getting a third party app.For Win 10 the camera app that comes with the OS works fine although it doesn't offer many image manipulation options. I've not tried the available Windows apps since the Camera app met my needs on my Surface tablet.

Auto focus