Blew $120 on a cheap borescope and regretted it immediately

I finally caved and bought a $120 borescope off Amazon to inspect some cylinder walls on a Cessna 172 we had in the shop. Figured it would save me from pulling the head off just to check for scoring. First use and the camera fogged up after 30 seconds, then the image started flickering like crazy. Ended up borrowing my buddy's Snap-on scope and saw the damage clear as day right away. Now I'm out $120 and still had to buy the good one anyway. Anyone else get burned by cheap inspection tools that just don't hold up? What borescope do you actually trust for real work?

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bailey.xena3h ago

My buddy Tim bought one of those cheap $80 scopes from a tool truck knockoff brand... used it once to look at valve seats on a Lycoming and the LED ring shorted out, smoke came out of the handle. He said the picture was so grainy he couldn't tell carbon from pitting anyway. Ended up borrowing my OTC scope and it was night and day difference, now his cheap one just sits in a drawer.