NTS500 Borescope Review - Is It Really That Good?

The NTS500 borescope is one of the better low cost, stand-alone borescope camera tools currently on the market. Robust, easy to use & great image quality round out the hits.
How many times have you used a flashlight or something similar to peer down into a dark and difficult to access area or through a hole to find or see the condition of something, only to realize you can't see a thing? How about when you have to take something half apart just to visually inspect it?
If you can recall many such frustrating, eye squinting, time wasting moments, you likely wished you had a borescope camera. These are such handy and amazing tools, but if you've worked in any industry that uses them, you pretty much figured they were too costly for the average DIY'er, home owner, or hobbyist to justify. Name brand borescopes such as Snap-On and Fluke are into the thousands of dollars after all. Keep dreaming - right?
Not so with these recent consumer grade borescopes & endoscopes from several Chinese manufacturers. You can get good industrial quality, convenient & easy to use borescopes for under $200 USD such as this NTS500 I'm reviewing.
The NTS500 industrial borescope is marketed under several different brand names such as Teslong & Anykit and offer several borescope cameras with different snake cable lengths (1m, 3m & 5m) options. All their cameras are IP67 rated and come in sizes ranging from 3.9 to 12.5mm diameters, with single or dual camera options.
If you're considering getting lower cost yet good quality borescope, but also want it to be robust and easy to use, you should definitely have the NTS500 series on your short list.
Product Links:
- NTS500 with 8mm dual camera 3M cable option:
www.banggood.com/custlink/KDv...
- NTS500 with 5.5mm single camera 3M cable option:
www.banggood.com/custlink/KvK...
- Amazon NTS500 with 8mm dual camera 3M cable option:
amzn.to/3rIABvA
Video Chapter Index:
- Intro to borescopes 0:00
- Why choose the NTS500 1:40
- NTS500 camera & flex cable 2:07
- NTS500 head unit / display operation 7:29
- HVAC duct inspection 10:55
- RC helicopter inspections 12:15
- Automotive/engine cylinder/piston inspection 15:00
- Plumbing drain inspection 16:23
- Does it work in motor oil? 18:00
- Conclusion 19:34
NTS500 Head Unit & Camera Specifications
Head Unit:
- Screen Type: 5.0 inch IPS HD Display
- Screen Resolution: 1280*720 pixels (HD)
- Image Capturing Resolution: 1920x1080
- Video Recording Resolution: 1920x1080, 1280x720
- Ports: Micro SD charging port & Micro SD card slot
- Included Storage: 32GB Micro SD card
- Flash Light: 1 Watt Cree LED
- Power Source: 3500mAh lithium battery
- Battery Life: 5-6 hours
- Operating Temperature: 32° to 113°F (0° to 45°C)
80D03 Camera:
- Type: Dual Lens (straight-viewing & side-viewing)
- Diameter: 0.31-inch (8.0mm)
- Cable Length: 9.8-ft (3 Meters)
- Camera Sensor: 1 Megapixel
- Resolution: 1280 x 720
- Camera Viewing Angle: 70 Degrees
- Rated Depth of Field: Straight-viewing Camera (1.18-inch to 3.94-inch / 30mm to 100mm) Side-viewing Camera (0.4-inch to 0.79-inch / 10mm to 20mm)
- Environment: Rated IP67 (maximum depth of 1 meter up to 30 minutes) under IEC standard 60529
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting RCHelicopterFun.com & my channel which helps me keep creating content.
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[@Rchelicopterfun]

NTS500 with 8mm dual camera 3M cable option: www.banggood.com/custlink/KDvYZPJfMj NTS500 with 5.5mm single camera 3M cable option: www.banggood.com/custlink/KvKRlmTtKD Amazon NTS500: amzn.to/3rIABvA

[@coffeeguy6673]

Nice video, thanks John. I'm a coffee machine engineer here in the UK and in a few weeks will be doing a 2 day PSSR course which will qualify me to carry out coffee machine boiler inspections. This will be handy to look inside the boiler although I will most likely be removing the heating element, still be handy to look right inside the boiler to check the welds and limescale deposits etc. Chuckled at your pooches showing interest, bless them. Cheers again, Daz, uk.

[@Rchelicopterfun]

@coffeeguy66 - yep, they are handy tools and once you get one, you soon find yourself using it for all sorts of "peeking into things" projects. This NTS500 is still working well - no complaints with it at all. Have fun with the boiler inspections 👍

[@Pro1er]

Instead of 3D printing a part I use a foam ball with a tiny hole drilled through it. I got 3 for $1 at Dollar Tree. The light weight of the foam makes it east to push it upwards without the flex shaft flopping over. Just be careful to properly secure the ball so as not to lose it in the area being inspected.

[@JasonLeaman]

Thats pretty sweet, im going to have to get one of these for the kinda work i do.. Good video. What radio do you use with your helis ? I used to fly Goblin's & Align's with my Jeti DS16 & my turbine jets were same.

[@Rchelicopterfun]

Used to be a JR guy, but switched to FrSky Horus 4 years ago for the bigger birds & Radiomaster TX16S for the smaller stuff.

[@JasonLeaman]

@@Rchelicopterfun My first radio was the JR9303 :P then went to spektrum then to Jeti and never looked back. I ditched the whole hobby, Helis are so expensive now Batteries have almost doubled in price, when you need a 12s 5000 pack at 500$ Canadian it's sucky. Miss the thrill of my turbine jet's flying by tho :)

[@Igbf]

@@Rchelicopterfun A good friend of mine is still a JR guy... I am trying to bring him to the dark side of horus, but with no luck still. Ty for your nice videos.

[@midwest4416]

Great review & cute pups. What's your thought on where using an 8MM for automotive would be to large? I can easily justify the 8MM price not sure where that may be too thick for automotive work though?

[@Rchelicopterfun]

Not many locations in automotive use I can't see an 8mm diameter camera fitting. Maybe diesel glow plug holes?

[@midwest4416]

@@Rchelicopterfun -thx

[@Bodhi1satva]

Would love one for gunsmithing / barrel borescope. This one would be to large of a diameter for some barrels. I wonder if it would focus close up inside a barrel with the side camera?

[@Rchelicopterfun]

I demo what the focal range is for both front and side camera in the video. Focal range is also stated in the specs in the description.

[@Bodhi1satva]

@@Rchelicopterfun exactly, thats why I asked as it wasn’t obvious whether or not it could be focused that close.

[@darelldd]

My only concern is the type and durability of the "built in" battery. I own too many devices now that are limited by the battery that can be tough to source and replace. Any thoughts in that regard? Built-in Li-Ion is great....when new.

[@Rchelicopterfun]

@Darell Dickey - It's been my experience over the past 15 years, that LiPo & Li-Ion packs in low current draw devices like these actually last a long time (decade +), provided the customary Lithium battery chemistry care is given such as long term storage charge (40%-60% capacity) and no high temps are observed. However, if/when the pack in this thing is getting tired or fails prematurely, anyone with even basic electronic repair or hobby skills should have no issue replacing it. The NTS500 is easy to open up (just remove the hex screws on the back), and there are so many sources these days for low capacity 1S LiPo cells, be it from the RC hobby industry, robotics industry, or electronics parts distributors - finding a 1S LiPo cell the fits it will be no issue. So my specific thought regarding the lithium cell in this thing is I'm not concerned in the least. 🙂

[@darelldd]

@@Rchelicopterfun Good to hear that the device is easy to open and replace the battery. My personal experience with LiPo's is nowhere near as rosy as yours, however. I've replaced countless packs after they have swollen enough to sometimes permanently deform the enclosure they're in. And in some cases I've found batteries hidden behind serviceable panels. Meaning you must break plastic to get at them. This device won't be plugged in constantly, so it is MUCH less of an issue than what I'm about to complain about.... and really my umbrella concern that I have misapplied to a device like this. The issue I have is that many of my devices are used 24/7 (air quality monitoring is one I'm dealing with currently), and thus needs to be plugged into the mains (via an adapter of course). This subsequently continuously charges the internal LiPo.... which is kept at near 100% SOC constantly. The obvious solution is to default to a much lower SOC, and allow a button press to fully charge if the device needs to be used off of shore power. Or let me remove the battery. Replaceable NiMH AA's would be so much better for my AQ device. I've experienced too many dangerously swollen LiPo packs to be happy with the new fad of building these things in and forever keeping them charged. And now back from my tangent... I realize that at least this won't be the case with the boroscope you review here. Thanks for letting me rant. :-) I've had a crazy-expensive, very short and uselessly stiff boroscope for 20 years. The specialty incandescent bulb alone costs $50 and lasts about 60 minutes of use. So I'm thrilled to see a review of what's on offer today. You make some great points about a dedicated display. And honestly, I didn't even know that a side camera was an option now! In only have experience with the mirrors.... which are SUCH a hassle to use. Cheers. I'm loving your content. sorry if it seems like I'm suddenly stalking you. :-)

[@Rchelicopterfun]

Yep, battery longevity is very much application & usage dependent. My anecdotal experiences are just that. Anyway, rant away & thanks for taking the time to watch my content; there is an endless supply out there to choose from, so I appreciate every singe viewer & view I get! Most humbling 🙂

[@Pro1er]

It's for that reason that I bought the pistol grip version of this camera, it uses a 18650 battery that is user replaceable. There is a small parasitic drain to retain the settings and the clock so it would be a good idea to charge the battery every three months as per the manual. With the 18560 battery you could remove it from the unit if you don't plan on using it for extended periods. The specs are otherwise the same on the two units. One quirk is if you remove the battery you will need to plug in the charging cable for a few seconds after you reinsert the battery in order for the unit to power on.

[@marcowens3522]

@@Pro1er the NTS500 is very simple to replace the built battery if you can solder its that simple.

[@elsie869]

How do you download your photos from the NTS500 to your PC so you can used it in your report to a client?

[@Rchelicopterfun]

Covered @10:20 - through the USB port or you could also remove the micro SD card.

[@davestewart9146]

Nice 👍

[@Rchelicopterfun]

Thanks ✌

[@edwinramos3316]

👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@SouthSideChiTown]

That video thumbnail.....😂

[@jamilkrdi6282]

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