What are the differences between borescopes, fiberscopes, videoscopes and video probes?
A borescope is, literally, a rigid optical device that lets the user look into a remote area through a small opening, and uses a lens system to project an image that can be observed through an eyepiece. A fiberscope is a flexible instrument that does the same thing through the use of fiber optic bundles. The terms videoscope and video probe are interchangeable and refer to a scope that uses a CCD chip in the tip and a fiber optic light guide to obtain an image and project it on a video monitor. The term “Borescope” is often generically used to describe all of these instruments.
