I'm looking for one of those endoscopes with its own monitor for hunting
around inside car bodywork, etc. (I already have a basic USB one but I
want to avoid having to mess around with a laptop as well).

Any experience / recommendations? Some of the chinese ones on ebay at ~
£100 look quite good.

In article ,
newshound wrote:
I'm looking for one of those endoscopes with its own monitor for hunting
around inside car bodywork, etc. (I already have a basic USB one but I
want to avoid having to mess around with a laptop as well).

Any experience / recommendations? Some of the chinese ones on ebay at ~
£100 look quite good.

Depends on whether you'd be happy with the small screen and relatively low
resolution. The all in one units tend to be SD. The ones without screen
can be HD.

--
*PMS jokes aren't funny; period.*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 11/04/2014 10:32, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
newshound wrote:
I'm looking for one of those endoscopes with its own monitor for hunting
around inside car bodywork, etc. (I already have a basic USB one but I
want to avoid having to mess around with a laptop as well).

Any experience / recommendations? Some of the chinese ones on ebay at ~
£100 look quite good.

Depends on whether you'd be happy with the small screen and relatively low
resolution. The all in one units tend to be SD. The ones without screen
can be HD.


I'm basically after convenience, looking for obstacles or gaps, so lower
resolution should be OK; but useful to have one with memory or a memory
card as these seem to save at VGA (640 instead of 320). I know that
doesn't sound much but I have had a few cases during plant
investigations where a VGA image from a basic usb microscope in an
otherwise inaccessible location has been incredibly useful.

On 11/04/2014 10:32, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In ,
wrote:
I'm looking for one of those endoscopes with its own monitor for hunting
around inside car bodywork, etc. (I already have a basic USB one but I
want to avoid having to mess around with a laptop as well).

Any experience / recommendations? Some of the chinese ones on ebay at ~
£100 look quite good.

Depends on whether you'd be happy with the small screen and relatively low
resolution. The all in one units tend to be SD. The ones without screen
can be HD.


Indeed. I've got a Maplin all-in-one jobbie, and am not all that
impressed. The picture isn't all that good, and the screen bit
inevitably moves when you manipulate the camera end, so it's difficult
the work out the orientation of what you're looking at. Typical intended
use was things like trying to see where waste pipes went, behind a
kitchen cabinet - but I ended up totally confused!

With hindsight, would I have bought it? No.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

On 11/04/2014 10:51, Roger Mills wrote:
On 11/04/2014 10:32, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In ,
wrote:
I'm looking for one of those endoscopes with its own monitor for hunting
around inside car bodywork, etc. (I already have a basic USB one but I
want to avoid having to mess around with a laptop as well).

Any experience / recommendations? Some of the chinese ones on ebay at ~
£100 look quite good.

Depends on whether you'd be happy with the small screen and relatively
low
resolution. The all in one units tend to be SD. The ones without screen
can be HD.


Indeed. I've got a Maplin all-in-one jobbie, and am not all that
impressed. The picture isn't all that good, and the screen bit
inevitably moves when you manipulate the camera end, so it's difficult
the work out the orientation of what you're looking at. Typical intended
use was things like trying to see where waste pipes went, behind a
kitchen cabinet - but I ended up totally confused!

With hindsight, would I have bought it? No.

Thanks, that's a very useful viewpoint. I've used industrial optical
ones (both flexible and rigid) so I know exactly what you mean about
orientation confusion.

The fancier chinese ones have removable monitors, so you can in
principle reorientate the display, which might make things a bit easier.

On 11/04/2014 10:57, newshound wrote:
On 11/04/2014 10:51, Roger Mills wrote:
On 11/04/2014 10:32, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In ,
wrote:
I'm looking for one of those endoscopes with its own monitor for
hunting
around inside car bodywork, etc. (I already have a basic USB one but I
want to avoid having to mess around with a laptop as well).

Any experience / recommendations? Some of the chinese ones on ebay at ~
£100 look quite good.

Depends on whether you'd be happy with the small screen and relatively
low
resolution. The all in one units tend to be SD. The ones without screen
can be HD.


Indeed. I've got a Maplin all-in-one jobbie, and am not all that
impressed. The picture isn't all that good, and the screen bit
inevitably moves when you manipulate the camera end, so it's difficult
the work out the orientation of what you're looking at. Typical intended
use was things like trying to see where waste pipes went, behind a
kitchen cabinet - but I ended up totally confused!

With hindsight, would I have bought it? No.

Thanks, that's a very useful viewpoint. I've used industrial optical
ones (both flexible and rigid) so I know exactly what you mean about
orientation confusion.

The fancier chinese ones have removable monitors, so you can in
principle reorientate the display, which might make things a bit easier.

I should perhaps have added that it does also have video and USB
outputs, so that you can connect it to an external monitor or (say)
laptop - and ignore[1] its own display. But that means carrying
additional lumbar round with you.

Now, if I could connect it to the USB input of my Android tablet, that
would make it almost acceptable - but I can't find any suitable
apps/software to support that.

[1] With USB, you don't have any option but to ignore its own display
because it is automatically blanked as soon as you connect it
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

On 11 Apr 2014, Roger Mills grunted:

On 11/04/2014 10:32, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In ,
wrote:
I'm looking for one of those endoscopes with its own monitor for
hunting around inside car bodywork, etc. (I already have a basic USB
one but I want to avoid having to mess around with a laptop as
well).

Any experience / recommendations? Some of the chinese ones on ebay
at ~ £100 look quite good.

Depends on whether you'd be happy with the small screen and
relatively low resolution. The all in one units tend to be SD. The
ones without screen can be HD.


Indeed. I've got a Maplin all-in-one jobbie, and am not all that
impressed. The picture isn't all that good, and the screen bit
inevitably moves when you manipulate the camera end, so it's difficult
the work out the orientation of what you're looking at. Typical
intended use was things like trying to see where waste pipes went,
behind a kitchen cabinet - but I ended up totally confused!

That experience sounds identical to mine, using a laptop/USB type.
Honestly, I think every time I've tried to use it for something useful (ie
similar use to yours) rather than examining body orifices, I've given up!

--
David

On Fri, 11 Apr 2014 10:51:40 +0100, Roger Mills
wrote:


Indeed. I've got a Maplin all-in-one jobbie, and am not all that
impressed. The picture isn't all that good, and the screen bit
inevitably moves when you manipulate the camera end, so it's difficult
the work out the orientation of what you're looking at. Typical intended
use was things like trying to see where waste pipes went, behind a
kitchen cabinet - but I ended up totally confused!

With hindsight, would I have bought it? No.

I'm getting ****ed off with Maplin lately. Terrible delivery times and
pretty crap quality goods. It's about time Conrad opened up over here;
show those Essex ******* how it's done.

"Cursitor Doom" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 11 Apr 2014 10:51:40 +0100, Roger Mills
wrote:


Indeed. I've got a Maplin all-in-one jobbie, and am not all that
impressed. The picture isn't all that good, and the screen bit
inevitably moves when you manipulate the camera end, so it's difficult
the work out the orientation of what you're looking at. Typical intended
use was things like trying to see where waste pipes went, behind a
kitchen cabinet - but I ended up totally confused!

With hindsight, would I have bought it? No.

I'm getting ****ed off with Maplin lately. Terrible delivery times and
pretty crap quality goods. It's about time Conrad opened up over here;
show those Essex ******* how it's done.


Hell yeah,

I discovered Conrad Electronics during a trip to Germany in 2004, i started
in the general electrics bit which alone was about the size of an average
maplin superstore, then there were some steps down to the electronics area,
and i thought 'this is what maplins used to be like before they drifted away
from electronics into selling kids toys'

The cable machine alone was amazing (all computerised, bloke selected the
cable you wanted on a touch screen, machine rotated and brought out the roll
with the cable on, about 30 or so reels to a roll, and it lit up a led under
the cable reel he wanted, then he slid the measuring and winding machine to
the reel, inserted the end of the cable and pressed start,
Cable was drawn off the reel, counter counted up in millimeters and was
wound onto a spider type thing,
At the exact length, it added 20mm then cut the cable and shot a couple of
bits of tape around the loops of cable on the spider, one of them being a
bar-coded label, then relaxed the spiders arms for the bloke to pull the
wound cable off, and whilst he was handing it over to me the machine put
it's self away again.

And as for the selection of cables on offer, i got some UV safe thick
insulated solar panel link up cable to connect the 2 more panels i had
bought over there on my motorhomes roof, only saw that stuff in specialist
shops before online.

Then there was a lift to the upstairs part which housed the modeling section
which was out of this world, radio controlled everything from 20 euro mini
helecopters to thousand euro trucks with gears, lights, sounds that you
could feel,
planes.. electric and glow engined, gliders, air ships, hover crafts, boats,
subs, all kinds of cars road and off road, tanks, motorbikes and so on (i
succumbed to a 1:5 scale petrol engined RC buggy in a sale for half the
price available in england online)

Then the model train section, everything from G gauge garden railways stuff
down to the Z gauge, big HO layout suspended from the ceiling that went
around the modeling section,

There was a section for car audio stuff, and more sections i can't recall,
i was impressed at being able to buy UK 13 amp plugs and sockets there.


If maplins don't watch it, they will go the way tandy went, sell more and
more **** and toys, ditch the electronics side apart from a few led's and
resistors, then wonder why no one bothers shopping with them.

I recall back at the turn of the century going into nottingham maplins after
a transistor equivalent, bloke didnt even need to look it up in the book and
got me a few that worked,
Don't think they have had the books for years, and most of the bods working
there nowadays don't know what a transistor is.

On Friday, 11 April 2014 20:50:56 UTC+1, Cursitor Doom wrote:

[...]

I'm getting ****ed off with Maplin lately. Terrible delivery times and
pretty crap quality goods. It's about time Conrad opened up over here;
show those Essex ******* how it's done.

FWIW I had a memory of seeing a UK Conrad advert recently; dunno if there has
been a recent development or anything but they do seem to have a UK
(mail order only?) presence...

www.conrad-electronic.co.uk

On Fri, 11 Apr 2014 21:58:49 +0100, "Gazz" wrote:


I recall back at the turn of the century going into nottingham maplins after
a transistor equivalent, bloke didnt even need to look it up in the book and
got me a few that worked,
Don't think they have had the books for years, and most of the bods working
there nowadays don't know what a transistor is.

Conrad also have a superb range of discrete electonic components of
all sorts for people who like to build their own circuits; very
impressive how they can afford to hold all that stock. Puts Maplin to
shame.

"jkn" wrote in message
...
On Friday, 11 April 2014 20:50:56 UTC+1, Cursitor Doom wrote:

[...]

I'm getting ****ed off with Maplin lately. Terrible delivery times and
pretty crap quality goods. It's about time Conrad opened up over here;
show those Essex ******* how it's done.

FWIW I had a memory of seeing a UK Conrad advert recently; dunno if there
has
been a recent development or anything but they do seem to have a UK
(mail order only?) presence...

www.conrad-electronic.co.uk

yeah, they have had the mail order side available to the uk for a while,

but we want the bricks and mortar stores over here too, it's all right
looking through a catalogue or web site, but seeing the actual items in real
life is very handy, i notice much more than flicking through a catalogue,

maybe in a few years when maplins has gone bust they can take over their
premises.... tho most maplins units would be far too small for a full size
conrads.

like Saturn in Germany, the berlin one is about 6 floors, each floor the
size of the largest curry's/****y world,

i just don't know why we get such small shops with a limited range here,
i love the DIY sheds in Germany and France,

Some of my friends in Germany are building simulators using that speed frame
alli extrusion stuff, they can go down to their local OBI, Praktiker, Bau
Haus, Mr. Bricolage, Leyroy Merlin or what ever and buy the stuff and al
fixings off the shelf.

the best we can do over here is buy a bit of angle iron and a pack of nuts
and bolts... at prices to make your eyes water.

Roger Mills wrote:
Now, if I could connect it to the USB input of my Android tablet, that
would make it almost acceptable - but I can't find any suitable
apps/software to support that.

Have you tried? If it'll work on a PC without software it might just show
up as a 'webcam'. In which case, some webcam software on Android might do
it - as long as your tablet supports USB OTG (which it probably does in
hardware, but may need a rooted OS if the tablet manufacturer couldn't be
bothered).

Theo

In article ,
Gazz wrote:
www.conrad-electronic.co.uk

yeah, they have had the mail order side available to the uk for a while,

but we want the bricks and mortar stores over here too, it's all right
looking through a catalogue or web site, but seeing the actual items in
real life is very handy, i notice much more than flicking through a
catalogue,

maybe in a few years when maplins has gone bust they can take over their
premises.... tho most maplins units would be far too small for a full
size conrads.

You'll be lucky with Maplin these days. For components. Mostly just mail
order.

--
*If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 12/04/2014 15:57, Theo Markettos wrote:
Roger wrote:
Now, if I could connect it to the USB input of my Android tablet, that
would make it almost acceptable - but I can't find any suitable
apps/software to support that.

Have you tried? If it'll work on a PC without software it might just show
up as a 'webcam'. In which case, some webcam software on Android might do
it - as long as your tablet supports USB OTG (which it probably does in
hardware, but may need a rooted OS if the tablet manufacturer couldn't be
bothered).

Theo

Sadly, it won't work on a PC without software. It comes with a CD
containing Windows drivers - but no support for anything else.

I have a USB OTG cable for my tablet [Google Nexus 10] and that works ok
with USB memory sticks, but I've not had any success with anything else
- such as USB 3G dongles.
--
Cheers,
Roger
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checked.

On 12/04/2014 16:27, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:


You'll be lucky with Maplin these days. For components. Mostly just mail
order.

You're probably right I haven't tried to buy any components in-store
recently. They certainly do them on mail order - useful if you need
something for a few pence to bring the spend up just enough to be able
to use a discount voucher!
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:
You'll be lucky with Maplin these days. For components. Mostly just mail
order.

I suspect they don't stock half the things in the catalogue even in the
warehouse. I've gone in, found just the thing albeit overpriced, and
then they tell me they can get one in six weeks.

Time to browse over to Farnell or CPC and it'll arrive next day.
Sure, some lines are out of stock but they have 17 varieties of everything.
And after years of being unusable their websites are actually passable these
days.

Theo

In article ,
Theo Markettos wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:
You'll be lucky with Maplin these days. For components. Mostly just
mail order.

I suspect they don't stock half the things in the catalogue even in the
warehouse. I've gone in, found just the thing albeit overpriced, and
then they tell me they can get one in six weeks.

They seem to be selling on Ebay these days. At not very competitive BIN.

Time to browse over to Farnell or CPC and it'll arrive next day. Sure,
some lines are out of stock but they have 17 varieties of everything.
And after years of being unusable their websites are actually passable
these days.

CPC seem to be going for the old Maplin components market with no minimum
order charge and free delivery. Maplin used to be next day delivery and
free (above a certain value) - last time I used them they charged for
delivery which was also slow. Being slow to despatch things means to me a
lack of staff or organization. In these Ebay days one expects fast
dispatch - Maplin seem to have gone in reverse.

--
*What happens if you get scared half to death twice? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 13/04/2014 10:59, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Theo Markettos wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:

CPC seem to be going for the old Maplin components market with no minimum
order charge and free delivery. Maplin used to be next day delivery and
free (above a certain value) - last time I used them they charged for
delivery which was also slow. Being slow to despatch things means to me a
lack of staff or organization. In these Ebay days one expects fast
dispatch - Maplin seem to have gone in reverse.

Plenty of electronic "components" on eBay these days, that's usually my
first port of call now. Similarly for "nuts and bolts".

On Friday, 11 April 2014 22:08:40 UTC+1, jkn wrote:
On Friday, 11 April 2014 20:50:56 UTC+1, Cursitor Doom wrote:



[...]



I'm getting ****ed off with Maplin lately. Terrible delivery times and

pretty crap quality goods. It's about time Conrad opened up over here;

show those Essex ******* how it's done.



FWIW I had a memory of seeing a UK Conrad advert recently; dunno if there has
been a recent development or anything but they do seem to have a UK
(mail order only?) presence...

I'd heard (from a rep) that they'd brought rapid electronics to get in to the UK martket as it was cheaper option.




www.conrad-electronic.co.uk

In article ,
newshound wrote:
CPC seem to be going for the old Maplin components market with no
minimum order charge and free delivery. Maplin used to be next day
delivery and free (above a certain value) - last time I used them they
charged for delivery which was also slow. Being slow to despatch
things means to me a lack of staff or organization. In these Ebay days
one expects fast dispatch - Maplin seem to have gone in reverse.

Plenty of electronic "components" on eBay these days, that's usually my
first port of call now. Similarly for "nuts and bolts".

Most of the electronic components with fast (2 or 3 days) delivery - ie
from the UK - cost a great deal more on Ebay than from CPC. Different if
they're coming from China and you don't mind waiting 3 or 4 weeks.

--
*When the chips are down, the buffalo is empty*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

whisky-dave wrote:
I'd heard (from a rep) that they'd brought rapid electronics to get in to the UK martket as it was cheaper option.

I quite like Rapid. However I do wish they wouldn't chase the 'Education'
market so much (not particularly interested in 'Emotions and Feelings Cubes'
for PSHE lessons).

Often when I use them I can only get a fraction of what I actually want,
which makes it barely worth the time to check up. It only really makes
sense for bulk orders.

They've also been seduced into importing the whole Toolbase (?) catalogue
(Draper, Silverline etc) but they don't actually stock most of it - there's
loads of stuff showing (139 types of circlip pliers) but when you go to look
it up they're either on 5-7 days or 1-3 weeks. Rapid it ain't.

Theo