Hawkeye vs Milwaukee: Comparison of Borescope

How to choose the best borescope for your use and your budget has been a question that many technicians battle with. There are special features that help make the work easier for both the supplier and the client. If you are curious to know more than keep reading this article.

We will do a comparison for 3 manufacturers of borescopes (Milwaukee,Hawkeye and NDT-KITS), their product features, and descriptions. We will also do a comparison for the main features that you need to know more about as they will affect the quality of your work and therefore the quality of your test components.  Let’s get to it, shall we?

I. Hawkeye Borescope

1. About Hawkeye

Hawkeye is a brand of precision borescopes produced by the Gradient Lens Corporation.  The company has over twenty years’ experience in the industry and have been making instruments that are not only affordable but versatile.

Hawkeye borescopes have been put to use all over the globe in applications such as metallurgy, automotive and aeronautical inspections, welding, power generation and hydraulics, among others.  They maintain a high customer service level offering product warranty, product shipping, and repairs of their products after the warranty period.  The company prides itself in production of leading edge borescopes, with the highest quality of cameras, lighting and materials.

2. Popular Hawkeye Model

Hawkeye V2 Video Borescope 

• Description 

The Hawkeye-V2 Videoscope has been designed with a camera that has a higher resolution for crisp and clear video and photos and a brighter illuminating lamp for observation of large dark spaces.  The scope has been especially made to be hardy and durable enough for use in a variety of demanding industrial inspection applications.

Some notable features for the Hawkeye V2 Videoscope are the large LCD screen, controls that are simple and easy to navigate and the highly flexible and long scopes.

The enlarged 5-inch LCD screen offers a 2X zoom function, mirror image capability, and simple, straightforward controls for detailed close-up views.  They find their applications in the airplane maintenance sectors, oil and gas sectors and in manufacturing sectors for observations of hard reach machine components.

• Specifications

• Price Range

II. Milwaukee Borescope

1. About Milwaukee

Since its inception in 1924, Milwaukee has continuously developed instruments that are durable and are user focused.  They have a number of tools on top of testing instruments under their name and have only continued to grow over the years.

Milwaukee borescope has been used in industries for special components inspection.  Through the use of modern technology while working hand in hand with the customers, the final products of their innovations have gained great ground around the world and are the preferred go to models for tools and testing instruments.

2. Popular Milwaukee Model

M12 M-SPECTOR FLEX

• Description 

The M12 M-Spector Flex is a borescope that was made with the technician in mind.  It is an easy to use scope that ensures internal images of structures are viewed more clearly and faster.  It is sold as a full kit for various operations and applications, thus saving you the effort and time of adding connecting devices to the main instrument.

This borescope has been fitted with LCD lights that are more than ten times brighter than the normal scope LCD lights thereby giving you the ability to scan larger, darker spaces with ease.

• Specifications

• Price Range

III. Hawkeye vs Milwaukee: Which is the Best for you?

There are certain important aspects that you need to consider while shopping for a borescope for your specific work applications.  These factors include; probe length and diameter, flexibility and articulation of the probe, the type and size of display, illuminations and video resolution. These features help you to easily navigate the borescope while giving you top quality images for your scans.

Here is a breakdown of the specifications for the 2 models of borescope for you to compare.

For the Hawkeye borescope

• Flexibility. Highly flexible, offering a 4-way articulation of 150degrees and 95 degrees depending on the length of the scope. 
• Wire Length. They come with an array of wire lengths for you to choose from, depending on your work. These are 1.5m. 3.0m and 6m wires.
• Diameter. Probes are available in 4mm and 6 mm diameters.
• Resolution. Camera resolution is 400 X 600 pixels
• Illumination. It has a micro LED light with intensity adjustment feature depending on the work area.
• Screen Display. Comes with a clear 5 inches LCD display.
• Cost

For the Milwaukee video scopes

• Flexibility. Highly flexible, offering a 4-way articulation of 150degrees and 95 degrees depending on the length of the scope.
• Wire Length.  Has a long fixed wire length of 9 inches.
• Diameter.  Camera diameter for this probes is 12.5mm
• Resolution. 640 X 480 pixels
• Illumination. It has a 15X greater LED brightness as compared to other models
• Screen Display. Comes with a 3.5 inches wireless LCD display
• Cost

Even though both borescopes have proven to have high design standards and will work well for different applications, the Hawkeye V2 Video Borescope has proven to have more features and specifications as compared to the M12 M-SPECTOR FLEX by Milwaukee. The Hawkeye scope features a larger LCD display, is available in two diameters sizes and three different sizes for wire length, while the Milwaukee scope has a smaller display, and features single diameter and a single size wire.

➤ Related Article: Olympus vs Everest: Comparison of Borescope

IV. Comparison with Other Brands of Borescope: Hawkeye vs Milwaukee vs NDT-KITS

Now that we have looked at the Hawkeye and Milwaukee models of borescopes, allow us to introduce a third type of borescope from the NDT-KITS company. You may be wondering who NDT-KITS is.  NDT-KITS is a company located in China that has specialized in the manufacture and supply of testing instruments, including video borescopes.  A popular NDT-KITS model is the CL60 Series borescope.

The CL60 borescope is a portable one hand operational instrument that is used in different applications including the automotive and power generation industries.  It has a soft ergonomic exterior which makes it soft to touch and has an easy to operate navigation control. 

Here are the specifications for the NDT-KITS borescope for comparison with Hawkeye and Milwaukee.

• Flexibility. It is a flexible scope with a top/bottom 180 degrees articulation.
• Wire Length. Has a long fixed wire length of 14 inches.
• Diameter. Camera diameter is 6mm.
• Illumination. Uses a front to end ultra-bright LED light.
• Screen Display. It allows for connectivity to a mobile device through USB, which is used as the instrument display.
• Cost.

Plan to buy borescope from NDT-KITS, but have no idea how to import borescope from China? Here is the guide for you.

V. Your Perfect Pick: NDT-KITS

As compared to the Hawkeye and the Milwaukee models, the NDT-KITS borescope has features that are more user friendly and compatible with modern technology, like the easy to handle grip and the connection to a mobile device for display.

NDT-KITS has been in the instrument manufacturing business for over four decades.  This experience together with our competitive prices, expert engineers and a service department that is customer focused, we understand what the technician needs and we tailor make our products to make them fit for their purpose.

Conclusion

Choosing the right kind of borescope for your business should not be a hard task.  There are specifications and features for instruments which when you understand them, you will save time and money when getting a videoscope for your application.

Check out for the camera resolution, type of lighting, the scope diameter and lengths and most importantly, the flexibility of the probe.  These features are what will enable you to view dark, hard to reach corners with ease and help you make the right moves for your machine maintenance and repair needs.