I thought the new flexible camera rods were just a gimmick until a job in Asheville

For a while, I saw ads for those bendable camera rods you can snake through tricky flues and wrote them off as a toy. Then I got a call for a 1920s home in Asheville with three sharp bends in the clay liner. My old rigid camera just wouldn't make the turn. I borrowed a friend's Flexi-See model, which cost about $280, and gave it a shot. The thing bent almost 90 degrees and showed me a huge crack in the third bend that I would have completely missed. It saved me from giving an all-clear on a dangerous flue. Now I keep one in the truck. Has anyone else found a specific tool they didn't think they needed until one job changed their mind?

2 comments

2 Comments

richard_mason14d ago

Classic case of a tool looking silly until it saves your butt. I had the same thing with a tiny inspection mirror on a stick. Laughed at it in the store, but it found a leak behind a boiler that cost me way more in callbacks.

the_jesse13d ago

Man, that's a perfect example. It's wild how one weird job can totally change your mind on a piece of gear. I felt the same way about a thermal camera for a long time. Thought it was just for fancy show-offs. Then I used one to find a hot spot in a wall that turned out to be a scary electrical splice. Never would have seen it otherwise. Now I feel naked without it.