General Purpose Tools

Lighted Telescoping Inspection Mirror

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Telescopic range of 6-3/4" to 37-inches

Three years ago, I stumbled across this Lighted Telescoping Inspection Mirror mentioned in a Sears email. I bought it on a whim, since I could see some potential uses for it. It was one of my better impulse buys!

If you work with A/V equipment or computers, you know that all the ports/plug-ins tend to be on the back side of the machine, snugged up against the wall. This tool allows you to slip a mirror behind the equipment and see where things are located. With the incorporated LED light, finding what you are looking for is much easier even in dark nooks and crannies. Now, anytime I need to connect an HDMI cable, an A/V cable, or a USB cable, the first thing I grab is this mirror.

Once I started using it on a regular basis, I found more scenarios where it came in handy: finding things in the lower section of my engine compartment (especially when I dropped a socket and it got stuck somewhere), checking the soap level in the soap pump bottle under the kitchen sink, looking at the plumbing in the bathroom vanity, etc. I’ve even used it to see where the cable feed hole is on my desk when I’m trying to get yet another USB cable connected from point A to point B.

It has a telescoping handle that extends 33 inches, a non-slip grip handle, and a bright LED light, powered by a standard CR-2016 battery. The mirror unit can be swiveled about 300 degrees, making it easy to adjust to any situation. It is fairly compact, and folds almost flat. I haven’t seen many of these in tool stores, and the few I’ve seen are more expensive than what I paid for this tool. It’s available on the Sears website or in their store, if you live nearby. It sure beats using the dental mirror and flashlight setup I used before!

-- Martin Lange 10/20/17

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