Sewer and drain cleaning professionals are always keeping an eye out for products that will allow them to earn more money while making their lives easier, and Vivax-Metrotech was providing just that at the 2016 Water & Wastewater Equipment, Treatment & Transport Show.

The vCam-5 camera inspection system gives operators the flexibility to cover a range of inspections, including drainlines, mainlines and laterals up to 8 inches in diameter.

“What they like about it most is it’s a small camera system, but it has the features of a big camera system,” says Rich Jordan, product manager at Vivax-Metrotech. “With this system, we start at 3 inches and we can go up to 8 inches (in diameter), so we have a lot of versatility for the big jobs and for the small jobs.”

The lightweight control module offers an 8-inch LCD, daylight-readable display and is designed for ease of use. Standard features include a full text writer with the ability to change fonts and background colors, built-in rechargeable batteries and camera test port.

Four interchangeable self-leveling camera head options range from 0.7 to 1.8 inches in diameter. One-touch recording captures JPEG sill images or video. Users can record about 20 hours of video onto the system’s 300GB internal hard drive or directly to an SD card or USB thumb drive in AVI video format.

“It’s a feature-packed product at an affordable price,” Jordan says.

But perhaps the camera system’s biggest selling point is not just its ability to tackle a variety of inspection jobs, but the multitude of user options that go with it.

Users can choose between two reels based on which camera head configurations they have. Both reels offer stainless steel construction and come with a 5-watt, 512 Hz/640 Hz locatable sonde and traceable pushrod for mapping out lines.

The standard reel is available with 200 or 400 feet of standard-size pushrod. It offers a wide enough profile to roll without rocking and tipping yet slim enough to go through doorways.

The MX Mini-Reel features a carbon fiber construction and is designed for use in confined areas or rooftops. The smaller diameter pushrod on the mini-reel allows for inspection of smaller lines from 1 1/2 to 4 inches in diameter.

“Versatility is important because the user will have the opportunity to inspect a range of pipes,” Jordan says.

He says curious shoppers were interested in the variety of products the company had on display this year at the WWETT Show, which primarily includes locators and cameras, such as the vCam-5.

“We had another excellent show,” Jordan says. “If we were a retailer and we had 15 of those things in the booth, we probably could have sold all 15 of them.”

Jordan says it’s that type of exposure and the face-to-face interaction with customers that keeps Vivax-Metrotech coming back to Indianapolis each year.

“We come to the WWETT Show because we have a giant audience,” he says. “Thousands of people are going to walk through here, and it’s just the market that we’re trying to sell into — all of those players are right here. This is where we launch our new products, to show everybody the new technology.” 800/446-3392; www.vivax-metrotech.com.