Cameras - rear / backup, side, dash and more

Topic: Cameras - rear / backup, side, dash and more (Read 447 times) previous topic - next topic

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January 11, 2023, 03:32:19 pm

Now we are towing we wanted a rear camera to keep track of the toad and to help with lane changes (especially as we move up to a 31’ plus toad).

We looked at a lot of videos and reviews and asked some people about theirs.

There are a rear camera / backup cameras, side cameras, and dash cams.

Tons of install videos out there but most do not clearly show what you see while driving.

One guy (vortexradar.com) is doing a very good reviews on dash cams and the ability to read license plates (used for hit and run accidents - more useful for big city dwellers where hitting parked cars happens lots). And for accidents.
The technology for reading license plates is limited but slowly improving.
However most people said they never used this despite many years of dashcam use.

I found one good one on the value of side cameras https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=VOvALBqqsS4.
They added value on backing up his long trailer but just a couple times, most important one when pouring rain so no one had to get out and look.
They can also be useful to make sure you don’t swing the back of RV into something in tight spaces.
Another strong value of side cameras is to see your tires in comparison to the white lines on the road. This can be very useful for narrow roads especially when there is no shoulder. Several install videos talked about pointing the side but they didn’t have video clearly showing this in their monitors. We may add side cameras at least on the passenger side sooner rather than later as this could be very helpful where we will be traveling.

I finally found a good one on a toad car and changing lanes. That is what we were looking for. They put a rear camera on the RV and another one at the back of what they were towing (caravan). And they have great footage of what you see on the cameras. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WP1dTmQN7_c

We looked at 360 (birdseye) cameras but these gave the fisheye view so it was very distorted. I could see this being useful when moving slowly (backing up or in a tight spot like checking tail swing in a gas station), but we have the second person get out and look for those situations.

There are “350” non Birdseye cameras being advertised, these are really a front, back, and two side cameras. Not a true 360 view but covers most areas depending how you mount your side camera (to generally see the view, to see your rear tires, or some combination).

We saw one video on a very good 360 camera that had the cameras at one location but that meant you had obstacles in your line if sight (eg if attached on your windshield the rear view only saw as if your eyes were looking that way such as the inside walls of your RV. And the resulting picture was panning around.

Dash cams with a rear view camera at that same location to see inside your car seemed to be gaining popularity - seeing your passengers and maybe your kitchen area (confirming your fridge freezer didn’t open or what fell down and made that crash).

Note: I am not including discussions on:
- camera resolution (1080, 4k, fake 4k - stretch the picture while losing clarity, and more)
- camera mounting positions (rear camera mounted high, low, or at a middle height, side cameras pointed at the rear tires or straight back seeing a long view - or a combo)
- dash camera or not
- cameras ability to capture license plates and clear faces of people and the technology changes for this
- monitor mounting positions including permanently mounted or easy to take/hide/move ones
- wired vs wireless (can affect lag and picture but technology is getting better for wireless)
- features for better night vision
- viewing angle of camera (this plus camera height affects greatly what you see)
- split screen vs push button to change cameras
- replaces existing light (but restricts view direction)
-motion detection for security when not driving
- ability to store video (SD chip
Vs on cloud) (and if loops or not)
- ability to have backup guiding lines

There is a lot of info and choices in the above topics and I suggest finding some good videos for this especially as things change over time.

We decided for now to do the rear camera on the RV and another in the toad. We also (just) decided to do a side camera on the passenger side as we plan to do narrow roads in the next few months.
When we get a longer RV we will add the second side camera if we have not already done that.

We are still thinking over a dash cam - we might wait till technology improves or decide to just add one in case of accidents.

I decided not to include what we bought - there are so many variations and things are changing so it is better to set your criteria for features then go check reviews for cameras that have those features (and we will change this over time).

I found little info on cameras in this forum so I am passing this along for others to use.

Feel free to add your experiences.