Rear view mirrors - get with the times!

The Old Man

The Old Man

The Old Man

Associate
Joined
14 Apr 2004
Posts
267
Location
UK
I was driving the other night and whilst fiddling with my rear view mirror thought how old the method was to see behind you. I can't believe in this day and age that we still use an el cheap mirror when we could be using a small 7" LCD monitor. The things seem to be incorporated into everything these days and I wonder how long it will be before they become standard in cars.

I know some guys like to fit PC's in their cars, I wouldn't go this far but has anyone here ever looked into or actually fitted up a small cheap 12v camera and LCD in their vehicle? Perhaps there are even kits available, I'll have to Google.

It would be a cool thing to fit that screen somewhere in the dash and be able to turn it off or adjust the brightness when some idiot is following you with his fog lights on, 2 weeks after we last had fog! Could be handy for parking too!
 
I remember seeing this video of a new BMW which had an LCD screen with rear and front views. What made it different: at night it had night vision so you could see any obstacles clearer.
 
I'm of the opinion that if it aint broke don't fix it. A mirror is simple, cheap and effective and other than the sticky ad holding it on melting in the sun theres nothing that can go wrong with it.
 
i'd tend to agree with rob - although i can see the benafits of having all sorts of technicall gubbins in the car - i fail to see the fun in it. Raw is the way to go!
 
I could see the point in doing that at night for night-vision etc, but would hate to think how expensive the camera and display would have to be to match the quality of directly reflecting the images into your eyes with a bit of reflective glass.

Plus it's just more stuff to fix if it breaks. I don't want to have to take my car into the garage because the rear view mirror short-circuited. :D
 
Actually they seem fairly reasonably priced.
Look at this 5" screen/camera kit for for £160:
http://www.henrys.co.uk/cctv/51017c.htm
Even has a mirror image button for getting those number plates!
It would probably be effected by wet roads with spray and rain though which is probably why they aren't so popular.

There is even a black and white kit for £79!
http://www.henrys.co.uk/cctv/reverse.htm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/main.jhtml?xml=/motoring/2002/08/02/emrip03.xml
http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=...amera&btnG=Search&meta=cr=countryUK|countryGB
 
Last edited:
The Old Man said:
It would probably be effected by wet roads with spray and rain though which is probably why they aren't so popular.
Click to expand...

you would also get allot narrower field of view from a camera, even with a fish eye lense a mirror will give you a more complete view
 
vix's dad has one where the screen clips over the normal rear view mirror. In normal use it still acts as a mirror but as soon as you put the car into reverse the screen turns on and displays an image from a camera mounted in the bumper. Guess it's useful if you have to do a lot of reverse parking in a vehicle with poor rear visibility.
 
Siliconslave said:
you would also get allot narrower field of view from a camera, even with a fish eye lense a mirror will give you a more complete view
Click to expand...

:D Not in my Landrover Freelander! You can't see much of anything with the rear seat headrests!
 
kaiowas said:
vix's dad has one where the screen clips over the normal rear view mirror. In normal use it still acts as a mirror but as soon as you put the car into reverse the screen turns on and displays an image from a camera mounted in the bumper. Guess it's useful if you have to do a lot of reverse parking in a vehicle with poor rear visibility.
Click to expand...

Yeah, would be handy for my Dad too who is a HGV driver, those things are very long.
 
GoldenGlory said:
I remember seeing this video of a new BMW which had an LCD screen with rear and front views. What made it different: at night it had night vision so you could see any obstacles clearer.
Click to expand...

Wasn't that on top gear and it was the new S class if i'm not mistaken.
 
Time delay latency is a problem with these, as well as visibility in all light conditions.

Why overcomplicate things, it will just be another thing to go wrong / add weight
 
They seem readily available on Ebay from Hong Kong at great prices but the carriage is a killer..

2.5" TFT LCD MONITOR & IR CAR REAR VIEW CAMERA £16.99
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/u54-2-5-TFT-L...QcategoryZ75330QQtcZphotoQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

7" TFT In-Dash Car Monitor w/ Rear View IR Camera £48.99
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/P71-7-TFT-In-...QcategoryZ75330QQtcZphotoQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

SUN VISOR MONITOR & DAY/NIGHT REAR VIEW CAMERA £74.99
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SUN-VISOR-MON...ameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting
 
siztenboots said:
Time delay latency is a problem with these, as well as visibility in all light conditions.

Why overcomplicate things, it will just be another thing to go wrong / add weight
Click to expand...

Yeah, but could argue that about anything, like fitting an after market CD Player. Plus they weigh next to nothing compared to the weight of a car.
 
it's funny, how lazy and demanding have we become as a race that looking in a mirror to see whats behind you isn't good enough anymore ??

but : i agree, the more gadgets in life the better..... if theres a better way to do something you can bet that somebody has thought of it..... and of course will make money out of us buying it.........
 
I could see this being quite useful in something like an Exige which has a rear view mirror, but no rear view. The engine lid completely blocks out the rear view so a screen and camera would definitely help.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom