Reverse parking sensors or camera

-Mike- · 2 Sep 2013 at 00:57

Hey all,

I'm probably going to get shouted down for asking this, but after taking delivery of my second Civic I'm trying to decide whether to have parking sensors fitted to it or not.

My previous Bora had them, as did the civic I had before this one. Whilst I can reverse without them the visibility in the civic is less than brilliant when you are reversing.

My choice basically is

A) Don't bother

B) Get rear parking sensors from Honda at a cost of £299 fitted

C) Get parking sensors fitted elsewhere

D) Get a reverse camera and use the head unit as the display (I plan to change the god awful standard stereo anyway)

Opinions please?

Thanks

nick.lidgett · 2 Sep 2013 at 01:01

E) Unless its a type-R, Sell your old biddy civic and buy a car with reversing aids already installed

m4rkw7 · 2 Sep 2013 at 01:09

I'd go with a camera sensors just shout and don't show you what's going on.

Phil W · 2 Sep 2013 at 07:55

DIY Parking Sensors. £14 on eBay. I have a set and I fitted a set to my mums Focus too. They work fine, money well spent.

Howard · 2 Sep 2013 at 07:56

Phil W said:
DIY Parking Sensors. £14 on eBay. I have a set and I fitted a set to my mums Focus too. They work fine, money well spent.

This, although mine are playing up very occasionally - I think the controller unit is a bit iffy

peterattheboro · 2 Sep 2013 at 07:59

A) You have eyes

paradigm · 2 Sep 2013 at 08:00

m4rkw7 said:
I'd go with a camera sensors just shout and don't show you what's going on.

Mine show me what's going on.

rodenal · 2 Sep 2013 at 08:24

Changing the head unit in a nav equipped civic totally removes the point of having got that model....

Just buy a camera and wire it to the existing screen, its a cheap job and will take you an hour tops. Just don't use blocks or taps to make sure its a proper job

Berger · 2 Sep 2013 at 08:36

Parking sensors and camera factory installed....

I'd either DIY sensors or have Honda do it, wouldn't bother with a normal garage.

Imy · 2 Sep 2013 at 09:39

Parking sensors on their own should be sufficient. Compared to a reversing camera, it frees up your eyes to look around to check for other hazards.

I'd get ones you can trust though - otherwise what's the point?

peterwalkley · 2 Sep 2013 at 09:52

Hugely depends on the car and driver ability imo. In my old estate car I knew the bumper was about 6 inches further than the rear glass so just had the sensors as they were standard. In my current saloon there's a boot and I've really no clue where it is now in relation to the rear glass - so went for a camera as well as the sensors.

Adam · 2 Sep 2013 at 10:14

Phil W said:
DIY Parking Sensors. £14 on eBay. I have a set and I fitted a set to my mums Focus too. They work fine, money well spent.

Slightly off topic but how good are these? I have found one listing with 10k+ sales and they come in different colours however I can't see these being a perfect match for my car. Did you paint over them so they matched?

Also, the OEM sensors I have used in the past only sound when you are in reverse. How would the after market kits know you have selected reverse?

paradigm · 2 Sep 2013 at 10:35

Adam said:
Slightly off topic but how good are these? I have found one listing with 10k+ sales and they come in different colours however I can't see these being a perfect match for my car. Did you paint over them so they matched?

Also, the OEM sensors I have used in the past only sound when you are in reverse. How would the after market kits know you have selected reverse?

I installed a "cheap" set on the girlfriends car. Ordered them in white then keyed them and repainted in a colour I had mixed up from Halfords. Perfect colour match now (didn't bother risking a pre-painted set in a similar colour).

As for how they "know", it's quite simple, you take power from the reverse light

Adam · 2 Sep 2013 at 11:09

paradigm said:
I installed a "cheap" set on the girlfriends car. Ordered them in white then keyed them and repainted in a colour I had mixed up from Halfords. Perfect colour match now (didn't bother risking a pre-painted set in a similar colour).

As for how they "know", it's quite simple, you take power from the reverse light

Excellent, the power from the reverse light is a good idea

As for the colour, did you pick the closest colour to your girlfriend's car and then paint over the top or go for white as it was the easiest to spray over? My girlfriends mini is a dark blue but I can't see the match being great as standard so I would need to spray them myself.

aa6972 · 2 Sep 2013 at 11:17

You can get rear parking camera set for quite cheap HERE

Mickey · 2 Sep 2013 at 12:51

Adam said:
Excellent, the power from the reverse light is a good idea

As for the colour, did you pick the closest colour to your girlfriend's car and then paint over the top or go for white as it was the easiest to spray over? My girlfriends mini is a dark blue but I can't see the match being great as standard so I would need to spray them myself.

I installed some of the cheap eBay ones in my GFs Fiesta, picked the (apparently) matching colour for her car and it's reasonable, but not great.

If it was my car, I'd have resprayed them to match, but she's happy as they are so I left them alone.

paradigm · 2 Sep 2013 at 13:01

I went for white as it was least likely to affect any colour being sprayed over the top (her car is yellow).

Howard · 2 Sep 2013 at 13:03

I bough some silver ones as mine is a slightly darker silver, so a very slight blowing over them was all that was needed

theone8181 · 2 Sep 2013 at 13:06

Or get them done in chrome if they are on a relatively new car.

paradigm · 2 Sep 2013 at 13:11

theone8181 said:
Or get them done in chrome if they are on a relatively new car.

Why?