Back up camera

[Leej]

Right now there is a back up camera on sale at Costco, just got one and installed it on our truck. It took my husband less than an hour to install.
Wow! It will now be easy to see the hitch on the trailer when I hook up without a spotter, which is most of the time! Score!
Anyone else use a backup camera for this assist?

[Jon Vermilye]

I installed 2 Rear View Safety cameras, one on the RAV4 & the other installed by Escape on the back of the 17B. Both are very useful, particularly because I travel solo. Backing up in a gas station or store would be near impossible without the one on the trailer & is is useful as a rear view mirror for those idiots that tailgate or the rare times I pass someone...

Rear View Safety equipment is a bit more expensive than the equivalents on eBay, etc, but when my obsolete monitor failed after 4 years of use, they bent over backwards to come up with a solution using their current monitor.

[The Minimalist]

Originally Posted by Leej

Anyone else use a backup camera for this assist?

Absolutely. On the Outback the camera is off center, so it takes some getting used to. Putting a bright spot on the hitch, ours is black,
makes it much easier to line up.

[honda03842]

We have a camera in the back of our Odyssey and also have one in the back of our Scamp.

The Odyssey's camera is located in the center of the Odyssey's rear door. It makes it easy for me to singlehandedly connect the Odyssey to the trailer.

We've had a camera in the rear window of the trailer for a number of years. It displays in the Odyssey on a separate monitor to the left of the driver's console. (Monitors can be located in a number of places including the location of the rear view monitor.) It totally eliminates the dead sot behind the trailer.

We use the Scamp's camper in place of extended side mirrors.

I do not use the camera to back up the trailer. Ginny still does the backup function but I'm sure if she wasn't there I could manage with the camera. I do use the backup camera in the Odyssey to back up and find it a great aid.

We still carry our extended mirrors as a back up and have not used them in years. We have never been stopped for not having extended mirrors.

We do have a second monitor and camera should something happen to the first. As well we have a wireless camera that can communicate with our cell phone and perform the same function. Actually the cell phone monitor is much sharper than the one we use.

The only improvement would be if the camera was fully integrated into the Honda's display.

[bullfrogeh]

Rear view camera on our Terrain proves very useful for accurate back-up to hitching a variety of trailers we haul (boat, camper, utility, etc.). Wouldn't be without one !

[Carol H]

My current vehicle did not come with one so it was the first thing I added to it. Saves me a lot of time when hooking-up the trailer, no getting in and out of the vehicle to check as to how close I really am. Saves a lot of stress as well, no worries about punching the hitch through the bumper. Also great to have when parking a larger vehicle in tiny city parking spots.

I installed the Hopkins Smart Hitch Back Up camera & hitch Aligner from Etrailer two years ago. pretty easy to install and picture quality is pretty good as well.

[CampyTime]

I definitely love my backup cam! Installed Tadi Brothers cam which was an OEM 3rd brake light replacement for my chevy express van. Now I know that the green line in the camera display should be right about even with the top of the slinky tube when I'm right about coupler over ball. I love the thing. Has temp display in and out as well, and it also provided the camera in a new rear view mirror. Awesome toy and most helpful!

[Byron Kinnaman]

I've thought about it but I find the hitching poles work so good that for hitching up it would be a waste. For seeing behind the Scamp a Pair of $6.00 extension mirrors seems to do the job. Total cost= $12 to $14 for the mirrors.
$19.95 for hitching poles
Total Max = $23.95
Installation time Mirrors about 1.5 minutes per trip.
Hitching poles 10 to 20 seconds per hook up.

I think I'll stick with low tech.

[honda03842]

It's funny that a backup camera is not much more expensive than a good set of mirrors.

[james kent]

I have used a backup camera for 6-7 years now and wouldn't be without one. No more ambiguous signals means peace in the family. For even easier tug-tow alignment I have painted the end of the trailer tongue white to make the hookup more positive. Red also worked well.
Jim


Sent from my iPad using Fiberglass RV

[honda03842]

James,

My tongue, and entire frame is white. As well I have a black ball. The flat on top of the ball is painted white. It does make alignment easy.

The trailer's rear camera is also handy.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by honda03842

It's funny that a backup camera is not much more expensive than a good set of mirrors.

You found a backup camera for under $15.00????

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Byron Kinnaman

You found a backup camera for under $15.00????

I suspect not but I sure want to know where you got a good set of extension mirrors for $6 ?????

I tried to use the hitch poles but found they were of little help when parallel parking without the trailer - people looked at me funny if I got out and I tried to mount a hitch pole to the front bumper of their car.

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by Carol H

I suspect not but I sure want to know where you got a good set of extension mirrors for $6 ?????

I tried to use the hitch poles but found they were of little help when parallel parking without the trailer - people looked at me funny if I got out and I tried to mount a hitch pole to the front bumper of their car.

I think I bought them at Walmart.

I've never tried the hitch poles to parallel park. I guess I'm just an old guy that learned to parallel park about 55 years ago.
Hitch up the trailer is another thing. One on the ball one on hitch line them up and slowly back until the one on the ball is knocked off. Lower and tongue latch and finish up the chains and etc.

[Roger C H]

When we bought our new Subaru, needed because of knee problems with the manual transmission, two things I required besides the automatic transmission, was a sun roof and a back-up camera. Luckily, they came in the same 'package'.
The camera is located in the recess next to the license plate light. A problem I found is the coupler lined up nicely with the trailer jack. I painted the coupler white and that helped a lot. I could have moved the jack to the left arm, I guess.

[JeanS]

I really like the Swift Hitch remote wireless camera. It attaches magnetically to the truck tailgate or by suction cup to the canopy glass so I have a great overhead view of receiver and ball up to about 6 ft apart and closing. It's also infrared so hitching up at night is easy too. I can hold the receiver in my hand while backing up or mount on dash. The camera can also be mounted somewhere on the trailer with that suction cup so I could see surrounding activity from inside if necessary. Battery on both camera & receiver last 8-10 hours on one charge.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Byron Kinnaman

I've never tried the hitch poles to parallel park. I guess I'm just an old guy that learned to parallel park about 55 years ago.

LOL so did I but when driving a larger vehicle that blocks the view of the front of the car you are trying to squeeze in front of, into a small big city parking spot its little bit of a game changer.

[honda03842]

Originally Posted by Byron Kinnaman

You found a backup camera for under $15.00????

I was including the price of your hitch poles and mirrors. Backup cameras are available with monitor for as little as $30. Definitely in the mirror ball park.

Using my Smartphone as a display (actually an excellent display), a free app and a wireless camera ($25-40, mine was $40) works well.

I admit to have spent about a total of $120 on three backup camera systems I have, I'm an experimenter and consider the money spent entertainment. I still have all three camera systems as well as a set of mirrors.

Traveling is what we do, now for most of 15 years. This amount of money spread over that period of time is reasonable.

It's sort of like our Tyre Dog pressure sensors. We spent $150 on them, probably not the kind of money a weekend camper would spend but for people like us who are usually on the road for nearly 8 months a year, they make sense. It's comforting to know what's happening on our single axle trailer's tires. They only have to detect one failure in 8 years of travel to be worth their cost, actually they're not much more expensive than one tire.

I do realize we're different than many, we've towed with a small tow vehicle, we don't have extended mirrors, we change our tires more frequently than many, we use a backup camera on our trailer, we have temperature and pressure sensors on our tires, our trailer's storage is well extended, we don't carry screen rooms or coolers, we generally drive slower than most. That's all us and now on top of that we've sold our base house.

Our goal is to keep traveling. Next year we're planning another loop of the USA and Canada and of course the NL Caravan in the spring. Little tools help.

[Darral T.]

I bought a PEAK camera system for our Scamp about 3-4 yrs ago. I dont use it for hitching. But I DO use it out the back window of my Scamp and would NOT be without a camera now. I dont care what kind of mirrors you use, I've never seen any see directly behind your RV. I've started to change lanes many times to have someone whip out from behind me that I did not see until they were starting around. Not anymore with this camera. PLUS, if I need to back up some (such at a gas pump) I can easily tell if anyone is directly at my bumper or several feet back.

Again, would not be without it. Here's some photos of my setup. A couple of things have changed. I ran the transmitter (small box with ant) to the front to get a better and more consistent signal (it's wireless). I dont have the level on there anymore. That was definitely "overkill"!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/503516...57629562084569

And for the unbelievers: http://www.amazon.com/Peak-Color-Bac...ds=peak+camera

[honda03842]

Originally Posted by Darral T.

Again, would not be without it. Here's some photos of my setup. A couple of things have changed. I ran the transmitter (small box with ant) to the front to get a better and more consistent signal (it's wireless).
]

Darral,

Like you I moved my wireless transmitter to the front of the trailer as well.

When I've used my Smartphone as a display with my wireless camera designed for the Smartphone, the wireless transmitter is with the camera located at the rear of the trailer.

I agree with all the reasons you stated. Mirrors can work but they don't give you as much information as a camera.