Dash Cam Rear View Mirror

[Wildergarten]

I bought a VanTop H610 Mirror Dash Cam for the wife this last Christmas. https://www.vantop.com/products/vantop-h610-dash-camera
Finally got the bells and whistles together necessary to install it and plan to start that tomorrow time permitting. The way it works is that the touch-screen surface is half silvered such that one can use it as a regular mirror in addition to the rear camera. Yet supposedly, the way the optics work, the 170° rear camera view is considerably better than the mirror to which the screen is mounted.

We have reason for this in that the wife commutes California State Highway 17 through the Santa Cruz Mountains every day. Since COVID hit, the traffic has dropped to the point that crazy people drive it insanely fast, weaving through cars on tight wet turns as if they were pylons on a 2-lane roadway with occasional heavy trucks. She wants a dash cam, but if it helps her avoid a collision it's worth its weight even without the documentation.

If it works well, I'm thinking of using the same system in all our vehicles so that the GUI is the same from car to truck to SUV. So this would apply to the flatbed I'm building, thus necessitating a secure and protected place to mount it welded into the bed before it's painted. I don't know if it should be on the headache board or the back of the bed.

I'm wondering if other posters have any experience with these devices.

[martincom]

I've installed a few that are similar. It depend on what, specifically, you are seeking to accomplish.

I installed one for my brother-in-law, an avid fishermen, to assist with coupling his fishing boat trailer. The camera was actually in a license plate frame, so it was simple to mount. For power, we just connected it to one of the back-up lamps, as he only utilized it when backing up. The camera to monitor was a wireless system. Probably the most difficult thing to find was an ignition power source in his late model Ford pickup. He just wanted the monitor loose on the hump. The monitor was light and small enough whereas I would have attached it to the top of the driver's visor.

I've added cameras to my 18' enclosed trailer and my 22' car hauler. These are wifi cameras. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07DW ... UTF8&psc=1They require a power connection, but communicate to an app on a cell phone or tablet via wifi. The bride had an old ipad that I normally use with them as the screen is about as big you can accommodate in a vehicle. We pulled the 18' trailer from MN to FL and back recently. The camera is a real plus when backing up, but more so to see who is behind/along side of you when changing lanes, especially on the right side as there is no depth perception with the typical convex right side mirror.

Most vehicles have buttons in the rear view mirror frame and are auto day/night. So that would be an issue for the clip-on rear view mirror camera monitor. Also, the image size is going to be pretty small and with that, probably not to useful. There simply is not a good place to mount any type of decent size monitor in today's vehicles. We're only pulling a trailer a few times a year. So we utilize a tablet holder that is inserted into one of the cupholders. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075G ... UTF8&psc=1 It certainly is not a solid mount, but it does hold the tablet in an optimum viewing position and it isn't sliding around.

So, I'm not quite sure why you are installing this in your bride's car. Is si so she can capture images of violators to report them?