Digital Rear View Mirror - Is It A Thing?

Do you mind snapping a quick picture of that when you have some time? I'd love to visualize what you are talking about.

 

I will take one tonight and upload one.

 

Top trim of the highlander has it too. I believe it has a dedicated camera, separate from the backup camera, and it allows a couple levels of zoom and pan (or maybe I'm confusing it with the system on the chevy traverse/blazer, which can definitely do that and is pretty impressive).

 

yeah GM has had it for a while

Pretty cool when we had the rentals

 

Here's a video of the camera systems in the top trim highlander:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCp_r1140Ck
The general camera part starts about 7m33, a little on the rearview mirror camera starts at 9m41, then the multi-level pan and zoom of the rearview mirror camera at 12m55. Pretty slick.

 

I have the same set up as the original poster, tent on frontrunner, and I installed the Vantop 12 inch 4k and ran the rear view camera to the back of the rack. I think this is one of the best upgrades i have done to my truck since owning it. I just keep the new mirror strapped to the old mirror so I still have access to the garage door buttons etc. Highly recommend this upgrade and I can't believe more trucks with tents and racks don't have this.



I am also planning on running it to the fusebox for power all the time so i can have sort of a sentry mode.

 

@ScootARoot
Here is what I did. First I took apart the oem rearview mirror...



The back of the oem has the mounting point to the "ball" that attaches to the rearview mirror itself. I unscrewed it and took it off the mirror.

Then I cut a piece of oak trim 1/2" thick by 6 inches long by 2 1/4" wide and attached the oem piece that attaches to the mirror by drilling a hole in it and mounting it directly to it.

 

Thats awesome. I started reading it "wow, he is custom building the dashcam into the OEM mirror" then I got to the end where it strapped to a block of wood.

 

The block of wood is small and really doesn't show. I know that they sell mounting harnesses on Amazon that do the same thing but the are shipped in 30 days and I got impatient lol. From the front, you really can't see it and it doesn't stick out as much as if I were attaching it to the oem mirror.

 

It is nice. I love that feature on our Rav4!

 

Honestly, the hardest part was taking apart the oem mirror. There was no diagram or directions to follow. I had no clue if it was glued or screwed. I basically told myself "well....if I break it, I break it." Thank God that didn't happen lol. You have to take something thin and stout and pry off the front trim piece tab by tab and eventually it comes off. It is the only way to get off the attachment to your windshield off your mirror.

 

Not knocking what you did by any means, Ive done much worse to be honest. if it works, it works. You should see some of the wiring I have done on my truck.... I really need to replace a few of my harnesses this summer.

 

I still have to run my wires but I have a plan.

 

Wiring is always the biggest pain in my ass. I design something, run all the wires in a nice harness, only to find out its a bit too long, or a bit too short, then I have to cut and splice the end of the harness.

My kayak is the worst right now as I have been adding new things every few weeks.

I really need to pick up a bunch of wire, and measure it all out on the outside of the kayak, then build the harness, loom it, and then put it all in.

 

This is perfect! I will likely mount mine to the underside of the tent. It sounds like you may have the bed rack mounted to the load bars the way you described how you mounted your camera.? I just have the bars, no rack. So if I just want to use it while driving, I do not need to run any wiring to my battery? Just wiring to the rear camera, and plug into the OEM mirror mount?

 

Nice! At first I thought you put the new mirror in the OEM housing. But you just removed, then attached to the wood?

Nice idea! I may go that route?? I would have to paint that wood though

 

Yup, just removed the housing from the mounting point and attached the wood. I literally just did this yesterday so I too am going to paint it black. I didn't have time and wanted to make sure I had a "rearview" mirror to see out of. The digital screen can be used as a regular mirror as well when the screen is off. The reason why I went with the one I chose was because the front mounting cam can be placed in a separate location and it is not fixed to the mirror itself.

 

Nice. That was clever thinking.

Yeah, not having a rearview mirror is not ideal. Looking back there and seeing my tent and not what is behind me is eh

I don't really have interest in the front dash cam, but heaven forbid an accident happens, it can help justify whether it was my fault or the other person, and could help in a multiple car crash..? I don't see any cons other than just the price tag for me.

 

I have the vantop and love it. The cameras are very clear, especially at night there is no noise in the image. Install was really straightforward. I used an extended usb power cord rather than the cigarette lighter one it came with. I also have the anytime backup front and rear cams.

Vantop rear view mirror. https://imgur.com/gallery/DwVU8bK

 

I'm confused about the wiring part. Amazon says to buy a wiring kit/harness, but you plugged in via usb.. is there a difference? Or does the wiring kit just hide the wires and ties to the battery/fuse box?

Why do you have the other cameras? In case one goes out? or did you upgrade to the vantop from those? Not heard of those before.