Rating of the best rear view cameras

Continues our top best rear view cameras AutoExpert VC-206. This camera immediately attracts attention with the ability to rotate the optical axis relative to the body. For this alone, it is worth giving the camera a bold “plus”, because many mortise cameras do not have any adjustment, but you can put it in a cleaner place, compensating for the height of the location by tilting. In addition, it is possible to transmit an image in a mirrored form — the camera can work both in front and behind.

The manufacturer promises an IP68 degree of dust and moisture protection, so you should not be afraid for the camera when driving through puddles, although it is still not a good idea to water it under full pressure at car washes. But, alas, like many rear-view cameras, this is where the pluses end — inside the body you like so much, there is a primitive 0.3-megapixel matrix, and even with low light sensitivity. At night, the light of the reversing lights is only enough in winter, when reflections from snowdrifts come to the rescue.

The manufacturer claims a 170-degree viewing angle, but in fact it is clearly less. When parking, this is not a minus — on the contrary, the camera does not clutter up a low-detailed frame with unnecessary surroundings. But to record a picture from the rear hemisphere while moving, this is not enough.

Continuing our review of the best parking cameras 70mai HD Reverse Video Camera. The designers endowed this camera with a non-adjustable bracket, made as part of a plastic case, which will cause certain problems with the choice of installation location. And it’s not just for everyone, because officially the camera “is only designed to work with Xiaomi / 70mai mirror DVRs (Xiaomi Mi Home Mirror or 70mai Midrive M1).” In practice, this means that the bundled cable ends not with a standard universal “tulip”, but with a four-pin 2.5 mm TRRS “jack”, which is connected to “native” DVRs. And the camera outputs to this “jack” not the usual “analog”, but the AHD format video signal, which is not recognized by any monitor or head unit. But, since we are talking about Xiaomi products, in the corresponding section w3bsit3-dns.com they have already learned how to connect the camera to “non-native” Android radios, who would doubt it!

On the other hand, if you already have a head unit with AHD support or you are just thinking of buying it, then it would be more logical to install an AHD camera, which still gives a resolution higher than «analog». Of course, the 70mai camera does not provide miracles of sharpness and detail, but it is assembled well and, we think, it is worth the money (all the more so, every seasoned “xiaomist” knows that you need to buy equipment of this brand on Aliexpress, where it is much cheaper than Russian retailers).

An extremely compact and simple in design inexpensive rear view camera: a hole is made in the bracket, in which the camera itself is held by a screw cap. It is cheap and widespread, which in itself is a plus — you do not need to spend a lot of money, and in case of a breakdown you can always replace it.

At the same time, in terms of light sensitivity, Sho-Me is in no way inferior to cameras twice as expensive, perfectly coping with the task of facilitating parking. In addition, it is possible to install it according to the type of “eyes” — the kit includes a cutter and a sleeve, which becomes an adapter between the camera and the bumper. Naturally, the bracket is unscrewed from the camera. So for the flexibility in installation options, we will definitely put a plus.

The camera has two mounting ears, made in one piece with the rear half of the body, and this is its main disadvantage — although it is easier to install than mortise «eyes», it is the same with them in the impossibility of setting (although the same brand has just a «peephole» regulation!).

Therefore, the only place where this camera can be recommended is, again, the space above the rear license plate, if it is raised high enough (for example, mounted on the back door of an SUV). There, its angle of inclination will come in handy.

According to the characteristics of the camera — an absolute «average»: a fairly clear picture, light sensitivity begins to be missed already at dusk.

Here they didn’t get smart with the design, making a standard “almost a cube” (on the side of the lens, the body is rounded for beauty), fixed with two screws on a stamped metal bracket. Inside — a simple ¼-inch H7440H matrix with a resolution of 480 TV lines and requiring illumination of at least 2 lux, which, in general, is already a bit too much: more advanced cameras from the same manufacturer can sometimes get by with 0.1 lux, and this, sorry, twentyfold difference! So, if you often drive at dusk, given the lack of a backlight on this camera, you should choose something more sensitive.

The camera connection is completely standard, according to the «analog» (standard — NTSC), with wires for selecting mirroring and displaying scan lines: a white wire is cut for the first, a green wire for the second. But the declared dust and moisture protection according to the IP68 standard, you know, is better to be skeptical.

Sho-Me frame-camera loses to most competitors due to the lower power of infrared illumination. So you can buy this frame in two cases: if there is nothing else on sale or if the backlight is not needed at all (powerful reversing lights). On budget cars, where manufacturers strive to put a single lamp of low power instead of two lights, cameras with brighter backlighting will still be more appropriate.

Our top of the best rear view cameras is completed by Interpower IP-616. A solid frame is good, but the increase in strength was achieved here in the simplest way — by making the frame thick, which is why it cannot fit into every niche, which must be taken into account. As for the camera itself, there are actually two of them in this line: in the model with the IR suffix, indicating the presence of infrared illumination, there is the worst matrix — H7440H, which we already wrote about above. And her “blindness” is not particularly corrected by the backlight, by the way. There are, in fact, IP-616 and IP-616 HD — and so, they have absolutely the same sensor, 1/3-inch PC1058K, and here we already have 520 TV lines of resolution and a minimum illumination of 0.5 lux, and the actual the difference is that in IP-616 HD the parking lines are non-switchable. So our choice is obvious: we take the camera without any suffixes.

Moreover, it is desirable that your car be sufficiently compact in width: the camera’s field of view is narrow, which is why on a large car there will be large «blind spots» around the edges.