Approximately six months ago, I installed the Total Vision rear view camera system. I was immediately impressed with the system, but decided not to comment on it until I had accumulated mileage and several trips with the system. This is a one-camera system, not the multi-camera "bird's eye view" computer composite system.
Total Vision it is a tilt-pan, fixed focal length system. The “tilt-pan” is the unusual part of this system that first catches the eye. The system is OEM on many high-end coaches like my friend’s 2017 Foretravel. But there is more…much more.
I originally bought the system because my OEM Sony system was obviously reaching the end of its life, and it was a B&W system with a heavy CRT monitor. Like so many other Monaco owners, the flimsy plastic instrument panel in my coach had cracked in about every possible location, and was nearly cracked in half due to the weight of the old CRT monitor. I was machining some new aluminum instrument panels, and decided this was the time to upgrade.
First, the ability to easily, comfortably, and quickly change the direction of your rearview camera is a benefit you cannot truly appreciate until you have the system. You can quickly choose “Hitch View” or “Rear View” with the touch of a single button. And the keypad will indicate whether your camera is facing directly rearward, or slightly downward, or slightly left or right of center. If you are backing into an unknown space, regardless of lighting conditions, changing the camera direction can be a great help.
But something you do not get in a conventional rearview camera is any usefulness as anything other than something to view your hitch, or to view things that are dangerously close when you are backing up. Necessarily, the angle of view of those cameras approaches 180*. Although this allows them to show a large area, it also renders them largely useless as something to approximate the function of a rearview mirror in your car. The problem with a rearview camera with an extremely large angle of view is that it distorts your depth perception, so a vehicle that is almost on your rear appears to be 100 yards behind you. By the time you see a tiny speck in your rearview camera, that speck is a vehicle that is almost at the rear of your coach. If you did not have your mirrors, you could never make a safe lane change depending only on your rearview camera.
This camera is not only tilt-pan, but almost as useful is the fact that it has a much narrower angle of view. I don’t know exactly what the angle of view is, but it is MUCH less than that of the rearview cameras I have had experience with. When in rearview mode, it is actually valuable as a lane-change assist. Although in my opinion the angle of view is still too large, it is orders of magnitude less than any fixed camera I have seen.
I have several thousand miles on the camera system now, and have not had a single glitch. The installation CANNOT be made using ANY variation of your original cable. There are more conductors required for the tilt-pan functions. I ran new cable underneath the bay doors, enclosed in PVC conduit. The contact at Total Vision is Rod Thomas.
rod@totalvisionproducts.com I had some issues with the installation that were totally my fault. Rod was uncommonly patient, and spent a great deal of time gently convincing me that the problem I had was a bad connection (that I had made). As much as I resisted his advice, he was ultimately correct, and in less than an hour, my problem was corrected by doing exactly what he suggested.
The system is undoubtedly expensive ($1,000+) compared to many of the systems available online. But if you are resigned to spending this much for a camera system I think you will be very pleased with this one.
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