Over All Rating Reviews :
1. This product does what everyone thinks it should do--provide a basic back-up camera to your vehicle, with wireless transmission between monitor and camera.
2. The marketing slogans on the package is absolutely misleading. "Installls As Easy as 1... 2... 3..." means prepare yourself for a major 6-hour project (see details below) "No Holes to Drill" means 3 steps of the installation procedure addresses drilling holes on your vehicle, (potentially). The picture of the camera mounting on the visor? No way!!!
3. Here is my installation diary--
Monitor installation--Moderately easy
The manual requires you to "see vehicle's owner's manual for fuse box diagram," if you decide not to do use the cigarette lighter. I wanted to leave it for cell phone chargers so fuse box is the approach I took. Thanks to detailed descriptions in the Honda manual, +12V was connected to a slot not used and the original fuse was used to keep the wire in place. Get your radio code ready, Honda owner, since you will need to unplug the cathode of the battery.
Camera installation--slightly hard
The biggest hurdle for me to install the camera is about how to open up the tailgate area of my Odyssey. After some prying of panels and internet searching to no avail, I decided to order a $75 Honda service manual so that I do not damage my wife's van. A week later (today) book arrived and it showed me exactly how to open up the tailgate panels correctly. If I do not have this book there is no way I can install this camera even if I drill a hole. Now for Odyssey I found a niche right behind the license plate that I can pass the camera wire through, by replacing an original fastener clip. Camera wire would be routed from above the plate to this through hole. Odyssey does not have license plate threads at the bottom of the plate otherwise external wire routing would be easier. Anyway the point is that you will have to find the best way to install the camera for your own vehicle. Next which power source should I need to connect? I do not want to use the reverse light since that means during a parallel parking when I drive forward the reverse light and therefore camera would be off. I debated with my wife if the license plate light would be a better one, but eventually decided to use the extra +12 lighter socket in the back of the van. I cut the redundant lighter plug (for the monitor) and crimped the wires. These wires are therefore visible inside the vehicle and held in place by Velcro stickers.
So here is my summary
Pro: the kit does the job well (right after installation). Control is simple, and image quality is fairly resistant to the dust particles on the camera.
Con: You will need to make your own decisions regarding mechanical and electrical integration of this camera with your car. Particularly if you do not how to find your reverse light wires, you should prepare to find this out before you make your purchase. Installation takes hours but it is full of easy decisions.
Bottom line: At the end of the day safety is all about peace of mind. I am glad VR3 can bring a cheap camera to the market so that I can enjoy my peace of mind in the suburb. If they can create a website with users sharing installation experiences it can take a lot of guesswork away.
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