so i know many of you guys have followed my earlier thread but for those of you who don't i installed an aftermarket backup camera last summer, and i chose the camera based on recommendations from people on the jeep and dodge forums actually. well, as it turns out the camera manufacturers (Coastal E Tech) kinda misrepresented their products, and their customer service is HORRIBLE so i decided to get a new camera.

what happened? well their camera was nice, decent daytime images (except in bright sun), good night images, but below 30-40 degrees F the camera just wouldn't work right. this does me no good since maybe 3-4 months of the year where i live in NY are spent at 40 degrees F or lower!!

the camera is rated for -4F and when i called the manufacturer/seller they said "oh no that's not right, CMOS cameras aren't good to that temperature". so i went back and forth with them on the issue since i felt they didn't properly describe their products but they would never return calls or help so screw em. My other issue was that on a super bright day the camera image would wash out in direct sunlight, which wasn't that often i guess but i found it to be annoying.


sooooooo, i decided to upgrade to a boyo vtl420c barcam since it has a superior CCD lense and a better reputation. i don't have alot of photos of the other camera images but you can immediately see the difference in quality. my only complaint is that the night images are a little noisy and not as clear as the CMOS camera i had (which was also specifically marketed as having better night vision capabilities, which was anaccurate description). i don't really see this as a concern though because when im backing up at night into a parking spot or something the image is more than good enough for me to know where i am in relation to the car behind me or a wall or concrete parking bumper on the ground. if i upgraded my reverse lights this would probably solve the issue.

overall i'm very happy with my purchase. installation was the same as my previous camera so nothing complicated. i threw in some photos below so you can see what i'm talking about. if anyone is interested in this camera i'll have it up for sale shortly. it would serve you well if you live in a warm climate that's normally above 40 degrees F.


enjoy!

- Bob

One of the few photos i have from the original camera, this picture isn't in focus but it's fairly representative of the quality of the daytime images on a CLOUDY day.


Same location (my driveway) with the BOYO cam on a very sunny day...




My driveway at night, with the BOYO cam...as you can see it's not a great image but not horrible, i can see if something is directly behind me before backing out which is what's important, and to be fair my street is not well lit.




Parking lot at my gym when i pulled in at dusk....(BOYO cam)




Same parking lot when i left the gym, nightfall (BOYO cam)




Random pic from my mother's driveway one day, just for representation.




Random parking lot pic....

 

hey remmy, im getting sick of my cmos sensor aswell and am ready to upgrade to a ccd. Can you take some pics of how the camera looks on your car from the outside? is it a bar like our e coastal tech units?

I really want to get a ccd and purchase a stock camera trim and put it in that place. Any recommendations on something that would fit that hole? thanks

 

YO! what's up Sam? long time no talk!

it is a barcam like the coastal tech units, although it's ever so slightly bigger. i'll take a photo for you.

if you want to use the stock trim there are a few members on here who have already done that with different cameras. i had planned to do that last year and i actually bought a stock camera to make life easy. you could easily use it since it's just a 4-pin harness for power (+/-), signal and signal ground. you could wire that to an RCA cable easily.

Bob