Now this caught my eye and I knew I just had to know more. This is the first Backup camera system that has come my way that is an affordable hybrid of Ultrasonic reverse parking sensors and a color backup camera all in one system.

The price seemed fair as well at about $130, after all I thought a basic backup camera system such as the VR3 or the Winplus reviewed last time would be around $90 and Reverse parking sensor system should be about than $50, SO I though “why not?”

But it was hard as hell actually finding anything in detail about the device! Here’s what I could glean however. Essentially instead of the familiar licence plate mounted camera the device comes with a tough plastic plate that mounts behind your licence tag and sports a camera on a sliding and swiveling mount center and two ultrasonic sensors fixed at the far corners.

The usual cable hooks the device to the reversing lights and a second much longer cable is run to the forward screen. The camera is low light sensitive but has no added IR Leds to boost night time sensitivity. But then it doesn’t really need them because of the parallel Ultrasonic sensors. These have the standard audio alarm as they pick up things behind them but interestingly they also work in tandem so you get a left right middle hot zone behind the vehicle. What happens is that at intervals of about 18″ are scanned behind the car anything a foot and a half away makes a red box appear on the display camera. If the obstruction is 19 to 36″ away an amber box appears (along with the audio beep) an object is further away out to around 5′ you get a green box. I pulled an illustration of this off the manufacturers website:-

An excellent idea all round especially as the twin ultrasonic sensors are also on a swivel mount for optimum positioning. I wish the manufacturers well and eagerly await some more feed back on this ingenious device. So you know the drill if you have one please let us know here at Backup Camera Systems.net

I managed to find a copy of the devices install flysheet in pdf format as well which I repeat here. It doesn’t add too much to what I have said but at least it offers further visual guidance to the device package.

This is a direct competitor to the VR3 backup camera system. On the plus side it is actually a few bucks cheaper and a little under $90 and uses 2.4Ghz wireless technology just like a regular WiFi device.

The screen is also 3.5″ wide and picture quality is good overall. The robust transmitter making sure that there is only a minimum of interference on any vehicle less than 25 feet long. The camera has a swivel mount so you can fine tune its position a little better than most and has some IR Led’s either side of the lens to assist in low light conditions. The screen is slim and light enough to be mounted pretty much any place including on a sun visor or across a little uses Air vent for example, and uses standard connectors so it can do double duty as a mini screen for a game or DVD player in a pinch.  All good solid stuff so far, however this backup camera system package has an amusing quirk that several people have reported thus far.

The screens receiver will occasionally pick up other wireless cameras all by itself as you get close to them! It doesn’t happen all the time and the signal from the supplied camera will easily override them but it struck me as funny that such an otherwise good and versatile device would have such an unexpected “feature”.

Apart from that the Winplus Wireless Back-up Camera System has few faults for the price.  If the VR3 doesn’t appeal then certainly consider this backup camera system package next.

Despite my love of the VR3 Backup camera system there are a few more of a similar price and specification coming to light now. A few have been referred to me by friends or acquaintances and a few I have spotted myself.

The XO Vision RM800HT is a fine example of such. For less than a hundred bucks you get a nicely made if smallish display screen, in fact I would rate the build quality slightly better than that of the VR3 which some of you might well agree is important in a Backup camera system.  Budget or not you want a thing to last!  The camera claims a decent 110 degrees but my research tells me that you should take that with a pinch of salt.  It may be that on some vehicles you can get the full 110 but I figure that’s if your state allows you to mount a backup camera on the top of the licence tag where it’ll cover the state name partially.  Mount it on the bottom pair of bolts and expect a lessened field of view.

The camera unlike some in its cost bracket is pretty well weatherproofed an as a result I forgive any shortcoming on the field of view.  It also sports some IR LED lights which give it a basic low light/night vision capability which is always a welcome feature in any Backup camera system.

The wireless range on this device is no better than the VR3’s and as such if you install it on a large pick up or bigger vehicle you may get some signal noise, typically the system will go over to a black and white picture if this happens first. A longer aerial wire on the camera would clear this up if it becomes a problem however.

Overall its an interesting alternative to the VR3 Backup camera system. Its weatherproofing and low light rating nicely offsetting the fact its screen is smaller. For those with a large family car this backup camera system would be a real winner, small trucks and above should keep to a larger RV  Backup Camera however.

Doing this stuff continually gives me some curious surprises. I had assumed that given the differences in culture Backup Camera system accessories would be cheaper and more plentiful in the US than the UK. Well here is one of the exceptions.

At £30 (about 45 USD) this basic screen is a steal. Obviously its pretty no frills at that price but consider what do you want to do with it? Hook it to a similarly inexpensive stand alone backup camera. Putting this together with 9 LED Day/Night Wide-Angle Waterproof Car RV Camera I looked at a while ago gives you a complete Backup camera system for less than £50! That’s way cheaper than the RAC Wireless Reverse Parking Camera that is getting the attention of late.

Of course its not Wireless in that combination and the convenience of that can’t be ignored. But still its a viable alternative to those who consider themselves a little bit handy in car DIY.

This is a small lightweight system as you can see.  But its small screen provides a pretty sharp and bright picture.  So it could be generally useful around the home as a easily portable mini screen for any number of devices. The manufacturer tosses in a UK plug style power adaptor so it can be used indoors as well as with the (supplied) auto adaptor without an fuss. A cheapie but potentially a goodie!