I provide honest ratings and reviews on tech, toys, and consumer home goods that I've purchased and used. Reviews are based on hands-on testing and personal observations. All opinions and comments are my own.
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Takeaway: Quick and simple to install, allows full view of blind spots at a glance You'll receive 2 glass convex mirror rounds and 2 optional plastic mounting arms. The mounting arms sit on small ball joints so you can adjust and swivel the mirrors after they are installed. These 2" diameter mirrors have double-sided foam tape on the back to attac them to your side view mirrors. I installed the mirrors with the mounting arms because you can adjust them if you have multiple drivers for the car. The only caveat is that you see a reflection of the rear side of the mirror because it sits about 3/4" away from the side mirror surface. The typical placement for the mirror is on the far outside corner of the side view mirror. Now when I look in the small mirrors I can see what is in the blind spot whereas that field of view was not visible in the side view mirror alone. Overall, these mirrors were a breeze to install and took less than a minute. They let me see clearly what's in my blind spot without having to look over my shoulder or turn my head. I simply have to glance at the side view mirrors and I can see any oncming traffic in the blindspot in the smaller mirrors.
Takeaway: Nice, large set of ski of goggles; poor band adjusters placement. The ski goggles come in a soft microfiber bag to protect it from scratches which also doubles as a cleaning and polishing cloth. The goggles measure 9" across and 4" high so have a fairly wide coverage and visibility. They have a foam cushion that's lined with a thin fleece for a soft fit to your face and it adds a bit of warmth and comfort while wearing them. On the top and bottom of the goggles as well as the top of the lens, are air vents stuffed with porous foam to allow air flow and prevent fogging of the goggles.
Be sure to remove the protective film on the inside of the goggles before use. The head band is a 1.75" wide soft elastic strap that can be adjusted on both sides of the goggles. The lens is one piece of mirrored acrylic with an orangey-red sunset color to help reduce glare from the snow on sunny days and in bright conditions. One interesting feature with this set is that the lens is removable if you flip up the two latches on the sides, so that if it becomes damaged or worn, you can replace just the lens.
When wearing these, everything has a slightly blue hue to it at first since red/yellow light is being reflected, but everything looks normal after a few minutes as your eyes adjust. The goggles provide clear vision and good protection from wind and snow, but I found that because of the strap is so wide, I can't wear the band above my ears and instead the band has to wrap over my ears. It's slightly uncomfortable because the placement of the plastic adjusters happens to be right over my ears, but in general, I would be wearing a hat or earmuffs that cover my ears under the band which would provide additional padding and I couldn't really feel them through the additional layer.
Takeaway: Decent, aftermarket dual-camera DVR. I'll show you how I installed this in my car. [UPGRADED VERSION AVAILABLE] The set comes with the rearview mirror DVR unit which contains the LCD for viewing, front camera, microphone for audio recording, optional GPS input and SD card slot. You'll receive all the cables you need to complete the hookup, a 16GB microSD card, cigarette lighter to dual USB adapter, extra rubber latches or enhanced grip on your existing rearview mirror, and mounting screws for the back camera. This unit is designed to fit over your existing mirror for easy mounting and installation, but note that different car models may prove to have a better fit than others. For reference, I installed this on a recent model Honda Civic.
The mirror is quite large; it measures 12.5"W by 4"H and the LCD screen in the middle has a 5" diagonal. The mirror itself is quite dark and has a deep blue tint to it. While this does help reduce glare, it tends to look a bit dim and at night makes seeing details muddier. The camera for the unit is on the side facing the windshield, as well as its external speaker. There are a variety of options like motion detection, G-shock sensor which will automatically save/lock videos when the camera senses heavy shaking like in the event of an accident or large pot hole, audio recording and date/time stamping on the video.
The rear camera has an adhesive sticky pad to assist in mounting but also comes with two mounting screws which may require drilling into a panel on your car's trunk. It must be centered and is typically installed just above the license plate. If you want to rear camera to turn on automatically when you put the car in reverse, you have to wire the pair of black and red wires coming off the back camera to the reverse light. There are a number of ways you could connect the wires tot he power line too, for example, by splicing the wires into the power line, using a scotchlok or plier tap connector.
As a mirror, it works fine and is quite reflective, though again, it's a bit dark, especially at night. The video quality of the recordings is okay. I have mine set to record in 5 minute intervals and each file takes up about 200 MB (400 MB total with front/rear feeds). That's ~3.5 hours of video on the included 16 GB card. The front and back videos will have the same audio and time stamps so that they are easy to match up. You can hear most of the conversation and radio in the car but there is a bit of road noise as well. It's not a very high definition video resolution, but you can see what's going on around you, which is important in case of an accident. Sometimes the color and white balance seem off and the front camera has slightly better quality and resolution than the back camera but not by much. One thing I noticed is that while the reverse guidelines make it appear as if I have about 6-8 inches from the curb, I'm actually only about 2 inches from the curb though I believe this has to do with the height placement of the camera.
Overall, the cameras will capture enough detail to assist you in you need to refer back to the recordings and the unit was relatively easy to install (took me about an hour).
