Kizashi Club

I just installed this combination backup camera/sonar on my Kiz.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-in-1-Car-SUV- ... SwHHFY-hIT
It is pretty neat because it beeps to tell you how close you are to a object behind. It starts with a slow beep @3 feet and gets faster the closer you get. I installed it and powered it to the reverse backup light. Since I did not have a video monitor in my Kizashi, for a while I used it without any video display and the beeping was quite helpful. I just bought a rearview mirror with a video display and now get video on it and the video is quite good. The rearview mirror just clips on with spring clips and is not real secure so I might remove the mirror and just use the beeping . Until I find a way to mount the mirror more securely or find a better video monitor.

Wow, what is most amazing is that the listed price is under $15 with a "make offer" option and free shipping from a U.S. town. If you like the quality of this camera, then it looks like it cannot be beat by anything at that price. Heck, by a few and put them away maybe they get better with age!

I have firmly mounted the mirror now. Now I find that on a sunny day the video image is washed out.

I discovered today that the reason the image was washed out was because of the angle I had the mirror. Years ago I had set the mirror at the normal position for my wife and have been using the mirror at the higher nite position for myself. This way we could share the mirror and the only adjustment necessary was flipping lever on the mirror. Like most LED screens the view fades significantly when viewing at a angle other than directly at the screen. Today when I flipped the mirror down to the normal position the image was much clearer.

Pretty neat little find. How did you run the video signal to the interior? Was there an existing wiring harness for you to tie into?

It would be interesting to have this on the front for those of us with cars without the front parking sensors.

Ran the wire from the trunk lid, to the passenger side, under the door sills, up the windshield trim to the roof and rearview mirror. Only took about a hour to run the wire.

redmed wrote:I discovered today that the reason the image was washed out was because of the angle I had the mirror. Years ago I had set the mirror at the normal position for my wife and have been using the mirror at the higher nite position for myself. This way we could share the mirror and the only adjustment necessary was flipping lever on the mirror. Like most LED screens the view fades significantly when viewing at a angle other than directly at the screen. Today when I flipped the mirror down to the normal position the image was much clearer.

Sounds like the screen in the mirror isn't an IPS display.

As for flipping the mirror lever, anyone else feel really dumb when they finally figured out that's the dimmer setting for the rear view mirror? I know I did when I finally figured it out. When the d-bag with the massive SUV/truck behind is tailgating you with their headlights directly in your rear view mirror, you're supposed to flip the lever on the mirror so it dims the reflection, and then you flip it back when d-bag isn't behind you anymore. My old Kia had an auto-dimming rear-view mirror, and it was nice. But I definitely don't feel like it's a necessity or worth what they charge for those things, anymore.

KansasKid wrote:

redmed wrote:My old Kia had an auto-dimming rear-view mirror, and it was nice.

I actually hate these things because you can't see the body lines of the car anymore once it fully dims. It's actually the first thing I turn off when I sit in the Kizashi because it's a standard feature on the SLS Sport. Only other car where I've seen it standard is Mercedes.

Had the dimming mirror on my LHS and now on my Sienna and like it. Never noticed how much detail was lost when dimmed.

redmed wrote:Had the dimming mirror on my LHS and now on my Sienna and like it. Never noticed how much detail was lost when dimmed.

Take a look off to the sides of the beam when it's in dimmed mode at night and you'll typically see nothing. Turn the dimming off and you'll see the body lines of the vehicle. I've seen this in both the Kizashi and Mercedes--it's just the way they work.