# Car back up cameras. Sort of a poll. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 3, 2019, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-back-up-cameras-sort-of-a-poll/830492 "2019-03-03T18:06:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-back-up-cameras-sort-of-a-poll/830492/41 "2019-03-04T10:48:47Z")
Note my username. I am frequently backing up to, and hooking up trailers. Backup cameras are a godsend. I’m pretty good at getting things lined up, but the camera allows me to be perfect the first time. No more hopping out to check the alignment. One of the hitches is like [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUOpKr_u5Sk) (8 second mark) and I have to accurately insert a bar into a receiver box, rather than just get the hitch underneath a coupler. The camera makes this a first-time, every-time operation now. I would never want to go back to a vehicle without a camera. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-back-up-cameras-sort-of-a-poll/830492/42 "2019-03-04T12:12:37Z")
I have one in the Taurus. I only use it the last five or six inches, to make sure I’m butted up exactly against the garage door when I park in my driveway. I don’t really have a need for it otherwise, and that’s not even a real need. I’d like one on the Expedition, since I seldom have a capable ground guide for connecting to our tent trailer. I usually have to get in and out a few times in order to get the ball right under the hook. I have a new one on order that not only has a backup camera, but 360 degrees of camera. I’ll probably only use it for connecting to a trailer, but in the meantime, I can’t wait to play with it. ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-back-up-cameras-sort-of-a-poll/830492/43 "2019-03-04T12:17:30Z")
I would add that I’ve driven cars with really cheap backup cameras, often with poor resolution and a comparatively narrow field of view, and I hate them. The one on my daily driver is like HD quality and probably like a 170 degree view. It is so much better than my eyeballs, and poor cameras I think are only good for parallel parking and making sure I don’t back into the other car’s front bumper. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-back-up-cameras-sort-of-a-poll/830492/44 "2019-03-04T12:28:14Z")
> [@Tzigone](#): > > Have it, use it, love it. It’s great for knowing whether or not you are exactly straight (yeah, I’m not a fantastic backer-upper). I was looking forward to having a rear view camera because I thought it would make backing into parking spaces a breeze. Nope – I still suck at it. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-back-up-cameras-sort-of-a-poll/830492/45 "2019-03-04T13:20:03Z")
I don’t have one on my car, but my wife’s car does. I use it all the time when parking her car because the visibility is so bad. I’d love to have one on my wagon because the back is often filled up with stuff reducing my visibility through the rear window. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-back-up-cameras-sort-of-a-poll/830492/46 "2019-03-04T13:39:43Z")
My Jeep Wrangler doesn’t have one, but my gf’s Subaru does. I love parking her car. Last summer a friend let me play around with his Bobcat loader. He put a backup camera on it, which was very cool. ---
**Author:** ![CoastalMaineiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@CoastalMaineiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoastalMaineiac)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-back-up-cameras-sort-of-a-poll/830492/47 "2019-03-04T14:11:29Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Got a 2019 4Runner two months ago, and it has the back up camera. Cool. > > But, I don’t like using it. I want my eyes out the windows and look over my shoulder and in the mirrors. I’m SURE it will help with parallel parking which I do perhaps 6 times a year. > > I check it now when backing up, It’s a very wide angle. I can see my own bumper. But then I must look for myself. I need to see everything. > > I sort of feel like it’s a distraction. I want my eyes looking out of the vehicle when it’s moving, at all times. > > I guess the poll is - “Do you have a backup camera? Do you use it?” My car is too old to have a backup camera. If I owned a car that had one, I probably would use it, along with the mirrors and looking behind. Mostly because car companies seem to be designing newer cars with piss-poor rearward visibility and massive blind spots these days. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-back-up-cameras-sort-of-a-poll/830492/48 "2019-03-04T14:31:04Z")
Neither of our two vehicles have a camera, but I have driven a couple of friends’ trucks with them. The best thing about them is being able to back up to a trailer hitch perfectly on the first try, and gauging how far down a boat ramp is the right depth. Other than that I didn’t use them, but they are tools that can be helpful to people who are less spatially aware, or uncomfortable with the vehicle they are driving. I long ago learned how to back up using the right and left mirrors only - without the center one in the cab or turning my head to look out the rear window where that is an option. Maybe everyone should drive a cargo van for about a year. I also think the “objects in mirror are closer than they appear” type are more hindrance than help. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-back-up-cameras-sort-of-a-poll/830492/49 "2019-03-04T14:39:16Z")
> [@CoastalMaineiac](#): > > My car is too old to have a backup camera. They are pretty easy to install. They mount to the pic plate holder. ---
**Author:** ![JcWoman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jcwoman/32/2889_2.png) [@JcWoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JcWoman)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-back-up-cameras-sort-of-a-poll/830492/50 "2019-03-04T14:43:54Z")
I have neck and spine issues so twisting around to look out the back window is impossible. Backup cameras are “the bomb” for me. Using the side mirrors and the backup camera I can parallel park like a pro and back up around corners perfectly. Last year on a business trip in France, my team rented an SUV. The hotel parking lot was tiny, holding only about 8 cars, and it was behind the building with the only access being a very narrow driveway with walls on both sides. One night the lot was nearly full and our manager pulled up to park nose-in. Thinking ahead, I told her if she parked that way, in the morning she’d have to back out of the lot, navigate backwards the 90-degree turn to get into the driveway and back through the driveway and into the street. She told me to go ahead and turn the suv around if I thought I could do it (she didn’t think she could). The SUV had a backup camera, side view cameras and that magical camera that somehow shows you the view of everything around the car looking down from above. Using the side mirrors and all those cameras I was able to turn the SUV around in between 6 other cars without touching one in about a 12-point turn. I was so proud of myself after that! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CelticKnot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/celticknot/32/3392_2.png) [@CelticKnot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CelticKnot)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-back-up-cameras-sort-of-a-poll/830492/51 "2019-03-04T14:48:27Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > I have one. I mostly only use it (in addition to my mirrors) for parallel parking or backing into a parking space, where I might hit something. Just backing up out of a parking space or my drive way, I just use my mirrors. > [@JRDelirious](#): > > I turn and look because it is what I have done for decades, but the camera is a good supplementary tool especially when in a vehicle where visibility may not be optimal or in an unfamiliar one where I may not have a good sense of where the body corners are and how well it can fit. And of course in parallel/back-in parking it is a great resource. > [@Musicat](#): > > I find the rear-view camera on my Honda is a good supplement to other views. Modern cars, due to the aerodynamic body shapes, make it quite impossible to see all four corners. Parallel parking with these cars, something I have never had a problem with for 50 years[sup]\*[/sup], now becomes a challenge. The rear video helps overcome this design fault. Although it gets dirty from road grime and has to be wiped off frequently. > > * * * > > - I took my first driving license test without ever having attempted parallel parking before, and I aced it (I was in a hurry, no time to learn or practice). I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have passed the test with 201X cars. > [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I have one (bought the car in 2016, first time I’ve had one). I like it. I use it but don’t depend on it since I used eyeballs for 40 years first. It makes things easier but IMHO any good driver has to know where all four corners of the car are at all times. Yep, yep, yep, and yep. Yes, we have one on our Subaru, yes I use it, but not as the main option for backing up. I’ve been turning my head around for decades; that’s not an easy thing to stop doing. The camera lens get quite dirty here in the winter, and the screen is often very dusty. The one time I did use is as the only view for parallel parking, I got out of the car and realized just how much distances are distorted. If I had not had the camera, I doubt I would have even tried to park there. I was waaaaayy to close to the car behind me. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-back-up-cameras-sort-of-a-poll/830492/52 "2019-03-04T15:02:44Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > In the US, most if not all cars made after 2011 have them. > > I use it and like it. You do have to get used to that particular car, usually the rear bumper markings are more conservative that reality. All new cars sold in the US \*\*after May 2018 \*\*are required to have back-up cameras. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-back-up-cameras-sort-of-a-poll/830492/53 "2019-03-04T15:19:25Z")
> [@](#): > > … But I’m still not getting why you’d turn all the way around and look out the back window if you have the camera… Turning around to look is the way to get an overall view. Are there cars approaching through the parking lot that aren’t visible on any mirror or camera? Plus, since the eyes are pointed at the view-field (unlike when using mirror or camera) the brain gets the most “natural” view of the scene. ---
**Author:** ![Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Tired\_and\_Cranky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tired_and_Cranky)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-back-up-cameras-sort-of-a-poll/830492/54 "2019-03-04T16:34:03Z")
My new car has one. Mrs. Charming and Rested is learning how to drive and it gives her one more place to check how she’s lined herself up while reversing. The little lines give her some indication that she’s got enough room to go where she wants to park. I think it’s nice for checking that last foot or so while backing up but when I had to parallel park in a rush on Saturday, I just turned my head like I always do and parked in about five seconds. Old habits die hard. ---
**Author:** ![Emergency911](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/43a26b/32.png) [@Emergency911](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emergency911)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-back-up-cameras-sort-of-a-poll/830492/55 "2019-03-04T17:17:31Z")
I have one and love it. I have driven trucks with campershells for so many years that I haven’t turned around to look out the back window for so long, I can’t remember the last time I did it. I was a firm believeer in mirrors and wouldn’t have ordered the camera, but it came standard. I still check my mirrors, then I use the camera for 90% of my backing after checking. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-back-up-cameras-sort-of-a-poll/830492/56 "2019-03-04T17:43:29Z")
I turn and look when backing out of the driveway as force of habit but definitely use the camera when backing into parking where there’s a vehicle or other obstruction behind me. The green/yellow/red warning marks give me peace of mind. ---
**Author:** ![Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Barkis\_is\_Willin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barkis_is_Willin)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2019, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-back-up-cameras-sort-of-a-poll/830492/57 "2019-03-04T21:24:00Z")
My wife’s minivan has a backup camera. My car does not. Backing up a large vehicle like the minivan would be more nerve-wracking without the camera. You simply can’t see everything with just mirrors and turning your head. Especially when backing out of a driveway and you know kids are zipping past on scooters and bikes. You can’t use the camera exclusively, but it’s a tremendous help. ---
**Author:** ![MeanJoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/meanjoe/32/5693_2.png) [@MeanJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MeanJoe)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2019, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-back-up-cameras-sort-of-a-poll/830492/58 "2019-03-05T18:01:42Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I would add that I’ve driven cars with really cheap backup cameras, often with poor resolution and a comparatively narrow field of view, and I hate them. The one on my daily driver is like HD quality and probably like a 170 degree view. It is so much better than my eyeballs, and poor cameras I think are only good for parallel parking and making sure I don’t back into the other car’s front bumper. Agree! My Cadillac has an awesome camera. But I also travel frequently for business and I rent a lot of cars when I arrive at my destination. There is a h-u-g-e YUGE difference in quality of back-up cameras across manufacturers and models. If my only experience was these lower end cameras, I’d find them mostly useless as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/car-back-up-cameras-sort-of-a-poll/830492.md?page=2)