There is one thing nice about technology; it's always moving forward. Just like the car commercial that shows a bunch of older folks reminiscing about things they had to do, like getting up to turn the TV channel, then the commercial cuts to a younger man sitting in his car as it parallel parks itself. We used to need the aid of a friend to guide us back when hooking up a trailer. Thanks to Rostra Precision Controls and the RearSight system, we can hook up the trailer by ourselves. As an added bonus, there is no fear of backing our custom-painted truck into anything and damaging it.
The system features a simple installation that only requires you to drill a few holes and hook up three wires; everything else is plug-'n'-play. We took our truck to Al & Ed's Autosound in Huntington Beach, California, to have Hein Nguyen install the system. In just about an hour, we were in the truck, playing with our new monitor. After the initial play time was over, we put the camera system to the test and lined up in front of our trailer. We put the truck in Reverse and started backing up, with our eyes never leaving the screen. As we got closer to the trailer, the tongue came into view and allowed us to line it up perfectly. This is one of those modifications that make your life much easier, and we still have the option of adding another camera. We were thinking of putting one up front to save our painted valance.
What's in the Box? Inside...
What's in the Box?
Inside the RearSight packaging, you will find a rearview mirror that features a 3-1/2-inch LCD monitor, a waterproof color camera, and all of the wiring needed to install the whole system. The mirror features three different inputs, which allow you to hook up a back-up camera, an auxiliary camera, and display your GPS map, if your GPS unit has a video out.
The Install The first thing...
The Install
The first thing we had to do was find out where the camera would fit the best for our taste. After some brainstorming, we chose to install it in the factory plastic tailgate cap. Hein from Al & Ed's removed the cap and drilled the 1-inch hole for the camera with a hole-saw.
After a little file work,...
After a little file work, the camera slid right into the hole. The camera was not installed at this time, because we still need to get the mirror hooked up to properly orient the camera's view.
Now to get the wires safely...
Now to get the wires safely routed in the gate, a 3/4-inch hole was drilled on the upper portion of the tailgate skin. We selected an area about 3 inches to the right from our camera, and that will be covered by the cap once it's reinstalled.