Hey all,

i am think of getting one of those rear veiw monitors that are built into my rear veiw mirror...

Have any of you guy hand any experince with these unit as i have a box on my pick up and i think it would help with parking my defender 130....

Thanks

Tam

There was a thing in lro about them not so long ago.. Can check which month when I'm home if you like?

Never used one built into the mirror but am well aquainted with the normal flat-screen type.
As with anything, the more you pay the better the image and the larger the screen (most double up as a TV as well), a better camera will have improved night-time performance but if you have decent reversing lights then you should be fine with almost any purpose built camera. Many have sound and all but the cheapest are colour. The one currently on the old chap's motorhome cost in at just under £1K but there are plenty of cheaper ones out there which do a more than adequate job.
Strangely enough I was looking through the catalogue and thinking about fitting one to my 90 only this afternoon, never really thought that it was something I NEEDED but I just fancy one.

do door mirrors not exist on a 130 then?

A camera shows you the blind-spot directly behind the vehicle that even if you had a rear window (and many LR's don't) you couldn't see.
I have driven vehicles equiped with only a pair of door-mirrors for many years and like to think I am very proficient at reversing but when technology exists why not embrace it? A few years ago parking sensors were seen almost as a gimick but now I wouldn't consider buying a new car without them (I haven't fitted them to the LR though). Taken to extremes they can remove the skill out of driving but used sensibly they can be a very useful safety aid, the rear facing camera is just another extension of this technology. Even now more and more cars are being fitted with them as standard and the combination of a big flip-down screen which also doubles as a TV for weekends away is a nice addition.

I've just fitted a perfectly reasonable camera/monitor set-up to my Hardtop and it does the job nicely, though the screen could usefully be a bit larger I suppose.

I got it from Chinavasion (Google it) and it cost me just .... £30 plus about £6 P&P and it arrived in less than a week all the way from China. It's dead easy to fit with no wiring (it transmits the colour image to the monitor which you can simply power from the cigar lighter) and it works very well indeed. It's well made too - I can't believe the quality for the price I paid and see no reason to have spent 5 or 6 times as much to get an identical device from over here!

No connection with Chinavasion by the way.

Here's the link: http://www.chinavasion.com/rear-view-cameras/car-rearview-camera-with-color-lcd-monitor/