Backup camera - how useful?

One of the things I did when I test drove a 2010 back in March was to try to parallel park the damn thing. It didn't have a backup camera! Cheapo. I wouldn't buy a 2010 without the camera. But then I won't buy a 2010 anyway because they discontinued Silver Pine Mica (green). Message to Toyota: Green Prius with backup camera or no sale...

No rush anyway. My 2006 should be good for a number of years. Even with its poor mileage & power. The 2010 definitely feels more powerful, if you're into that sort of thing.

 

Amapola has the backup camera. I find it of marginal usefulness.
Yes, I do use it, but very little. I find it difficult to understand the
picture from the wind angle lens, so much distortion and varying
angular changes, especially if I'm moving while turning at anything
above a snail-like crawl.

That said, it is very useful in the limited case of not bumping into
things, as when parallel parking. When the picture of the top of the
bumper just touches something on the ground, you are ~12 inches
from that object.

As to backing into parking spaces, a side mirror tilt mod would really
be nice. They are available, but due the Japanese-only instructions and
some tricky re-pinning, It doesn't appear to be an easy installation. Go
here, in the Exerior section, at the bottom-left of the first section of
pictures:

Toyota Prius 2004 ~ 2009 NHW20 Exterior Accessories :: Sigma Automotive

The back-up camera is one of the first things a passenger will notice.
It has a huge golly-gee-whiz factor. A recent passenger asked how I
judged distance to the rear before I got the camera. I replied, "I don't
know." I've had it for only ~18 months now and I have integrated it's
limited usefullnes into my driving-in-reverse routine.

Hope this helps.

 

Never had, never missed.

 

Depend on the quality of the camera. It help a bit. Nothing substituted your own eye. I trade-in a FX35 for a new Prius and it have a 360 degree wraparound camera. It the best addon for visual help on backup and great on tight parking. It also have video and sound sonar and line Trajectory on the backup camera. But if it a cheap backup camera you limited on wide angle horizonal shoot and no line trajectory to help you measure the distant to a object. Camera them self can me misleading. I would look for a dealer with a test drive vehicle that have the backup camera.

 

I use the camera all the time. I think it is invaluable.

 

x2. I check cross traffic and just back away using the camera!

In addition, NAVI has these additional benefits:
1. USB connection for Apple Ipods with full function menus
2. Phonebook download via BT, including speed dial (extremely useful)
3. Navigation...probably the least useful function in the package for me. (NAVI maps are outdated and updates are $150-200.)

Don't get me wrong, the NAVI is pretty good as long as the destination is in the database.

 

I use the camera, but it's not crucial to a buying decision.

I love having OEM nav for those once in a while far from home situations, but I love it mostly for its seamless dash design.

 

I tied my turn signals to the reverse camera so it activates the camera when I change lanes. it's pretty useful. Kore971 drove it and liked it.

 

Me too. The visibility through the back isn't fantastic with the default glass. Now I have mine tinted to keep my dog more comfortable its even worse. The camera is a great asset.

 

Whoa! That's quite a cool mod! Do you have instructions?

 

There is a lot more to the Nav package than just a "Backup camera & Nav unit."
With the nav package u also get touch screen selection for all of your radio stations, play list & titles of all songs on the cd player, maintance schedular, touch screen dialing / answering for blue tooth phone, calendar, ect.
I think Toyota did not do it justice by just calling it a "Nav Package". I think they should have called it a "Vehicle Management Center". I have it on my 2010 level IV and wouldn't do without it.

Good Luck

 

search for "blind spot monitor" I posted a video

 

The NAV unit doesn't pronounce any proper names because it uses the recorded voice of an actual human being. (It does display the names on the screen.) They recorded the entire vocabulary (left, right, straight, the digits, etc.) but they didn't have time or space to record every street name in the world. The handheld units typically offer a choice of human voices without proper names, or synthesized speech with proper names. For speech synthesis, they use a set of pronunciation rules and generate the spoken name on the fly.

My TomTom unit sometimes applies the wrong rule, especially with names which are foreign to English speakers, but usually says something I can understand even if it's not the way I would pronounce it.

Speech synthesis is not offered in the built-in NAV unit in my '08 Prius.