Hi all, Just wanted to share two upgrades I did on my 5th-gen Prius that made a big difference in daily driving. 1. stick-on wide-angle side mirror The stock mirrors view field felt narrow, so I stick-on wide-angle side mirror made for the Gen 5. This one also keep the BSM light visible (semi-transparent section) and the extra field of view makes lane changes way easier. 2. OEM style Digital rearview mirror w/ dashcam I’ve always felt the rear visibility on this car… just isn’t great. And with no rear wiper, it basically drops to zero the moment it starts raining. I eventually found an OEM-style digital rearview mirror (Sinjet H10 Pro). The specs are actually pretty impressive — super smooth 50fps rear feed, a screen that goes up to 3000 nits, and no clutter or distracting info on the display. Night and rain visibility are so much better now. Installation note: removing the taillight was a pain — definitely something I’d let a shop handle next time. But totally worth it once installed. I posted more on my Instagram as well..
I actually picked mine up while visiting Taiwan. I’ve tried looking for a similar solution in North America, but so far I haven’t had any luck. At the moment, I think the only way to get this exact style is from Taiwan. If you have a friend there, I can share a local shopping link and they might be able to help you grab one.
Our new Prius has the camera RVM but I find I can't use it for driving. For some reason it takes me a second to focus on the camera display whereas I don't get that delay as a mirror. I leave the camera feature off as it feels like too much of a distraction. It's the same reason I don't like cars with touch screens in place of buttons (Tesla 3 expects you to tap and pinch to turn on the AC vents while driving, Wth). Anyone else feel that way about the camera RVM?
I didn't initially like the camera rvm - but now I do! Major increase in rearward visibility. The trick (for me) was to stop setting its position as if it were a (traditional) mirror, and just set it perpendicular to the axis of the car. It's just a monitor, after all. Now when I get in my other car (with a standard mirror) I'm like What the heck is this? I can't see anything behind me!
This is very common for drivers over age 40. When you use a traditional mirror, the focal length of what is seen in the mirror is the same as whatever you were just looking at through the windshield, so your eyes do not need to re-focus. When you use a display in place of a mirror, your eyes must change from far-focus to near-focus, and as humans age that takes longer. In the context of driving it can feel uncomfortably long.
Doesn't the aftermarket rear view mirror's camera get dirty like the backup camera? I find that happens a lot.
On my other cars the back up camera is hidden and protected from mud/snow etc until you need it. It's one of the features Toyota didn't think thru
Aftermarket units are limited for where they can be mounted. Many are set up to attach to the license plate bracket, because it's a nearly universal mount point on the back of the car. This also helps make them inexpensive. In newer OEM setups they're using cameras integrated into the rear of the sharkfin antenna on the roof. Those stay cleaner, without being as expensive/complicated/unreliable as the VW-style popout cameras. I haven't seen the new sharkfin cams on a Toyota yet but I reckon that's just a matter of time- they are fairly generic assemblies available to all car manufacturers.
Not sure that will ever happen. The antenna is part of the roof, so a replacement would required covering the existing antenna and cutting a hole in the top or replacing the entire panel between the roof and rear hatch. Both would be very expensive to do.
Sorry, I wasn't suggesting that as an aftermarket replacement. To clarify, I think it's likely that a future model will begin using the combo antenna/camera fin because it provides several desirable features with a single roof penetration and a shorter wiring run than anything trunklid or bumper mounted. Gentex can stamp 'em out by the pallet and reduce costs through volume since many cars can use an identical part, even across brands.
