mmade22

I bought the Wendy's cam for 125 dollars back in January of 2008. Everyone on this site said their camera would last a year and then it would die. I said, not me and what do you know, a year later the camera failed. I was never happy with the night view that it produced.

I decided I wanted to try another camera out and I didn't want to spend a lot of cash again. I decided on a Boyo VTK350. I bought it on Ebay for 40 bucks shipped.





Well, I got it and man this thing is huge. I wasn't happy to see the size of it and I should have known something was up because the seller didn't state the size on the ad. I was going to return it but thought, let me at least plug it in and see what the quality looks like.

I am glad I did because this thing is much clearer than the last one and it has a viewing angle of 120 degrees.

The old Wendy's cam installed


The great thing about this camera was that you couldn't see it....




Look at the size between the two...





I used the dremel and cut away a lot more of the plastic to allow the massive Boyo to fit in place....



Here it is installed and it is noticable but not too bad. I have a really great view with this thing and I am eager to see tonight what it shows me on the screen.








My son behind the car showing how clear this camera is....

Elegant TYPE S

iTrader: (2)

I think BOYO's images are crystal clear.. I have not really scrutanized the WENDY one.. but I have the BOYO.. so now that you tried both.. tell us what ur thoughts are.

mmade22

I looked into Boyo and noticed they make a lot of different cameras. I said for 40 bucks, let me try it out. It is so much clearer than the last camera. I just tested this thing at night and I was amazed.

I could never see anything out the rear when it was dark with the Wendys cam. There needed to be light somewhere for me to see anything at all. This camera soaks up all the light and uses it well.

Here is a 5 quart Mobil 1 that I placed seven feet back.....




Here is the car and the light I have for it. LED's all around help out!

Elegant TYPE S

iTrader: (2)

Yup.. BOYO FTW! I always get compliments on the clarity of my image.. I think its better then the OEM one..however downside is its a bit bulky.. like you mentioned.

BlueAc

iTrader: (2)

Your Type S rear conversion came out very well. Great job!

stillhere153

iTrader: (1)

I don't think it's that big, I have one on my watchlist on ebay for when I put this on a tsx.... I think the location is the problem, if you want it to be stealthy, I would've mounted it inside the type s aspecs lower grille dead center... (course you'd have to get rid of the fake mesh for some real one)

godfather2

nice touch

mmade22

Yeah thought of that and I was going to mount it their untill I test fitted it in that area and I just didn't like how it showed up on the screen. I couldn't judge how close my bumper was to what I was backing up too.

The location it is at is not stealth but in the right location as far as what you can see. Hey Al, look a little closer at my bumper. I know it's not a Type-s bumper but do you think I wouldn't go buy the OEM mesh and dremil it in to fit?

audi_to_TL

iTrader: (2)

The plate leds are nice.

risky88899

amazon has these right now for around $24 with free shipping through 6ave.com. picked one up based on the op's post.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001IUTGHe

mmade22

What a find. I thought I got a good deal only to find I was charged too much. Please let us know what you think of it. It is big but does a great job.

781mach1

I bought one also. Now I just gotta grab the navtool but it's only $190 shipped now so that's not too bad

luckyAKAhappy

Thank you. Just ordered as well. Been looking for an inexpensive camera. These will do considering the picture quality looks decent.

thanks to the OP and risky.

Trew

iTrader: (1)

well... time to hack up my rear color-matched trim

i just picked one of these up for 24 bucks. this price includes shipping!

msala524

iTrader: (3)

haha if you guys only knew what this word meant in spanish, i'm surprised no one has cracked a joke

mmade22

Nice guys....I wish I had gotten it for that price but 39 dollars shipped is still a deal considering I spent 125 dollars for the crappy wendy cam. This camera is big so make sure you dremel a lot out to fit this thing in that area. I was down to the bare parts up top by the time I was done. This camera is insane at night. So much better than my wifes OEM Lexus camera.

Trew

iTrader: (1)

What is it? jovensito? muchacho?

msala524

iTrader: (3)

noo alil more vulgar

Elegant TYPE S

iTrader: (2)

Yeah everyone that see the image on my screen is always amazed, and compares it with their lexuses or BMW's and they're just like Dam Acura has good stuff.. I just let them believe it.

leedogg

It looks like the camera is so big, it sticks out beyond the glare of the license led's and doesnt get washed out from the ambient lighting.

mmade22

This camera has tiny red led lights that glow very lightly at night to amplify the video and man does it really show well in the dark. I was backing up in a lit parking lot yesterday and it looked like it was daytime on the screen. You can see it all. This is way beyond any other camera I have seen in any car. The best thing, it's 24 bucks shipped. It's a no brainer. Big, yes but that is the price I will pay to have such a clear bright screen.

Trew

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the writeup mmade22. You inspired me to finally do my backup camera. I bought the same $24 Boyo you got. The only thing I did different was place the camera a little further back so it didnt stick out as much, and I managed to cut the trim a little less than yours while still fitting perfect.

Here are some pics...









I agree the resolution is fantastic. I was not expecting it to look this good. I got so excited I ran in the house to call my wife to come and see it. She says it looks better than the stock cam in her MDX, then got mad at me for having a nicer rear cam than her and stormed back in the house

mmade22

I set mine exactly like yours. Mine is all the way back and it is resting on the metal. I almost cut the metal out and made the back half flush in the trunk. I decided that would be dumb and did exactly like you did. I wasn't kidding you when I said this camera is soo clear. My wifes Lexus RX is like basic tv while my camera is HD. Nice!!!

Mug

MMade22: I'm going to need your help! I just ordered one but I have to hook it up to an 07 drive! I have the schematics and will post them later.

If anyone has hooked a camera up to an 07 or 08 drive, let me know.

mmade22

As long as you have navi, you can hook this up. If you have the factory camera and you want to replace it with this one, I have no idea how to do that. If you have the navi like us, then you need a nav-2-go module that plugs into the back of the dvd player for the navigation unit. Then you need to wire up the camera with the instructions.

CarrieLynn

iTrader: (2)

damn you guys!
I HAD to order one of these last night I just couldn't help myself for $24...just gotta get the nav2go and I'll be throwing this in

CarrieLynn

iTrader: (2)

ok so I just got my cam in the mail at lunchtime and I must say wow, it is kinda big. Oh well though, for the price I paid, I'm not gonna complain. It will be a few weekends before I get to the install but I'll post up some pics when done. Thanks for posting up the deal

brianp6621

Well my wendy's cam is about to die. Lately it has started to go almost completely black with one area of light visible (no details visible at all) randomly. Sometimes it snaps back on but at first the whole picture is tinted blue. I got mine 7/06 so it last almost 3 years, not bad. I just ordered the Boyo for $24.

mmade22

I warned you on the size and showed you the size of it compared to a small camera. Funny thing you were still surprised on the size. Big yes but you will not get a clearer screen with any other camera.

VmtSquad

iTrader: (1)

Hey mmade22, I was so annoyed when I saw that big thing arrived at my door last year that I choose not to install it...now that I see it fits good on yours I may be dust this camera off and install it when good weather arrive... Could you give us a little "how to" on what needs to be modified or cut to install this badboy ?

THanks man!

CarrieLynn

iTrader: (2)

eh, no big deal, like I said I am not complaining. I appreciate you posting up the info though, I did realize it was going to be big when I saw your pic comparing the sizes of the two. I'm looking forward to the install so I can see how clear it is in person

Trew

iTrader: (1)

You won't be disappointed. The resolution is really amazing.

GL on the install CarrieLynn.

conester

So I installed this camera after reading this thread. I actually ordered two cameras just in case one goes out after a year. It was hard not to order a back up since it was so damn cheap!
Anyway, I installed it and I have some questions.
1. You guys have nothing at the top of the picture and I have a curved area from the liscense plate plastic. I cut it out, but I can't seem to eliminate that. Did you guys move your cameras out a little to avoid this?
2. I tried angling it down so I can see some of the bumper in the picture, but I can't get the camera to angle down that much. Is there a trick that I'm missing?
3. Finally, what do you guys do about water/dirt/splashing on the camera? I was driving last night and it had rained and there was water spots on the camera screen. Now today I just looked and there are dried dirt/water spots all over the camera. Am I just going to have to wipe it down every once in a while?

Other than those questions, it's really cool to have a back up camera now!!

mmade22

Answers:

1. You must have the camera mounted up higher and the plastic is in the viewing angle of the lense. Remember, this camera has a120 degree angle lensed so it's going to pick that up. Unless you mount it forward a little like Trew and I did, you will have that issue.

3. That is what happens to cameras when they are in the back of the car, they get dirty and wet. You coud try to put rain-x on the lense but I am always in my trunk to get my tools out so when I raise the trunk lid, I wipe the lense clean. No biggie!

Mug

mmade22:

I just pre-wired mine and had a quick question. The image is really sharp like you said, but I have some waviness on my screen. I am going through the stock DVD drive and I didn't have the car started. Does yours or does anyone else have the waves?

Response time is nice, but I do have to wait for the navi to boot up when starting the car.

Some pics:

mmade22

Nice! Another one buys this camera. Ummm, I sometimes have a slight line on the very top that comes and goes but I think that is a Nav-2-Go issue more than the camera being the issue. It is so small that I never even thought twice about it. Do you have any wave issues using the other video source? Do you have a nav2go?

You have to wait for the nav to boot up before you can see the camera come on? Do you mean, you have to wait and hit the ok button or you have to wait for the disclamer screen? I can turn my car on and slap it into reverse and the nav2go does its job and overrides the video and shows me the camera.

To test the camera out to see if it is the camera with the wave issues, do this.

Plug the video cable into the tv and plug the 12v source into a battery and see if there is a lag and see if the wave goes away. If all is good on the screen, something is up with your aftermarket video module in the car. Let me know what you come out with.

meagain

That looks nice! The only way to do this is with Dom's unit for a 2006 eh?
What is the actual size of the camera. The only specs I saw were:

4.8 x 3.2 x 3.8 inches That can't be right - right?

lembowski

iTrader: (1)

I have the Boyo VTL120 license plate camera and it is far superior to Wendy's camera. Its balck and its not easily noticable that its a camera plate and I love it:

http://www.boyovta.com/products/lice...ra/vtl120.html

mmade22

Yeah, you need to get the nav2go or some other module that allows you to override the screen.

Size? It is huge!! I am on the road for the next couple of days so I really don't know. Look at all the pictures of my car and see if you like the look. You already know it is going to fit with some cutting and prep work. Wht's the problem?

gumby430

iTrader: (2)

Just grabbed this off Amazon for $28 shipped. Now where do I need to go to get a good price on a nav 2 go unit? Thanks! I now inspired after I bumped a car trying to back into a space today. Scuffed my ASPEC and I am pissed.