BOYO VTL405HDL - Ultra Slim Bar-Type License Plate HD Backup Camera with Multiple Viewing Modes and LED Lights (Chrome)

If you don't want to read any further, this unit is excellent. Below is the rest of the story. I was looking for a high-quality rear view camera to use in my car. I had recently installed a JVC KW-NSX1 head unit with the rear-view camera in mind. There are a lot of rear-view cameras available, ranging from $15 through about as high as you want to pay. The factory unit for my JVC retails for $200 so that was my benchmark. However, the JVC camera only shows a horizontal angle of 130 degrees. I wanted wider ... a lot wider. IMHO, anything less than about 160 degrees isn't that useful. Consider backing out of a parking space when you are in a little car ( like my Toyota Corolla) and you are sandwiched between two SUVs. Oncoming drivers apparently think that if they can see your rear bumper, you can see them. All I can see is the sheet metal of the SUVs to either side of me. After doing many hours of on-line research, I concluded that all of the low-end units have a very high failure rate and are not worth the effort to install. Also, I decided I really didn't want night vision; rather, I wanted a camera that was very sensitive to light and didn't need it. The problem with night vision? The infrared LEDs are aimed directly in back of you ... doesn't help when you really need to see to the side. Installation is not all that difficult, but it is tedious if you do it correctly. I wanted to do the install just once. That lead me to higher-priced/ higher-rated cameras. I looked for a camera with a water-resistance rating of IP67, low-light sensitivity of at least 0.5 LUX, viewing angle of at least 160 degrees, and theft-security. Boyo was one of the candidate brands. I would have preferred a camera that mounted in a hole drilled into the car to make it hard to steal ... or even see. however, I couldn't find any that met my needs ... especially after I had discovered this unit and compared it to a variety of other units that were in the running. I was torn between their older unit (VTL405HD) or this unit (VTL405HDL). I finally decided to purchase this unit because of the higher quality of the camera and several additional features, including the adjustable backup lines. When I received the unit, I examined it. It appeared to be well built. Now that it is installed, here are my observations: PROs 1) Beautiful high-resolution image ... very clear even at night, and the colors are spot on. I haven't had to use the built-in LEDs yet. However, their limitatons are the same as the night-vision LEDs. They only illuminate behind and not to the side. 2) It is a major plus that this unit has built-in and adjustable backup lines. 3) BOYO provides stainless-steel bolts and nuts and the frame is designed so that it completely surrounds the bolt head. The unit is through bolted to the trunk lid. It is not removable from the outside of the car, which should provide a good measure of security from theft. 4) Great user support. I sent two e-mails and called once. All three queries were handled intelligently and quickly. I believe the average response time for the e-mails was less than 15 minutes ... now that's service. 5) The unit is made in South Korea. 6) The unit can show a normal display, or a view looking down, or a split screen showing both views. i tried that feature and it works well. I would think the looking-down view would be useful when hitching up to a trailer, but I won't be using that feature as I don't use this car to tow anything. 7) Last but certainly not least, it has a 192 degree viewing angle. 180 degrees is perfect for my needs, and 160 would have been acceptable. This camera easily meets my requirement. Coupled with that very-wide viewing angle is BOYOs feature called Lens Distortion Correction (LDC). One might expect a lens that can see more than 180 degrees would be a true fish-eye lens unless it were using exotic optics. There is certainly lens-induced distortion in the image. However, between what seems to be excellent optics and LDC feature, the image is quite viewable and very usable. CONs 1) My eyes are 68 years old (young!). The size of the font in the instruction pamphlet is TINY. 2) The instruction pamphlet does not instruct the user to power the camera off the backup-lamp circuit. I contacted Vision Tech, the maker of the unit, to ask about this, and they said to hook the power up to the backup-lamp circuit. 3) the wire for the unit exits exactly where the edge the my license plate sits. Rather than risking damaging the wire, I cut a small piece out of the license plate to give the wire some breathing room and sanded it smooth The cut doesn't show as it is hidden under the BOYO unit. I also installed rubber washers between the license plate and the car to give the wire additional breathing room under there.

12/24/18 The BOYO VTL 425 HDL performed quite well upon installation. There were no hitches; no complaints other than BOYO's use of a proprietary cable from the rear of the vehicle to the cabin. Images on my Pioneer 1440NEX were reasonably sharp & clear . Certainly adequate for backing, up day or night Now 5 months later the camera has stopped functioning. The attached image tells it all The LED's still function however Had the camera remained functioning this would have been a 5 star review Merry Christmas, BOYO 12/26/18 Added a new image that appeared on the screen

I have only been using this for about two weeks but I love it. I also like the fact that this model has the bright LEDs for lighting up the background on dark nights. I will also want it for winter so we will see how it does in the cold. Great remote control works really well and the split lens options seem to work ok... not sure how useful yet. Wish you could turn the LED lights on separately also so that you could use it to see when connecting a trailer in the dark. Quality of camera a higher than expected for the price... very rugged. Nice to have the stainless bolts included too. I also had to put a small notch the license plate for the wire but, like another viewer said, no one will see the notch even if I took the camera off. Update 06/04/22: Camera still works great and the extra wide angle is awesome! The picture distortion is corrected to an amazing degree, I can see either side of my garage doors as I come out so if someone was walking by, I would see them before they entered the garage opening! Some deterioration of chrome but to be expected in the North East :-) I still love it and it ended up saving my neighbor's life when he stepped behind my truck in a snowstorm while I was plowing. If it had not been for this camera, I would have hit him. I do not use any features other than the backup camera, never needed to, it works great as is.

For the price, I am not extremely impressed with this unit. The picture in daylight is very good. However, the picture at night varies considerably. Sometimes it is pretty good, but much of the time it is very grainy at night. It has several built-in special functions, most of which did not interest me. But the real problem with the special functions is that the unit does not store the functions you have selected unless you maintain power to the unit all of the time; including when your vehicle is off. If you turn on the LED lights, they stay on all of the time, rather than when you are just backing up. The result is that you have to wire this to a constantly hot circuit, and you have to keep using the control pad. All in all, not a very impressive unit.

Good backup camera...2nd camera angle isn't that great, but it works. Screws that came with it aren't that great...should have come with better bolts. Solid camera weight though. UPDATE: After almost 3 years, it quit working. Very bummed out and now the camera is $50 more than what I paid for it.