Forum Discussion

Frankandbeans's avatar
May 18, 2016

Recommendation on hitch camera?

One thing I am missing about my 5th wheel is the ease of hooking up. I forgot what a pain it is to hook up a bumper pull with no guide. I am not opposed to buying a new head unit and installing a back up camera to go with it. So I guess the real question is, stand alone back up camera or go with one that can be integrated to the head unit? Any particular recommendations you guys have?
  • I just bought this on Amazon
    IBal 5.8 GHz wireless
    Works good for me, a whole lot easier as I am always hooking up solo. There is some static, but I like the way the viewing screen is on a flexible stalk and the camera has a nice magnet. Not sure why I waited this long to get one of these....
  • On my previous truck, I used the Garmin wireless backup camera integrated with my GPS. It was ok, but didn't have great night vision. However, it was pretty easy to install. If I had to do it again, I'd get something integrated into the rear view mirror. It's really nice having the backup camera available at all times and not just when you want to hook up the trailer.

    One thing to consider is that once you get whatever you are going to use, either paint a small white square or put white tape on your trailer tongue (if it's black) to make it easier to see in the camera. The low contrast of some backup cameras makes it difficult to differentiate the end of the tongue in low light. Having some contrast to aim for makes the job much, much easier.
  • The SH camera works great as a sat dish aiming tool too!
  • Well I saw a guy using his kids phone with the Skype app to view his backing up procedures once he got close he placed the kids phone on the bumper just above the hitch receiver and he had his phone in the cab of the truck. I can see many issue doing this but, it worked like a charme for him.
  • I use one that's called swift hitch, bought it on Amazon it's magnetic mount, the nice thing about it I can also put it in the toyhauler and watch my side-by-side while we travel. I did see our strap come loose one time so we were able to stop and tighten it up