I want one of these. In fact, I just ordered one.
The rearview mirror in the middle of the windshield in my Winnebago is nearly useless. All I can see is the hallway and a bit of the bedroom, not too handy for checking traffic. I can also see a bit of the back window that is 31 feet behind me and sometimes I can even look through the back window to see a truck behind me. It doesn't work too well for seeing automobiles, as most of them are too low to be seen easily through the rear window that is about six feet off the ground. I use the outside rearview mirrors most of the time.
Now a Chinese company has announced a kit that replaces any standard rearview mirror with a GPS and Bluetooth 2.1-enabled unit featuring a 4.3-inch touchscreen for multimedia playback and even playing touchscreen games (!), while DVR capabilities let you record what goes on inside and outside the car. And, yes, it even functions as a rearview mirror as it displays video from a tiny video camera mounted on the back of the vehicle. This thing has more gadgets than a Swiss Army Knife!
The mirror is designed to fit over a standard factory mirror and requires no installation or setup. It comes with both a charger that plugs into a car's DC connector and a power cable for a more permanent connection to the car's battery. The GPS is a receiver only and requires a laptop computer or a handheld tablet or something similar to display the GPS information. It is compatible with most brands of GPS software, including TomTom, iGO, and Route66, although not Garmin.
The unit's microphone and speakers allow users to make and receive hands-free cell phone calls and listen to music via a Bluetooth connected mobile phone, while the included waterproof wireless rearview camera helps negotiate parking. Being wireless, there's no need to string cables to the rear. There's also a camera embedded in the mirror itself that can record video (AVI, MOV, ASF, MP4, WMV) at up to 640 x 480 resolution at 30 fps onto SD or Micro SD cards of up to 32 GB capacity. The DVR functionality lets users record interior and exterior sound and vision that could come in handy in the case of an accident.
Multimedia playback capabilities provide video entertainment via the 480 x 272 pixel 4.3-inch touchscreen, with touchscreen games also included. I'm not sure I'd want to play video games for hours using an outstretched arm reaching up to the mirror. I certainly won't be doing that while driving!
The unit also supports MP4, AVI, MPG, WMV and 3GP video, MP3, WMA and WAV audio, BMP, JPG, PNG and GIF images, as well as TXT documents for a little light reading on the road.
The Complete Car Bluetooth Rearview Mirror Kit comes with a 4 GB Micro SD card and 4 GB SD card. It sells for about $260 from eBay merchants.
