Car India – May 2019

NEW PRODUCTS

Frontcamerausefulfor

surveillance;display

unitsecuresfirmlyon

insiderear-viewmirror

Rearcamerafeedcanbe

veryuseful,butcanbea

littledistractingon

whenmovingforward

Price:Rs9,750(approx)|Cameras:1080P+VGAfrontandreardoublelens,

12 MP,largewideangle|Size: 310 mmx 83mmx 18mm

BlackviewA107B

Withworseningtrafficconditionsand diminishing parking spaces,

havinganin-carsetofcamerasforgoings-on around or even in the car

canbea boon.Weputonesuchexampleto the test in our long-termer

and the set-up provides for seamless loop recording. It

also has soft night vision. That said, it requires manually

switching displays. For instance, with my preferred rear-

view set-up, I found it quite distracting on the move. And

it’s not the same as looking in the mirror, because the

display quality marks it out as a camera feed. Also, the

glare from the camera feed, especially in the afternoon,

is more than what one would normally get from a

normal mirror. Switching it off is a solution, but should

you require a rear-view parking assist, the system starts

in front-view mode and requires going through the menu

for the rear video feed.

It has the potential to be useful and many people may

find more uses for it than some others. It’s good to have

a choice and the A107B from Blackview is one of the new

ones to look at.

THE BLACKVIEW A107B IS ESSENTIALLY A RECORDER

that also offers the functionality of a reverse camera

when needed.

The package contains a primary unit and a secondary

camera with a mount, bracket and double-sided

adhesive tape to affix wherever needed. The primary

unit, which houses a 5.0-inch IPS display unit, the front

camera, and power needs for the set-up, can be secured

to the inside rear-view mirror using elastic straps. It has

connectors for the power and a CAN bus port for the

secondary camera. A long wire connects the secondary

camera to the primary unit. Some plumbing may be

required to conceal it, though. The camera can also be

mounted on the windscreen to get a view of the interior

and function similar to a CCTV set-up; useful to zero in

on a rogue valet, perhaps. I preferred to use it as a

reverse camera unit, mounting it just behind the rear

windscreen. This makes sense if your car variant is one

offered without a rear camera or even rear parking

sensors.

Get past the strange Asian text and plug into common-

sense and plugging in the product and navigating

through a stranger language can give you a choice of

front or rear views. The symbols are helpful to that

extent. The dual lens cameras offer a wide-angle view

http://www.carindia.in May 2019 CAR INDIA 23