NoseCam, wide-angle regular image, colorTotal Vision® Camera System
This has to be one of the most fun things that I have added to the Tacoma. Not only is it fun, but it's highly useful. It all began when I was chatting with a good friend of mine, Rod Thomas, owner of Total Vision® Products. He owns a very nice Toyota Tundra TRD 4x4, and has fitted it with some of his camera technology. He showed the system to me and I immediately became enthused with the whole concept. The thought of being able to see things you normally cannot see from the driver's seat was fascinating. I imagined being able to look at the ground directly in front of my truck, watch the belly of the truck (both front and rear) while crawling over rocks or rough terrain, and also see the rear receiver hitch and bumper while backing up.
Before I knew it, I was rolling my truck into the Total Vision® facility located in Tucson, Arizona, and a camera kit for the Toyota Tacoma was born. Rod already had a lot of the groundwork done on his own Tundra, and the Tacoma was a similar affair. Lots of fitting and re-fitting, checking, and re-checking. After a solid weekend, the Tacoma emerged from the Total Vision® facility with a new camera system.
The system consists of the following components:
- 7" TFT LCD Wide Color Video Screen
- Rocker switch (power on/off) can be seen in the photo above, lower-left
- 6-position Rotary Knob (used to select camera) can be seen in the photo above, next to rocker switch
- Complete wiring/cabling harness
- I have five cameras installed, but you may add a sixth camera to your kit. Cameras are as follows:
(Click on thumbnails to begin)
NoseCam, wide-angle regular image, color
TailCam, wide-angle mirror image, color
FAXCam (Front AxleCam), regular image, b & w
RAXCam1 (Rear AxleCam #1), mirror image, b & w
RAXCam2 (Rear AxleCam #2), regular image, b & w
To learn more about this kit, see the installation photo gallery and commentary. (click below)
Pricing and more details on the systems for the Tacomas will be available on Labor Day if not sooner, at the Total Vision® Products website, (see link below). Be advised that these systems will be ready to ship the third or fourth week of September 2005. The release date will be announced on the Total Vision® Products website. They will be accepting orders beginning on Tuesday, Sept 6th 2005.
