It's Easier Here.

Leith Cars Blog

Everything Wrong with Former Apple Engineers’ RearVision Camera

Apple is known for innovation, and you can’t innovate without great employees. So when a huge team of former Apple engineers join forces to start their own company, we can’t help but get excited. The company is called Pearl, and this is their first product.

Dubbed, RearVision, this $500 device feeds a live 180-degree video from its two cameras directly to your smart phone. It’s solar powered, wireless, weatherproof, and compatible with any vehicle. Sounds pretty good right? Let’s take a look at the video.

It’s a nice commercial. Pearl is clearly marketing the RearVision to the new car buyers who want to save money on a rearview camera package, and old car owners who want to add some safety to their current vehicle. It’s a good idea, but we see a few issues with their first generation product.

Three reasons we wouldn’t buy one

First, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has mandated that all new vehicles must have rearview cameras equipped by 2018. Therefore, even the most basic 2018 models will have rearview cameras. So by 2018, new cars owners won’t need this product.

Second, this is a $500 device that – as far as we can tell – is secured to your car using only one hexagonal screw. Their website even says, to install: “All you need is a screwdriver and a few minutes.” Very convenient for a thief, who will also need only a screwdriver and a few minutes. Sure, they’d need to also find themselves an accompanying Car Adapter to pair it with, but we’d be willing to bet Amazon will sell the part if this product ever makes it to market.

Our third and final reason for not buying the RearVision is that you can buy a wireless backup camera at Walmart right now for $129

What might persuade us

If Pearl lowered the RearVision’s price and made it harder to steal, we might be interested. To prevent theft, Pearl could interface their Car Adapter to trigger the alarm system of a vehicle when it senses someone tampering with the RearVision. Their current adapter does plug into the on board diagnostics (OBD) port, so this may be a possibility.

They might also consider making each RearVision and its accompanying Car Adapter a permanent pair. This would only allow the Car Adapter to accept an incoming signal from the RearVision to which it is paired. Thieves could steal it, but it wouldn’t do them any good. Sort of like an iPhone with a passcode. nMaybe each RearVision could also be registered with your Vehicle Identification Number (VIN), or tethered in some way to location services on your phone. That way, any lost or stolen RearVisions can be easily identified and returned to their rightful owner.

Also, they’d need to cut that price tag in half. Until then, we’ll stick to turning our old noggin’ around to see what’s behind us.