2023 360 Camera Rant

[KBKEITH]

Order mixup. Nothing with production. No issues that I am aware of getting the cams when ordered properly.

Oh man that sucks. Really sorry to hear that.

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[Pedaldude]

Would the bed camera help here?

I thought that it might but it’s really only good at looking at the bed and even then, it can be obscured by crap loaded in the bed along with the rear window.

I’m more glad that I got the tow mirrors than the 360° cameras.

 

[GEN14OWNER]

Everyone's preferences differ, no worries!

Myself, I went with the stand-alone 360-degree cam package 763 on my 2022 because

• I knew I'd be adding the accessory trailer-mounted cam which requires the 360-cams
• I knew I wanted the prerequisite Max Tow package anyway to meet my towing needs

But yeah not everyone needs the towing packages and the $ that go with them, so yeah, the 'Tow tech' package was (tense is key) a great deal for the cams. Bummer that it's gone for 2023 for sure.

I'll also opine that I've come to LOVE the 360-degree cams for daily, non-towing, driving. It's now automatic habit to reach up and punch the front/overhead view button as I'm approaching a nose-in parking space in a lot like at the grocery store, I find it very useful to see the parking lines, adjacent vehicles, and the exact clearance to the vehicle parked facing in front of me all at one time. 'YMMV' as they say.

The cameras are nice for parking but where they really shine is off road.

Traversing a steep, narrow, boulder ridden, twisty, rutted road downhill in a dense forest with "Hill Descent" and forward cameras is a whole different world.

 

[DanielG]

Tow Tech and 360 cams on a Lariat here. I use the cams everyday. I don’t tow much so I didn’t need the tow mirrors. I don’t like the way they look anyway.

 

[Kodiak]

Tow Tech and 360 cams on a Lariat here. I use the cams everyday. I don’t tow much so I didn’t need the tow mirrors. I don’t like the way they look anyway.

I wanted to like those tow mirrors so bad because at $250 they are a steal. I just could not get past how much side vision they blocked. Wonderful large view for looking back at the trailer but I just do not think I will be towing much so I stuck with the regular mirror.

 

[DanielG]

Same with me. I like the standard mirrors with the painted caps.

 

[Buyer2021]

I wanted to like those tow mirrors so bad because at $250 they are a steal. I just could not get past how much side vision they blocked. Wonderful large view for looking back at the trailer but I just do not think I will be towing much so I stuck with the regular mirror.

Again, everyone's preferences differ, no worries!

Back in 2006 I added the OE tow mirrors to my '05 F150 because I was seasonally pulling a gooseneck loaded with round hay bales (a fairly wide and long load). I quickly came to love 'em (especially the wide lower convex section) even when not towing.

When shopping for my 2022 many F150's I test-drove didn't have 'em, I felt 'blind' without 'em, again non-towing. I immediately noted that the 2022 non-tow mirrors were smaller than their 2005 counterparts, and for me 'BLIS' is not a substitute for eyes-on (a 'complement' at best, an opinion reinforced after more time with my BLIS-equipped truck).

Having had the big TT mirrors for ~17 years, I can't recall a single instance when they presented an inconvenient view-obstruction in any direction (slight easy and intuitive head-movement in-play as necessary).

I will admit the manual-fold on my 2005 XLT is an occasional PITA, that a big reason I among several that I stepped-up to the Lariat with power-fold in 2022, and I love 'em even more.

IME both 360-degree cams and TT mirrors offer different benefits for different situations, and those benefits / situations may not be fully anticipated at first blush.

Either / both may not be for everyone, but if shopping I'd suggest an open-minded test-drive with each configuration just to actually experience the possibilities first-hand, it just might change your perspective (pun intended ).

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