I'm new to skid steers (20 hours so far), but wonder if a backup camera would be a very useful item to add. I know there are some more expensive ones on the market, but I think WalMart has one designed for cars and trucks where the camera mounts to the license plate holder for about $100. It comes with a small LCD display. Comments? thanks, Ken
Hey Ken, I think thatd be a great idea. Id put one on mine only i think itd prob get trashed unless i could cage it. I do a lot of bush work where itd be handy to kno how close the tree or cliff is to your rear end...
we have them on our loaders and materal handlers, they come in very handy
For a lot less money, I bought a rectangular wide angle aux towing mirror. It is about 4 inches high and 6 inches wide. It was easy to mount to the inside of the safety screen that goes around my cab (BC 763) There are no wires to hook up, nothing to protect from the weather and it only cost about $10. It works well for me but it does lack that up to the minute techno gee wizz effect.
I would agree with Cal on the mirrors. It would be a challenge to try and view a small LCD screen while bouncing backwards on a skid loader, keeping it clean, hooking it up and more expensive to replace. Most skids have enough room for two rear view mirrors, one on each front corner for $10 each plus mounting. Much easier in a skid to quick look up to the mirrors than adjust to a small screen depending on the way the light hits it and its clarity.
Mirrors are not going to give you a view close behind the unit. If they are inside, you won't see any more than you can by turning your head, with the arms and rear blocking the view. If they are outside, they will get mangled by brush.
I have no fear of heights, spiders, snakes or public speaking.....but if I have a phobia its gotta be called something like "Runkidoverintheskidaphobia". I have yet to see a medium or large skid where you can see directly behind you properly nor can you arrange mirrors to cover the most critical area. (The only machine I know that you can actually see properly is the RC30 when the back window is kicked out...DAMHIK) I am so paranoid about running over a kid because of the blind spot I have refused to work on some residential sites until the kids are locked up inside. To this end we started trialing reversing cameras. First off we started with some cheapy self install stuff. First one was no good with the vibrations from the engine (depending on the revs). Second one we messed around with couldn't handle the heat in summertime. So now it looks like we will try something you might have to pay more than $29.99 for. I'll post something when we have given it a good run.
I tell people that you can pay me $75.00 per hour to babysit or run the machine, but I'm not doing both. I usually tell them the last place I worked I hit a kid with the machine and the parents were not to happy, then walk away....usually works.
reversing camera I do have a tale to tell some time but for now I usually look for a camera on items that fail the 1m rule.