Usefulness of 360 camera

[hal2]

The 'need' for the 360 camera is oft debated and there's no wrong answer - "I don't need one", I get along fine without it", or "love mine", "use it everyday" .

For those who have not seen it, this is might help. Also, it can give a front camera view similar to what you see in reverse which means when pulling out of parking spots (if pulling forward) you can see side traffic as soon as the tip of your front bumper sticks out an inch, or what you're about to hit in the garage . Also, one of the views gives a close up of your front tires and tier position. To upgrade to the Signature is not right or wrong, as it's not a cheap proposition, but if you are already in the Turbo price range, don't think of the 360 monitor as just a gimmick

 

[MGMGT16]

I added a front camera to my wife’s 4Runner. She said it was pointless and she’d never use it. Now she doesn’t like driving my CX-9 because it doesn’t have a front camera. Can’t imagine what a 360 camera would be like

 

[ceric]

The 360 camera is the only feature that makes me prefer Signature over Turbo (for a 2022).
Other stuffs are nice to have at best.

It is a computationally composed video from four videos taken at four corners.
One carmaker (I can find it if anyone is interested) provides a transparent view under the vehicle.... It feels like you can see thru the floor.. yes, there is a camera aiming under the chassis.

 

[Mazdiod2]

I added a front camera to my wife’s 4Runner. She said it was pointless and she’d never use it. Now she doesn’t like driving my CX-9 because it doesn’t have a front camera. Can’t imagine what a 360 camera would be like

That's cool. How did you go about that?

 

[MGMGT16]

That's cool. How did you go about that?

There’s kits available for the stock headunit but hers is aftermarket to get AA/CP so it had an input for a front camera

 

[Mazdiod2]

Mounted it in the bumper? Does it somehow switch from rear to front?
360 would be nice but ...how?
Front should be easier but it somehow work with the rear. A split screen would be cool.

 

[MGMGT16]

Mounted it in the bumper? Does it somehow switch from rear to front?
360 would be nice but ...how?
Front should be easier but it somehow work with the rear. A split screen would be cool.

Mounted on front bumper yes. In the settings there is a way to set a front camera interrupt. So when you switch to reverse, backup cam comes on. After switching back to drive or park, you get the front camera for 10 seconds. Good for parallel parking. Also a button on the headunit that brings up the front camera as well as the mode/mute button on the steering wheel that does it too.

There is a new headunit I want to get that has 4 camera inputs although I don’t know if it can turn that into a 360 view. I’d keep front and back and add one in each mirror assembly

 

[Frank_Zuccar]

I'm in the '360 camera is wonderful' camp........................... Frank

 

[Chas]

Yes we love the 360 view. It is also good enough to assist in parallel parking so that you do not get curb rash on your wheels.

 

[aznbala]

It would be nice to have but I choose a 21 CE turbo 9 months ago. The color to me is unbeatable. The increase in price to the signature was not worth the 4 or 5k difference

 

[CX-5um]

I added a front camera to my wife’s 4Runner. She said it was pointless and she’d never use it. Now she doesn’t like driving my CX-9 because it doesn’t have a front camera. Can’t imagine what a 360 camera would be like

Front camera at the bumper level. Genius!! Especially when parking in garage.

360 cams are great for zombie apocalypses though.

 

[zeeke42]

I have a really tight garage, so the 360 camera is awesome. The steering adjusted guide lines make pulling in a breeze, and the front camera makes it so I can easily get closer to the front wall than the parking sensors alone would.

 

[sugob]

2021 CX-5 SIG
I find the side camera view in reverse looks more useful than it actually is - when reversing for parking I find good old wing mirrors can be more helpful [but I still look at display for the dynamic guide lines for car path on reverse camera]
I test drove the 2020 CX-5 SIG and, to my surpise, the rear camera showed static guide lines [they didn't change as rotate steering wheel] - the front pointing camera had dynamic! The 2021 SIG has dynamic guide lines for both front and rear

 

[zeeke42]

There's some kind of weird setting / different view or something here. I got my 2022 Signature home and was like, WTF, the back up guide lines don't turn? But now they do. I'm not sure what I did. I'll have to play with it agoin and report back.