Furrion Backup Cameras

[tahoe1840]

Fellow RVer's, Forest River has installed on many of its models the Furrion Backup Camera housing. Has anyone of you found a third party vendor of the Furrion model FOS48TA-BL ($499) or their other cheaper model FRC12TA-BL ($399) camera? I'm wondering if a third party vendor may be a wee cheaper.

[rmac04401]

Amazon sells them.

[justwinginit]

Furion seems to be the name brand Forrest River likes. My TVs and micro/convection oven are Furion. Never heard of the brand before. I don't know if the convection oven works correctly or I just can't figure it out. It may be just I can't figure how to use it properly

[emm-dee]

I tried the Furrion on my trailer (31 ft) and a friends' 35 ft Keystone. Very poor image quality and lots of interference. Maybe better on a shorter unit but definitely not good out to the advertised 100 ft. Plus, it has the separate monitor.

Went with the Sharx hi def system which works over plain wifi and displays a fantastic image on the iPhone and iPad.

[tahoe1840]

Rmac, thanks, I looked all over Amazon but apparently I was not getting the search right, I found them!! Thanks again

[Mr Havercamp]

Originally Posted by justwinginit

Furion seems to be the name brand Forrest River likes. My TVs and micro/convection oven are Furion. Never heard of the brand before. I don't know if the convection oven works correctly or I just can't figure it out. It may be just I can't figure how to use it properly

Forest River assembles garbage using other garbage supplied for the most part from "Lippert Components", purveyors of frames that crack, jacks that break, and slideout mechanisms that crap out at the most inopportune moment. Forest River, and about every other manufacturer, likes Lippert components because the stuff they make is cheap. Furrion, who for the most part is just a brand name on junk they contract having made in China, is now in bed with Lippert components. That is why Forest River likes them. That is not a good thing for anyone buying a new unit.

Anytime a manufacturer installs something "for free" that is proprietary to a system from another entity, and the end user must pay to activate it, it usually sucks. They give the brackets to Forest River hoping that a certain percentage of suckers will buy the overpriced Furrion garbage.

RVBusiness, November-December 2015

[emm-dee]

Originally Posted by Mr Havercamp

Forest River assembles garbage using other garbage supplied for the most part from "Lippert Components", purveyors of frames that crack, jacks that break, and slideout mechanisms that crap out at the most inopportune moment. Forest River, and about every other manufacturer, likes Lippert components because the stuff they make is cheap. Furrion, who for the most part is just a brand name on junk they contract having made in China, is now in bed with Lippert components. That is why Forest River likes them. That is not a good thing for anyone buying a new unit.

Anytime a manufacturer installs something "for free" that is proprietary to a system from another entity, and the end user must pay to activate it, it usually sucks. They give the brackets to Forest River hoping that a certain percentage of suckers will buy the overpriced Furrion garbage.

RVBusiness, November-December 2015

x2.

Interesting article in the publication you linked. I've mentioned before that I've tried the Furrion cameras and, saying it nicely...they are pretty close to pure junk. I have attempted to contact them..all I get is voice mail and unreturned messages. I don't think I have any Furrion products in my RV but for those that do all I can say is "Good Luck".

For those of y'all who have the Furrion mount so graciously supplied by FR, consider yourself lucky because when you install a real rear view camera you won't have to go through the hassle of running a power wire and ground to your new install. Just remove the really cheap quality Furrion mounting case and cut the end off the connection. Deposit in the closest trash can.

[SYE]

I installed a Voyager Back Up Camera, they are a Jensen Product
Voyager 5 6" Wireless RV Observation Back Up Camera Monitor System WVOS511 | eBay

[hbillsmith]

The Furrion 48 works great. I have had both the Forest R supplied 12 and now the 48 that Furrion replaced it with for free. Night and day improvement. My opinion is that all negative camera reviews for Furrion are the 12 model. By the way you can get a 20% discount at the Furrion website if you simply and freely register.

[Mr Havercamp]

Originally Posted by hbillsmith

The Furrion 48 works great. I have had both the Forest R supplied 12 and now the 48 that Furrion replaced it with for free. Night and day improvement. My opinion is that all negative camera reviews for Furrion are the 12 model. By the way you can get a 20% discount at the Furrion website if you simply and freely register.

Maybe your correct however $399 ( $320 with the discount you mention) is a hefty chunk of change for the 12 that clearly is a piece of junk. $499 ($399 discounted) is even heftier for the 48 that supposedly works although I have not read many great reviews for it. Your original camera apparently came "with" your unit and when it was found to be junk Furrion/LCI appeased you by giving you the upgrade. Would you have purchased this stuff at those prices if you would have been in the situation that most are where all you get is a mounting bracket? Search around and you'll find all the posts about the Furrion TV's and how they fail. I installed the Furrion 30 amp power connector on my last trailer and within a year the entire assembly had deteriorated from UV to the point it fell apart. I couldnt get so much as a response from Furrion so that tells me their warranty is not worth the paper its printed on.

[hbillsmith]

Originally Posted by Mr Havercamp

Maybe your correct however $399 ( $320 with the discount you mention) is a hefty chunk of change for the 12 that clearly is a piece of junk. $499 ($399 discounted) is even heftier for the 48 that supposedly works although I have not read many great reviews for it. Your original camera apparently came "with" your unit and when it was found to be junk Furrion/LCI appeased you by giving you the upgrade. Would you have purchased this stuff at those prices if you would have been in the situation that most are where all you get is a mounting bracket? Search around and you'll find all the posts about the Furrion TV's and how they fail. I installed the Furrion 30 amp power connector on my last trailer and within a year the entire assembly had deteriorated from UV to the point it fell apart. I couldnt get so much as a response from Furrion so that tells me their warranty is not worth the paper its printed on.

Sorry to hear that your Furrion experience was so bad. Just a brief follow-up on mine.

The model 12 camera was not found to be junk. In fact it worked perfectly fine as a backup camera but did not function well as a pseudo rear view observation camera. I was wanting to use my camera while in motion towing down the highway. For that purpose it did not do well. In particular, screen dropouts and freezes. I called Furrion and was immediately transferred to a tech that explained that model 12 system monitor is designed to support 2 cameras and it's processor is optimized for a multi-threaded, though semi-stationary, operation.

He explained what I was looking for was the model 48 which has a more powerful processor and is single threaded. I offered to pay the difference for the upgrade and he said never mind, they would just exchange it. 2 days later, UPS showed up with a brand new camera and a pre-paid return slip for me to ship back the model 12.

One more thing, I had a cheap Amazon rear view camera (less than $100) I bought for my 2012 travel trailer. It was a wired version that didn't have any wireless issues and the monitor and quality were terrible. When I got the Furrions I expected them to be just as bad. They weren't. The model 48 is very clear whether it's night or day.

Again, I am very sorry your experience was different than mine.

[Mr Havercamp]

Originally Posted by hbillsmith

Sorry to hear that your Furrion experience was so bad. Just a brief follow-up on mine.

The model 12 camera was not found to be junk. In fact it worked perfectly fine as a backup camera but did not function well as a pseudo rear view observation camera. I was wanting to use my camera while in motion towing down the highway. For that purpose it did not do well. In particular, screen dropouts and freezes. I called Furrion and was immediately transferred to a tech that explained that model 12 system monitor is designed to support 2 cameras and it's processor is optimized for a multi-threaded, though semi-stationary, operation.

He explained what I was looking for was the model 48 which has a more powerful processor and is single threaded. I offered to pay the difference for the upgrade and he said never mind, they would just exchange it. 2 days later, UPS showed up with a brand new camera and a pre-paid return slip for me to ship back the model 12.

One more thing, I had a cheap Amazon rear view camera (less than $100) I bought for my 2012 travel trailer. It was a wired version that didn't have any wireless issues and the monitor and quality were terrible. When I got the Furrions I expected them to be just as bad. They weren't. The model 48 is very clear whether it's night or day.

Again, I am very sorry your experience was different than mine.

Fair enough. Glad you like their products. My experience with Furrion, and many other peoples bad experiences I have read about not only in this forum, but in many others, tells me to avoid them if it all possible.
Good luck.

[rogo]

I, too, have read the many negative reviews about the Furrion camera. In most cases, I suspect the reviewer has tried to use the cheaper FRC12TA-BL model (a backup camera) for something other than its intended purpose. The 12 model is for seeing what's behind you as you back your RV at slow speed like when you're backing into your campsite. It is NOT for seeing behind you at highway speeds.

The FOS48TA-BL model works quite nicely as my "rear view mirror" at highway speeds. I've experienced no lag, no dropouts. The picture is crisp, the refresh rate is real-time, the wide angle color image is just right. I installed mine in minutes in the pre-wired mounting bracket on my 35' trailer. Rather than mount the monitor using the supplied suction cup thingy (and taking up additional windshield real estate,) I chose to simply attach the monitor to the face of my rear view mirror with a couple of elastic bands. Takes just seconds, and puts the information right where I expect to find it.

Admittedly, I've only driven about a hundred miles with it, but it's been an overall positive experience for me. I expect easier parking and safer driving. I bought mine online for $400.

[B and B]

Originally Posted by hbillsmith

Sorry to hear that your Furrion experience was so bad. Just a brief follow-up on mine.

The model 12 camera was not found to be junk. In fact it worked perfectly fine as a backup camera but did not function well as a pseudo rear view observation camera. I was wanting to use my camera while in motion towing down the highway. For that purpose it did not do well. In particular, screen dropouts and freezes. I called Furrion and was immediately transferred to a tech that explained that model 12 system monitor is designed to support 2 cameras and it's processor is optimized for a multi-threaded, though semi-stationary, operation.

He explained what I was looking for was the model 48 which has a more powerful processor and is single threaded. I offered to pay the difference for the upgrade and he said never mind, they would just exchange it. 2 days later, UPS showed up with a brand new camera and a pre-paid return slip for me to ship back the model 12.

One more thing, I had a cheap Amazon rear view camera (less than $100) I bought for my 2012 travel trailer. It was a wired version that didn't have any wireless issues and the monitor and quality were terrible. When I got the Furrions I expected them to be just as bad. They weren't. The model 48 is very clear whether it's night or day.

Again, I am very sorry your experience was different than mine.

I won one at the Goshen rally in 2014, it did not work correctly. They sent me another NC. Worked better as backup camera. At Goshen in 2015 I asked and was supplied with the 48 model, works great! No complaints at all.

[emm-dee]

YMMV. The Furrion is plagued by the same problems affecting most other wireless systems...interference occurring between the camera and the monitor. In my attempts to use the Furrion (the -48 model) I could get a pretty good picture..actually an excellent picture, whenever the truck was turned left/right to about the max limit. But, when driving straight ahead the view on the monitor was like looking at a '50s era Admiral TV (only the ole timers here remember those). The problem is the camera is needed the most when driving straight down the highway. I could take the monitor out of the truck and move 6-10 feet left or right and the picture would suddenly be perfect.

Tried an install on a neighbors 35 (maybe 37 or 38, don't remember) foot Keystone 5er. Better results (go figure??) with the bigger unit but still not an acceptable picture. Then, I saw the same unit on a 40 foot Heartland and it was a perfect display. ?????

The problem is the interference between the camera and monitor which will vary greatly between units. I'm beginning to think the location of the microwave or refrigerator is a factor. The Heartland had a center cabinet with sink, etc., and we joked that the signal was pinging off that to get to the truck.

I installed a wired system on my horse trailer but looks aren't that important in the horse area (can see the wires running down the corner). After that, the wires are under the trailer and completely bypass the living quarters area. It requires an additional connection when hooking up to the truck but the display in the cab is beautiful. Can see views of the road on the right side and behind the trailer plus forward and aft views of the horses during travel (gotta keep an eye on them...they are worth a whole lot more than the entire truck and trailer combo).

Unfortunately, running wires through my TT was not an option. I really didn't want to see wires on the wall or ceiling and getting them hidden would have required removing a lot of the interior panels. That's way too much work for me and my limited skills. I finally installed the Sharx system because I'd had really good luck with that at my home (four wireless cameras). It connects via wifi to a router in the front of the trailer (about 25 feet) which allows connection to an iPad (about 15 feet). And, the rear camera has an sd card that records the last 7-8 hours of everything the camera sees. Interference is not a problem because of the short distances in use.

[justpassinthru]

Check out www.tadibrothers.com. Just installed mine. Works great and quality is there.. A little pricey but you get what you pay for


Jim and Ruby