Cameras are, by now, a standard feature in the modern vehicle.
Reversing cameras are common for good reason, even if only as a crutch for nervous drivers (this writer is convinced that parallel-parking-while-calm is a genetic trait, more than anything). Whether you’re driving an older car, a cheaper car or just looking to upgrade your existing reversing camera solution, chances are you’re here because you’re looking for something more effective at capturing and displaying your surroundings.
What’s your angle?
One of the important factors is the viewing angle, the field of view the lens facilitates – essentially, how much you see with the camera. All reversing or rear-view cameras are at least wide-angle by definition, as the viewing-angle threshold for such lenses is as low as 55° horizontally; most are even super-wide, with viewing angles exceeding 100°.
There is no ‘correct’ viewing angle for a reversing camera, but there are some considerations worth bearing in mind.
Super-wide viewing angles provide a comprehensive picture of everything behind (and almost beside) the rear of your car, but can also mess with proportions and perspective. More acute viewing angles don’t give as much coverage but offer a clearer picture of everything behind you.
You shouldn’t be exclusively relying on cameras for parking anyway, but having more visible on-screen can be a boon for some, particularly if you can get used to the dramatic perspective distortion. Narrower viewing angles still suffer from this distortion (that makes close objects look closer, and distant objects more distant), but not to the same extent, hence potentially giving you a more precise picture of your clearance when parking.
To dash or not to dash
Reversing cameras for cars were a tangible innovation in an awkward period of transition for modern vehicle design. In a short period, have been superseded by a new phenomenon altogether. With the cheapening of tech engineering and manufacture, companies have been able to offer high-resolution cameras with recording, streaming and even AI integration at supremely affordable price points.
With so many dashcams coming with a rear-view camera and offering extensive live-feed capabilities as well as their essential recording abilities, it’s only natural that these polymath products also make it onto this list. That said, there’s something for everyone here.
If you want little more than a bare-bones camera with hardwire capabilities, reliable options abound; if, however, you want a bells-and-whistles voice-activated reversing camera that can record your journey and alert you if a seagull flies within spoiling distance, we’ve still got you covered.
Best reversing cameras for cars to buy at a glance
- Best overall: Mio Five S1 Ultra 4K + 4K Front and Rear Dashcam - £199.99, Amazon
- Best for subscription-model smart-camming: Nextbase iQ Rear Window Camera - £149.99, Argos
- Best for Alexa-enabled wide-angle captures: Nextbase 522GW Front & Rear Dashcam Bundle - £219.95, Amazon
- Best for a comprehensive rear-view mirror alternative: Road Angel Halo Vision 2K HD Front & Rear Dashcam & LCD Mirror Screen - £138.99, Amazon
- Best for a cheap rear-view mirror alternative: Goodyear HD Mirror Dashcam with Front and Rear Camera - £39.99, B&Q
- Best for eco-friendly set-and-forget-ability: AUTO-VOX Solar1 Pro Solar Powered Wireless Reversing Camera Kit - £104.99, Amazon
- Best for accompanying your Garmin sat-nav: Garmin BC40 Wireless Rear View Back Up Camera - £143.99, Amazon
- Best for discreet and handy automatism: Road Angel Halo Pro Front/Rear Dashcam - £179.99, Argos
- Best for a dumb, foolproof rear feed: Motormax Universal 4.3" Monitor & Reversing Camera Kit - £89.99, Halfords
- Best for low-profile installation: Garmin Mini 2 Car-key Size Dashcam - £99.99, Argos
Miofive S1 Ultra 4K + 4K Front and Rear Dashcam
Best: overall
Miofive’s S1 Ultra 4K + 4K Dashcam bundle is, admittedly, a premium-priced bundle. But that premium price gets you so much. As you might have already inferred, the S1 Ultra boasts not one but two 4K-resolution cameras, front and rear. This is, by far, the crispest Dashcam imaging you’ll find at this price.
Each camera unit is comfortingly weighty, and the on-board controls of the front camera are reassuringly robust too. The rear camera’s 112-degree viewing angle is an excellent trade-off of width and perspective for both image capture and safe reversing – and seeing out of the camera can be accomplished on the front dashcam’s 3” screen or on your smartphone or tablet via WiFi.
This is a comprehensive camera solution for your car, to say the least. Though 4K might be overkill for your small screens, the fidelity is certainly not to be sniffed at – and the wider usefulness of the S1 Ultra system is tough to beat. Not only this, but it’s much less fiddly to set up than some less-thought-out systems.
Buy now £199.99, Amazon
Nextbase iQ Rear Window Camera
Best for: subscription-model smart-camming
Nextbase specialises in dashcams with a range of models and accessories all in service of safer driving. This is the iQ Rear Window Camera, part of a modular smart series designed to provide holistic vehicle recording and safety measures through a central app.
The iQ Rear Window Camera is a 1440p camera with a 140° viewing angle and some exceedingly smart functionality in tandem with the iQ app. For example, as well as a live view mode, the camera can be used as part of a Smart Sense Parking mode, which senses nearby hazards during parking and even while your car is parked.
There are some caveats to bear in mind. One, you’ll need the front camera before you can benefit from the rear camera. Another is that the better functions in the app are hidden behind a monthly subscription. But with frequent updates and new features, this might be a winning long-term solution for safe parking.
Buy now £149.99, Argos
Nextbase 522GW Front & Rear Dashcam Bundle
Best for: Alexa-enabled wide-angle captures
Apart from Nextbase’s flagship smart-dash iQ series, the brand also produces a range of evergreen front-and-rear dashcams, which show their quality when reversing and parking just as much as after a road incident. The 522GW is an upper-range model Dashcam, with Alexa compatibility and a 3-inch touch screen; this purchase bundles it with a Nextbase Rear Window Cam.
The Rear Window Cam is a capable 1080p camera with a 140-degree viewing angle and a magnetic mount that makes poising it properly a breeze. The camera alone is handy, but by no means especially special. In tandem with the 522GW, though, things change.
The 522GW’s 3-inch touch screen makes it a cinch to view the rear feed from this camera, as well as to save footage. The 522GW also purports to be the first-ever Alexa-enabled dashcam, so you can look forward to voice-controlling aspects of your reversing camera too.
Buy now £219.95, Amazon
Road Angel Halo Vision 2K HD Front & Rear Dashcam & LCD Mirror Screen
Best for: a comprehensive rear-view mirror alternative
The Road Angel Halo Vision is, though not the smartest tech design, one of the figuratively smartest dashcam bundles around.
The Halo Vision takes the form of a windscreen-mounted rear-view mirror, designed to replace your mirror altogether. The whole face of the thing is a touch screen, offering an incredibly wide 10.2” picture for you to monitor both front and back.
Speaking of, the rear camera is a 1080p unit with a 125° viewing angle, ensuring a broad picture of everything going on behind you. Further, the Halo Vision has some smart colour-brightening software built-in to enhance the picture on darker and duller winter days, so you won’t miss pebbledash bollards the next time you’re parking in fog. There are plenty of Dashcam-specific boons to seal the deal with this thing too, including a G-sensor-augmented parking mode that records and saves activity after parking.
Buy now £138.99, Amazon
Goodyear HD Mirror Dashcam with Front and Rear Camera
Best for: a cheap rear-view mirror alternative
Here’s another nifty rear-view-mirror-alternative Dashcam system, but this time at entry-level prices. Goodyear, a brand otherwise and better known for its tyres, has put its name to an inexpensive dashcam bundle with a wired rear camera, one that sports a 140° viewing angle.
Set up is simple and getting the rear camera to display is a cinch. The screen portion of the mirror is only 4:3, in comparison to some full-width options on other mirror-adjacent dashcams; this is good, though, as conventional rear-view monitoring can coincide with using camera information to park safely.
In all, an effective and budget-friendly addition to any vehicle.
Buy now £39.99, B&Q
AUTO-VOX Solar1 Pro Solar Powered Wireless Reversing Camera Kit
Best for: eco-friendly set-and-forget-ability
This is an interesting entry into the reversing camera space: a solar-powered camera that can withstand the elements. This is the AUTO-VOX Solar1 Pro, a bona fide wireless reversing camera with a 110-degree viewing angle and a 70-degree pitch angle for optimum placement. Stick it above your number plate for ideal coverage, use the bundled five-inch monitor to see behind you as you park.
The camera is attached to a solar-enabled battery pack (which can also be USB-charged if you want to reliably juice it up ahead of time), and IP69K rated – meaning it can comfortably handle being jet-washed a bit. No finicky removals to charge it up or clean your car! This is an excellent low-maintenance option, and greener than most reversing cameras for cars to boot.
Buy now £104.99, Amazon
Garmin BC40 Wireless Rear View Back Up Camera
Best for: accompanying your Garmin sat-nav
Garmin is a truly tried-and-true brand for car owners, having built a reputation for reliability off the back of its superior sat-navs. Here, Garmin are accessorising – and in a somewhat practical manner, too. The BC40 is a wireless rear view back-up camera, designed to work with compatible Garmin sat-navs.
The camera itself is a wireless thing, designed to hold on to your licence plate via an included licence plate bracket. It boasts an ultra-wide 150-degree viewing angle and up to 720p definition (depending on your sat-nav), and only requires 2 AA batteries to work. Replacing the batteries might get boring in time, but the relative low-maintenance of this besides is a joy. With compatible sat-navs, you’ll be able to access your rear-view feed by voice command, too – hands-free reverse-parking convenience awaits!
Buy now £143.99, Amazon
Road Angel Halo Pro Front/Rear Dashcam
Best for: discreet and handy automatism
Another from Road Angel, the Halo Pro Front/Rear Dashcam set is a little less involved than its rear-view-mirror-replacing counterpart. This dashcam bundle doesn’t come with a screen of its own, billing itself as a discreet and near-automatic affair that doesn’t require screens to work in its essential capacity (that is, recording drives and capturing incidents).
However, there is a Road Angel smartphone app to which you link your cameras, and from which you can view your camera feeds in real time. Through this, your 1080p rear camera (and its handy 120° viewing angle) can give you all the coverage you need to park safely. The app isn’t best-beloved amongst longer-term users, but has some fun features nonetheless, and amply serves its purpose when reversing.
Buy now £179.99, Argos
Motormax Universal 4.3" Monitor & Reversing Camera Kit
Best for: a dumb, foolproof rear feed
The Motormax Universal 4.3-inch Monitor & Reversing Camera Kit is a utilitarian solution for a reversing camera. It does exactly as it says on the tin, and is highly effective for doing so. This is a ‘dumb’ reversing camera, that you hardwire into place in your vehicle and which feeds a decently-sized monitor you install on your dashboard.
The camera itself offers a 110-degree viewing angle, which is a tad narrower than many premium rear-facing Dashcam add-ons; the screen is quite low-res, too, at 480x272. But as a bare-bones, hardwired, part-of-the-furniture option for seeing behind you when you park, this is an excellent low-cost solution that’ll outlast many budget dashcams – and won’t need regularly removing to recharge either.
Buy now £89.99, Halfords
Garmin Mini 2 Car-key Size Dashcam
Best for: low-profile installation
Garmin’s latest series of dashcams are small, but this one is especially miniscule. Barely the size of a key fob, the Garmin Mini 2 is about as discreet as an in-car camera can get – and a great option for bringing reverse-camera functionality to your own vehicle.
Rather than connecting via sat-nav, the Mini 2 can connect via the Garmin Drive app. At 1080p and with a 140-degree viewing angle, it's as crisp and ultra-wide as you’ll ever need. Though you might struggle wiring it up without some long USB cabling, the Mini 2 is otherwise ideal as a low-profile reversing camera for cars.
Buy now £99.99, Argos
Verdict
Road Angel Halo Vision 2K HD Front & Rear Dashcam & LCD Mirror Screen is an especially useful unit for enhancing your visibility when reversing, particularly for plussing up your rear-view mirror in the process.
However, the Miofive S1 Ultra Front and Rear Dashcam clinches it as one of the best reversing cameras for cars. Dual-4K resolution front and rear, an app that just works, and some solid on-unit controls make for a reliable long-term camera system for reversing and more.
