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Pearl Automation Shuts Down After Poor Sales of Its $500 Vehicle Backup Camera

I never heard of them, but I would be interested in a rear view camera that is easy to install, streams to iPhone, and is reliable (no ongoing fiddling required). Any recommendations?
 
wlossw said:
The kind of people willing to spend 500$ on this kind of thing already drive a car with a backup camera...
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Exactly this.

Hell, I can go to my local car stereo place and get a crappy head unit for $100, and they'll throw in a backup camera that links to it free. Even a high-quality backup camera is only $100, and a new double-height head unit to link it to can be had at decent quality for $400.

The *ONLY* benefit I saw of this over existing/cheaper alternatives was that it connected wirelessly, so I would be able to swap it from my pickup to the back of my camper or trailer.
 
splogue said:
Respectfully disagree. Buying (or more likely, leasing) new cars constantly is not something most people with real money do. I don't mean the very wealthy, of course - many of those don't even purchase cars at all and instead have them supplied through their companies.
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In a conversation with my car dealer, who has been in the same place for many years, I was told that some people come to his dealership once every ten years or so and buy a new car. Then they drive it until it falls apart, and come back. I was told about a quarter of his sales go that way.
 
levitynyc said:
Being all new cars will be required to have a backup camera by 2018, they should've seen the writing on the wall for this.
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Timing is everything, huh?

This feels a bit like that "Coin" device from a few years back. You know, the single "e-card" to replace your wallet full of magnetic credit cards - right before magnetic cards were obsoleted by chip cards.
 
givmedew said:
Don't loose interest just do it the correct way. You can buy a much better camera and a special rearview mirror that has a hidden screen in it. You can go wireless to save some money or pay to have it installed for the best experience. The quality is usually as good or better than what you see on most non luxury cars and heck sometimes even better than luxury cars if your very careful about which camera you choose.

I have a Chevy Volt 2013 fully loaded which is like a $35-45k car and they used a camera that is so cheap I could probably get a better chip/lense for $15 now it's important to note that chip/lense isn't everything... You have a housing and cables and an extra video input on the radio w/ analog to digital conversion and a relay hooked up to the reverse system.

All said I can buy every one of those parts myself for less than $40 and Chevy could have double or triple the quality of the camera for an extra $15.

What I'm getting at is that if you carefully select a Sony chipped camera w/ high dynamic range or wherever they call it or copy or something similar and use the rear view mirror add on you can have something better than what most cars have for under $200 self installed wireless or under $400 for wired... (Parts cost less but installation will be $100-200 depending on car and if they run a relay to the reverse to turn the screen off while driving)

I upgraded my stock camera to a kit I had laying around for flying drones. It has what I think is called High Dynamic Range which can be turned on and off with an external plug in remote. What it does is that as the time of day changes or if lights are aimed at the camera it adjusts exposure and uses multiexposure (I think) to provide detail that would be lost on the stock camera. I think it might also switch to a near B+W mode in extreme darkness. I don't remember all the features but bottom line is that it destroys the stock one and has 2x the lines of resolution (actually I think it's 3x but the radio can't display that high of a res through that input)
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I have the same car, and I love it, but your right the backup camera is pretty low quality. Do you have more details about the upgrade?

Question for you. Is there a way to keep the stereo on Bluetooth when the car starts? Every time it starts it is set to the radio and I have to go in and change it.
 
I got a 720p backup camera for my car for $12. It automatically comes on my in-dash display when I put the car in reverse. Not a surprise that a device that costs $500 and requires you get out your phone and launch an app every time you want to backup, failed.
 
OldSchoolMacGuy said:
I got a 720p backup camera for my car for $12. It automatically comes on my in-dash display when I put the car in reverse. Not a surprise that a device that costs $500 and requires you get out your phone and launch an app every time you want to backup, failed.
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Damn. Where did you find that deal?
 
Wow, that's pricey, and most current models include a backup camera, so I think its a double whammy. Lack of market, most people with older cars may not be willing to spend that kind of money on it
 
I would expect that most people wouldn't spend $500 on this when you can turn your head and look behind you for free.

The best market for these would have been large motor homes. But even those I've never had trouble backing up with good mirrors.

You cannot rely solely on cameras anyway. You'd still have to use mirrors and Windows.

I'd be a buyer at $50 as essentially a supplemental mirror for a 40+ foot RV.

Anything shorter than that and I'll just do what I've always done. Turn my head and use the windows and mirrors.
 
Not every company is Apple. You can't release a backup camera that's 2-3x what a normal one costs and give the reason for pricing being "we're all ex-Apple engineers" You may be ex-Apple but you're not Apple.

The product looked sleek, presumably a great UI and decent tech-support but most CE companies have to charge a fair margin but not an exorbitant one. If you look at the comments from when this thing went on Sale, everyone on MR was like "$500? no way"
 
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gnasher729 said:
In a conversation with my car dealer, who has been in the same place for many years, I was told that some people come to his dealership once every ten years or so and buy a new car. Then they drive it until it falls apart, and come back. I was told about a quarter of his sales go that way.
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The average age of a car on American roads is eleven years.

This usually gets brought up in the various CarPlay threads dealing with third-party head units. There is reason why there are companies who design, manufacture and sell aftermarket accessories.

Unfortunately, this particular company priced itself out of business.
 
my iPad and iPhone comes with 2 cameras, front and back, and both devices sell for $5/600 complete. Cameras and screens are so cheap now and you don't need 4K to see for safety. Safety cameras should be a standard by car manufacturers now
 
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