MySwag.org The Off-road Camper Trailer Forum
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Coolblue80 on June 23, 2018, 04:00:50 AM
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I've recently purchased a van and chasing opinions on towing mirrors. When I went to pick the van up, 550km round trip, I took a set of clip on style mirrors with me to get it home. Well they lasted about 10k's until I took them off for fear of them falling off and damaging the car. I know that Clearview are the Holy Grail of mirrors but can't bring myself to spend $750-$800 for them. Bear in mind we aren't towing 24/7. Upon researching mirrors I've come across alternatives of the Clearview. Has anyone got or used Terrain Tuff, Ocam or Adenture Mirrors? Maybe a decent set of clipons would work. The fold in actuator on my drivers mirror is playing up and the part to fix it is approx. $150. Instead of fixing the mirror and adding the cost of clipons, I'm thinking I should spend the extra and buy one of the aforementioned brands.
Cheers, Mike.
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I have had the Ocam ones on for about four months and am happy with them. Did the Darling River run and they were steady the whole time.
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I have the Milenco that are good on my Cruiser, just been to the Cape and back and never fell off or folded back in.
Had the Clearview on my Pajero, took a lot of getting used to as they gave me a large blind spot, don’t know how they passed ADR, almost took out a car on the roundabout a couple of time and also clipped a sign with them.
I do like the Clearview and have tried them on a friends 200 Series and they were great but would be wary using them on a Pajero
I recommend trying them on a similar vehicle to yours
Myles
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Clearview are great but big. Can be a pain in car parks etc
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I have been using the Milenco Grand Aero clip on mirrors since February, and havent had an issue...until last weekend. On several occasions the whole mirror folded inwards due to headwind from trucks travelling in opposite direction on single lane each way roads.
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Hi,
I carry a slideon camper that is too wide for normal Defender mirrors, so I bought a set of longer arms that did give me rear view sufficient to handle traffic.
I had to modify the hinge to stop trucks blowing them back on the highway, but that is not the reason for this post.
After backing into a few things that I couldn't see, I bought a rear view camera and screen from Safety Dave and now have full rear view. Before this I have been surprised that I had a huge truck right behind me out of mirror view.
They have a range of cameras, cables and screens, and we're very helpful in guiding me to get what would suit my need best.
They also have camera setups where one camera is mounted on the rear of the caravan, the other on the rear of the tug, switchable at the screen.
My only gripes are that driving away from a low sun puts flare on the camera lens; driving away from a bright sky with fluffy white clouds darkens the image on the screen; and the screen brightness won't go down enough when driving at night on dark roads, ( Defender lights are not very bright). Mounting the screen further out of line of sight would solve the nightime problem, but I just turn it off.
Cheers
Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk
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I have the Milenco that are good on my Cruiser, just been to the Cape and back and never fell off or folded back in.
Had the Clearview on my Pajero, took a lot of getting used to as they gave me a large blind spot, don’t know how they passed ADR, almost took out a car on the roundabout a couple of time and also clipped a sign with them.
I do like the Clearview and have tried them on a friends 200 Series and they were great but would be wary using them on a Pajero
I recommend trying them on a similar vehicle to yours
Myles
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
We have Clearview mirrors on our Pajero and find that the lower smaller mirrors take away any blind spots. They do take a bit of getting used to as others have said.
You can get them second hand on the Clearview site as well as other places probably. http://www.clearviewmirrors.com.au/10068/PRELOVED-MIRRORS/ (http://www.clearviewmirrors.com.au/10068/PRELOVED-MIRRORS/)
Cheers
envee
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For me the blind spot was any vehicle coming from the right especially going up a hill and turning right there is a large blind spot caused by the mirror.
Seeing behind was fantastic with the Clearview
Myles
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
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I have the Milenco that are good on my Cruiser, just been to the Cape and back and never fell off or folded back in.
Had the Clearview on my Pajero, took a lot of getting used to as they gave me a large blind spot, don’t know how they passed ADR, almost took out a car on the roundabout a couple of time and also clipped a sign with them.
I do like the Clearview and have tried them on a friends 200 Series and they were great but would be wary using them on a Pajero
I recommend trying them on a similar vehicle to yours
Myles
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
The blind spot caused by the mirrors is a concern. Even though I drive semis for a living and I am quite used to looking around a large mirror, I'm worried for when Wifey will drive it. Maybe I will look at fixing the mirror actuator and buying a quality set of aux. mirrors. I have heard good things about the Milenco mirrors.
Cheers, Mike.
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If I was going on an "around Australia" trip I may consider the Wideview ( or that's what they should be called). If they are for a 4 week trip with a few weekends in between then I could not justify the expense or disadvantages of running them on a daily driver.
I've got the Milenco as well and can recommend them as a good quality mirror, no vibrations or fold backs. They suit my needs for the 2nd scenario described above.
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Been through all the disastrous clip on mirror scene and finally found peace with Clearview mirrors with the Challenger for $650 and fitted them myself as they're a snack with Mitsis. If you have a Challenger or MN Triton only Clearview supply them but if you search 'extendable towing mirrors' on ebay you'll get the same made in China ones(Betta View, etc) for around $350 for a range of the popular fourbies so do yourself a favour and you'll never look back ;D
PS: Also search 'extendable side mirrors' and perhaps 'caravan towing mirrors'-
https://www.ebay.com.au/p/Black-Electric-Extendable-Side-Mirrors-Pair-Toyota-Land-Cruiser-200-Series/16007233983 (https://www.ebay.com.au/p/Black-Electric-Extendable-Side-Mirrors-Pair-Toyota-Land-Cruiser-200-Series/16007233983)
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Love my clearviews. This pic was taken 6 years ago.......
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I had various bits and pieces of mirror sets that I'd had over the years, and a pair of Oras I got for $8.00 from a garage sale, which wouldn't fit the original Troopy Mirrors. And I picked up a brand new set of Britax Tradey mirrors for $80, from a bloke who just fitted Clearviews to his new 79 Series.
The tradey mirrors were a fair bit too wide, so I modified them, to make them a lot smaller, but they are still about 30mm too wide really, but I'll risk it. I also made some backing plates for the bottom mirror mount, that I sickaflexed inplace.
I then cut up the attachments for the Oras, that clip onto the original mirror, and just used the arm holding brackets, to attach to the Tradey mirror brackets using some 4mm aluminium angle.
The pictures will explain the rest.
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The rest of the pics:
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I've had Oscam ones from eBay on for the last 10 months. Done the Darling River run and they were great. If they don't last I can buy another set and be almost square with one set of Clearviews.
Keith
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The rest of the pics:
Nice job. :cheers:
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I use Milenco Aero 2 towing mirrors -- been excellent, no vibration, handle auto folding mirrors O.K.
https://youtu.be/cCXZJir1Zj0 (https://youtu.be/cCXZJir1Zj0)
Never had any fold back issues by passing road trains, or high speed towing and very easy to take off and on, and if I am very careful taking them off and put back on, and I usually find no further adjustment needed.
:cheers:
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None of the clip onto the mirror types work that well on 70 series mirrors, there's no lip. That's why I built me own, and they don't wobble, vibrate (very noticeably) or fold back.. Just hope the wallopers are to busy with my bullbar mounted lightbar to notice the extra 30mm or so.. >:D