UPDATE POST DEATH VALLEY RIDE: This is an undependable, glitchy, useless piece of crap. I lamented not having my Garmin Zūmo on this ride and bought a new one while on the road, tossing the NaviCam into a dumpster. I would’ve returned it, but the product is no longer available.
The Tiger’s command center was getting a bit overrun with tech, so I rolled the dice and went with a new product fresh out of start-up that combines a number of functions into one waterproof touchscreen. This isn’t a tit-for-tat trade-off, but rather a reorganization of stuff.
There are other reasons; the Garmin Zumo was part of the WRōV’s sale package so it left some big shoes to fill on the Explorer, I wanted Apple Car Play with Bluetooth after seeing how it works in my spouse’s Frontier, a tire pressure monitoring system would be very nice, and the WRōV’s fore/aft video cameras spoiled me a bit. The NaviCam has all this and more.
The touch screen is nearly seven inches and waterproof and is relatively intuitive to operate with one little niggle, almost an afterthought it seems and that’s the addition of an A/B switch that can be user-defined – I think. We’ll see.
The system is available with two 1080p cameras, front and back that are almost small enough to be inconspicuous.
I mounted the rear camera upside down on the assumption that the software has the ability to rotate the image. It doesn’t. I’ll live with it since I post produce my content anyway. I’ve yet to see picture quality. The field of view is 140 degrees.
Installation is pretty straight forward with leads and connectors marked and ample wiring to cover the bike. The interface into the screen could have been cleaner, not sure how – perhaps with a distribution box that could live under the seat instead of a connector just aft of the screen, but that would mean another device to be engineered.
All this makes it tougher to detach and stow away the screen. It’s possible, but very unlikely that I’ll be doing that. It does have hardware that can deter pilfering, at least for a little while.
The thumb screws can be replaced with provided allen screws. I’ll make the swap once the install is complete.
And lastly is the TPMS. I’ve gone this route before and it was relatively reliable. I like having the generated data on the screen, easy to read and to reset alarms, so, again, we’ll see how this rolls.
I’ll be sure to post about the NaviCam’s performance here.
It will also be nice to keep my phone on me instead of on the bars, along with my Garmin satellite communicator in the event I’m separated from the Tiger and need to call for help.
theexplorerbuild.com 