By Mike Richardson
When you schedule a weekend camping trip in Oregon, you know you risk a rainy time. So it wasn’t a total surprise when we pulled in to find the coastal campsite we had reserved ahead was half submerged. A quick trip to the main office and we found one still available which was dry enough to use, and just big enough to fit our new travel trailer. But still, not an ideal first trip in our new trailer, big enough we had to borrow a friend’s truck to pull.
So that’s our picture: Backing into a campsite just barely big enough for our trailer, driving a larger and unfamiliar truck. In the rain. And of course, it’s just getting dark.
But, we had an ace in the hole: Bob Difley, my helpful brother-in-law, had arranged for us to try out the NuVending “NuCam WR”. Powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion battery. Magnetic mount. Wireless transmission to your phone or tablet.
How did it work? Awesome! Because we often camp in “sort-of-developed” campgrounds, we usually deploy my wife to walk behind our trailer to watch for tree limbs, large rocks, and other risks I might miss from the cab. This time I slapped the NuCam WR on the back of the trailer, and she walked behind me as usual.
But … did I mention it also has a built-in microphone? So instead of trying to watch her in my mirror, and straining to hear her helpful directions over the motor and the rain, this time I could clearly see her in vivid wide-angle detail, and hear her clearly. What a difference that makes! In a state park like this, at least in a site I knew had no rocks or branches, I could easily imagine just using the camera alone to back in.
One more thing – we got into our drier second site before full darkness hit, but the NuCam WR has a night mode, which makes it possible to safely back up in near-total darkness. Oh, you can also take snapshots of what the camera sees – and videos. How handy would that be when driving or using it as a security camera around a campsite or house?
That mentioned, I wasn’t able to figure out how to use that feature on my first weekend. We had to go to NuVending’s online help line, which responded quickly and helpfully, much to my surprise.
Shortcomings? Here’s all I can come up with: The print in the operation manual was hard for me to read, but I’m retired and maybe my eyes aren’t so great. Also, I had to read a couple of the setup directions twice to get it all worked out. But that’s not much of a list. But with NuVending’s quick and helpful online responses – on a holiday weekend – you’ll be able to figure out everything you need pretty quickly the first time out.
Learn more about the NuCam WR camera on the Nuvending website.
Last comment: I recently saw a similar product mentioned in an RV forum – but for 2 ½ times the price of the NuCam WR!. I am very impressed with this camera.
You can find Bob Difley’s RVing e-books on Amazon Kindle.
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