50 Yards Out: How an Advance Warning Gave Me Time to Slow Down

This is the driving story from Chris Farmer:
As an electrical engineer, the actual installation process didn't worry me much, and overall, installing the Robofinity car thermal night vision camera was pretty straightforward. That said, running the cable turned out to be a bit of a challenge — the firewall on my car was just too unforgiving to get the cable through. I ended up rethinking my approach and routed the cable through the door instead, which solved the problem. There was also a small hiccup during installation: the nut holding the camera mount worked itself loose at some point, and I eventually had to replace it.

For the display, I went with a tablet, and that's worked out really well. The camera itself performs great too — though in areas with sparse traffic and pedestrians, it occasionally produces false triggers. Hopefully a future software update can address that.

What really stood out to me was an experience on a road out near the edges of town: the system gave me an early heads-up that a herd of deer was crossing the road about 50 yards ahead. That gave me enough time to slow down and safely watch them clear the road. In that moment, I really felt this system wasn't just a nice-to-have — it was a genuine safety asset. That's the biggest advantage of Robofinity car thermal night vision in my mind: it gives advance warnings to hazards.

Of course, there's room for improvement. The screw holding the camera in place could really use some kind of retaining mechanism to prevent the loosening issue I ran into. The USB end of the camera cable could also be made a bit narrower — it's currently a bit bulky, and a slimmer connector would make pulling it through the firewall much easier. Additionally, when using the included tablet, alerts are currently visual only. If sound alerts could also be added when connecting to other screens, it would better match the natural driving habit of keeping your eyes on the road while relying on your ears for alerts. On the software side, I've also noticed it sometimes runs slowly or lags, which would be good to fix.

Overall, I'm satisfied with both the product itself and the customer service — and I'd happily recommend it to friends and colleagues. That deer-crossing moment in particular really won me over on the safety value this system brings to everyday driving.