Dash Cameras for Pickup Trucks: Record World Around You

Pickup trucks have now become an integral part of American automotive culture. Since the government enacted CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) in 1973 to give exemptions to the Gas Guzzler Tax for pickup trucks, pickup trucks have had a distinct advantage over the once popular muscle cars, which had huge gas mileage. At the same time, due to its extremely large production volume, the price of pickup trucks was cheaper and cheaper, gradually replacing the muscle cars that were once the symbol of American cars. To this day, even though the market share of pickups has been partially eroded with the rise of SUVs (Sport Utility Vehicles), it still maintains a significant market share. Considering the large number of pickup truck owners among our Wolfbox’s users, as a professional dash cam provider, we will tell you in this text how dash cameras for pickup trucks will help you.

What Are the Unique Needs for Pickup Trucks

Overall, pickup trucks are well suited to meet the specific needs of consumers for this segment, providing a better driving experience than vans, while being more versatile than sedans.

American families live scattered, in the case of fewer cities and more rural areas, the location of various supermarkets and stores is more concentrated, so the convenience of shopping for both large and small goods is poor. At the same time, considering the expensive labor and transportation costs, there is a high demand for multifunctional vehicles with cargo capacity but easy to drive.

When it comes to versatility, many consumers think of SUVs, also known as Sport Utility Vehicles, but the versatility of SUVs is small compared to that of pickup trucks, as evidenced by the comparison of their available uses.

According to CarCurus’ 2020 Pickup Truck Statement Study, the six most common daily use needs of survey respondents for pickup trucks are: home improvement projects (56%), daily commuting (55%), recreational hobbies (50%, e.g., biking, fishing, hunting), road trips/joy rides (49%), recreational towing/hauling (35%, e.g., boat, RV/camper) and commercial/business work (25%).

In which ways do you regularly use your pickup truck(s)?		Can SUV？
home improvement projects	56%	×
daily commuting	55%	√
recreational hobbies (e.g., biking, fishing, hunting)	50%	√
road trips/joy rides	49%	√
recreational towing/hauling (e.g., boat, RV/camper)	35%	×
commercial/business work	25%	×

Taking the six functions mentioned above as an example, SUVs are only good for three of them: Daily commuting, recreational hobbies, and road trips/joy rides. Although not completely impossible, few people use an SUV instead of a pickup truck for recreational towing/hauling when they have both two. And the remaining two items are just needed for the truck bed, the lack of which makes the SUV out of reach.

Therefore, let’s analyze how these three special needs for pickup trucks are related to the pickup truck dash cam.

Home Improvement Projects

The versatility of the pickup truck is reflected in the “ability to load” and “ability to tow”. The demand for home improvement projects here is related to the former.

Urban Americans are keen on home improvement projects, and these needs of rural residents are only increasing, which puts a demand on frequent transportation needs. When people consider vehicles based on this need, a good combination of transportability and ease of driving in a pickup truck is unmatched by other vehicles. For example, a full-size pickup truck can carry two to three times the capacity of a regular SUV, but the ease of driving is not much reduced. Obviously, it is important for American families to buy a pickup truck, even when they already own an SUV.

Moreover, not every American necessarily has his or her own home; many people rent their homes for travelling or mortgage their homes to banks for money. Whether forced or motivated to do so, a large percentage of people need to move frequently each year.

Therefore, the demand for moving furniture is huge. Since the shape of various furniture may not fit well with the truck bed, during the transportation of furniture without a pickup truck dash cam, you may need to get out of the truck regularly to check the truck bed and see if the rope holding the furniture is loose. This can make the already boring journey even more tiring. 

Commercial/Business Work

This demand is also related to the “ability to load”. We mentioned earlier that people in rural areas may have more demand for pickup trucks, and commercial/business work is one of the important ones.

As we all know, United States are a large agricultural country with many people who make a living as farmers. They often drive their pickup trucks through the country roads, carrying farm maintenance equipment or milk from their cows in the truck bed. These people have a need for off-road and loading, so a good combination of off-road ability and transportability in a pickup truck is very attractive to them.

At the same time, the countryside is not like the big cities where there are many subdivisions of vehicle types for different types of work. In the countryside, people need a vehicle that can do a lot of things. For example, many owners of small paint stores and convenience stores often drive pickup trucks to get goods or sell goods.

Therefore, pickup trucks can meet the needs of commercial/business work very well. Like the above-mentioned pickup trucks for home improvement projects, if without a pickup truck dash cam, you need to spend more time checking the cargo in the truck bed on the way.

Convert Pickup to Tow Truck for Recreational Towing/Hauling

This demand is related to the “ability to tow”.

You can convert pickup to tow truck as equip many kinds of trailers with them. The commonly used trailers include but are not limited to travel trailers, livestock trailers, motorcycle trailers and boat trailers, etc. Travel trailers, or what we usually call towing RVs, are freer and more flexible than RVs, as they can be unloaded at any time. Livestock trailers can be used to tow most kinds of livestock, such as cattle and horses, to help keep the animals upright and unharmed during the trip. Motorcycle trailers and boat trailers are much the same, only if loaded with boats, because seawater is corrosive, the trailer needs to be built with anti-seawater corrosion materials.

The various types of trailers may differ slightly, but all are a further increase in driving difficulty. I believe there are many drivers who have never driven a trailer and do not know what the difference is between a trailer and a normal single pickup truck driving. One of the most important things to worry about is the difference in radius between the inner wheels. As the main vehicle and the trailer with an “axis” between the two vehicles, so when turning, the turning radius of the two vehicles is different – the back of the trailer turning radius is smaller, which will cause the inner wheel difference. This situation is more obvious in the longer trailers.So when driving a pickup truck with a trailer in the turn, you should try to make the pickup truck turn a bigger turn to leave enough turning space for the trailer behind. At the same time, the rearview mirrors on the pickup truck are usually designed for the length of the pickup itself. Therefore, if the pickup truck is not equipped with dash cameras for pickup trucks, it is difficult for the driver to make accurate judgments about the road conditions behind the trailer just by relying on the mirrors in driving.

Mid-Size Pickup Truck VS Full-Size

Then, there is another factor that will affect the daily use experience of pickup trucks – the model of pickup trucks.

The existing pickup truck models in the U.S. market can be divided into two types by size: full-size pickup truck and mid-size pickup truck. The previous compact pickup truck has gradually disappeared or upgraded to mid-size truck with the development of the times. Then the topic comes to “mid-size pickup truck vs full-size”. In terms of price, mid-size pickup trucks, such as Toyota Tacoma, can be controlled within 50 thousand dollars. Full-size pickup trucks, such as the hot Ford F150, which is priced at about 30 to 100 thousand dollars, will be slightly more expensive.

According to CarCurus’ 2020 Pickup Truck Statement Study the same, full-size pickup trucks currently dominate the market.

What class is your pickup truck?
Full-size (e.g., F-150, Silverado 1500, Ram 1500, Tundra, Titan)	55%
Midsize (e.g., Tacoma, Frontier)	31%
Heavy duty (e.g., Ford Super Duty, Silverado 2500, or larger)	14%

 

As the table above shows, the market share of mid-size pickups is much smaller compared to full-size pickups. This may be contrary to the conventional perception that the sales of expensive goods are much higher than the cheap ones. But if you consider the demands of pickup truck owners, it is because mid-size pickups are not functional enough. In United States, the population is vast but sparse, and many residential areas with separate homes have no supporting convenience stores, not to mention large shopping malls, supermarkets, and other large public facilities. These facilities are usually in remote places. So, many residents will regularly drive pickups to the supermarket, and then buy enough supplies for a long time. Obviously, most people have a great demand for pickup truck loading, thus even if the price is higher, a full-size pickup truck is a better choice for most people.

However, the bodies of full-size pickups are bigger, which can be identified by the average width of a full-sized pickups. The average width of a full-sized pickup is about 80 inches. For example, the Ford F-150 truck is 79.9 inches wide. But the average width of a mid-sized pickup is usually below 75 inches. So, the dimension of a full-size pickup truck are usually significantly larger than a mid-size one. The huge dimension of a full-size pickup truck also creates a more significant blind spot for most pickup truck owners, which is what the dash cameras for pickup trucks are created for.

What Can Dash Cameras for Pickup Trucks Do to Help

So, what can dash cameras for pickup trucks do to help?

Overcoming the Drawbacks Caused by the Wide Body

As mentioned above, full-size pickups have wider bodies, and even mid-size pickups are usually wider than sedans. This creates two problems.

First, backing into a parking space becomes more difficult, especially for the parking spaces drawn for normal cars. The presence of the dash cameras for pickup trucks allows you to easily back the pickup into the parking space, without the need for such high driving proficiency. After putting into reverse gear, a panoramic display image of the rear of the pickup will appear on the screen, and then you will see that there are green, yellow, and red auxiliary lines displayed from far away and will not be adjusted with the steering wheel rotation. The red line is a warning line, indicating that the rear of the pickup is very close to the distance of the object behind the pickup, then you should stop. The yellow line is the deceleration line, indicating that the rear of the pickup is moderate distance from the object behind the pickup, then you should slow down to control the speed. The green line is the safety line, indicating that the rear of the pickup is still far from the object behind the pickup, then you can continue your operation.

Second, the high chassis and larger body makes the pickup’s blind spot more serious. At this time, the dual dash cam for pickup trucks provides 360-degree real-time monitoring function, for reducing the occurrence of traffic accidents caused by the blind spot. In this respect, all WOLFBOX‘s products can do this.

Enhance the Driving Experience of Cost-Effective Models

The full-size pickups have a large price range and do not start at a high price. For example, the F150 Raptor requires 53 thousand dollars, but its base model starts at just 28 thousand dollars. This wide range of prices can better meet the needs of different consumer groups, providing both luxury and value for money.

If the budget is sufficient, of course, the more expensive the better. However, most people still buy pickup trucks for practical uses. To use an analogy, people will show off their wealth by buying a luxurious watch, but few of them will buy expense home appliances just for showing off wealth. Similarly, with a limited budget, pickup trucks are more of a practical choice based on budget, and if you have luxury needs to be pursued, there are more appropriate models, such as SUVs, sedans and even roadsters. So, the driving experience of pickups will have a certain gap compared to sedans or SUVs, for example, the feel of the throttle and brakes, the steering wheel heel and other aspects.

So, for owners who buy mid-size pickups and low-priced full-size pickups, it may be a little difficult to drive a pickup occasionally if they are usually used to driving another SUV in the garage.

And dash cameras for pickup trucks can make up for the lack of good driving feel as much as possible by showing more comprehensive pictures of the outside of the vehicle, to offer you more information about road conditions. In this respect, all our products are available to meet your needs too.

 Easy Monitoring of Truck Beds and Trailers

As mentioned earlier, the dual dash cam for pickup trucks is important if you happen to be one of those people who need to transport some valuable items in your pickup truck on a regular basis.

First, if you’re worried about small items being stolen from the truck bed when you’re parked, consider installing a storage box in the cargo compartment, along with a dual dash cam for pickup trucks to act as a real-time monitor.Wolfbox G900 dash cam.

Second, if you need to use the truck bed to transport large items like motorcycles, bicycles, home appliances, and furniture, then you first need to use tie-down straps to securely fix these large items in the bucket, otherwise these things will easily fall east and west, or even fall out of the bucket. Then you will need a dash cam, which cam can help you better check the condition of the transported items while driving, such as whether they are stable or falling. In addition, for different needs, the distributed camera also allows you to manually adjust the position for better real-time monitoring, and details can be seen here. G880 is especially recommended for this, because it has a third camera that can be flexibly installed in various positions, which means you can choose anywhere to mount rear dash cam on pickup truck.

Finally, if you want to convert pickup to tow truck, don’t forget to install a dash cam after adding the hooks or connections to the trailer. As mentioned before, the difference of radius between inner wheels can be a great test for your driving skills, and the dash cam can try its best to help you overcome the limitation of the rearview mirror view.

Conclusion

In summary, dash cam can provide you with a lot of help for pickup trucks. And if you are therefore interested in dash cameras for pickup trucks, you can ask our customer service for further consultation.