drinksjdalot

After getting fed up with my mrs 'bump parking' the car in reverse I decided to do something about it. Sadly my 2013 F10 (UK spec) did not come with a reversing camera and so after searching around and reading different forums I focused in on a choice of two...

1. BMW 5-Series (F10/F11) Rear View Camera Kit for NBT Systems

OR

2. BMW rear view camera retrofit - BimmerTech

The first one claimed that no coding was required. This made me suspicious as did the lack of reviews - I've owned BMWs for about 20 years and know what does and does not require coding. The second one however has been mentioned quite a few times on other forums and I decided on the one from Bimmer-tech in Poland. Knowing they have a good reputation I contacted Bimmer-tech and decided not to go for the actual OEM kit (which was around £1500 supplied and fitted by a local dealer but $1200 from them and a longer installation time). Instead I went for the 'OEM integration' kit. This was around $600 or £500 including coding - I also decided to fit it myself.
After an initial mix up with the order I received the kit complete with dynamic parking lines and a pack of four good quality plastic trim tools to do the job.
I won't go into the exact details of how I carried out the fit, unless someone asks, but I will say it was much easier than I had expected. First of all the car was coded remotely from Poland which was very easy to do and the instructions were clear. However, please note that you will need a good wifi signal as the OBDII cable uses the ethernet port to communicate with the car ! From there it was down to replacing the existing boot/trunk handle with one that was supplied in the kit (quality was the same), then running the cable from there through the cable conduit down the drivers side (UK spec car) all the way to the drivers footwell. From there into the back of the NBT unit and fitting a few new bits of wiring which were all plug and play.
All in all a fairly simple task made easy by Patryk of Bimmertech who was nothing short of great with all his help and very quick to reply by email. Excellent.
The kit itself is of a very good standard and I would have no hesitation about recommending them to anyone.
The only point to note I would say is that the instructions are a little vague and misleading as my F10 was similar but not the same to the one in the instructions.
I would also warn against anyone with a right hand drive car running the cable down the passenger side. I tried this and found it to be around 30cm too short - save yourself grief and run the cable down the drivers side.

Eddie P

Worth reading this:
http://www.bmwlander.co.uk/index.php...30/#post-12527
Full kit, £150 off ebay, + coding 3AG = full OEM integration.