After driving the latest Actros few the past 2 months I have to say it is an improvement over the last generation. Apart from 1 thing, those awful mirror cams. I find the image displayed to small and very grainy and reversing in the dark difficult. I thought I would get used to them but not so. A pointless use of technology. Anybody else using them and your thoughts.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=167089&p=2719910&hilit=Merc+mirror+camera#p2718562
Only shunted one round the yard,.■■■■ awful things…technology for technology’s sake. 
Saw that a while back Rob and I did comment at the end. Like you say, technology for technology’s sake and very flawed technology at that.
You can bolt the standard mirrors back on, and retain the mirrorcam I believe.
As it is not my lorry I’m stuck the the mirror cams provided.
We’ve just had one - I’ve driven it twice. Mirrors are crap - steering wheel “touch sensitive” buttons are a pain as is the whole touch screen thing.
In the dark the mirrors don’t distinguish between red and white lights so you can’t tell what is behind you at a glance. The blind sections are actually bigger than normal when in tight places - can’t always see where the back end is.
The electric handbrake takes ages to switch off whichever way you do it, and it’s too easy for it to go off without you realising.
Starting the engine also takes about half an hour while you hold the button in.
No option to turn off the adaptive cruise control - you can adjust the following distance but that’s as far as it goes.
There’s lots more I don’t like as well!
Technology for technology’s sake - not impressed.
Once over when you got a newer version of a truck, changes were improvements, a better switch layout, better access to controls, things more adaptive and adjustable, and I was all for those changes as it made it an easier environment to work in, so it was essentially ‘‘Progress’’.
Nowadays they just look at something and say…‘‘How can we change this’’
So you get things like instead of switching your radio on, you have to scroll through a screen menu, instead of putting your finger on a clearly marked heater switch, you get a ‘list of options’, instead of pulling on a simple handbrake unit with no problem,.you do it by a switch, that as somebody implies can be a bit dodgy, instead of doing something as mundane and routine as checking your mirrors, you have to look at a tv screen at (as has been said) a distorted inferior and misleading view of the traffic around you. …Brilliant eh?
Now I’m gonna get answers like…‘‘Ok, so we should still have starting handles,.wind down windows, ratchet handbrake.m and air operated wipers’’
Of course not, but why mend something that ain’t broken,.and why change something from simple efficient and convenient, to the exact opposite in the form of nothing more than (some would say complicated) gimmickry?
Answer?..
Because they can.
My truck has mirrors. I started driving trucks with mirrors in 1986 and I’ve never looked back.
robroy:
Once …‘‘Ok, so we should still have starting handles,.wind down windows, ratchet handbrake.m and air operated wipers’’
Everything is supposed to get to a point where its pretty much perfected like manual brakes, electric windows etc. Then they are supposed to stop inovating, unless there’s a really brilliant idea.
Unfortunately the people who design these come at this likely off a car design degree where you have to keep “inovating” or some such buzzword.
Then theres marketing who cant just say “this truck is more comfy” but need a “look at this brand new idea” do they can have lunch with the buying execs of large companies and play buzzword bingo. Ultimately small companies don’t really matter and users even less.
These mirror cams suggest they simply ran out of ideas. Someone rummaged around the car web site, saw reversing cameras and thought “bingo!” that’s what we can sell them. Hope DAF never go down this route.
Spending much of my time on narrow country lanes with overhanging foliage, it does annoy me that whilst many up-market cars have mirrors which can be folded in, nobody has yet come up with anything similar for HGV’s; it’s still a case of either getting out of your cab and climbing up the steps, or taking your boots off and re-adjusting the ■■■■ thing through the passenger window.
Glad we’re going back to Volvos on our fleet, can’t see those mirror cams lasting long in our working environment. And has anyone ever had them fail whilst out on the road, mid-overtake? Wouldn’t like it to be me.
robroy:
Once over when you got a newer version of a truck, changes were improvements, a better switch layout, better access to controls, things more adaptive and adjustable, and I was all for those changes as it made it an easier environment to work in, so it was essentially ‘‘Progress’’.Nowadays they just look at something and say…‘‘How can we change this’’
So you get things like instead of switching your radio on, you have to scroll through a screen menu, instead of putting your finger on a clearly marked heater switch, you get a ‘list of options’, instead of pulling on a simple handbrake unit with no problem,.you do it by a switch, that as somebody implies can be a bit dodgy, instead of doing something as mundane and routine as checking your mirrors, you have to look at a tv screen at (as has been said) a distorted inferior and misleading view of the traffic around you. …Brilliant eh?Now I’m gonna get answers like…‘‘Ok, so we should still have starting handles,.wind down windows, ratchet handbrake.m and air operated wipers’’
Of course not, but why mend something that ain’t broken,.and why change something from simple efficient and convenient, to the exact opposite in the form of nothing more than (some would say complicated) gimmickry?
Answer?..
Because they can.
Blimey…for once, I agree with RobRoy. Hate those silly touchscreens, which mean you have to take your eyes of the road.
the mirrorcams have one huge advantage…reduced drag. The manufacturers are all committed to making ever greater reductions in fuel consumption until 2040 and the end of diesel production, so ‘every little helps’.
Originally I saw them and thought
I wouldn’t like that
I drove one round the yard and thought
I don’t like it
I drove one on the road and hated it
Now I’ve been driving it a few months I can honestly say I don’t want to go back to conventional mirrors, they are very handy and they can adjust when you are turning sharply so you can always see the back of the trailer.
I must admit though the other technology can be a bit too much sometimes though.
The mirrors don’t assist with reversing really, and once the sun hits them they are useless
gardun:
We’ve just had one - I’ve driven it twice. Mirrors are crap - steering wheel “touch sensitive” buttons are a pain as is the whole touch screen thing.
In the dark the mirrors don’t distinguish between red and white lights so you can’t tell what is behind you at a glance. The blind sections are actually bigger than normal when in tight places - can’t always see where the back end is.
The electric handbrake takes ages to switch off whichever way you do it, and it’s too easy for it to go off without you realising.
Starting the engine also takes about half an hour while you hold the button in.
No option to turn off the adaptive cruise control - you can adjust the following distance but that’s as far as it goes.
There’s lots more I don’t like as well!
Technology for technology’s sake - not impressed.
Screen resolution is crap - Agreed
Starting does take forever if you only press the button - with your foot on the brake you only have to touch the button for a micro second and it’ll fire up.
Turn off adaptive cruise control by pressing the limiter button once. Turn off PPC in the settings menu.
Biggest danger with them we’ve found is driving in heavy rain - the offside camera gets completely coated in drips and you can’t see anything (nearside is ok - has to be something to do with the windscreen wipers pushing the rain off the windscreen)
Hope this helps someone
Garted:
Screen resolution is crap - Agreed
Starting does take forever if you only press the button - with your foot on the brake you only have to touch the button for a micro second and it’ll fire up.
- I’ll try that!
Garted:
Turn off adaptive cruise control by pressing the limiter button once. Turn off PPC in the settings menu.
- I know, but if you have cruise control on it has to be adaptive. I’d like the choice. PPC is one of the first things to be turned off!
Garted:
Biggest danger with them we’ve found is driving in heavy rain - the offside camera gets completely coated in drips and you can’t see anything (nearside is ok - has to be something to do with the windscreen wipers pushing the rain off the windscreen)
Hope this helps someone
Garted:
Turn off adaptive cruise control by pressing the limiter button once. Turn off PPC in the settings menu.
- I know, but if you have cruise control on it has to be adaptive. I’d like the choice.
No it doesn’t - set your cruise control speed then press the limiter button once. The proximity view on the dash will change to speedo view.
Thanks for that tip Garted, does exactly what you say.
Still hate the mirror cams though
Dimlaith:
Thanks for that tip Garted, does exactly what you say.
Still hate the mirror cams though
I second all the above. Still hate it though!
We have a load of 70 plates which replaced our 17 plates and from what I’ve been told that the company may not be buying them again after company wide complaints from drivers…
The next new ones we’re due is next year and fingers crossed we get Volvos!!!
I work agency for a parcel delivery company, and have heard that a driver is not allowed to drive these until they have been trained. 