Thoughts on the new KW T680 with the camera mirrors?

[-]

Practical-Team-7869@reddit

Wtf is that small ass mirror outside

Reply

[-]

Dieseldave42069@reddit

I HATE WORKING ON THEM. And I hate when I have to test drive one. God bless yall driving them

Reply

[-]

GronGrinder@reddit

What fucking morons came up with this shit?!

Reply

[-]

DickWoodReddit@reddit

Trailer backup cameras should be standard.

Reply

[-]

SashaDabinsky@reddit

I hate backlights glowing in my eyes at night.

Reply

[-]

PlsCheckThisBush@reddit

Don’t worry they have a night mode! It turns it black and white and turns the brightness UP. You weren’t planning on using your eyes were you?

Reply

[-]

That's horrid, I'd rather black/green or even black/red - white is just going to ruin your night vision and reduce how far ahead you can see. I even put green tint over my dome light in case I need to grab something at night real quick

Reply

[-]

kiloo520@reddit

Red tint would work better.

Reply

[-]

RKGamesReddit@reddit

Red is strictly better, yea, however the reason NVG systems use green is because your eyes can adjust quicker to it or away from it. My sleeper has red tint on the lights.

Reply

[-]

PraiseTalos66012@reddit

That's not quite the reason. The human eye can just see the most shades of green. NVGs don't intake normal light, they see IR light and need to turn it into something visible. You only really get a few/one wavelengths and it's mostly just brightness/darkness your looking at, so you want the color that you can distinguish the most shades and that's green.

Reply

[-]

RKGamesReddit@reddit

Interesting to learn, I'm just familiar with the benefits provided from aviation for using green vs red, and the potential for "flashbangs" from landing lights being left on during taxi.

Reply

[-]

sniperdude24@reddit

If I remember correctly you can also see more shades of green than any other color.

Reply

[-]

kiloo520@reddit

Wow cool. Thanks for the info.

Reply

[-]

SashaDabinsky@reddit

That's idiotic.

Reply

[-]

JRook619@reddit

I haven't driven a newer KW that hasn't had a electoral problem yet. So this looks like a horror story waiting to happen to me.

Reply

[-]

GoNe2heLL@reddit

I just got forced into 680 daycab and I fucking hate everything about it. I never thought I'd prefer Cascadia to KW

Reply

[-]

PaulReveresBRSSMONKY@reddit

That’s interesting because all of our company’s trucks are International LT’s and Cascadias and I picked out a T880 when it was time to order my new truck and I’m in love with that thing. It’s a 2025 and I started driving it in July 2024 and it’s never once been in the shop for anything other than PM work. I treat that truck like it’s my own. I have driven Cascadias when my old LT was in the shop and they’re a nice truck, I just hate the way the mirror and A-pillar together make it hard to see what’s coming front the right side when pulling out into traffic.

Reply

[-]

Eatmymustardsauce@reddit

Was your T880 ordered with a paccar or cummins?

Reply

[-]

PaulReveresBRSSMONKY@reddit

Cummins ISX 15. Pretty sure my company has a deal with Cummins that every truck they build has a Cummins in it. Apparently Eaton Fuller updated the 12-speed automatic transmission because it shifts like butter compared to the 12-speed in the Cascadia that’s a couple years older. The T880 is a heavier tractor too. Full fuel tanks with a Trail King HT80 trailer it weighs 39,440, so it’s like 4500 lbs heavier than a Cascadia with the same trailer and my truck pulls away from the Cascadia pretty quickly when the light turns green.

Reply

[-]

ThePr0fessi0nal@reddit

Brother, they just took my 2019 Volvo VNL 560 day cab away and slapped me in a 2024 t680 day cab like 2 weeks ago. Hate this thing with a burning passion. One trick is that you can turn off that idle creep bullshit by putting it in manual mode.

Reply

[-]

GoNe2heLL@reddit

Mine is a 10-speed and they managed to fuck it up. It's notchy rubbery shifter sucks and even though air assist clutch is nice it makes it harder to be precise with it forget about trying to hustle it, if you are outside of the 1100 to 1400 range it will fight you all day long

Reply

[-]

Exciting-Car-3516@reddit

Looks bulky and in the way. Pretty wild that they downgraded the regular mirrors…why if the screen breaks? I might be a bit old school but there is too much technology in newer trucks and all of that stuff is going to break eventually and be obsolete.

Reply

[-]

Im_GumbyDammit@reddit

It’s for protection against insurance companies.

Reply

[-]

Common_Cat_619@reddit

Imagine it freezes

Reply

[-]

Jamo3306@reddit

How often do you replace a "old" mirror? How often would you replace this one? I'm all for it if it does something special. But this seems like a lateral move.

Reply

[-]

CaptainSamson01@reddit

Too bad there isn’t a simple device that reflects the light directly back to the driver that requires no power and automatically adapts to exterior light levels. Whoever designs such a device could make millions…

Reply

[-]

Tobias---Funke@reddit

They are terrible.

Reply

[-]

FileCareless@reddit

Is it a bigger blind spot? Or the same amount of space that mirrors block?

Reply

[-]

Responsible_CDN_Duck@reddit

Less of a blind spot than the large mirrors.

Reply

[-]

scaledplastic125@reddit

Im not a truck driver, just a bus driver but we hate them more than love them! We have one in the pillar like pictured and then another one at almost half windshield.. depending on where you position yourself you may not even be able to use your standard mirror. Not to mention we can't dim ours so at night they dang near blind us.

Reply

[-]

Txtrucker45@reddit

My company has them, wanted them in all their trucks. They quickly back tracked on that after an increase in backing accidents. So now they are optional if you want them and if you get into more then one backing accident they’ll put you in a truck without them I only like them because you can see the passenger door blind spot better.

Reply

[-]

cwhite225@reddit

I hate the camera mirrors. It’s not safe, can’t judge distance properly, gets pixelated, backing up lol might as well do it blindfolded .

Reply

[-]

homucifer666@reddit

Man, it's going to be expensive when someone takes out your mirror pulling out of the space next to you...

Reply

[-]

StreetsRUs@reddit

At least they’d probably have to f up your exhaust stacks to hit the cameras. My mirror was hit by a fedex driver on the interstate and I couldn’t see shit out of the passenger side until I managed to stop and pull the mirror back out.

Reply

[-]

random02991@reddit

Imagine that. I too got sideswiped by an idiot FedEx driver. Wonder if there's a pattern🤔

Reply

[-]

tvieno@reddit

I'm not against technology but I see this as another component that could fail and be costly to replace.

Reply

[-]

kawhibot210@reddit

I have them, I have a hard time with depth perception with them when backing up. Driving down the road, many types of headlights look they’re flashing at you for some reason. Also in the way of the sun visor which is annoying. Long as I have my reg mirrors as well it’s whatever though I can live it.

Reply

[-]

Niko120@reddit

Why did they have to make the mirror so stupid looking and little though? Just give it a regular one for when that pos doesn’t work

Reply

[-]

spongeknob07@reddit

Just more crap blocking my view. Hate it.

Reply

[-]

december151791@reddit

I have them in my Freightliner along with standard physical mirrors. The distance lines are nice but overall they just suck. Mine keep going out while I'm driving so they just become a big useless blind spot. A few months ago I had a loaner truck that didn't have them and I didn't miss the damn things at all.

Reply

[-]

ohhrangejuice@reddit

Call me old fashioned, my age might show on this but man oh boy do i prefer the old school mirrors sometimes. You know like the 2024 models lol

Reply

[-]

Mamatiger85@reddit

Nope..

Reply

[-]

scottiethegoonie@reddit

I used to be against this but after city driving a few years I'm all for it now. 1. On old skinny lane freeways and tight streets you're constantly battling to NOT hit mirrors side by side with other trucks. Definitely more of a city driver problem. These would solve that. 2. I assume they wouldn't get dirty and have anti glare sun/beams (CPL filter). 3. You can get a wider image from a lens than a mirror. That image can also be de-squeezed into a smaller space. 4. You can lift the darkness of an image (think road with no lights), just as you can bring down the gain from overexposure.

Reply

[-]

K1d-ego@reddit

Please dim them as I’m passing in my KW W900

Reply

[-]

MuffinTrucker@reddit

Fuck sake that’s a helluva blind spot.

Reply

[-]

Megalodon7770@reddit

Never had it so I can’t tell you about it

Reply

[-]

Duece_29@reddit

But a gps mounted low on the windshield is an obstruction

Reply

[-]

Spartan9802@reddit

Can’t stand them except for night vision with dark backings and you can see everything when it’s raining

Reply

[-]

drowninginidiots@reddit

Just how close to you is it? What happens for people that need reading glasses to look at near objects? I have a Toyota Tacoma with the electronic rear view mirror. It’s just close enough to be slightly blurry sometimes.

Reply

[-]

SeaweedGreen8388@reddit (OP)

Not as close as you think and the screens are huge. The picture doesn’t do it justice. Also, the camera quality is amazing. Don’t have anything bad to say yet, other than they create a blind spot.

Reply

[-]

Virtchoo@reddit

How much of a blind spot do they really create though? They cover maybe 10% more real estate than just the A frame pillar would on its own, and give you way more information than you’re losing.

Reply

[-]

Responsible-Baby-551@reddit

How are they in the dark? does the backlit display bother your eyes?

Reply

[-]

SeaweedGreen8388@reddit (OP)

Not much but the brightness is adjustable, can dim it really low if it really bothers you

Reply

[-]

NotEvenLion@reddit

It still has normal mirrors too?

Reply

[-]

seanfmcgee@reddit

I’ve had a system just like this on my Freightliner for 6.5 years and have had 0 problems with it and I’m on a Gen1 system I know the Gen2 is better quality.

Reply

[-]

PlsCheckThisBush@reddit

They’re terrible. The T680 doesn’t even give you physical convex mirrors like the 579 does so if it goes out good luck having F150 mirrors on a semi. Night driving with them is miserable. Every time you pass a reflector in the road the reflection causes the screen to brighten and dim. So it’s just constantly flashing on the highway at night - a terrible and unsafe design. I will say they work great when you’re sitting still and not moving or actually using them to drive the truck. They’re really nice sitting in a parking lot but that’s about it.

Reply

[-]

yangchengamer@reddit

Can you adjust the brightness manually? Auto brightness on the dash in the last T680 I drove was pretty useless, so I would hate to have to rely on it for mirrors.

Reply

[-]

FloppyTacoflaps@reddit

More expensive shit that will break

Reply

[-]

HowlingWolven@reddit

You can put them on day mode at night if the flickering bothers you.

Reply

[-]

brendayr012@reddit

I have them in my 579 and I love them. They eliminate a whole bunch of blind spots

Reply

[-]

Seebs9@reddit

Our new Volvos have them. I’m not really a fan. The technology is neat and it’s nice in bad weather but I don’t like having the driver side mirror right in my peripheral vision, just messes with me while driving. My company still ended up putting the big side mirrors and hood mirrors on cause so many drivers complained.

Reply

[-]

robertoj29@reddit

I hate these things on principle. Expensive, over-complicated, and adds a failure point for very little tangible benefit.

Reply

[-]

StreetsRUs@reddit

If they last 5 years without problems, I’d take em as long as I have mirrors when they shit the bed

Reply

[-]

hugothebear@reddit

Drove a Volvo with them once. I liked them, in addition to still using my mirrors

Reply

[-]

lawnboy000000@reddit

Yeah I don’t like how it’s so big compared to the A-pillar. On a rainy night, they are very good. I also like how they don’t require you to turn your head and refocus your eyes so far.

Reply to Post

67 Comments