Just out of curious if anyone found the 360 view camera really useful. Seems to be offered on higher end packages.

 

After having it in my last two cars, I would not have a car without one. The front view for pulling into parking spaces alone is worth it (to me)...
Same for the HUD, would no longer get a car without it.

 

Absolutely.

My daughter (who has been driving our RX450H) is buying a car. 360-degree camera is one of the must-haves. So is my wife; she would not get another vehicle without it.

HUD, on the other hand, is a nice thing to have. I think it's great for navigation, especially when using the built-in navigation system at night when I have to focus even more on the road. I can live without it.

 

I agree with the other posters that it's a great option, especially given the sight lines of the RX.

Having said that? Lexus doesn't do 360 degree cameras as well as the Germans. Or the other Asian manufacturers. It works...but between the bizarre shading and poor resolution it's just adequate IMO.

 

I also agree with the other remarks here. When we purchased an ES I really expected this feature to be a bit gimmicky, but we quickly learned to love it. It became a requirement on our next vehicle. We recently purchased an RX, and we “accidentally” test drove one without this feature. My wife wouldn’t even get out to swap drivers when we realized it didn’t have that option. She wasn’t even interested in this vehicle. It was like blind spot monitoring a few years ago, it became one of those “must have” options for us.

 

Primary reason we upgraded to the Gen 4 RX. Should be standard equipment on all cars. Should also include using those cameras as "dash cams". I am buying a separate one now, even though the car has 4 cameras already. Seems kinda dumb.

 

Thanks for the replies. Looks like most of the CPO in my area doesn't come with the 360 view button.

Do you really need the Lux pkg to get that feature?

 

Ditto to the other replies. I find the 360 view very helpful and use it all the time. I can't speak for earlier models, but on the 2020s it was known as the Panoramic View Monitor, and was an option with the Blind Spot Monitor. You could get a vehicle with BSM or with BSM+PVM. Neither were part of the Premium or Luxury bundle, and maybe a third of Premium models that met my other specs had PVM.

 

Not necessarily dumb.

Note that the image from the so-called "360 degree camera" is actually a composite image from multiple individual images. The cameras points at different directions from, say, a dash cam does and thus can't be used as dash cam.

For the same reason, Tesla cars (at least some of them that I know) have "security" cameras pointing out, but their images can't be used to make a "360 degree" image.

 

Yeah, Tesla hasn't figure it out yet. Acura has the "360 camera views" on the MDX. I wish I had that on my newer GS. Toyota has it on the Highlander and other vehicles including the Camry. Interesting that Lexus doesn't have it as standard and it has to be an special package.

 

I agree the 360 view is a must have on all cars moving forward for the wife and I.