WOLFBOX Delivers a smart mirror offering security for your adventure rig

Anyone who has ever driven flat pavement can tell you that having a rear-view mirror is a helpful little slab of glass. Sure, we’re all familiar with the hand-behind-the-passenger, turn-around-to-see-behind-us move, and that works just fine under normal conditions. But what if you’re an overlander packing your SUV vertical cargo space to the roof with sleeping bags and firewood, or have a pickup truck with a camper topper rendering that center rear window completely useless?

You can probably get by with just your side mirrors if you want to accept the blind spot. And reverse parking may be a nightmare without a spotter, or a back-up camera built into your vehicle. But what if there was a sub-$250 upgrade that could give you back the gift of rear-view vision and serve as a protective measure in the event of an accident or break-in?

Enter the “smart mirror,” specifically the WOLFBOX G900. A digital rear-view mirror with front and rear cameras and dashcam capabilities. With this installed, the only thing you won’t see is regret for adding this new quality-of-life and security upgrade to your adventure rig.

Design 🔴🔴🔴🔴⭕

Everything from the packaging down to the materials used for the device, the glass, the casing and its accessories speak to quality levels you’d get opening up a new Samsung TV or monitor. The device feels sturdy, and it comes with protective film on the camera lenses and glass screen to protect it until it gets to your hands.

Installed it has no visible buttons on the front – a plus for anyone with minimalist design taste. Instead, a sole power button sits on the underside, nearly flush with the bezel but easy enough to tap if needing to manually control whether the screen is on.

Strong design choices also extend to the way accessories work. It’s somewhat modular, meaning that if you’re like me and don’t require the GPS functionality, simply don’t use the accompanying attachment, and there’s no need to hide the wires you didn’t intend to use. The rear facing camera is also detachable from the cable, rather than detachable from the mirror itself, so if you ever have any hardware issues (such as accidentally crushing it with cargo or some other mistake you know you’re capable of), the camera can be swapped out without re-running the wires all the way down your vehicle again. More on that a little later.

The only reason I have to take a point away from this smart mirror’s design is due to the placement of the front-facing camera. The way the mirror is installed, it sits on top of your existing mirror. Given that it isn’t as far to the edge as possible but still needs to overhang the OEM mirror, this leads to a little bit of the opposite side OEM mirror peeking behind the smart mirror. (See photos to understand better). Depending on the size of your OEM mirror, you may or may not have the same issue, which can be an eyesore for some. And while I thought that would bother me quite a bit, I will admit I stopped noticing the same day I started using it and haven’t thought about it again until writing this review.

Software-wise, it does the job. After initial setup, I’ve rarely touched the settings again, and accessing the recordings – yes, we’ll get to that, too – is a pretty intuitive process despite needing to scroll long lists to find a particular recording. But this is easily overcome by simply swapping the microSD card it comes with out of the smart mirror and into a Mac or PC.

Installation 🔴🔴🔴🔴🔴 (YMMV)

Installation is a tricky topic to cover for this review since your particular vehicle and the features you choose to have enabled will have a huge influence on how tricky the install will be. What I can say pretty confidently, however, is that WOLFBOX makes it as easy as they can control.

You’re given plenty of wire in the kit to run your smart mirror to power, and options, too! Whether you want to go the simple route and plug into a DC cigarette lighter port, or you want to tap a fuse for constant and/or accessory power, the kit you order can make that aspect a breeze. You’re also given so much extra wire to run the rear camera that I think it could have extended to the back of an eighteen-wheeler trailer if needed. And the camera has automotive-grade double-sided tape to stick the camera wherever you think it works best, or a couple small screws to mount it even more sturdy to a hard, flat surface, should you prefer this approach. The tape hasn’t budged since mounting it to my roof rack crossbar.

What will be the harder part for each person is cleanly routing wires above the windshield, behind the trim panels, and through the vehicle to the back where the camera will be affixed. Also, if you intend to utilize the reverse-camera feature, you’ll need to tap into your reverse lights somehow, and you’ll probably want to Google that or refer to your vehicle documentation to locate those wires. But let’s talk about those features next.

Features 🔴🔴🔴🔴⭕

The G900 is considered a flagship smart mirror, and is at the top of WOLFBOX’s lineup for a reason. The main job it has – to help you see behind you when you’re driving – it does pretty flawlessly. The large, vibrant, low-latency screen takes a second to adjust to when you’re used to a traditional mirror, but with its multiple brightness settings and high fidelity, I never find it distracting or annoying, even in nighttime driving. OLED would be a nice eventual improvement to the screen for nighttime, but it’s doubtful the truest blacks of OLED will ever be shown, given the light of your vehicle’s tail lights, so it probably isn’t something to hold out for.

Another great aspect you “won’t know you need until you need it” is that it is also a front and rear dashcam, recording as much or as little as you want straight onto a microSD card on the device. No clouds. No companies peeping your video recordings. And it even detects collisions based on gyro-sensors within the device, allowing you to preserve recordings that could come in handy for any unfortunate insurance claims. Connecting it to always-on power even lets you record while you’re not driving, with a special time lapse mode that can also help you attempt to recover belongings in the event of a break-in. The videos stored to the device are high resolution and are well-exposed in nearly every lighting situation, and it’s been very impressive to see – even playing back right on the smart mirror – for the passengers I’ve shown.

And while I didn’t perform the optional install of wiring the smart mirror to my reverse lights, doing so enables a special reverse camera complete with guide lines to bring older vehicles up-to-snuff with modern back-up camera tech. If you don’t already have something like this in your older rig, this might be a reason alone to get one of these things.

That’s not without at least a few little hiccups, though. In my month of use so far, I’ve found some small glitches that may or may not be specific to my vehicle and the fuse ports I tapped. Sometimes, I’ll shut my vehicle off and the mirror stays on for a bit. Other times, I’ve walked outside and noticed the mirror was on, hours (or days) after driving. The bright side is that there is a low voltage cutoff built into the camera which prevents it from draining your battery past a voltage that’s needed to start the vehicle, but I’m not certain what’s actually happening behind the scenes.

There’s also little nitpicks like the fact that the touchscreen is very, very sensitive, and trying to scroll options sometimes takes a few extra swipes to backtrack or be precise. But considering that once I’ve gotten it installed and locked to the settings I like, I’ve yet to use the touch screen, I’m not going to dock any points for it.

The only thing this smart mirror is missing is, ironically, a mirror. Perhaps in an effort to reduce glare, the smart mirror is a black mirror much like your phone, and doesn’t reflect much light. Try and lean over to check for poppy seeds between your teeth on this thing and you’ll be disappointed, so make sure those visor mirrors are cleaned off before that next everything bagel.

Final Verdict

When I first reached out to WOLFBOX to try out this mirror, I had only seen it once in the wild and it left a very solid impression. I thought this was some high-tech stuff only exotic supercars and luxury EVs had, and hadn’t realized that if you’re willing enough to pop off some trim panels and run a couple easy wires, it can make a big difference in visibility, safety and security for your adventure rig, capture some cool dashboard POV footage, and even reduce the blinding caused by your buddies behind you on the trail who forgot to switch off their 40” lightbar when you passed them a few miles back.

Overall, I’m happy I installed the G900, and won’t be looking back with regret – literally and figuratively.

If the G900 smart mirror is on your “Buy Now” list, you can pick it up from Wolfbox’s Amazon store here. If you’re interested in learning more about Wolfbox’s line of products, check out their website at www.wolfbox.com

OutdoorX4 Magazine – Promoting responsible vehicle-based adventure travel and outdoors adventure