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      04-11-2017, 08:50 PM   #1
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Looking for review of night vision for deer + elk

I live at the edge of a wilderness area in New Mexico where I drive mainly twisting mountain 2 lane. I'm thinking of replacing my much loved E70 4.8IS with an F85. I have a question about how valuable the night vision system is for people driving in remote areas with lots of big animals jumping on and off the roads if anyone with experience using this feature can comment.

I've had many close calls over the years with herds of elk, the last time I was blessed to not only have the X5 make the stop in time with my family in the car but then to immediately see a pair of mountain lions just beyond the elk and one of the pair was enormous. Lions are a rare sight even out here and I'd never, ever seen 2 lions nor one this big. I'm very glad I didn't hit any of these beautiful creatures!

I have long wished for a night vision system that fed into the HUD and would help me spot wildlife. But I worry that one which only displays in the center stack is going to be pretty useless. Of course it's impossible to test this feature since dealers are in cities and test drives during the day, etc. On top of that it seems that maybe only 1 in 5 "loaded" used F85's have this feature so if I do make it a "must have" then I will either be forcing myself to buy new and built to order or make my search dramatically harder. I ordered my E70 but I was thinking to buy used or possibly even try out assuming a lease this time around so it would be great if I don't need the night vision. But if it will help me keep my family safe then I want to know and I want to get it. Thanks in advance!
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      04-11-2017, 08:55 PM   #2
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It will help you see what you are hitting better.
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      04-12-2017, 01:36 AM   #3
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My X5M has the night vision option as I leased one off the lot, which was otherwise how I would have ordered it. It also has the full driver's assistance package. The night vision does light up people and animals but it requires you to look off to the side. I haven't really used it but also live near a city.

On the other hand, the driver's assistance put up a warning about a deer about 2 months ago. I thought it was a false positive but then I passed a deer on the side of the road hidden by trees! If I had slowed down when I got the warning, I would have easily been able to avoid the deer if it had run out into the road.

So despite my initial pessimism that these systems serve any useful purpose, I am pleasantly surprised. Still not sure it would work at highway speeds but certainly worked on a 45 mph road FWIW.
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      04-13-2017, 06:33 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Silverbear View Post
I have long wished for a night vision system that fed into the HUD and would help me spot wildlife. But I worry that one which only displays in the center stack is going to be pretty useless. Of course it's impossible to test this feature since dealers are in cities and test drives during the day, etc. On top of that it seems that maybe only 1 in 5 "loaded" used F85's have this feature so if I do make it a "must have" then I will either be forcing myself to buy new and built to order or make my search dramatically harder. I ordered my E70 but I was thinking to buy used or possibly even try out assuming a lease this time around so it would be great if I don't need the night vision. But if it will help me keep my family safe then I want to know and I want to get it. Thanks in advance!
My X6M has the night vision feature and I live in a rural area. I was anxious to see if it would help since I have hit deer with some of our other vehicles. The GD things are everywhere here. I wish the display was right in front of the driver - like in the Audi S6, etc. and not off to the side in the center. It takes some practice to get used to checking back and forth between looking at the road ahead and the center display. I think it is more useful at slower speeds (<40 mph). It is most helpful when there is fog since it basically sees through the fog. If I was going to order a new vehicle, I'd forego it. It's nice to have, but definitely not as useful as one might imagine.
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      04-13-2017, 06:35 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dirac View Post
My X6M has the night vision feature and I live in a rural area. I was anxious to see if it would help since I have hit deer with some of our other vehicles. The GD things are everywhere here. I wish the display was right in front of the driver - like in the Audi S6, etc. and not off to the side in the center. It takes some practice to get used to checking back and forth between looking at the road ahead and the center display. I think it is more useful at slower speeds (<40 mph). It is most helpful when there is fog since it basically sees through the fog. If I was going to order a new vehicle, I'd forego it. It's nice to have, but definitely not as useful as one might imagine.
You point about where the screen is located is the biggest takeaway. It's not as safe or useful on the NAV screen. If that can be put right in front or HUD then I may get it.
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      04-13-2017, 07:09 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by WCH View Post
My X5M has the night vision option as I leased one off the lot, which was otherwise how I would have ordered it. It also has the full driver's assistance package. The night vision does light up people and animals but it requires you to look off to the side. I haven't really used it but also live near a city.

On the other hand, the driver's assistance put up a warning about a deer about 2 months ago. I thought it was a false positive but then I passed a deer on the side of the road hidden by trees! If I had slowed down when I got the warning, I would have easily been able to avoid the deer if it had run out into the road.

So despite my initial pessimism that these systems serve any useful purpose, I am pleasantly surprised. Still not sure it would work at highway speeds but certainly worked on a 45 mph road FWIW.
Thanks to all who have replied. I didn't even realize there was a feature of the DAP to warn about deer in the instrument cluster or in the HUD, so thanks for that, very good to know. Is that feature dependent on having the FLIR camera installed to detect them, or does it work on some other principle?

I just did some googling and downloaded the F85 online manual and it seems that there is a dependency there so that I would need to have that night vision with pedestrian detection option on the car for the notifications to take place in the instrument cluster and HUD. Do others agree this is true or have people who have DAP but don't have NV gotten warnings for deer?

I wonder if that Night Vision camera system can economically be added to a car that did not ship with it.

BMW does seem to say that a warning only occurs if the car judges a collision to be imminent and that isn't what I'd ideally want, I'd like a warning to appear in the HUD any time it detects a large animal so that I could be extra cautious and looking for how I will avoid if it suddenly jumps toward me. Perhaps this could be a feature they can add in the future. It seems that this would be the sort of thing that self driving cars would also want to have, to spot the danger of large animals nearby and then either slow down or otherwise prepare to deal with them according to how they behave.
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      04-13-2017, 08:05 PM   #7
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I have seen deer with the system, but apparently not close enough to trigger a warning. It sounds like the warning will be the last thing you remember before impact.
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      04-14-2017, 05:44 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Silverbear View Post

BMW does seem to say that a warning only occurs if the car judges a collision to be imminent and that isn't what I'd ideally want, I'd like a warning to appear in the HUD any time it detects a large animal so that I could be extra cautious and looking for how I will avoid if it suddenly jumps toward me.
I cannot comment on others experiences with this system but, in my truck, what you wrote in your post is exactly what mine does. I've had dear warnings pop up in my HUD and thought "thats odd...I don't even see a dear" and then a few seconds later I'll see a dear on the side of the road in someones lawn.
Similarly it's given me pedestrian warnings without me seeing the person.....then I'll notice a shadowy figure a minute later walking on the side of the road. In all instances there was no imminent danger/impact....just a warning to slow down in time to avoid a possible issue.
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      04-17-2017, 05:38 AM   #9
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Below a copy of an older post on Night Vision. In Europe the NV warning is shown with a strong, pencil shaped beam pointed at the object, so you directly see what you may hit against.

---------

The video below shows a thin flashing beam directed at a small animal crossing a rural road at night.

The animal had been detected by the Night Vision infrared camera and the flashing beam is intended to warn the driver.

In real life the flashing beam is far stronger than shown in the video.

(The dashcam is BMW's Advanced Car Eye)

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      04-17-2017, 07:31 AM   #10
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I have night vision on my X5M, and looking over to the center screen all the time is not only dangerous but with all the technology on these cars to keep your eyes on the road it appears to go against that philosophy. There are two different warnings with a picture of a deer or a person that shows up on the HUD. A yellow picture of a deer or person with a beeping noise tells you there is an object somewhere close in the vicinity of the car. Slow down and look around you'll see it. A red picture tells you that it is right next to you. Also with the red picture you do not get a beeping noise but rather a long beeeeeeeeep.
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      04-17-2017, 10:44 AM   #11
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Probably best just to be more cautious when driving during the crepuscular times of the day.
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      04-23-2017, 03:11 PM   #12
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If you can have dynamic spot light like the video above is the best system I ever tried, but I think is not legal in US, I have that one in my X5M, in Costa Rica we have plenty of wild life and few sidewalks, so people outside town walks in the middle of the road, and many animals cross in front of you, the system works great, detecting and spotting any life form, the faster that you go the far it detect it, I have people detected as far as 100 meters, manual says that you have to activate automatic lights in order to this system to work but is not, I have detection without activating the automatic lights.
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      04-23-2017, 04:15 PM   #13
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There is also coding to make system even more useful:

F12/F13 New Code-Night Vision with Background Pedestrian Detection
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      05-02-2017, 06:37 PM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Almaretto View Post
There is also coding to make system even more useful:

F12/F13 New Code-Night Vision with Background Pedestrian Detection
Wow, thanks Amaretto, a lot of cool reading over there indeed! Some of it was definitely using initials which I do not know. For example I know NV is Night Vision, but what do NV2 and NiVi stand for in the coding thread?

And I take it that to have any of these cool features for detecting animals in the various displays I must get a car that was ordered with Night Vision which is very rare and certainly will limit my choices. It seems that among cars people list as being "loaded" that only perhaps 1 in 5 actually has the NV feature. I spoke to my BMW Service Mgr. and he said that Night Vision cannot be added on to an F85 that did not originally come with it.

i'd kind of ignored this thread for a bit but just got hit with another massive repair bill on my E70 so thinking about this again
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      05-02-2017, 06:56 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Silverbear View Post
Wow, thanks Amaretto, a lot of cool reading over there indeed! Some of it was definitely using initials which I do not know. For example I know NV is Night Vision, but what do NV2 and NiVi stand for in the coding thread?

And I take it that to have any of these cool features for detecting animals in the various displays I must get a car that was ordered with Night Vision which is very rare and certainly will limit my choices. It seems that among cars people list as being "loaded" that only perhaps 1 in 5 actually has the NV feature. I spoke to my BMW Service Mgr. and he said that Night Vision cannot be added on to an F85 that did not originally come with it.

i'd kind of ignored this thread for a bit but just got hit with another massive repair bill on my E70 so thinking about this again
NiVI - Night Vision.
  • NIVI2 = CAFD_0000004C
  • NIVI3 = CAFD_000013FE
Correct, coding cannot overcome lack of hardware.

Which packages are included comes down to dealerships guessing what will sell. Often, there are regional differences (eg, more xdrive sedans in Northern than Southern California dealerships).

Can you retrofit afterwards, yes, but often less expensive to order the first time.
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      05-03-2017, 01:36 AM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Almaretto View Post
Which packages are included comes down to dealerships guessing what will sell. Often, there are regional differences (eg, more xdrive sedans in Northern than Southern California dealerships).
I don't usually think of this fact that it is dealers rather than customers who configure most vehicles. I ordered my E70 exactly as I wanted her because I couldn't find any that were remotely close to the config that I wanted. On the F85 it is much easier to consider a used car and avoiding the depreciation of ordering new because you have so few packages to choose and many vehicles seem to have them all on which is what I prefer.

But if one needs a specific individual option like the Night Vision then this one is left off a lot. Which I can understand since in the city maybe you don't want it, too many alerts or something. But out here I think I would like to try it, not in the center view but the warnings in the HUD I think would be valuable.
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      05-03-2017, 01:44 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Silverbear View Post
I don't usually think of this fact that it is dealers rather than customers who configure most vehicles. I ordered my E70 exactly as I wanted her because I couldn't find any that were remotely close to the config that I wanted. On the F85 it is much easier to consider a used car and avoiding the depreciation of ordering new because you have so few packages to choose and many vehicles seem to have them all on which is what I prefer.

But if one needs a specific individual option like the Night Vision then this one is left off a lot. Which I can understand since in the city maybe you don't want it, too many alerts or something. But out here I think I would like to try it, not in the center view but the warnings in the HUD I think would be valuable.
Of course people will spend time configuring vehicles (ie "Build Your Own"); but the figures I have seen, indicate the majority of sales are dealer lot.

I agree that it would be great to always have access to vehicles specced just to desired options while shopping, but this is not always possible.
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      05-09-2017, 09:48 AM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Silverbear View Post
I live at the edge of a wilderness area in New Mexico where I drive mainly twisting mountain 2 lane. I'm thinking of replacing my much loved E70 4.8IS with an F85. I have a question about how valuable the night vision system is for people driving in remote areas with lots of big animals jumping on and off the roads if anyone with experience using this feature can comment.

I've had many close calls over the years with herds of elk, the last time I was blessed to not only have the X5 make the stop in time with my family in the car but then to immediately see a pair of mountain lions just beyond the elk and one of the pair was enormous. Lions are a rare sight even out here and I'd never, ever seen 2 lions nor one this big. I'm very glad I didn't hit any of these beautiful creatures!

I have long wished for a night vision system that fed into the HUD and would help me spot wildlife. But I worry that one which only displays in the center stack is going to be pretty useless. Of course it's impossible to test this feature since dealers are in cities and test drives during the day, etc. On top of that it seems that maybe only 1 in 5 "loaded" used F85's have this feature so if I do make it a "must have" then I will either be forcing myself to buy new and built to order or make my search dramatically harder. I ordered my E70 but I was thinking to buy used or possibly even try out assuming a lease this time around so it would be great if I don't need the night vision. But if it will help me keep my family safe then I want to know and I want to get it. Thanks in advance!
My '14 M5 with night vision displays deer on the HUD way before I ever see them on the road. You can also turn on Night Vision which appears on the Nav screen, but that doesn't have to be on to see animals on the HUD. FWIW
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      05-11-2017, 11:51 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dirac View Post
My X6M has the night vision feature and I live in a rural area. I was anxious to see if it would help since I have hit deer with some of our other vehicles. The GD things are everywhere here. I wish the display was right in front of the driver - like in the Audi S6, etc. and not off to the side in the center. It takes some practice to get used to checking back and forth between looking at the road ahead and the center display. I think it is more useful at slower speeds (<40 mph). It is most helpful when there is fog since it basically sees through the fog. If I was going to order a new vehicle, I'd forego it. It's nice to have, but definitely not as useful as one might imagine.
+1
My X5M has the night vision as well, but I rarely use it. To use it has to on the front of the driver view, not look up and down, you might already hit something.
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      05-17-2017, 12:19 AM   #20
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It's always on as far as I can tell. If there is a human or animal in your path day or night it will tell you in the HUD. Has saved me a couple times on HWY 281 in texas.
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      07-17-2017, 12:52 AM   #21
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I've noticed option getting more popular

So I've noticed that on the 2016 year model of the X5M when I searched dealer inventory I almost never found Night Vision equipped cars. And finding a used 2016 car available to buy that has it is a straight out needle in haystack proposition. I've searched hundreds to find about 5.

But in the last couple of months I noticed a big change. Most of the major lots now seem to have at least one or two 2017 Night Vision equipped units on the lot. I don't know why this is but I assume that more customers began to realize it could save them from a collision and ask for it. Of course there are other possibilities like BMW offering dealers an incentive to move units equipped with this option, etc. I have no insider knowledge and wasn't nearly as active searching in past years as this model year so I could be overstating the difference too. But it seems like a big difference and I would guess that in a couple years it will be far, far easier to find used X5M's (and perhaps other Bimmers too) equipped with this option than it has been for me. And I think that would be a good thing and again I appreciate everyone helping to fill me in on this feature that you really can't learn that much about during a test drive!
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      12-13-2017, 06:38 AM   #22
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Looking for review of night vision for deer + elk

I've had the Night Vision come in handy a few times here in Germany. Yes, it is a little impractical having the screen to the side while you have your eyes on the road. That's what I first though also. On the other hand, having the screen open while you are driving and the deer shows up on the screen (Sometimes they light up yellow), this does grab your attention in your peripheral vision. It is not 100% but it is pretty cool. Usually when I am driving through thick forest in a small winding road, I am driving sow anyways. At the beginning of each turn I peep down to see if there is anything there for the upcoming couple hundred meters.

What I find really cool is that the car can tell if it is a human or an animal. The HUD displays either if it picks it up.

Last edited by Ducoteg27; 12-13-2017 at 06:41 AM.. Reason: Adding content
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