This is a very nice small car monitor, and it was fairly easy to install. However, if you are not used to tinkering with electrical circuits and cars, then you might want to get someone else to help you with installing it. It’s small 4.3″ screen is not too obtrusive, and it can be folded so that it really doesn’t get in the way of driving.

In many respects this is an ideal small monitor for surveillance cameras, and this is the primary purpose for which I use it. It can be tucked away inconspicuously almost anywhere. It can be mounted on a wall, or left standing on its included small stand. If you are using a dedicated surveillance video camera then you can connect it directly to this monitor’s video input. However, if you are using an IP camera (which I am), then getting the video feed can be a bit trickier. You can connect it to one of your main computers as an extra monitor, but that could limit you with respect to where you can position your monitor. I’ve been able to hook it up to my inexpensive Raspberry Pi microcomputer, and this provides an excellent self-contained monitoring setup.

This monitor comes with a mounting case that allows you to completely fold it into the flat configuration. It is fairly well made and serves its purpose more than adequately. The stand lets you attach the monitor either to the dashboard or position it on a table. In order to keep it safely secured to a surface you’d need to have the stand attached via four little screws. I would have much preferred it if the stand had a large suction cup instead.

Unfortunately the monitor doesn’t come with a power supply. If you plan on using it in your car, then connecting it to the car’s power circuit should work, and in that case you wouldn’t need the extra power supply anyways. However, having a stand-alone power supply would come in handy for most other uses. Fortunately, the monitor can be used with almost any power supply that runs on anywhere between 6 V and 15 V. I’ve even been able to connect it a standard 9V battery. You would need a very particular attachment to connect it to most small power supplies, which, unfortunately, is not that common. I really wish that there were an easy way to power this monitor through a standard USB power supply. That would really make it extra convenient for the majority of purposes.

One of the issues that I have with this monitor is that it doesn’t come with any instructions. For the most part it was easy to figure out how to use it, but a more detailed set of instructions would have been useful.

The screen is pretty sharp, but it’s very small and it has pretty low resolution. The image is pretty good both in the daylight and in the night conditions.

The monitor has a total of three cables attached to it: two RC video and audio cables and a power supply cable. Unfortunately, all of these cables are permanently attached and cannot be removed. This would be OK if you decide to permanently attach this monitor to some surface and tuck all of the cables behind so they are not visible, but if you have the monitor by itself on a stand then all these extra cables really stick out.

Overall I really like this small monitor, but it certainly has a lot of room for improvement. It is one of the cheapest such monitors that I’ve come across, and would certainly recommend it to anyone who is budget conscious.

**** Product Provided for Review Purposes. ****