Panoramic Rear View Mirror

I was out and about doing some errands last week when I spotted a peculiar thing in the car stopped ahead of me. Two teenage girls, one seated in the driver's seat and one in the passenger's seat were both gazing into a rear view mirror that stretched the length of the entire windshield. I had never seen a rear view mirror like that before so I was kind of intrigued. I figured there had to be a logical and safety-related reason to have such a mirror, even though the two girls were using it at that moment to simply check their hair, makeup, etc.

Shortly after that, I went along my way and ended up behind yet another set of teenagers with an identical rear view mirror. I had honestly never seen one of these before, so I was shocked to see two within only a few blocks of each other. I started wondering if this is some trend that I have been oblivious to, so I decided to snap a photo with my phone. The quality is obviously lacking, but you get the idea of what the mirror looks like, I hope.

According to Internet sites selling these mirrors, they supposedly improve driver safety and visibility by eliminating blind spots and giving the driver visibility of all-lanes. That sounds great, right? Not having a blind spot and being able to see much more around you would be great. But, I wonder at what price you get this for? Does the added space that mirror takes up in the windshield block your visibility in front of you? Does the mirror serve as more of a distraction than a help considering that you can look at yourself without having to adjust the mirror? (It obviously seemed to be quite a distraction to the two teenage girls I saw).

Although I've come across many positive reviews, I think I might have to give the mirror a try before making my own judgment about it. Have any of you tried this type of mirror out? What are your thoughts about it?