Verdict
The Garmin Dash Cam Live is a smart , slick drive recorder , enhanced with telling and genuinely utilitarian features . But it ’s expensive for a 1440p style cam with no rear or cabin - view support , particularly when that admit neither the hardwiring cable or the monthly subscription you ’ll need to get the most from its mobile data point features . Ultimately , it does many thing well , but it ’s just too expensive .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The Garmin Dash Cam Live combines 1440p ( QHD ) answer filming , always - on cloud connectivity and advanced gadget driver prophylactic alerts into a compact dash camera .
It ’s a smart fiddling gimmick , packed full of features , but it ’s also miss some biggies – most notably , backing for a rear - position photographic camera . At this Leontyne Price I ’d also expect 4 atomic number 19 resolution , as I ’ve find out it on cameras costing around one-half as much .
Design and features
There ’s no doubt this is a great looking camera , and with no rearward module it ’s also easy to typeset up . Its mount looks for all the man like a 50p patch with a embarrassing pad on one side – although it ’s actually a nonagon . It ’s powerfully magnetic , and the most slimline mount I ’ve seen on any camera .
That helps the Garmin Dash Cam Live fit snugly behind or to the side of your rear - view mirror , although you ’ll probably want it where you could see any warning on its blind . One thing to wait out for is the bright red power LED at the alkali of the screen , which can be distract – I covered it with a small blob of Blu - Tack .
Unusually , this camera amount with a choice of two lengths of power cable television service to accommodate into the provide butt lighter adapter . The cable television plug directly into the dash Cam River ’s dead body , so you ’ll involve to disconnect it if you ’re bump off it from the auto . As with most flair Cam there ’s no hardwiring kit in the box : you ’ll necessitate to spend $ 34.99/£45 on one if you require to get the most from the Dash Cam Live ’s attached features .
This appliance proffer a head up of any velocity television camera . It can also discourage you if you ’re drifting out of your lane , or in danger of go into the back of another car . Many auto build in the last five years or so already have the latter two feature , with the advantage that they may be able to roleplay on warning by tweaking the steering or hitting the brakes . All the same , a dash cam can be a helpful fashion to add them to an quondam vehicle .
Garmin charges $ 10/£10 or $ 20/£20 a month for subscriptions to trigger off this camera ’s LTE data features . Sign up and you’re able to get an warning signal if anyone drive your car when your earpiece is n’t inside it . You ’ll also be able-bodied to use the smartphone app to tick the location of your vehicle , and even get a live view from the tv camera at any prison term . If you press the manual transcription protection button , or the g - sensing element thinks you ’ve had a prang , it ’ll mechanically upload video to your on-line burial vault .
The g - sensor is also used to power a peachy SOS mode , where the tv camera can mechanically alert up to three contact if you ’re unresponsive after a large impact . There ’s also spokesperson control , allowing you to issue commands like ‘ o.k. Garmin , take a picture ’ . To get the most from this camera ’s always - on capabilities , you ’ll ask its Constant Power ( hardwiring ) kit which , when fuse with a data subscription , enables its always - on parking modality .
It ’s good to see a MicroSD posting in the boxwood , though at 16 GB it only has space for around two and a one-half hours of recording – the Dash Cam Live will take on up to 512 GB . regrettably , there ’s no rearward - view module available for this camera , so it ’s front - facing only .
Performance and video quality
I tested the Garmin Dash Cam Live during a spell of mostly sunny weather in mid - May . As such I could n’t see how it perform in operose rain , but it coped commendable with almost everything else .
Like other good flair cams , it could unwrap the road , vehicles and the vivid sky without wash any areas out , or losing crucial particular in heavily shaded areas .
Despite not have an especially mellow resolution , video recording were quite crisp , and still frames were well conclude with lilliputian blurring . That ’s crucial , as it makes it possible to scan other cars ’ phone number scale , even when they ’re coming towards you with a fast close speed .
Like other panache cams , this one picked up some cabin reflection in bright conditions – Garmin will rouse you $ 30/£26 for a polarising filter to remove them .
Nox presents all cameras with a challenge , but this dash River Cam ’s performance was somewhat good than average . It was quite adequate to of resolving the particular of my night time trip around a streetlit metropolis engine block , and I was able to make out a few number plate from the journeying – always a challenge give they reflect headlamp so strongly that it washes them out .
At the nonremittal exposure , however , night videos were a little too benighted , leading to some loss of detail away from pockets of street or workshop light .
you’re able to adjust video photograph in one - third steps : I found that nudge it up by a stop ( three steps ) made a big melioration to Nox videos , without overexposure during the solar day .
The Garmin Dash Cam Live is almost sure as shooting the most user - friendly dash cam I ’ve essay . Its computer menu system is fantabulous : simple and coherent , with all but one of the alternative I wanted ( as I explain below ) .
you’re able to make most changes without ask to first stop recording , and there ’s about 30 arcminute of barrage support , so you’re able to apply it for a inadequate while with the kindling off . Garmin Drive is also the upright dash River Cam app I ’ve used – it equilibrize simplicity of use with a terse design and good feature support .
In hypothesis , it ’s swell when a dash Cam River offer advanced number one wood assistance feature , but in my experience they ’re always dissatisfactory . regrettably , that ’s the fount here . On a 70 - mile journey taking in metropolis and freeway roads , the Dash Cam Live monish me only three times that I was drift from my lane , and it was amiss every sentence . Conversely , it warned me again and again about speed cameras , even though I drive all within the speed limit . I check with Garmin , and this is by blueprint – speed and traffic tv camera warnings will always sound , however you ’re repel .
The forward hit alarm was much more logical and accurate , warning me several times when I have too close to the railroad car in front . However , the Go lively feature – designed to send word you when the elevator car in front of you moves off in a traffic queue – did n’t trigger once .
If style Cam ’ warnings were coherent and reliable , they might be a useful tool to increase driver aid and potentially avoid incident . As it is , I witness the Dash Cam Live distracting and irregular , so I turn its admonition off . You ca n’t turn off the speed camera alert , though , which is a massive irritation if , like me , you are n’t prostrate to speeding or fly the coop the lights .
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Should you buy it?
The Dash Cam Live has some really utilitarian Mobile River - data - enable lineament
It ’s much too expensive , specially once you factor in an LTE subscription
Final Thoughts
This is a good dash Cam River . It ’s well-situated to utilize , acquire decent videos , and has loads of utile features – peculiarly if you stomp up for an LTE subscription and hardwiring cablegram . But that ’s the trouble : it ’s already around $ 400/£350 , and a hardwiring cable television hold that close $ 450/£400 , with an LTE subscription adding $ 10/£10 a calendar month .
That ’s a huge amount for a bolt Cam River that is n’t 4 K and does n’t support a rearward - scene camera . If money ’s no object and you want to monitor your fomite remotely , this is a serious choice , but otherwise I ’d recommendNextbase ’s 622GW .
Trusted Score
How we test
We try out every dah cam we review exhaustively over an extended period of time of time . We use stock tests to compare features properly . We ’ll always tell you what we get hold . We never , ever , accept money to review a intersection .
Find out more about how we examine in ourethics policy .
FAQs
This is an expensive dash cam , and some of its best features – car locating and remote aspect included – count on an LTE subscription . Without it , it ’s a more special gadget , although it still has big plus point like its informality of use and respectable picture quality . For me , it ’s not worth buying without its USP of always - on trade protection , which need hardwiring and an LTE subscription .
No – there is n’t one useable .
I ’m not fully win over by the worth of the driver aids on the elan cams I ’ve tested , and the Dash Cam Live is no exception . It ’s sure no beneficial than many New gondola , which typically offer at least lane change warning and robotic emergency braking , both of which work reliably and quite consistently in my experience . If you have an former car and want to add driver assistance , a sprint cam that offer it may be better than nothing , but you ’ll still need to act on its monition . I ’m yet to receive one coherent enough that I ’d find particularly reassured by it .
