Garmin Dash Cam Live review: Just fantastic

Price When Reviewed

$399.99

Best Prices Today: Garmin Dash Cam Live

$399.99

Garmin’s Dash Cam Live is the corporate’s first product that routinely saves movies on-line for safe-keeping. Given my expertise with, and fondness for the corporate’s x7 sequence sprint cams, I used to be anticipating good issues from this newest effort.

Alas, whereas I noticed the anticipated good issues, I and doubtless fairly a number of different customers, won’t be capable of afford them. The single-channel Dash Cam Live all by its lonesome is $400 — the identical worth as many three-channel items, together with our top-rated Cobra SC 400D.

Then there’s the $10/7-day retention or $20/30-day retention month-to-month cost for the LTE connectivity and on-line storage. You needn’t join these for those who don’t need, however you then’re significantly better off saving a pair hundred {dollars} with one among Garmin’s lower-priced sprint cams.

Garmin Dash Cam Live design and options

The Dash Cam Live is a bit bigger than the x7 sequence cameras at roughly 3.3 inches huge, 1.9-inches excessive, and 1.3-inches thick, with slightly below 4 ounces of heft. But the general really feel remains to be “svelte” and the bigger measurement means there’s sufficient room for a pointy 3-inch coloration show.

About that really feel. Rare is the sprint cam that sits higher within the hand, or seems to be handsomer to the attention than the Dash Cam Live. Put bluntly, it’s the classiest trying/feeling piece of sprint cam {hardware} I’ve skilled.

Further studying: See our roundup of the best dash cams to study competing merchandise.

There are 4 multi-function buttons on proper aspect of the digital camera. They’re unlabeled, however straightforward to be taught. The SD card slot is on the underside of the digital camera, whereas the left aspect is house to the micro-USB energy connector.

I’m all for not losing these micro-B connectors that Garmin paid for, however come on. It’s 2023, the Dash Cam Live is tremendous costly…. It’s time for Type-C, guys.

The digital camera is a 1440p (30 frames per second), 140 diploma field-of-view mannequin that options Garmin’s standard (forgetting the DriveCam 76) first-rate processing. Also on board is GPS, and fortunately, Garmin makes use of it to routinely set the proper date and time. Many distributors set the date, however don’t take the additional step to calculate the time zone. Why, I can’t let you know, however kudos to Garmin.

The Dash Cam Live additionally options my favourite mount within the trade. It’s a barely bigger model of the sticky plate/magnetic mount/totally adjustable ball arm included with the 47, 57, and so forth. The mount makes it straightforward to connect/detach and orient the digital camera, however nonetheless retains it firmly in place. My solely, very minor, grievance is that I couldn’t use the smaller plate already hooked up to my windshield for the 57.

The Dash Cam Live ships with a 16GB card (I might’ve anticipated no less than 64GB contemplating the value), and can deal with as much as 512GB playing cards (Class 10 or higher). The digital camera makes use of a lithium battery that’s good for 30 minutes as an alternative of a brilliant capacitor.

Garmin additionally put a microphone on the Dash Cam Live and it responds to instructions reminiscent of “Save video,” “Start Travelapse,” and so forth. after you intone “Okay, Garmin….” Travelapse is a time-lapse model of a seize.

The “Live” within the cam’s moniker refers to the truth that at any time you should use the Garmin Drive app to get a dwell view from the digital camera utilizing your telephone. Do not use this as a child or canine monitor as you shouldn’t be leaving these souls in your automobile.

However, as a way of surveilling the environment whereas your not close to the car, it’s extremely helpful. Then once more, possibly you need to simply chill out a bit and let the digital camera’s parking mode and computerized uploads do their factor.

Jon Jacobi / Foundry

On the opposite hand, you may hold monitor of junior utilizing the app with its location reporting characteristic. Hopefully, she or he gained’t disappoint you as badly as I did my mother and father.

The icing on the cake is the bad-driver repertoire of options reminiscent of collision and lane departure warnings, get shifting reminders, and pink gentle/velocity digital camera warnings. I by no means use these, however velocity cameras aren’t as widespread within the U.S. as they’re in, say, Great Britain.

You may wish to merely pay much less consideration to your telephone or sprint cam, and extra to the highway, in addition to not velocity (an excessive amount of). Just sayin’.

How does the Garmin Dash Cam Live carry out?

Both the day and evening captures from the Dash Cam Live have been superb. A really good mix of element, clean stabilization, and wealthy coloration. When considered in movement, the element does exhibit minor quantities of shimmer, however whenever you cease the motion you may clearly see what it’s essential to see, reminiscent of license plate numbers — the entire level of a splash cam.

While the above seize on a cloudy day was nice, brighter solar gave captures a barely overexposed really feel. As proven beneath. Much of the glare to the correct is from mounting the digital camera a bit low on the windshield.

There is an publicity setting that permits you to darken the captures a bit, however we all the time publish with the defaults.

Night captures have been additionally superb as you may see beneath. And the Dash Cam Live dealt with headlights with aplomb, that’s, there was hardly any flare.

I can attest to the 30 minutes of run time from the Dash Cam Live’s battery. I’ve dozens of movies of the within of my pocket and my hallway becasue the digital camera woke from being jostled. Turn off parking mode earlier than you take away the digital camera from the automobile to keep away from this.

I used to be additionally impressed with the convenience of connecting to dwell view and the immediate importing of movies to the Garmin Vault, which took minimal coaxing.

In whole, the Garmin Dash Cam Live’s captures are superb. I’d prefer to see the choice for 2160p captures on the worth, however nonetheless, superb general.

Should you purchase the Garmin Dash Cam Live?

Plenty of you’ll swallow onerous on the Dash Cam Live’s worth and ongoing LTE expense. But I can let you know that if the impulse remains to be there after your throat clears, you’ll get pleasure from having and utilizing the digital camera. I did.

That stated, 2160p functionality and a Type-C port would have diminished my general discomfort with the value.