Garmin’s Dash Cam Mini 2 has great performance
Garmin has always been a technology leader, so it’s no surprise at the great performance of the Dash Cam Mini 2, which is part of the voice-controlled dashcam series, with automatic video storage and Live View monitoring options.
The first impression of the $129.99 Dash Cam Mini 2 is the size. Garmin refers to it as tiny right on the box. It measures just 1.23 by 2.09 by 1.14 inches but has a 140-degree field of view. The small size allows it to be almost entirely hidden behind a review mirror.
An automatic continual recording is done with clarity during the day and at night with a 1080p resolution of up to 30 FPS. An adhesive mount, power cables and a dual USB power adapter are included. On-board automatic video storage goes into a mircro SD memory card (not included) that supports at least 8 GB and up to 512 GB.
There’s no on-board display on the Dash Cam Mini 2. Instead, live view monitoring is done with the free Garmin Drive App (iOS and Android), which pairs with the Dash Cam Mini 2 via Bluetooth. The app has loads of other features including live traffic, weather, video sharing and live parking availability as you near your destination.
On-camera controls are easy to use for formatting memory cards, pairing to a smartphone and taking video snapshots. Voice control (available in English, Spanish, German, French, Italian and Swedish) does many of the same and keeps the driver hands-free. With the Garmin incident detection, once an incident is detected, the video from before, during and after the incident is captured and saved.
Garmin’s vault storage basic plan for 24-hour video storage is included. Options for upgraded plans include the standard plan, $4.99 monthly, which gives you seven days of storage. The advanced plan is $9.99 a month and will store videos for 30 days.
It took just minutes to get the dashcam running, from the unpacking to mounted on the dashboard.
The recording is done with a 1080p resolution of up to 30 FPS. An adhesive mount, power cables and a dual USB power adapter are included.
Other Garmin dashcams in the new voice-controlled series include the Dash Cam 47 ($169.99) with HD 1080p recording and GPS. The Dash Cam 57 ($229.99) has HD 1440p and GPS, while the Dash Cam 67W ($259.99) has HD 1440p, GPS and an extra-wide 180-degree lens that captures cross-traffic details.
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