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Why?: I dunno, I did it, OK? .... awright, I want to be the first to catch the alien invasion or the next meteor, or ID that crow that has been crapping on my car.
Do you need one?: No
Recommended?: I don't know enough about these units to say either way except this is very small, simple, and works at 1080. Comparing the video with your units, is the vid quality on par with yours for $150 or less?
Request 1: Post your comments to help others make a dash cam decision.... in other words, for $150, can you do better with a small unit at 180 or better?
Request 2: Anyone know how to remove the pellet from the glass? I may have been hasty in gluing it down.
What I wanted: A very small, and simple dash cam. I don't need cool features. The Garmin was the smallest unit I found at $150 or less, was a name brand used to putting stuff in hot cars. That was about it.
Usage: I swapped out the supplied 4gig card with a 32gig unit for $22 (class 10 from MicroCenter) because more is better. The unit automatically produces 80 MB files numbered sequentially. I use the highest setting of 1080 30fps.
The unit records sound, location, and speed and each can be turned off. I turned off speed tracking. It has a bunch of other stuff I find useless such as driver lane alerts and a fancy timelaps video mode..... I will never use this stuff. It has collision detect to save a file it the unit is jerked. It powers down after a user-set time when power is cut.... auto on when power applied so you really don't have to touch it. IMO, the only essential features for a dashcam are collision detect, 1080, auto power, date/time.... nothing else. Connecting with my phone etc is just not important for me.
It has two apps associated with it... one for your PC and it works well for updating the software in the unit. Frankly the app is useless except for updating as you can just plug the unit into your computer and will see the file structure to copy from. The other app is for your smart phone.... I dicked with it but could not get it to connect with the unit but I did not put much into it. It uses wifi... probably a conflict with my home network. The files are just too big to be storing on my phone so I could care less about this feature. I plan on setting it and forgetting it.
One annoying thing is the camera picks up the reflections of my dash too easily.... is this because the lens doesn't have a good optics coating? Or.... maybe we need to organize a class action suite against Porsche? Hmmmm.....
Positioning: I wanted it behind my mirror and not be seen.... but I forgot I had my EZ Pass back there.... so, there it is between my mirror and radar detector... the car is looking like 70's stereo shop. I may have to rethink this.... I may make a small plastic "hook" to hang the unit from the headliner edge..... still thinking it through..... ideas? You may notice, it sees my EZ Pass unit... darn.
Power: I was thinking I would tap the dome light, but the unit requires 5V (USB power) and I suspect the dome spits 12V... So, as I note in my video below, I rand the supplied wire around and down the A pillar to a hidden socket thingy I have under the dash in the passenger well. This lighter socket is wired to an empty fuse location and now has my Garmin plugged in and a USB charging socket that has the new Android turbo charge and regular USB charge... these wires then poke through the back of my cubby to power my phone and bluetooth headset. To get to this hidden location, just take off the four plastic screws holding a foam panel under the dash.... then you can ram this socket unit between the firewall and the air plenum... it works great!
Note: Amazon users note the first run of these units overheated and shut down. Then Garmin stopped shipping while I suspect they fixed something..... mine was on backorder for two months.... it works fine so disregard those reviews.
The next unit up in their line is the 55 and 65W with the 55 adding higher resolution and voice control. It also adds about $50..... not for me... they have the same form factor. Again, I was looking for something really small and a name-brand unit.
I find it odd that I am now driving around looking for an accident to happen..... that is f'd up.
The video I made below has a video sample and installation instructions.
thanks for sharing this is a good write-up, I know it has been almost 3 years now but are you still using this camera?
I'm looking into the dash cam 56, have you experimented with better mounting angles to get rid of the dash reflection?
thanks for sharing this is a good write-up, I know it has been almost 3 years now but are you still using this camera?
I'm looking into the dash cam 56, have you experimented with better mounting angles to get rid of the dash reflection?
Still there, have not moved it. Got used to it there and I don't even see it now.
So has it been valuable? Nope. Am I happy I put it in? Yes. Why the incongruity? I dunno.
07-03-2017, 11:37 PM
Garmin 45 DashCam and Installation Instructions
