Garmin Dashcam Mini 2, Voice Controlled, Car-key Size Dash
Garmin Dashcam Mini 2, Voice Controlled, Car-key Size Dash Camera
TINY CAMERA, HUGE PROTECTION
Featuring a wide 140-degree field of view that captures and saves important details in 1080p HD video, the car key-sized, voice-controlled Garmin Dash Cam Mini 2 has you covered.
EXTRA USB PORT
You won’t have to choose between powering the dash camera and keeping your phone charged. Included charger has an extra USB port, so you can do both.
| Dimensions: | 1.22 x 2.09 x 1.14 cm; 35 Grams |
| Model: | 010-02504-10 |
| Batteries Included: | 1 Lithium Ion batteries required. (included) |
| Manufacture: | Garmin |
| Dimensions: | 1.22 x 2.09 x 1.14 cm; 35 Grams |
If you are looking for a cost effective and simple camera to install in your car, then the Garmin 47 is the perfect choice. You may also find that it helps with lowering your insurance. There are many products out there, but the Garmin brand is reliable and has the functionality that you need. The App makes it very easy for you to download and save images and videos, should you need to use it. Great product at a realistic price.
Setup is super easy, my approach is finding where on the windscreen i’d like the dash cam, and from there i run the cable to the nearest power source and if all reaches i fix the adhesive on the windscreen and tuck the cable in where possible, so all pretty straight forwards.
The app is easy to use and connects super quick to the dash cam.
I have a 256gb sd card working with the Garmin mini 2 with no issues.
The box also comes with a spare windscreen mount & power cable which is super handy if one fails or you looking to switch this between cars.
It is a good unit, that will show what happened in an incident.
Small, discrete, and pretty rugged (out in the rain).
Problems
It really needs image stabilisation, because you do get some image vibration.
It draws too much power to leave on all the time – so you cannot use sentry mode. Your battery will be flat in a week or so. So I wired it to the ignition (cigarette lighter), so it only came on with ignition on.
It should have a small internal battery, so the LED light keeps flashing, as a deterrent.
Comms with the iPad not always straightforward. Best way is to turn the unit on, then reset the iPad wifi off and on, and then it will communicate.
R
I had a few issues to note:
– the app recommended a firmware update. This resulted in the dashcam being stuck in a bootloop with a flashing green LED. Searching online, I found others have had this problem and had to return their dashcams. I thought it was bricked. Luckily for me, after disconnecting the power and waiting for a bit, the problem resolved itself. I recommend testing the camera and making sure you are happy with it before installing it in the car.
– the app frequently does not connect to the camera on the first attempt. Second attempt is usually ok.
– the camera appears to require a higher power USB connection. Be aware of this! I initially plugged it in to the internal USB socket of my car (which is connected to the car audio for a flash drive with music files). This resulted in an unreliable dashcam, that would appear to work, but be glitchy – spontaneously rebooting, bluetooth/wifi not visible or connecting, etc. Switching to the supplied Garmin cigarette lighter PSU solved these problems.
– the app always says there are no saved videos when you try to browse them. This is very frustrating. It appears to take several minutes before the app receives the metadata and thumbnails from the dashcam and shows them on the screen, and this requires exiting and starting the browse again. It’s more of an issue with larger SD cards, as the dashcam won’t delete video until the card is full, so you could have months of old videos on there.
– the sliders for video cropping go right to the edge of the screen, which means you can’t crop a video near the start or end without disabling Android gesture navigation.
Despite these problems, I’m happy with the purchase, mainly because the camera does the job, and I never use the app unless there’s an actual incident, which is fortunately rare.
The flaws mainly originate from the app and how terrible it is. The amount of times my partner has had many scares when my car is simply sat there, and I close the door on it and it alerts collision detected. I don’t slam my doors btw… It’s just the parking mode thing doing it’s job but it should clearly know I’m still there and it’s not a collision. The Vault system has me paranoid as hell. I am genuinely worried that the one time I need to rely on my dashcam, the vault will mess up and my footage will be lost. It’s just not great how it required WiFi to sync and get that to your phone.
The parking mode is a nice feature but not really if you’re like me and don’t want to destroy your car battery by having the cam hardwired in. The battery should last a lot longer than it does when it’s been on an entire journey before you park up for the day at work.
The picture quality is great in both day and night conditions. The voice activation is handy but the other features such as speed alert and speed cameras are sooooooo annoying. I don’t use them. The only additional feature I have used is the Travelapse one. That’s pretty cool!
I would buy for just the camera. The app is reason enough to avoid.
In summary, great quality and clear footage, easy to install, easy to use.
There’s no polarising filter which means that you will get reflections from within the car which is disappointing for a product of this price. You can’t view “unsaved” videos even though they’re on the SD card, which is dumb.
This is great and easy enough to use (i’m very impatient and hopeless at reading instructions).
BUT it should say “order SD card with this or you can’t even set it up”.
So if you haven’t got one lying around the house get one on order at the same time!
“Not professionally installed ”
Work well
If you brake harsh it responds and marks it as an insistent
You hardly know it there
Voice command is a good feature
App is easy to use
Confusing at first it interfaces with your phone with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, but NOT at the same time.
Once you figure it out it fine!
I recommend using a high endurance micro as card
I was nervous buying after seeing a few negative reviews but ours has been great! Really easy to install and no issues connecting to the app using an iPhone. The only downside I would say is that when you want to save a video to your phone then it seems to force you to first upload the video to the Garmin cloud (via your phone) and then download it from there. Seems longwinded and a waste of data. Other than that though we love it. Very small and easy to hide on your widescreen.
I am very impressed with the added features, which I was unaware of, for instance the speed camera warning.
I travelled from Warrington to Hull, and back, along a stretch of “smart” motorway, and the warnings it gave were spot on as to where the active cameras were situated.
Another useful feature, when sat in unmoving traffic is that it warns you when the traffic begins to move.
It paired with my iPhone without a problem.
I have also wired it into my fuse-box using the Garmin parking mode cable, and this also works a treat.
Lastly, as I did not read the specs first I was pleasantly surprised how small and compact the camera is.
I would highly recommend this product.
I bought both this one and a BlackVue to compare, and the Garmin impressed me a lot more. It’s thoughtfully designed with nice tactile buttons and clear status lights (a bit strong, though – I may tape over them (UPDATE 2022-07: I’ve gotten used to them)). The instructions and app onboarding are well thought through.
It was easy to install in my Honda – no special skills or tools needed.
Please note that the longer of the two included USB cables is angled upwards (to route the cable along the ceiling and down the side) and the shorter one is angled downwards (to go straight down to a socket).
Firstly, although small it has a heft to it and feels well made, unlike the VanTrue which feels like it came out of a Christmas cracker. Installing it is very easy, the stickers are unobtrusive, and the thinness of the connection wires makes them very easy to hide. The standard kit comes with a 13ft long cable so no problem wiring front to rear. Set up is flawless and the app is excellent and deserves its very high rating. It was easy to connect both cameras to the app and they work well in conjunction. It might not come with as many bells and whistles as other brands and the camera resolution is not as high as others, but for its intended purpose it is more than enough. The constant power cable which plugs into the OBD II port gives full parking mode protection. The power cable is expensive for what it is but after the frustrations of the other brands I was happy to have such an easy plug and play installation. A 2 year manufacturers warranty comes as standard for further piece of mind. For anyone that finds the review articles fairly useless as they talk about all the features of the dash cams but no mention of reliability, I would fully recommend the Garmin range.
3 things to note. The camera doesn’t have a screen that’s what your mobile is for. You can access a live feed of the camera at your home to make sure it is set in the best place and that leads me onto another point you may be able to access a live feed if you have internet in your car. I don’t think you’d be able to watch live driving if your not in the car as the connection is mainly through Bluetooth, but perhaps that’s the future. Last point to access the videos/camera without turning your car on, wasting battery and petrol then just use a mobile external battery via the USB lead.
All in all I am very happy with this product. I’ve had Garmin gadgets for years and thought why not give this one a go and to be honest I’m glad I did.
I initially bought a 40 dash camera – it quit within 2 days ! Bought this Garmin – mainly because I had one of their sat nav’s some years ago and was very pleased with it. This dash cam works well and is worth the extra investment – Recommended
Installation in my 2020 Audi A3(8Y) was simple enough but you may want to buy the Garmin OBD cable. I didn’t like the fact that a permanent adhesive mount is included but not a suction one. The Garmin 12V adaptor is better than many in that it has two USB outputs.
Overall the video quality is pretty good during day, at night you can sometimes read number plates but it’s average for its price. HD seems a bit behind the times in this price category – it should be 4K. Also, the optional polarising filter (around 20) really does reduce glare and should have been in the box. Another sign of being behind the times comes with the fact this unit uses Micro USB not USB C – keep up Garmin!
The voice command feature works well at all but the highest speeds where wind noise etc. can affect it but the incident button is easy to access. At night I’m glad of the fact there is no distracting LCD screen on the camera.
So overall, yes, the camera serves its purpose and video quality is decent enough under most conditions plus the app is okay too but it’s not a leading-edge product and there are extras to buy like the filter, suction mount and if you want it, the OBD lead.