At a look

Expert’s Rating

Pros

• Great captures day and evening
• Large shade show and cellphone connectivity
• Saves captures to the cloud
• Live view and car monitoring

Cons

• Extremely costly
• Cloud uploads require subscription
• Needs 2160p and Type-C on the worth

Our Verdict

We love this sprint cam’s elegant design, good captures, and superior capabilities. However, it’s enjoying to a choose viewers given the excessive price of entry and ongoing LTE bills.

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 possibly fairly a number of different shoppers, won’t be capable to afford them. The single-channel Dash Cam Live all by its lonesome is $400 — the identical worth as many three-channel models, 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 in the event you don’t need, however you then’re significantly better off saving a pair hundred {dollars} with one in every of 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 extensive, 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 shade show.

About that really feel. Rare is the sprint cam that sits higher within the hand, or appears 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 find out about competing merchandise.

There are 4 multi-function buttons on proper facet of the digicam. They’re unlabeled, however straightforward to be taught. The SD card slot is on the underside of the digicam, whereas the left facet 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 digicam is a 1440p (30 frames per second), 140 diploma field-of-view mannequin that options Garmin’s normal (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 inform you, however kudos to Garmin.

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

The Dash Cam Live ships with a 16GB card (I might’ve anticipated at the least 64GB contemplating the value), and can deal with as much as 512GB playing cards (Class 10 or higher). The digicam makes use of a lithium battery that’s good for half-hour as an alternative of an excellent capacitor.

Garmin additionally put a microphone on the Dash Cam Live and it responds to instructions equivalent to “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 utilize the Garmin Drive app to get a stay view from the digicam utilizing your cellphone. Do not use this as a child or canine monitor as you shouldn’t be leaving these souls in your automotive.

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

Jon Jacobi / Foundry

On the opposite hand, you’ll be able to hold observe of junior utilizing the app with its location reporting characteristic. Hopefully, she or he gained’t disappoint you as badly as I did my dad and mom.

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

You would possibly need to merely pay much less consideration to your cellphone or sprint cam, and extra to the street, in addition to not pace (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 had been excellent. A really good mix of element, clean stabilization, and wealthy shade. When considered in movement, the element does exhibit minor quantities of shimmer, however whenever you cease the motion you’ll be able to clearly see what it’s essential to see, equivalent to 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 under. Much of the glare to the appropriate is from mounting the digicam 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 had been additionally excellent as you’ll be able to see under. And the Dash Cam Live dealt with headlights with aplomb, that’s, there was hardly any flare.

I can attest to the half-hour 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 digicam woke from being jostled. Turn off parking mode earlier than you take away the digicam from the automotive to keep away from this.

I used to be additionally impressed with the benefit of connecting to stay 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 excellent. I’d wish to see the choice for 2160p captures on the worth, however nonetheless, excellent total.

Should you purchase the Garmin Dash Cam Live?

Lots of you’ll swallow arduous on the Dash Cam Live’s worth and ongoing LTE expense. But I can inform you that if the impulse remains to be there after your throat clears, you’ll get pleasure from having and utilizing the digicam. I did.

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