Garmin Dash Cam Mini 2

Stick to making fitness watches – Purchased the Garmin Dash Cam 67W (front) & Mini 2 (rear) from HN who were fantastic. Also purchased the OBD Park mode cable. All for my daughters car. Got them at heavily discounted prices just prior to xmas. Thought i was getting a great deal. The size of both these dash cams is incredibly small and was the main selling point. Along with a reputable brand. But that's where all the pros stopped. Onto the cons. As per other reviews on this site, The Garmin drive app and everything that comes with makes these dash cams unusable and incredibly frustrating. I have 256g Samsung Pro Endurance cards in them both but the software and connectivity of the app is just terrible . I have connected them to constant power via the OBD cable but when the car is started they are both disconnected. No lights are on. Need to manually turn them on. Then there is missing footage. And the footage that can be viewed is choppy. When viewed it plays back frame by frame. Garmin support? Non existent . I have Garmin watches but did not expect this from such a reputable brand. Will not recommend Garmin Dash cams to anyone. Look elsewhere .

Small and efficient – Tiny unit very unobtrusive which I love and works perfectly. I like that this doesn't have a screen showing the recording as it's just not necessary while driving ..just an efficient recording taken. I have had this in my car for years and it's easy to download any video as needed to keep. I have just purchased another identical one for my husband's car. Price is great too.

Not Suitable for DIY Installation – The dash cam is very very very slow to start up, and even slower to connect to the Android Garmin Drive App with phone right next to it. It took multiple attempts to pair with phone - and was dreadfully slow when it eventually got connected. You need to connect to the App to see a "live view" that tells you have the camera pointed sensibly and verify it is working. Having got it paired was just one obstacle. Sometimes, it is "partially connected" for about 1 minute then fully connected, other times never gets past partially connected. Sometimes power on/off (i.e. unplug from 12V socket in car) gets it connected, sometimes it doesn't. Go away, try again in a few hours. Black magic like uninstalling and reinstalling, and downloading latest updates has wasted lots of time without fixing this issue. Manual (not in package, have to go online for it) and online help on "partially connected" meaning is useless. Lastly, it managed to drain my 6 month old car's battery from 12V to 6.5V in just a few hours with ignition etc completely off (and powered from the 12V accessories socket, accessories mode not on). Car would not then start, and needed jump-starting which the average person would not have available.