Garmin - Dash Cam Mini 1
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Reddit Reviews:
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Based on 1 year's data from Jan 28, 2026 How it works
Liked most:
530
148
"significantly worse object avoidance than than the Dreame x40 and L40 ... The best feature of the L40/X40/p10 pro ultra is that they have class leading object avoidance so you don't have to pick up your cat's toys or prep your house every time you want to run the robot meaning you can run it on a daily schedule which will keep your house cleaner. ... I run my X40s daily and they never get stuck on cables, cat toys and other random junk that ends up on the floor."
"I can basically always trust my X40 to finish a midnight cleaning session in the dark and wake up to find it sitting in its dock and have clean floors in the morning."
"I think its hands down the best all around option right now, especially once you hook it up to the water line and drain, i run it daily in our house and we got rid of our cleaning help because of it."
63
15
"But honestly - the fitcamx just for the front is perfectly fine for 95% people and gives you protection for on the road events."
"the footage was fully recovered and irrefutably proved the other driver at fault."
"I keep a USB-C/A micro SD card reader in all my vehicles so if there's an accident I can just grab the memory card with me. I had this save my bacon once when involved in an accident with a red-light runner."
153
49
"the 8:7 aspect ratio and 5.3k. That gives me much more freedom when reframing shots."
"Nice crisp clear 4K especially if you keep your streams and upload them to YT later."
"You're not going to get much better quality than BlackVue 700 models."
223
11
"Can't see it at all! ... it is 100% hidden away. ... if it wasn't for seeing the bottom .25" of the back camera you wouldn't know it's there"
"Super easy. ... Took about 20-30 minutes"
"Was easily able to run the wires on the top, press it behind the header with the spudger they gave and make it look nice. Then on the liftgate theres a plastic cover panel you can take off to bundle the extra wire and make the drop to the camera really nice and clean."
66
2
"No issues, it's so small it's out of the way of the eyesight."
"it fits great behind the rear view mirror. ... from the drivers seat you cant even tell its there and its well below the Eyesight cameras. ... Highly recommend"
"it ’s so discrete no screen in your face ... I went for the discreteness of the camera"
Disliked most:
0
11
"it takes 40 years off my life to download the video"
"I don’t know what I’m doing wrong, on my 2nd dash cam mini 2, can’t get it to connect via Bluetooth or anything ... put in new memory card that is 32gb that is listed on their approved list."
"I got this system last week and could not and still can’t connect my phone or iPad to the app."
15
7
"But I must say, you won't really be able to read the plates on other cars unless you have perfect weather conditions."
"I wish it was a bit clearer because I got a hit and run overnight and I couldn't read the plate (it was also raining)"
"kept blurring plates"
Embarrassed-Mark771 1.0I just use 2 garmin mini dashcam, the mini 2 is forward facing and the mini 1 is rear facing. They don't record when parked, but are very discreet and held the cable in place with some grey coloured blu-tac. I already had this setup in my previous car, so I just lifted and shifted.
SortOfKnow 1.0Idk even remember how old my 1 is, but it’s going strong. Got the 2 as a rear for my truck, zero issues and my wife’s car has a 3 in the front and 2 for the rear, both within a year but never had an issue with Garmin yet.
Strict_Tie_52 1.0Been using my Dash mini 1 for three years now in Australian weather, no issues.
WaterDreamer10 1.0Yes, ran the original Mini for years until the 2 came out....been running that since release and not one single issue. OP sounds like he has an issue with power supply.
trexalou 0.9My garmin mini (dc45) lasted me upwards of 7-8 years. I’m on my replacement now (dc46) working on year 3 I think…. 45 was always on, recording 24/7. 46 was in storage for about 2.5 months and then another month later. (Car in shop, car totaled & being replaced). It only records when the car engine is on or if it detects something in parking mode. Edit: it stays in the car always. Temps in my area range from -5* to 110*F.
ll_JTreehorn_ll 0.1About a mini 3 years ago. It didn't even last 6 months. Same issue.
It wasn't the mini 3. It was a 1 or 2. I don't know.
70125 0.1I had two Garmin Mini sensors fail after a short time. Which sucks because they're the most subtle form factor cam on the market. Everything else is bulky and ugly (see OP's photo) which ultimately is an important consideration for something that I want to keep hidden from sight. I really did love them...while they worked, at least. Went with Viofo for the replacement and am happy so far, while keeping my fingers crossed.
Accomplished_Pea6334 0.1I use a Garmin Mini and just hide the wire along the top and side panel and connect the USB to the passenger charge port. Works fine for me!
AddWid 0.1I like the Garmin Mini or Mini 2 because it doesn't have a big ass screen to take away space from my window screen, particularly as one of my cars has a very small window.
aqualoon_ 0.13rd Gen here, not sure if it's the same on other gens. But I have the Garmin Mini and the mirror plug and it's an extremely easy install and the camera is good. I have one of the older versions of the Mini so I'm assuming that in the newer versions it has an updated camera.
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