My vote is the Garmin line of dashcams. They are bit more expensive than your typical dashcams found on Amazon, but I like the Garmins because they are small and inobtrusive. They also use a magnetic mount where a small metal disk is permanently attached to your windshield, so you don't need to worry about a rubber suction cup drying out and losing it's ability to stick to the windshield over time. It comes with two of the metal disks in the package and replacement aftermarket disks are readily available on Amazon. The one downside is that they do not offer a dual camera model that provides both front and rear coverage.
You can connect to the camera via the Garmin app and can view a live feed or download the dash cam videos. You can also subscribe to a plan that gives you cloud storage of your dashcam videos.
Garmin also offers a "permanent" power solution that uses a cord plugged into your OBDII port that provides power even when your car is off. The cord allows you to set the time to always on (cord stays powered), turn off after 10 minutes, or turn off after 24 hours.
We have one Model 47 and two Model 67's. These are discontinued and were really small, although they can still be ordered through Amazon even though they are no longer manufactured. They are about 2-1/2 inch by 1-1/2 inch. The dashcams included lane departure warnings, collision warnings (if you get too close to the car in front of you), as well as traffic light alerts and speed camera alerts.
I love both of my Garmins (67s). Everybody is going to have opinions & here is mine : I have not had any issues / problems / breakdowns at all. Both installed last year & was in your position. What got me to just go ahead was a great pro install opporrunity. I may have paid a bit much by other's thoughts but I have had no problems so I remain happy with them. Cheers!
I've got a couple of Garmin units (57 & 67w, the latter is too wide a view and everything appears too far away, but the voice control is handy, and... The cable of the 67w melted at the camera, not sure why, Garmin replaced both but never offered any explanation, which is concerning). A viofo a229 which I don't love, especially for manually triggered event recording. And just put a thinkware u3000 pro into my new (used) car which was wired from the previous owner alread, only problem, it was an older model so I still have to deal with the cable for the rear camera anyway. Jury out on it still, I do like the parking mode features on paper. Will see how it goes in practice.
Image quality is good. Voice control is good. Avoid the w models, wide wide angle which makes everything seem far away which makes reading licence plates hard. And. The near fire from the melted cable is a concern. Which is why I got the viofo and then the thinkware from black box.
Give me a few days to see some video from the thinkware to see whether I'm happy or not with it. Just put the front camera in last night.
I have a Garmin dashcam wired with their ODB adapter. Works great! A plus, the Garmin app to access it works very well. The apps for my previous dashcams were dumpster fires.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B093244D1J
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