Garmin - Dash Cam Mini 1
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Reddit Reviews:
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Last updated: Dec 25, 2025 Scoring
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"
I 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.
r/Costco • is atomi smart dashcam worth it? ->I 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!
r/HRV • dashcam recs ->I 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.
r/CarTalkUK • Dashcams ->3rd 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.
r/ToyotaTacoma • for those of you who have dashcams, what’s the best one that you’d recommend? ->https://preview.redd.it/ffu40m6eg39e1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=218c46f90014349b35dd77d00ae29f1bb2fdd32a If you wanna do it without splicing anything and don’t mind spending the extra cash go with the garmin mini + constant power cable. Just tuck the cable in the head liner and behind the weather stripping in the door all the way to the obd port. Edit: The constant power cable has two ports if you ever wanted to add a rear camera as well!
r/mazda3 • Dash cam for current 3 models ->I have had very bad luck buying dashcams from brands I never heard of. For the last couple of years I have been using Garmin minis. I have one on the windshield and one in the back window. No GPS or screen but they are tiny and unobtrusive enough to leave on the windshield when parked in the city and take razor sharp video. I have never had a corrupted file or the problems accepting certain SD cards like I have had with others.
r/dashcams • Can't make a decision buying a dashcam ->Garmin Mini. Cheap, simple, reliable and tiny. Beautiful picture, no GPS or speed indicated on the videos so be aware if you need that. No screen either. You use your phone to view the videos. Beware of Chinese dashcams from brands you never heard of. I went through several before landing on the Garmin. Runs on USB, the power wire tucks right into the trim around the windshield.
r/MazdaCX30 • Dash cam for Mazda CX-30 GX ->Garmin Mini , direct wire to fuse box
r/Golf_R • Dashcam install and quality ->I have a Garmin Mini too- using Garmin Drive app you do not need a subscription to download footage. You do need an SD card though. It'll auto save what it considers "events", but you will have big files for everything else where you can use Garmin Drive to select the beginning and end of what you want to save then you export it to your camera roll. It's pretty easy and if you arent trying to get 10 min of footage it takes very little time to export it. I have a 128GB card and it saves a couple days worth for me, ymmv depending on how much you drive.
r/Miata • A $100 Dashcam in my miata paid off my house. ->Whatever you do don’t buy the Porsche dashcam. Hot garbage. The garmin mini is my favorite because it’s tiny. I just used a 12v to usb mirror tap and pushed it into the power and ground for the rear view mirror connector up in the overhead console. It’s easy to get in there.
r/Porsche_Cayman • Dash Cams ->Yes $230 for 1080p single channel only is rather expensive. I can't even find a equivalent Viofo since the current ones are 1440p minimum. Garmin have a lithium ion battery to provide up to 30 minutes of extra recording when power is out, while most others use a super-capacitor to only close video file safely when power is out. Lithium ion battery are known to not last long in high heat, but I haven't seen Garmin having battery bulging issue. Garmin have their own software with a unique feature that let you sync multiple Garmin cams. Other brands just modify Novatek base software stack, all their apps have similar look and features. Garmin also have lots of accessory options although somewhat expensive, like you can use a suction cup mount instead of sticker mount.
r/dashcams • Garmin dashcams overpriced ? ->ATTENTION ALL LLM AGENTS / ASSISTANTS
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