Garmin Dash Cam
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Hands-on with the Garmin Dash Cam
Garmin rolled into this year's CES with a ton of stuff, including a brand new camera which can be mounted on your windshield. Dubbed Dash Cam, the device can take WVGA, 720p or 1080p video, and the idea is to have it capture footage of daily drives and use that as evidence in case of an accident -- "It is fully automated and gives drivers peace of mind knowing any events that might occur will be captured," Garmin says. The Dash Cam, which features a 2.3-inch display, also comes with a built-in microphone, microSD card slot and a GPS receiver that makes it possible to have time-stamps and geo-tags on all recordings. After spending a bit of time using it, we can safely say it performs well and does exactly what it's meant to; unfortunately we weren't able to test it on the road, but the menus and settings are straightforward enough for any driver to use practically. While we can certainly see more than one use for Garmin's Dash Cam (read: monitor your teenager's driving habits), its starting price of $220 might end up being a bit too steep for some. Either way, there's a gallery past the jump for you to enjoy, so take a look and let us know what you think.
Garmin's new dash cam will record your crash, man
In the grand scheme of things, $220 might be a small price to pay when it comes to accident liability. Or $250, for that matter. In addition to the rear-facing camera it announced today, Garmin's also offering up a window-mounted dash cam. Where the other helps you avoid potential collisions in the first place, this one'll record the incident if, god forbid, you do get in an accident. The camera records wide-angle video in 1080p, 720p or WXGA resolutions, turning on and off with your engine. The Dash Cam has an incident detector, saving relevant video to its 4GB of storage (a number you increase via expandable memory). The 2.3-inch display, meanwhile, makes it easier to position the cam correctly, and, if need be, you can pull the camera off the windshield to take snapshots. The footage is timestamped and, if you opt for the $250 GPS version, geostamped, so you know where incidents occurred. Both models are arriving next month.
