Garmin Dash Cam Mini - What you really need to know

There's plenty of un-boxing videos and reviews of the Garmin Dash Cam Mini. However, there's not much which can offer a deeper user perspective. Some of the practical issues I've found may be a deal breaker for others who might be thinking about buying this dash cam. 

Garmin Dash Cam Mini 2020

 

I'd been thinking about buying a dash cam for a while. I didn't want to spend too much and was happy with something which worked well without unnecessary features. The Garmin mini is a 'stripped down' dashcam.

After reading some reviews I decided the Garmin dash cam mini was the one for me. I liked the fact that it was so small and could be discreetly concealed behind the rear view mirror. I also couldn't justify spending hundreds on something which wasn't essential. Having spotted a 33% discount I decided to buy one. 

1. Audio on/off  & memory card formatting        2. Quick save picture/video & bluetooth pairing

 

It does not come with a micro SD card so you will have to buy one. Be aware that some are not compatible with the dash cam mini (as I found out).  

Garmin advises that any micro SD cards not listed below MAY work, but performance is not guaranteed. It also needs to be Class 10.

Brand	Family
SanDisk	Extreme
SanDisk	Extreme Pro
SanDisk	High Endurance
Samsung	PRO
Samsung	PRO Plus
Samsung	PRO Endurance

Setting up proved to be a bit more fiddly than I anticipated for different reasons. Some people could find fitting is outside their comfort zone while others will enjoy 'fiddling' with it to get it just how they want it set up. 

Initially I bought a Sandisk micro SDHX 64GB. I inserted the SD and then used the shorter data transfer USB cable and plugged it into my laptop. The first thing I noticed was that both indicator lights were flashing yellow. This suggested there was a problem with the SD card. I later read that the higher capacity SD cards (over 64GB) cannot be formatted to the required FAT32. I returned this and bought another Sandisk 32GB micro SD card which worked fine. I subsequently found a list of the recommended SD cards on the Garmin website here.

The next I decided to try and set up the Garmin software app on my iphone using the laptop. This did not work using the shorter data transfer cable provided, but did work with the longer USB cable. 

Finally I had everything working. 

Fitting

Next stage was to fit it to my car. 

I decided to go for a 'semi-permanent' installation. Meaning that I would leave the dash cam fitted in the car using the longer cable provided. 

The dash cam comes with a 'ball socket' fitting. The 'cup' for attaching to the windscreen has a very strong adhesive pad.  

It fits nicely behind the rear view mirror. On my Audi A3, the rear view mirror is mounted on the windscreen. At first my logic told me to position the dash cam to the left of my wing mirror. This would be fine for a right-hand drive car but did not work for my left-hand drive car. This is because the rear view mirror needs to be positioned at a left angle. This meant that when I re-positioned the rear view mirror it was pushing against the dash cam and the buttons or SD slot were not accessible. The USB cable connector was also too close to the rear view mirror.

Fortunately the dash cam came with a spare ball socket holder. I was rather anxious about trying to remove the first one. I watched a few Youtube videos on the best way to do it. I decided to put the car window heater on full to soften it and then managed to pries it off using a metal screw remover. Using metal on glass is rather risky and I wouldn't recommend it but I was lucky and the sticky pad came off after a good tug. 

The wire did manage to tuck under the trim along the top of the windscreen and using a little double sided tape to hold it onto the B pillar. I then ran it inside the inner door frame rubber, under the car mat and into the central console for the 12v power socket. 

 

 

Operation

The idea of not having an 'on/off' button was rather strange. I've now got used to simply plugging in the USB to record and removing it to turn it off. Because it's mounted behind the rear view mirror you can't see the red recording light, except for at night when it reflects on the windscreen.

I've read that getting a polorising filter for the dash cam is essential to reduce dashboard reflections. I think if you live in a very sunny climate that may be the case but for me in northern Europe it's not been a problem. 

Saving videos

The recordings are automatically saved into a temporary folder which is overwritten as the SD card becomes full. To permanently save any recordings you need to go into the app settings and select save. Alternatively, if you press the main central button on the unit, it will automatically save the recording which was immediately before, during and after you pressed the button. Meaning it goes straight into the save folder so it can't be overwritten. However, locating the button when it’s mounted behind the rear view mirror can be fiddly. 

Transfering videos

 Now comes the tricky bit. On paper it sounds pretty straight forward but.......

 There are three options:

1. Data transfer via bluetooth wifi using the Garmin phone app.

2. Removing the micro SD card and using an SD card adaptor plus the shorter USB cable provided, to your computer.

3. Removing the Garmin dash cam from it's ball socket and connecting the whole unit directly to your computer using the short USB cable. 

Option 1

This method is too slow for all but the very shortest videos. You must use the Garmin app software to trim the clip down to a manageable size. Anything under 2 mins doesn’t take too long to save onto your mobile phone. I 've found that the wifi connection frequently disconnects when trying to save anything longer than 2 minutes which is very frustrating. If it does stay connected then it will take a painfully long time to download longer clips.

Option 2 and 3

Once connected to your computer you can open file explorer and find the files. The videos are split into smaller chunks. For my 40 minute round trip commute to work I had 42 files totaling 5.2GB. The size of each files varied slightly but most were either 122MB or 143MB. 

Here comes the issue. Of course I wanted to have just one file for each journey. These only show as one combined video when using the Garmin app. When using the short USB cable to my computer did not allow me to pair my mobile phone with the dash cam so I did not have this option. However, if you use the shorter USB cable with a mains power adapter, it will work.

I've managed to use PowerDirector to combine 42 files from one return journey and this came to 4.4GB and took 20 minutes to render. I tried compressing to wmv format which reduced the file size dramatically to about 80MB, but the quality was so poor I gave up on that.

Whilst I don't need to keep all of my recorded commutes to work, I was hoping for the option to save them to my computer at the end of each week and then review them on my computer. 

The conclusion seems to be that saving all your journeys is a real pain and takes a huge amount of disk space. It works best for trimming your recordings to capture just a few short events using the app. to save to your mobile phone. I may try reducing the video resolution to bring the file size down.  

Conclusion

Overall I'm satisfied with the Garmin Dashcam Mini, especially with the discounted price. I think perhaps my expectations didn't match the product specification. It seems the idea is that the dash cam continually records your journeys so that should something of interest or concern happen, you will have captured it and can then download just that segment. It's not so practical if you want to record and download longer frequent or regular journeys for whatever reason. With this in mind, it does achieve what it sets out to.

So, if you just want to have it running in the background just in case something happens, it does the job well. If you want to record and download frequent journeys, you will be better buying a more expensive version with more features and easier downloads.  

Since writing this post, the new Garmin Dashcam Mini 2 has superceded my version. However, when checking the new specification, I didn't think it worthwhile upgrading so will continue using my current version 1.

 Update 2024

After four years of ues I've now 'decomissioned' my Garmin dashcam mini after selling my car. It's not suitable for my new car and I'm not looking for a replacement just now. 

As a basic entry level dashcam I think it's excellent. 

Edward Colston statue Bristol - what just happened?

I was rather shocked to see the Edward Colston stature in Bristol being torn down and rolled into the docks unchallenged on 7 June 2020.

Police action during high profile events is usually scrutinised and this was no exception. What’s surprising is that this time they received praise for effectively doing nothing while a crime was being committed. Even James Corden expressed his support to the Police via Twitter. This certainly helped deflect any criticism away from the Police and provided a good shield for senior officers to hide behind.

You can’t simply ignore criminal damage because it’s done for a good reason.

The statement issued by the Police claims they could not have got there in time and didn’t want to risk agitating an already angry crowd. This plausible response turned out to be rather convenient. I agree that in this situation, low profile Policing was a sensible approach. There was a strong possibility the feeling of injustice and anger would have boiled over and be directed at the Police.

However, I can’t help detect a tinge of sympathy to the ’activists’ from the tone of Superintendent Andy Bennett’s response. Read between the lines and it seems the Police don’t want to take any further action against the offenders unless the Council files a complaint. The Police had a good excuse not to intervene when they could have. It’s quite rare for the Police to stand by while a crime is being committed. The Police have skillfully batted the ball back to the Council to make a decision on whether they want to pursue a prosecution. The truth is that in the current climate no one has the stomach to do this. They will of course have to be seen to do something but I doubt the 17 ’suspects’ identified by the Police will have anything to worry about.

Emotions were running high and there was a strong sense of doing the right thing.  However the Police must remain neutral and respond accordingly if the law is broken. Would the Police response have been different if it was another historical statue or war memorial being vandalised?

The action of a minority of the protesters was understandable, but not justifiable. Imagine this happening every time someone felt strongly against something they didn’t like - it’s called anarchy and no one wants a lawless society. There’s no doubt that bureaucracy slows down change but it can be achieved without resorting to breaking the law.

Unfortunately for the Police, the decision not to act has had far reaching consequences which outweigh any negative press which may have arisen from stopping the statue from being removed. Organisations like the Police seem to be more worried about their public image and covering their back than getting the job done. Social media has made them afraid to act in case they're accidentally caught doing something questionable on social media.

We’re seeing a shift in society where things that were once tolerated, no longer are. Lead by a new young generation and supported by the older generation, who have borne the brunt of bullying, harassment, racism and sexism. Society wants and demands change. This is a good thing but in an ideal world should be achieved in a dignified and law abiding way, however long that takes. Maybe it’s time for local and central government to wake up and deal with it.

Audi A3 number plate light bulb replacement

How to replace a number plate light bulb - Audi A3

Audi A3 Sportback Second Generation 8P (2003-2013)

Here's a quick guide on how to replace a number/registation/licence plate light bulb on an Audi A3. I couldn't find much on this elsewhere so decided to share my experience to help others.

Surely a simple job right?

Like many such jobs it never goes quite as easily as it should. Yes, on paper it's easy but in practice not so easy.

There are two lights mounted on the lip above the number plate. Each one has a plastic lens held in by a small Phillips screw.

The first thing which becomes apparent is that due to the angle of the lights, it's not possible to use a standard length screwdriver. The slight angle means you don't get enough pressure on the screw and risk damaging it. You need to use either a very small handle screwdriver or small socket ratchet screwdriver. I have a reasonable selection of basic tools, albeit cheap ones. Fortunately I had a set of  screwdriver bits with a small handle which just about worked.

This small socket screwdriver worked for me

I found I needed to remove the number plate for better access. In doing that one of the plastic number plate screws snapped off, but fortunately I had a spare one.

To remove the bulb lens I used my small handle screwdriver and had to put allot of pressure while turning to avoid stripping the screw head. The screws are poor quality soft alloy and can easily strip so you need to be very patient and apply pressure whilst holding the screwdriver straight. In hindsight I probably should have squirted a bit of WD40 in there to help.

Eventually I managed to extract the screw and replacing the bulb is easy. The bulb is held in place by some metal prongs. After putting everything back together I was dismayed to find the light was still not working on one side. It was now getting dark so I decided to leave it and wait for the weekend when I had more time.

The weekend came I had everything I needed ready. I decided to replace the existing screws as the ends were damaged from screwing out and in a few times. Fortunately I managed to find some almost identical replacement screws from my spare screw jar which were about 6mm longer. I decided to replace the bulb and lens screws on the other side at the same time. Taking out the old screws again was a real pain.

You can see from the photo below that the original alloy screws have a flat end almost like the tip has been cut off.  I wonder if they intended the original screws to be replaced each time they're removed?

Audi A3 P8 registration plate light bulb lens cover screw (sizes are approx.)

I fitted the new screws and both lights worked fine. The replacement screws I used made it easier to draw in the lens cover and achieve better contact. Finally, job done!

What should have been a 5 minute job ended up taking far longer because of those awful screws!