Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have only had this dashcam for at most a week now, so I will come back to update if this dashcam fails me. I've used around 5 or 6 different dashcams in my 8 years of driving and I have to say I've learned a thing or two about what you want to look for when purchasing one after being burned so many times. I've used a few top sellers on amazon, which turned out to be crap. I then tried Vantrue, which also ended up corrupting all my files and never saving them after only a few months. Then I got on the OwlCam train, and got really burned by it. Not to mention, too expensive for such a piece of crap machinery. Now this dashcam I put a *lot of thought* into before buying. I can't stress enough how many times I've been burned. I decided to look based off of the following features: 1) is the company that made it real? Like real with their own website? - Most of them aren't, but Garmin has been in the game for a while with car products, so I figured hey give them a try. 2) Can the dashcam connect to an app/my phone? If yes, look that app up, see it's reviews in the app store. - This camera as of writing uses the Garmin Drive app, and this app has 4.5K reviews and 4.7 stars on the iPhone App Store. No other app I could find connected to any dashcam had so many and such high reviews. This gave me hope. 3) What is the actual recording resolution of the camera? Some companies lie, and it's not actually 4K or whatever they say. Look at youtube reviews with proof of the file format. - Garmin, they did not lie to my knowledge. I can see it. I can't read license plates, but let's be honest. None of the dashcams you can find will. Maybe some in some bizarre cases, but no - don't expect to be able to catch a plate. If something happens, just yell out the plate State and Number so you can hear it in the recording later. Also, don't be stupid, get UNDERinsured driver insurance AND UNINSURED driver insurance. From experience, this saved my sister's literal life. 4) Can I have a Live connection to the camera somehow? - NexarOne and Owlcam both have these options, but fail horribly at them. Garmin has a different version of live, and given that this dashcam checked enough of my other boxes, I said fine to this. Better not to be forced to pay some subscription fee anyways. Their Live option just requires some internet connection, so I connected mine to my house wifi, as it sits in my garage. Those who park outside/away from wifi would just have to let it use their phone's data when they are near it instead (which is nice when you are away from home if something happens). Here's my experience so far with this camera: - Placement in the windshield -> I placed it in the center, directly behind my review mirror. I can't see the screen of the dashcam because of where I placed it, but I don't care personally. It blends in with the black interior of my car, you wouldn't know it's there unless you look hard. This is great to not attract as many thieves. It's also SO TINY I am amazed. - Recording --> After trying the different resolution options, I picked the 1440p one. It's the highest def. I also am amazed at the 180° view. You can really see the sides of the car, if someone came in to t-bone you I am sure the camera would catch it. --> It starts recording as soon as I turn on the engine, and I noticed in the video recordings that it ironically records my speed as soon as I throw it into drive. I don't know if this is coincidence or not, but I like that it records my speed. --> I like the feature that tells you "Traffic is in motion". Sometimes I zone out at long red lights, and this feature is also on my Subaru, but it won't be on my new car when it gets here, so the fact that the dashcam does it is a huge plus to me. --> It has a feature that beeps quickly at you if you cross a solid line. I think it was created to alert drowsy drivers, but I personally don't mind it going off. It's so quick, it only takes your attention for a second or two. --> It also has a feature to yell at you if you're tailing someone to close and it could result in a bad accident. Mine has never gone off, but I also don't tail people. I think it might annoy someone, but at that point don't drive like an ass LOL. - The App & My Phone --> Now I don't know if this thing has a battery in it. I am assuming by it's size that it does not. My car is newer, so it turns off all the ports after I shut the engine off. This camera uses a USB (i have usb ports in my car, it works with those) and comes with an adapter so you can use it. --> I don't have to have the app open, unlike Nexar for example, for the dashcam to work. The dashcam basically works on its own, and has a great integration with the app. You have options to use it basically (whether you want the app or not). I personally prefer the app, as it is easier. I make sure to leave my car in electric mode before I turn it off to double check that the footage was recorded. It's so nice, you just connect to the dashcam via it's "wifi" signal, and then you can view the footage on the memory card (or you could plug it in to your computer really easily, but I haven't found a need to do that). --> On the app, you can choose a video that was recorded and upload it to the "Vault" from the memory card in it where if you have a "free" subscription it will delete in 24 hours. You really don't need footage unless you were in a wreck, so the only way I could forsee someone being screwed over is if the camera footage is only accessible via the app for some reason (maybe the camera was nearly destroyed in a wreck or something) and the driver was unconscious and couldn't get the footage before being taken away. Then again, I could see how you could still get the footage back later, because the dash cam won't overwrite footage that's been labeled "accident detected". You're just screwed if your car is robbed and they take the camera with it. --> *AN IMPORTANT NOTE* is that the dashcam will show you lower resolution footage in the app, but if you "export" the video, it will compile the actual higher definition footage to which you can easily push it to the "vault" (cloud) or to your phone's storage (so the Photos app on iOS). - Things that I didn't expect but love --> This dashcam is the *first* that I've had that can handle how loud I put my music and bass. It doesn't mess the volume up at all. It just lowers the music volume in the recording, but my voice is still loud and clear. AMAZING. --> How tiny it is, so easy to hide. Tuck the wires for it into your side panels, super easy. --> that it uses USB, not hard-wiring. Now when my car is in the shop, it will still record what's happening instead of needing to be unplugged to do data updates and smog tests. --> that you can connect multiple cameras to your account on the app. If this camera holds up well for 3 months, I will buy another and put it as my back camera. They can sync in the app to give you a two in one video with both angles. --> that it doesn't use a suction cup but rather a strong tape, so it won't fall off the window on you. You *can* buy a suction cup attachment for 15$ from garmin if you want --> garmin's website has an interactive manual, which is super nice and easy to use. TLDR: I did my research, so far it's paying off. I hope i don't have to come back and give a negative review in a while when I've been putting it through wear and tear. This dashcam has worked the best out of all I've used, but I am a Computer Scientists, so tech comes very easy to me. I want to say it's fairly simple for non-techy people to catch on to though.