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Imagine leaving your car at the mall’s parking lot, then, come to find some idiot have bashed the front headlight and speeded off. Assuming you don’t go around noting down other people’s cars, how will you get the culprit who has damaged yours? Should you blame the mall for installing low-grade surveillance cameras or yourself for not having a dashboard camera?
Well… irrespective of whether it’s owned or loaned, a dashcam really helps a lot in knowing what happens around your car. It usually features advanced automobile technology that records video incident of even your parked car.
In this discussion, we’ll do a comparison between Garmin dash cam 55 vs 65 and discern which is better/ best. The duo is amongst the most advanced systems on the market, with them even harboring features like Forward Collision Warning and Remote Access.
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A Comparison Between Garmin Dash Cam 55 And Garmin Dash Cam 65
Design
When it comes to the makeup, there’s no huge difference between Garmin Dash Cam 55 vs 65. They’re both small, easy to install, and ultimately simple to use. Their exterior beauty is hard to distinguish as they’re both black and measuring 2.2 x 1.6 x 0.8 inches in dimension. The small size truly helps as it makes possible they don’t get in the way while you’re looking out of your windshield.
In the pricing, Dash Cam 55 is a bit more expensive than the Dash Cam 65. To prevent retailers from deceiving their customers, Garmin added the former with a copper ring around the lens. Its counterpart, on the other hand, has a grey ring instead. If you then the price a little expensive for both then please visit our latest post like best dash cam under $100. I hope you will get it to touch.
Image Quality
Though the attached 2” screen displays 240p videos, Garmin dash cam 55 and 65 have a lens that’s powerful than that. The sole purpose of the devices is to make possible capturing of firsthand clear evidence in the event of an accident. So, the video footage has to be vivid and clear.
The Garmin dash cam 55 has a 3.7MP lens, with a 122° viewing angle and frame rate of 60FPS. This means it can offer bright and crystal-clear images of up to 1440p HD and cover at least 3 lanes of the road.
When we come to the Dash Cam 65, its lens is not as powerful and so is the frame rate. It has a 2.1MP image sensor that picks up to 1080p HD images at a frame rate of 30FPS. With a 180-degree viewing angle, however, the cam can cover more of the road around you [at least 4 lanes]. Hence, remarkably helpful in the event of an incident.
Smart Features
Besides capturing images and videos as you drive, these two security cameras are so exciting to have. Yes, you might encounter one or two challenges, but overall, they are incredible automobile systems. The various functions they offer include:
- G-Sensor-
This is the most important feature in any dashboard camera. It usually triggers an emergency video protection by locking the current footage when there’s unusual vibration/ shake from a crash or sudden impact.
By locking the footage it prevents its deletion when the device is overwriting older files. Hence, ensuring you have unmediated evidence of the crash or “vandalism” incident.
Luckily, the Garmin team installed both Dash Cam 55 and 65 with G-Sensor.
- GPS-
For optimal efficacy in the time of an incident, the GPS function shows when and where exactly it happened. So, if it’s one of your sons who have brought the car scratched, you’ll know what time and on which street it happened.
Out two dashboard cameras support the function, as well.
GPS Tracker
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Forward Collision and Lane Departure Warning-
These are two other functions shared between Garmin Dash Cam 55 vs 65. With the Forward Collision warning, the system alerts you when you accidentally drive too close to the vehicle ahead. The Lane Departure caution, on the other hand, warns you when you veer from your lane.
While the two functions are quite handy, their sensors are very sensitive. This has prompted some drivers to disable the functions [which is possible] as it becomes somehow annoying-particularly when caught in “stop and go traffic”.
- Traffic light and Speed Camera Awareness-
The feature keeps you on the hook of the nearby red light and speed cameras. If caught up in traffic and maybe you start going through your phone, the devices can alert you when to hit on the gas.
Both cameras support the function.
- Parking Mode-
The feature helps monitor your car when it’s parked and the engine is not running. When the built-in motion sensor detects some movement, the dashcam automatically starts recording. Hence, very helpful in a case like that when a hit-and-run bashes your car’s headlight and speeds off.
Fortunately, our two Garmin dashboard cameras have the parking mode feature. Sadly, the cameras have a battery life of up to 30 minutes, making them inconvenient for longer parking durations.
If you can, however, add Garmin parking Mode Cable to your car’s system, you’ll have 24/7 parking monitoring when your vehicle is turned off. Hence, making sure your car is safe all the time.
- Hands-Free Control
In many cases, road accidents occur from negligence, carelessness, and distractions. As a technology company that truly cares for its consumers, though, Garmin designed dash cam 55 and 65 with the voice control function. By just saying “OK Garmin”, the surveillance devices will do exactly what you want, including saving footage and starting/ stopping the Travelapse function.
Storage
Now, when it comes to the keeping of your recorded images and videos, Dash Cam 55 and 65 are not bad in it. They usually come with an 8GB memory, which is enough for a day’s drive. Since they support loop recording, no current activity will ever go unsaved.
In case you might require larger storage, the systems support up to 64GB, Class 10 microSD card.
Sync and Share
In most of the scenarios, sharing your cam’s footage require you to remove the SD and connect with your computer. Then, transfer to your portable device [flash/ smartphone] or send it via email.
With Garmin Dash cam 55 Vs 65, however, they both have a built-in Wi-Fi and the Travelapse function to enhance sharing.
With Travelapse, the function condenses your long road trip recording into a fast-motion video. It creates a highlight of your full drive footage [which is still recording] to make it more fun and “sharable”.
Now, to share the video, you don’t need to remove the SD card if you’re having a smartphone with you. The device’s built-in Wi-Fi allows you to sync the device with your mobile device using the free VIRB Mobile app. Then, you can save the videos on your smartphone or else share them with your friends, insurance agencies, or legal authorities.
In other words, you can remotely access the dash cams with your smartphone/ tablet just as you do with wi-fi security cameras.
Power
Upon purchase, Garmin Company usually includes a vehicle power cable and USB cable in the box of Dash Cam 55 and Dash Cam 65. They rely on the vehicle’s outlet power to function but they also do have a built-in battery.
The battery, however, can only retain power for about 30 minutes. Thus, unreliable if you want 24/7 monitoring of your vehicle. At this point is where we said you’ll need to get the Garmin Parking Mode Cable for constant power when the engine is turned off.
**Unlike the vehicle power cable which is all about plug-and-connect, the parking mode cable is a bit intricate. As such, we’d recommend getting someone with the knowledge of car wiring to install it for you**
Please Note:
Garmin is a brand that has been creating dashboard cameras for quite some time. They do know what’s good in enhancing your driving experience and the key features you’d like to have.
Despite their amazing features, though, Garmin Dash Cam 55 and 65 are not for everywhere. They both harbor several features that are not so legal when it comes to laws of privacy.
First, the pair can capture audio recording, which of course, is illegal in some states and can be used against you in the court of law.
Second, there’re states where taking and publicly displaying images or videos of other people’s vehicles are considered an invasion of privacy as well.
From our perspective, we also don’t think all road authorities will be happy when your dashcam has red light and speed cameras alert. If you were a known speedster, that means there’ll be no more penalties or extra earnings for the municipal courts.
Therefore, while using your cam, it’s really necessary you know the laws and rights to privacy in your area. Furthermore, be aware of the laws concerning the use of red light and speed cameras on the roads [if any].
Final Verdict?
Like we’ve just said, Garmin is no stranger in the industry of dashboard cameras. The brand combines its long-established craftsmanship with the latest technologies to make sure you’re not just driving. But enjoying the very best.
While we might have expected a very huge distinction between Garmin Dash Cam 55 vs 65, our discussion has only highlighted two. That’s the image quality and the field of vision. When viewing the recordings from the on-camera LCD screen, by the way, the image quality doesn’t matter since they both display 240p resolution.
The difference now comes when viewing from a higher resolution screen, whereby the Dash Cam 55 is 1.4X clearer than its counterpart. Hence, worth attention if your focus is on how sharp and clear are the produced images.
