The Garmin 55 plus is the latest installment from Garmin which brings us much the same as previous iterations offering a simple UI easy to install unit and good footage all caught on a not so attention seeking piece in your car window.
Features
- Small and inconspicuous when mounted on windscreen
- High-quality 3.7MP camera with 1440p video capture that works well in bright and in low-light conditions
- Advanced driver alerts include forward collision and lane departure, Go Alert, red light and speed camera warnings
- Includes lifetime safety camera updates
- Incident detection (G sensor) automatically saves footage of incidents on impact
- GPS records location, direction, speed, date and time to show exactly where and when incidents occurred, plus built-in Wi-Fi for wireless video sync
- Voice control allows you to start/stop recording, take a still picture or start/stop the Travelapse photo capture feature
- Quick and secure magnetic mount, easy to stow and go
UNBOXING
If you are going to invest in a car invest in something like this and if you are buying a new car ignore the bullshit 360 external view from your internal screen which is not worth a flying hoot should you be in a car crash this is not the selling point in cars alongside Wi-Fi which is a lame atttempt for mobile operators to get you in on another bill most of us have mobile phones which are Wi-Fi hotspots by default.
Setting up is simple as before and as I had part of it already there it was even easier so for those moving on to it will be happy, You get a sticky pad with a magnet two come in the box should you make a haimes of the first job as they are hard to move and re fixing them is pointless as they simply wont stick again. You also get a generous cigarette charger which should be a thing of the past now and we should be looking at USB options and USB-C in the units themselves.
The UI here is the same as before and the same changes still need to be applied some safety features are a bit sensitive and create false negatives especially the voice commands which pick up soundbites from conversation in-car or on the phone and also your radio or CD/Media player taking up valuable space on your memory card. I have done a video on this and the UI before which is in-depth.
The unit itself is also again small and will not draw attention to your car and can be placed cleverly depending on your car windows angle there is still today some idiots who smash car windows to nick your dascham but this one will not draw attention and I like that idea.
All that matters here with these really being short is how the footage looks and it does a great job with no fishbowl effect with 1440p its great I have already garnered much attention with some clips taken which are on my you tube channel.. The footage is good crisp and clear even looking in at a distance.
The price on this is what might put some off but for gods sake it’s a worthy investment. Most of the sub €100 dashcams on sale now at discount stores are piles of dirt your footage is crap your card gets corrupted and build quality is lame so go spend the extra money shut up moaning and you will one day thank me for it.