Garmin Dash Cam Mini 2: Tiny camera with good image quality

This dash cam’s diminutive stature is its outstanding feature, but good day and night captures and cloud storage are strengths as well.

- JON L. JACOBI

If you like your dash cams small and unobtrusive, easy to use, with good day and night captures, then Garmin’s tiny, $130 Dash Cam Mini 2 is what you want. It’s so minuscule, it was completely hidden behind my MX-5 Miata’s dwarfish rearview mirror. That’s small.

DESIGN AND FEATURES

When we say small, we mean small: The Dash Cam Mini 2 measures a mere 1.23 inches wide by 2.1 inches tall by 1.5 inches deep, including the lens body, and weighs in at around an ounce. Garmin calls it car key size, but it’s walnut size in my book. Seriously, without a mini-USB cable attached, it’s easy to lose track of this tiny bit of tech in your backpack. I did—twice. Then I started leaving the cable attached.

Said USB cable marries to the right side of the camera, while the left is home to the micro SD card slot and the audio mute button. Pressing the latter will also format a blank memory card (8GB or greater). Another button on the back saves a snapshot and video, and with a long press it will pair the Mini 2 to your phone for access by the Garmin Drive app.

The camera is capable of 1080p at 30 frames per second. It sports a wide 140-degree field of view. The only thing it doesn’t fit into its tiny frame is GPS, which is disappointing, though understandable given its size.