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Verdict
The Garmin Sprint Cam Stay is a great, slick drive recorder, enhanced with spectacular and genuinely helpful options. Nevertheless it’s costly for a 1440p sprint cam with no rear or cabin-view assist, significantly when that features neither the hardwiring cable or the month-to-month subscription you’ll must get essentially the most from its cellular information options. Finally, it does many issues properly, however it’s simply too costly.
Execs
- Good and straightforward to make use of
- Superior driver security options
- Good video high quality
Cons
- Very costly
- Security options are a blended bag
- No rear digital camera assist
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A front-facing QHD sprint cam with GPSThis sprint cam information on the entrance solely, and makes use of GPS to document your pace and place -
Cell connectivity helps you to test in your automotiveWith an LTE modem, this digital camera gives nice options – like letting you find and look at your automotive at any time -
Superior driver security optionsThis digital camera can inform you about pace cameras, warn you of a entrance collision, or inform you should you’re wandering out of your lane
Introduction
The Garmin Sprint Cam Stay combines 1440p (QHD) decision filming, always-on cloud connectivity and superior driver security alerts right into a compact sprint digital camera.
It’s a sensible little gadget, packed stuffed with options, however it’s additionally lacking some biggies – most notably, assist for a rear-view digital camera. At this worth I’d additionally anticipate 4K decision, as I’ve seen it on cameras costing round half as a lot.
Design and options
- Trendy, compact design
- Glorious person menu and app
- No rear digital camera assist
There’s little doubt it is a nice wanting digital camera, and with no rear module it’s additionally simple to arrange. Its mount seems for all of the world like a 50p piece with a sticky pad on one facet – though it’s really a nonagon. It’s strongly magnetic, and essentially the most slimline mount I’ve seen on any digital camera.
That helps the Garmin Sprint Cam Stay match snugly behind or to the facet of your rear-view mirror, though you’ll most likely need it the place you may see any warnings on its display screen. One factor to look out for is the intense crimson energy LED on the base of the display screen, which might be distracting – I lined it with a small blob of Blu-Tack.
Unusually, this digital camera comes with a selection of two lengths of energy cable to suit into the equipped cigarette lighter adaptor. The cable plugs instantly into the sprint cam’s physique, so that you’ll must disconnect it should you’re eradicating it from the automotive. As with most sprint cams there’s no hardwiring package within the field: you’ll must spend $34.99/£45 on one if you wish to get essentially the most from the Sprint Cam Stay’s linked options.
This gadget gives a heads up of any pace cameras. It may possibly additionally warn you should you’re drifting out of your lane, or in peril of operating into the again of one other automotive. Many automobiles constructed within the final 5 years or so have already got the latter two options, with the benefit that they can act on warnings by tweaking the steering or hitting the brakes. All the identical, a splash cam generally is a useful approach so as to add them to an older car.
Garmin fees $10/£10 or $20/£20 a month for subscriptions to activate this digital camera’s LTE information options. Enroll and you will get an alert if anybody drives your automotive when your telephone isn’t inside it. You’ll additionally be capable of use the smartphone app to test the placement of your car, and even get a reside view from the digital camera at any time. In case you press the guide recording safety button, or the g-sensor thinks you’ve had a prang, it’ll mechanically add video to your on-line vault.
The g-sensor can be used to energy an amazing SOS mode, the place the digital camera can mechanically alert as much as three contacts should you’re unresponsive after a big influence. There’s additionally voice management, permitting you to concern instructions like ‘OK Garmin, take an image’. To get essentially the most from this digital camera’s always-on capabilities, you’ll want its Fixed Energy (hardwiring) package which, when mixed with a knowledge subscription, permits its always-on parking mode.
It’s good to see a MicroSD card within the field, although at 16GB it solely has house for round two and a half hours of recording – the Sprint Cam Stay will settle for as much as 512GB. Sadly, there’s no rear-view module accessible for this digital camera, so it’s front-facing solely.
Efficiency and video high quality
- Superb video high quality
- Disappointing driver help
I examined the Garmin Sprint Cam Stay throughout a spell of principally sunny climate in mid-Might. As such I couldn’t see the way it carried out in heavy rain, however it coped admirably with nearly all the pieces else.
Like different good sprint cams, it may expose the street, automobiles and the intense sky with out washing any areas out, or dropping essential particulars in closely shaded areas.
Regardless of not having an particularly excessive decision, movies had been fairly crisp, and nonetheless frames had been properly resolved with little blurring. That’s essential, because it makes it doable to learn different automobiles’ quantity plates, even once they’re coming in the direction of you with a quick closing pace.
Like different sprint cams, this one picked up some cabin reflections in shiny situations – Garmin will cost you $30/£26 for a polarising filter to take away them.
Evening presents all cameras with a problem, however this sprint cam’s efficiency was barely higher than common. It was fairly able to resolving the element of my evening time journey round a streetlit metropolis block, and I used to be capable of make out a number of quantity plates from the journey – at all times a problem given they replicate headlights so strongly that it washes them out.
On the default publicity, nonetheless, evening movies had been somewhat too darkish, resulting in some lack of element away from pockets of road or store gentle.
You may modify video publicity in one-third steps: I discovered that nudging it up by a cease (three steps) made a giant enchancment to nighttime movies, with out overexposure in the course of the day.
The Garmin Sprint Cam Stay is nearly actually essentially the most user-friendly sprint cam I’ve examined. Its menu system is great: easy and logical, with all however one of many choices I wished (as I clarify under).
You may make most modifications with no need to first cease recording, and there’s about half-hour of battery backup, so you should utilize it for a short time with the ignition off. Garmin Drive can be the very best sprint cam app I’ve used – it balances ease of use with a crisp design and good function assist.
In principle, it’s nice when a splash cam gives superior driver help options, however in my expertise they’re at all times disappointing. Sadly, that’s the case right here. On a 70-mile journey taking in metropolis and motorway roads, the Sprint Cam Stay warned me solely thrice that I used to be drifting from my lane, and it was mistaken each time. Conversely, it warned me many times about pace cameras, though I drove totally inside the pace restrict. I checked with Garmin, and that is by design – pace and site visitors digital camera warnings will at all times sound, nonetheless you’re driving.
The ahead collision alarm was way more constant and correct, warning me a number of instances once I bought too near the automotive in entrance. Nevertheless, the Go Alert function – designed to inform you when the automotive in entrance of you strikes off in a site visitors queue – didn’t set off as soon as.
If sprint cams’ warnings had been constant and dependable, they could be a great tool to extend driver consideration and doubtlessly keep away from incidents. As it’s, I discovered the Sprint Cam Stay distracting and unpredictable, so I turned its warnings off. You may’t flip off the pace digital camera alerts, although, which is a large irritation if, like me, you aren’t susceptible to rushing or operating the lights.
Newest offers
Must you purchase it?
You need a reside connection:
The Sprint Cam Stay has some actually helpful mobile-data-enabled options
You’ve bought a tighter finances:
It’s a lot too costly, particularly when you think about an LTE subscription
Closing Ideas
It is a good sprint cam. It’s simple to make use of, produces first rate movies, and has a great deal of helpful options – significantly should you stump up for an LTE subscription and hardwiring cable. However that’s the issue: it’s already round $400/£350, and a hardwiring cable takes that nearer $450/£400, with an LTE subscription including $10/£10 a month.
That’s an enormous quantity for a splash cam that isn’t 4K and doesn’t assist a rear-view digital camera. If cash’s no object and also you need to monitor your car remotely, it is a good selection, however in any other case I’d advocate Nextbase’s 622GW.
How we take a look at
We take a look at each sprint cam we evaluation totally over an prolonged time period. We use commonplace assessments to check options correctly. We’ll at all times inform you what we discover. We by no means, ever, settle for cash to evaluation a product.
Discover out extra about how we take a look at in our ethics coverage.
Used as our primary sprint cam for the evaluation interval
We take pattern video in the course of the day and evening to see how good the footage actually is.
We take a look at any smartphone apps to see what further options are on provide.
We take a look at any further security options, comparable to lange change warning, to see how helpful they are surely.
FAQs
That is an costly sprint cam, and a few of its finest options – automotive location and distant view included – rely on an LTE subscription. With out it, it’s a extra restricted gadget, though it nonetheless has massive plus factors like its ease of use and good video high quality.
For me, it’s not value shopping for with out its USP of always-on safety, which requires hardwiring and an LTE subscription.
No – there isn’t one accessible.
I’m not totally satisfied by the value of the driving force aids on the sprint cams I’ve examined, and the Sprint Cam Stay isn’t any exception. It’s actually no higher than many trendy automobiles, which usually provide at the least lane change warnings and computerized emergency braking, each of which work reliably and fairly constantly in my expertise.
You probably have an older automotive and need to add driver help, a splash cam that provides it might be higher than nothing, however you’ll nonetheless must act on its warnings. I’m but to seek out one constant sufficient that I’d really feel significantly reassured by it.
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Sprint cam entrance digital camera decision
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Sprint cam max reminiscence cad measurement
Sprint cam GPS
Sprint cam Wi-Fi
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