People elect to install dash cams for several reasons: evidence in case of accident, prevent fraud, capture footage of a road trip, etc. In the article below, we documented how we installed the Garmin Dash Cam Mini in our Ford Transit and why we chose it. Hope that helps!
Time Spent
2 Hours
Total Cost
$ 145 USD
Similar
Material
Resources
Understanding The Garmin Dash Cam Mini
How Dash Cams Work
Driving Mode
This is the basic function of all dash cams, including the Garmin dash cam mini: it records continuously when driving, but not when parked. Most dash cams start recording when they receive power and stop when power turns off (power = auxiliary socket).
Parking Mode
Dash cams equipped with parking mode allow to record when parked (requires power at all time). To save on power and memory, recording is triggered by a vibration or movement sensor (depending on the model) and stops after a certain time.
Power
In driving mode, most dash cams are powered from an auxiliary socket (cigarette lighter). // In parking mode, most dash cams are hardwired to the vehicle power system (positive, negative and ignition).
Video Files
Because recording continuously takes huge amount of memory, old videos are automatically deleted to make space for new videos. Most dash cams use sensors to detect an event and will “lock” the event’s video (before/during/after), preventing unwanted deletion.
LCD Screen
Dash cams without screen are smaller and less distracting. Videos can be watched via another device (such as a Smartphone). // Dash cams with screen allow to watch “live” videos and playbacks. Some of them have “driver awareness features” such as forward collision warning and lane departure warning.
Dual Dash Cams
Dual dash cams feature a front and rear camera as well. The rear cam is commonly hardwired (cables) to the front camera. The rear camera can either face back into the car’s interior (taxi/uber cams), or it can look through the rear window and record the road behind your car.
Field Of View (FOV)
Common field of view found among dash cams is 120 to 140 degrees. While a larger field of view means wide image is captured, this comes at the cost of distortion and decreased resolution, particularly around the edges. Therefore, a wider angular field of view isn’t necessarily better.
Resolution
Better resolution means more details are captured, allowing for example to zoom-in on licence plates. 1080p resolution is considered standard these days, but some dash cams records up to 4k. Remember that higher resolution means larger video files, more power and less night video quality; so it isn’t necessarily better.
Sample Footage
Installation in our Ford Transit
Install the Garmin Dash Cam Mini to the Ford Transit windshield
1.1- Clean the surface with isopropyl alcohol:
1.2- Peel the tape off and apply pressure to the support:
Hard-Wiring the Garmin Dash Cam Mini to the Ford Transit
There are 3 connections required to hard-wire the Garmin dash cams: positive (constant power from battery), negative (a.k.a. ground) and accessories (a.k.a. ignition). We recently upgraded our radio and we are well aware that we’ll easily find these three connections there. So our plan is to route the dash cam cable around the headliner, to the A-pillar, under the steering column then to the radio:
2.1- Pull up the unclip the top panel (no screws).
2.2- Pull back to unclip the front panel (no screws) and detach the airbag & the hazard plugs.
2.3- Pull back to unclip the panel under the steering column (no screws):
2.4- Pull up to unclip the cup holder (no screws). Don’t be shy!
2.5- Pull forward to unclip the A-pillar trim. Don’t take it completely apart as it is retained with a plastic cable; just take it about 1″ away, that’s good enough.
2.6- Now that everything is out of the way, we can route the parking mode cable. We started by fixing the adapter with tie-wraps under the steering column:
2.7- Route the cable up to the radio and into the A-pillar (via the cup holder):
2.8- From the A-pillar, route the cable along the headliner by simply pushing it in (you can use a plastic thingy to help):
2.9- From the headliner, push the cable inside the rear-view mirror cover (no need to remove the cover, you can gently pry it away from the windshield to make it easier):
2.10- Connect the cable to the USB port of the dash cam:
2.11- Connect the positive, negative and accessories to the radio wiring harness:
Here is the color code if, like us, you installed an aftermarket radio unit (faroutride.com/radio-upgrade). See items in bold:
| Item | AVH-W4500NEX Color | Metra Harness Color |
| Ground | Black | Black |
| Battery Constant Power | Yellow | Yellow |
| Switched Power (ACC) | Red | Pink |
| Illumination | Orange/White | Orange |
| Parking Brake | Light Green | N/A* |
| Front-Left Speaker (-) | White/Black | White/Black |
| Front-Left Speaker (+) | White | White |
| Front-Right Speaker (-) | Grey/Black | Grey/Black |
| Front-Right Speaker (+) | Grey | Grey |
| Rear-Left Speaker (-) | Green/Black | Green/Black |
| Rear-Left Speaker (+) | Green | Green |
| Rear-Right Speaker (-) | Violet/Black | Violet/Black |
| Right-Right Speaker (+) | Violet | Violet |
Initial Setup
3.1- Make sure the dash cam is powered (turn your keys to “run” position) and insert the SD card.
3.2- Format the SD card by pressing the microphone button for 8 seconds.
3.3- Download and install the Garmin Drive App to your smartphone. Make sure your Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are ON. The App is very intuitive, so we won’t go through all of it; you’ll figure it fast enough!
General Menu
Settings
Parking Mode Settings
To prevent the battery of your vehicle from draining, you can disable the parking mode after a period of time. We personally have a pretty big battery bank in our Ford Transit, so we leave it at “Always On”:
Using the Garmin Dash Cam Mini
4.1- To use the dash, just forget about it! It turns on automatically when driving your car. Remember that old footage will be automatically deleted, unless the dash cam detects an “event” or unless you manually choose to save a video.
4.2- If the Garmin dash cam is hard-wired using the parking mode cable, it saves videos when an event is detected (using the motion or impact sensors). Saved videos from parking mode don’t get automatically deleted; they will stay on the SD card until you manually delete them.
It is a wonderful article dash cam, which can be the best option as per your need. I like how you have researched and presented these exact points so clearly. Thank you for this article! This is really very informative for us.
Did you consider locating the cam in the rear mirror shroud? I think there might be power in there, as that’s where the lane avoidance camera/rain sensor normally goes in vehicles for the driving impaired.
I think you can search for “goiter” in the Ford Transit Forum and find limited info on it, including picts to take the thing apart.
Cheers,
-d
P.S. Why do you even have a rear view mirror there?
With my Ford Transit, the factory installed back-up camera is in the rear view mirror. I’m guessing that’s why they still have theirs as well.
Antoine, while watching the Mexico footage, I was curious to know about insurance in Mexico — is your van paid off, or did you finance it? If the latter, how are you insuring it out of country? I thought I’d read that you can’t get insurance south of the border unless you hold title to the vehicle. Appreciate your response.
Hey,
The vehicle is paid off, but I’m pretty sure you can get insurance even if it’s financed. What we know about insurance is here, otherwise maybe call an insurance company: https://faroutride.com/mexico/
Chhers