There’s also voice control, allowing you to issue commands like ‘OK Garmin, take a picture’. The g-sensor is also used to power a great SOS mode, where the camera can automatically alert up to three contacts if you’re unresponsive after a large impact. If you press the manual recording protection button, or the g-sensor thinks you’ve had a prang, it’ll automatically upload video to your online vault. You’ll also be able to use the smartphone app to check the location of your vehicle, and even get a live view from the camera at any time. Sign up and you can get an alert if anyone drives your car when your phone isn’t inside it. Garmin charges $10/£10 or $20/£20 a month for subscriptions to activate this camera’s LTE data features. All the same, a dash cam can be a helpful way to add them to an older vehicle.

Many cars built in the last five years or so already have the latter two features, with the advantage that they may be able to act on warnings by tweaking the steering or hitting the brakes. It can also warn you if you’re drifting out of your lane, or in danger of running into the back of another car. This gadget offers a heads up of any speed cameras. As with most dash cams there’s no hardwiring kit in the box: you’ll need to spend $34.99/£45 on one if you want to get the most from the Dash Cam Live’s connected features. The cable plugs directly into the dash cam’s body, so you’ll need to disconnect it if you’re removing it from the car. Unusually, this camera comes with a choice of two lengths of power cable to fit into the supplied cigarette lighter adaptor. One thing to look out for is the bright red power LED at the base of the screen, which can be distracting – I covered it with a small blob of Blu-Tack. That helps the Garmin Dash Cam Live fit snugly behind or to the side of your rear-view mirror, although you’ll probably want it where you can see any warnings on its screen.

It’s strongly magnetic, and the most slimline mount I’ve seen on any camera. Its mount looks for all the world like a 50p piece with a sticky pad on one side – although it’s actually a nonagon. There’s no doubt this is a great looking camera, and with no rear module it’s also easy to set up. At this price I’d also expect 4K resolution, as I’ve seen it on cameras costing around half as much. It’s a smart little device, packed full of features, but it’s also missing some biggies – most notably, support for a rear-view camera. The Garmin Dash Cam Live combines 1440p (QHD) resolution filming, always-on cloud connectivity and advanced driver safety alerts into a compact dash camera.

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