A Must-Have For A Safe And Smooth Road Trip Is This High-Tech 2-In-1 Car Gadget
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Regular road-trippers are often looking for the next labor-saving trick or sleek new gadget to turn their car journeys into the road trip of their dreams. This might include clever packing hacks, easy-to-use emergency devices like tire inflators or jump starters, or ways to theft-proof RVs for extra peace of mind. Another worthwhile addition to a road-trip toolbox is Garmin's GPS sat nav with built-in dash cam. Called the DriveCam 76, it's become a must-have gadget for road-trip enthusiasts.
Garmin sat navs typically come in four sizes — five, six, seven, or eight inches — retailing between $149.99 and $349.99. But the DriveCam only comes in the seven-inch model, and at $449.99, it is considerably more expensive than most other sat navs currently on the market. For the extra expense, however, you get a built-in dash cam, serving as your eye-witness on the road. It also allows you to save, share, and upload videos securely through the cloud, though you'll need a $9.99 monthly (or $99.99 yearly) subscription with the Vault to access unlimited storage. Other perks of the DriveCam include voice assist and hands-free functionalities, live traffic, weather, and fuel price updates, notifications from your smartphone, a national parks directory, and TripAdvisor ratings for nearby hotels, restaurants, and points of interest. Built-in Wi-Fi means the gadget's software updates automatically.
Is it worth the expense?
Price is always relative. But if you value high-quality, utilitarian pieces of equipment, the DriveCam 76 might be worth a punt, especially if you love detail-oriented satellite navigation systems and plan on using all of its functionalities. You'll get even notifications for looming speed cameras, lane drifts, and highway collisions. Some reviewers have mentioned, however, that the DriveCam's seven-inch size might be an issue in smaller vehicles or cars where integrated displays protrude from the dashboard.
While it feels like a hidden cost, the Vault subscription will be appealing to many customers. The DriveCam does save videos to the 16GB onboard SD card, and the device can take cards up to 256GB in size. But because of the camera's 1080p resolution, this still might only equate to around 10 hours of saved footage, before the file begins to rewrite. If the overall cost is prohibitive, it's worth noting that with Amazon discounts, you may be able to get a DriveCam 76 for less than $400.