Parking Mode on a Garmin Dash Cam Mini and Garmin Dash Cam Tandem

Parking Mode monitors your car’s surroundings while the car is parked and the engine is not running.  It automatically begins saving to the microSD memory card when the external-facing camera detects motion, either visually or physically with its built-in motion detector.  The distance the device detects motion depends on the size of the object being detected.  You must connect your camera to the Parking Mode Cable accessory before you can record videos while parked.

NOTE: The Constant Power Cable cannot be used for Parking Mode.  

Instructions on enabling or disabling this feature on the Garmin Dash Cam device are located in the device's manual.

The Garmin Dash Cam saves video footage (both internal and external lens for the Garmin Dash Cam™ Tandem) while in parking mode for 10 seconds before and 20 seconds after detecting motion. If the device detects another incident during this period, it will save 20 additional seconds, starting from the newly-detected motion. This process will continue until the device has saved a 3-minute clip and then a new video file will be saved.

Parking Mode can always be active after the vehicle is stopped, a specific amount of time can be selected, or it can be active for only impact and/or motion detection.  

To Change the Parked Recording Timeout and Recording Type:

1. Touch the Gear Wheel

2. Select the Dash Cam Tandem or Dash Cam Mini

3. Touch Parking Mode

4. Select the duration you would like the device to remain in Parking Mode, and the Impact and Motion recording:

The device will remain in Parking Mode for the selected duration after the ignition is turned off. The red LED will blink while the device is on standby, but it will turn solid red if the Garmin Dash Cam detects footage and begins recording.

Note: The Garmin Dash Cam may turn off if the vehicle's battery becomes too low. See The Impact of the Garmin Dash Cam's Parking Mode on a Vehicle's Battery.

It is possible for a Garmin Dash Cam to pick up some unnecessary instances of motion from normal occurrences in the environment and save video clips to its memory card during a Parking Mode period.

Any movement which occurs within the field of view of the Garmin Dash Cam can potentially be captured and saved as a Parking Mode video. It is not necessary to review this footage unless you suspect that the camera may have recorded something of value. Parking Mode videos will not overwrite any videos or incidents saved during normal use of the Garmin Dash Cam.

Once the camera is connected to the Garmin Drive™ app via Wi-Fi, it will advise a new parking mode video has been saved. Videos can be reviewed and deleted by following the steps in the owner's manual.