Garmin DashCam 55 Boot Issues

Makaii

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Purchased the 55 and within 2 days failed to work. For someone new to dashcams from Garmin there is alot to know, as I learnt. I had a HP-210, very simple unit, never failed. I decided to upgrade and purchased the 55. It came with a 8GB memory card and worked well out of the box. I decided to put in a 32GB memory card. Worked fine until the heat came. Over temperature errors occurred and cam never booted back up afterwards. So for those that have terrible support from Garmin (as I have had) and believe this should not happen out of the box, this is what I have found. If it helps one person, I will be happy. By no means am I a professional but wanted to throw this out there to those who may benefit.

1) I highly recommend using Garmin Express to update the device before even using it. Apparently, the heat threshold was set too low and the newest software (3.7+) addresses the issue. Certainly helped me after the fiasco, more on this later

2) Make sure the SD Card is Class 10.... Never knew this was a thing. Apparently it matters. My Class 9 32GB got messed up after being used in the camera and longer is detectable by any device. The card supplied works, but some may need more storage.

3) After the over temperature alarm occurred, the unit would not get past the Garmin screen. Just Garmin. No version, no anything after that and just hung there. Let unit cool down and fully charged and it still happened.

4) Holding the power button down for 12-15 seconds to reset unit (as Garmin Support suggested) resulted in the same issue. I do not want to take unit apart to disconnect battery for a hard reset for warranty reasons so I decided to eliminate all possible reasons for the unit to not power up. For the record Garmin has never contacted me back for support but used the support website....

5) Now the fun part, 3 SD Cards. One that was provided should work (8GB), 1 32GB Lexar, 1 32GB Kingston. After the Lexar was put in the dash cam, it's never work since. Who knows, doesn't work in any device now at all. Maybe never work out of the box. The supplied 8GB card only worked after formatting on a PC. The Kingston was formatted also on same PC. This is after the heat error.

6) What I ended up doing was formatting both SD Cards (8GB supplied and my 32GB Kingston) on my PC. Once one of the cards were detected then the device was able to be detected by using Garmin Express. This was awesome after a week of messing around to get this working. Then I was able to upgrade the software. Both cards would let the DashCam 55 boot up!!!!!! If you don't have a SD Card it would some times boot. Highly unreliable. If in doubt for troubleshooting, format the supplied card. Boot camera, use Express and get that dang software updated.

7) Once software was updated to the newest version via express, I decided to use the Class 10 Kingston 32GB card and reboot. It works now and has been for a few days. It has been much cooler in the vehicle so I am not sure if the over temp will happen again but that's supposed to be fixed.

In conclusion, I apologize for such a long, uneducated process of my progress but I really like this camera and I would really like to have it work. So far so good. There is a really good chance that if you bought this unit and are reading this post you already have the issue.

Quick summary: update software first! Chow
 
Update: The 55 has been working great for a couple days until now. The internal temperature inside the cabin of the vehicle hit 37C. DashCam 55 back to Garmin startup screen. You know when it will boot when the details under the Garmin logo appear. In this case it does not. 3.7 did not fix the temperature issue. Don't quote me but I believe operation will continue under 55C (which is nuts, but ok). Ok quote me, I grabbed the info and pasted below.

Side note:

All Garmin Support suggested was to send the unit back to a refurbished unit. I get that, but that's not product support, that is my product is crap and I will send you another unit.

Operating Temperature -4 to 131°F (-20 to 55°C) Charging Temperature -32 to 113°F (0 to 45°C)

Call me blind, but it can operate to 55C but wont charge over 45C.

I thought I had this problem licked. It will cool down overnight and I am sure the unit will work.
 
Sounds like you got a lemon. It's been definitely hotter than 37C in my car - no problems in ~18 months. I have several 64GB cards that I rotate and format weekly - all "Hi Endurance", mostly SanDisk and Transcend brands.
 
Sounds like you got a lemon. It's been definitely hotter than 37C in my car - no problems in ~18 months. I have several 64GB cards that I rotate and format weekly - all "Hi Endurance", mostly SanDisk and Transcend brands.

Thanks for replying. I believe your correct. It’s now 16C and won’t boot. I tried. I really do like the camera though for the two days it worked... I’ll get er swapped.
 
With anything mass-produced there will be an occasional 'dud' reaching a customer. Neither Garmin or any other battery-equipped cam is a good choice for high heat, but the 55 seems excellent in less severe climates. Earlier FW set the heat cut-off way too low, but that was changed so it's important to make sure you're not running older firmware. Development seems to be better than average with Garmin.

Lexar used to be one of the best cards for dashcams, but they sold that division off and now their cards are giving problems in almost all dashcams. Best to avoid them now. @lacibaci has done much experimenting with the 55 since it came out- heed what they recommend and you should do well with it. Much to like about this cam!

Phil
 
Thanks guys, with my limited knowledge of dashcams (only experienced the HP-210) I have found my issue. Heat wasn't an issue, it was when the memory card got full. The option 'Unsaved Videos' is set to 'Delete when Full'. It just doesn't do that. The other option is to set it to 'Promptly Delete' and I have not tried that.

In the end, if I started the cam and didn't see the details below the Garmin Splash screen I knew the card was full. Format, continue on and life is good. Or swap out the card for a formatted one. @lacibaci gave a great hint about swapping cards, it saved me shipping this back and then finding out it works as intended. User error on my part

@SawMaster I have noticed this also. I have to back track and say I love this camera now.

Thanks for you insights!
 
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