Garmin Catalyst Driving Performance Optimizer

[Mike_FL]

Hopefully get some good deals on the current model when the new one is released

 

[TMSBOSS]

All the negative comments, lol. I’m looking at the small size and lack of upgrades as them saving me $1k. I’ll keep my big screen set.

 

[Junkyard Dog]

I'd like to see some reviews from folks who have them in hand and use them.

 

[Stan Whitney]

Agree on both points. OBD was literally the major request, and then seemed to go backwards on the camera packaging.

I wonder if they are running into CAN bus encryption issues with newer cars. I heard last year it was on the requirements list for the new unit.

 

[honeybadger]

All the negative comments, lol. I’m looking at the small size and lack of upgrades as them saving me $1k. I’ll keep my big screen set.

i can say i def appreciate your outlook on it. proactively finding positivity in stuff these days has become pretty key to keeping your sanity.

I will say, though, the enshitification of stuff is getting reeeeeeeeaaaaalllllll fatiguing.

 

[Fabman]

I'd like to see some reviews from folks who have them in hand and use them.

I have the V1 and love it. Gives me what I need to know plus video.
Are there more sophisticated units on the market? yes.
Do they cost a lot more and are they more complicated to use? Also yes.
I love that I can sit in the car right after a session and watch the whole video instantly with data and an option to stich together all the best corners to give me a best lap scenerio.
Then I can unclip it from the mount and bring into the trailer or hotel room and rewatch all the runs from that day or any other day as it has enough memory to keep a ton of information on there.
I also love that you can plug in ear buds (or pair blue tooth ear buds) and it will give you live coaching which I find very useful.
It has an onboard speaker so you don't have to use earbuds but my racecar is way too noisy to take advantage of that. A street car with an interior and decent mufflers would be fine.
The V2 instantly lost me with the smaller screen, so I won't be using that.....and that's my 2 cents.

 

[Deadly0ne]

I have the V1 and love it. Gives me what I need to know plus video.
Are there more sophisticated units on the market? yes.
Do they cost a lot more and are they more complicated to use? Also yes.
I love that I can sit in the car right after a session and watch the whole video instantly with data and an option to stich together all the best corners to give me a best lap scenerio.
Then I can unclip it from the mount and bring into the trailer or hotel room and rewatch all the runs from that day or any other day as it has enough memory to keep a ton of information on there.
I also love that you can plug in ear buds (or pair blue tooth ear buds) and it will give you live coaching which I find very useful.
It has an onboard speaker so you don't have to use earbuds but my racecar is way too noisy to take advantage of that. A street car with an interior and decent mufflers would be fine.
The V2 instantly lost me with the smaller screen, so I won't be using that.....and that's my 2 cents.

My thoughts exactly. I love mine for the exact same reasons. I can see how they got here though - maybe its cheaper to use the 3" form factor from a materials standpoint, and rationalized that everyone has a phone, so they can just view the data and video there. Even so, it's like they didn't even research what people liked about the old model and what they wanted in future iterations.

 

[Junkyard Dog]

New Garmin Catalyst 2 streamlines everything into a tidier package

No more fumbling with accessories with the smaller, tidier Garmin Catalyst.

grassrootsmotorsports.com

 

[Junkyard Dog]

Is Garmin going to discontinue the v.1?

Is Garmin going to discontinue all support for the existing v.1s?

 

[Deadly0ne]

So they are locking some of the features away in the new version behind a paywall?

 

[Junkyard Dog]

So they are locking some of the features away in the new version behind a paywall?

It looks like that is only for cloud storage, but maybe that is an unanswered question until they start appearing in the wild and Youtube personalities start reviewing them.

 

[GJarrett]

I have the V1 and love it. Gives me what I need to know plus video.
Are there more sophisticated units on the market? yes.
Do they cost a lot more and are they more complicated to use? Also yes.
I love that I can sit in the car right after a session and watch the whole video instantly with data and an option to stich together all the best corners to give me a best lap scenerio.
Then I can unclip it from the mount and bring into the trailer or hotel room and rewatch all the runs from that day or any other day as it has enough memory to keep a ton of information on there.
I also love that you can plug in ear buds (or pair blue tooth ear buds) and it will give you live coaching which I find very useful.
It has an onboard speaker so you don't have to use earbuds but my racecar is way too noisy to take advantage of that. A street car with an interior and decent mufflers would be fine.
The V2 instantly lost me with the smaller screen, so I won't be using that.....and that's my 2 cents.

+1 on everything Fabman wrote. I'm a solid middlin' intermediate driver and V1 has helped me tremendously. I've read about this next version and definitely prefer the one I have. IMO they screwed up, they should have kept it big screen with its current setup and added OBD interface... the original version with OBD would be completely awesome. If Garmin quits producing the original version with the release of this new one, grab the original while you can.

 

[Deadly0ne]

some people on Facebook are claiming that adding an OBD interface and interpreting the data from all of the different cars and manufacturers would have been prohibitively expensive as a reason why that feature was not added.

 

[JP X]

I like the size...mine showed up today...

 

[Junkyard Dog]

I like the size...mine showed up today...

View attachment 109100

Please post a review and maybe a video from it once you have had a chance to use it. Thank you in advance.

 

[JP X]

Please post a review and maybe a video from it once you have had a chance to use it. Thank you in advance.

First use will be at Road Atlanta with Chin March 21/22

 

[LSboss]

I have the V1 and love it. Gives me what I need to know plus video.
Are there more sophisticated units on the market? yes.
Do they cost a lot more and are they more complicated to use? Also yes.
I love that I can sit in the car right after a session and watch the whole video instantly with data and an option to stich together all the best corners to give me a best lap scenerio.
Then I can unclip it from the mount and bring into the trailer or hotel room and rewatch all the runs from that day or any other day as it has enough memory to keep a ton of information on there.
I also love that you can plug in ear buds (or pair blue tooth ear buds) and it will give you live coaching which I find very useful.
It has an onboard speaker so you don't have to use earbuds but my racecar is way too noisy to take advantage of that. A street car with an interior and decent mufflers would be fine.
The V2 instantly lost me with the smaller screen, so I won't be using that.....and that's my 2 cents.

I too 100% agree with Fabman. Seems like Garman might have done a bit of canvasing of existing V1 owners to see plusses and minuses of their existing V1 system before launching an "improved" version.

 

[Junkyard Dog]

Please post reviews and comparisons if you have used both.

Both Gen 1 and Gen 2 are still available to purchase for now.

 

[JP X]

I used the Cat2 this weekend at Road Atlanta. I’ll be brief with some points but if you’re the kind who likes to flip to the end of the book….it is better (for me).
Pros:
- Size (obviously). I had it placed to the right of my mirror and it was completely out of my field of vision. Much cleaner mounting than the OG Cat.
- No need to wonder if you will randomly have an issue with the camera not connecting. I think everyone has experienced that at one time or another. I didn’t see it a lot, but my friends did. I never understood why they wouldn’t allow the Cat1 system to work without a camera.
- Camera alignment process is shorter
- Touchscreen and tactile buttons for navigation for all functions.
- When starting a session, you can select “use last track”
- Faster sync with satellites. I only had to wait for about 20 seconds once when starting it in the morning on the second day. The other times it just worked immediately.
- Sync with iPhone is very simple via Wi-Fi. When I finished my session, I opened the Garmin app, and downloaded it while in the car for review (never needed to remove it from the car)
- Downloading videos to your mobile device is very easy from the Catalyst app.
- I was worried that the heat from being left in the dash all day might cause a problem. No issues.

Cons:
- Video playback in the Catalyst app on my phone was at a slower frame rate so it wasn’t as smooth as you would expect (I never used the app with my Cat1…I copied the videos from the SD card to my computer, so I have no frame of reference). I couldn’t find a way to adjust that. However, once the videos are downloaded to your mobile device the frame rate is normal.
- The mounting ball for the Cat2 is a different size than was used for the Cat1 camera. I was expecting to mount it with a suction-cup mount that I had for my Cat 1 camera, but it was too small. So I ended up using the sticky-mount that came with it. I think this contradicts the accessories as shown on the website, since the suction mount says that it works with Cat1 and Cat2.
- As mentioned by everyone in the known universe…big missed opportunity by not including OBDII.

Misc.
- I did not try to connect audio (for in-car coaching)

 

[Junkyard Dog]

The mounting ball for the Cat2 is a different size than was used for the Cat1 camera. I was expecting to mount it with a suction-cup mount that I had for my Cat 1 camera, but it was too small. So I ended up using the sticky-mount that came with it. I think this contradicts the accessories as shown on the website, since the suction mount says that it works with Cat1 and Cat2.

Is this the suction cup mount that they have listed on the site for $24.99?

Garmin Dash Cam™ Universal Suction Cup Mount

Garmin Dash Cam™ Universal Suction Cup Mount

www.garmin.com

Because it lists this right under the version two Catalyst, in the "Frequently Purchased Together" block. When I go to accessories, it is the only one listed. I do not see another option for a suction cup mount. Garmin Dash Cam Universal Suction Cup Mount.

Odd that it would not work for both.

Have you reached out to Garmin?