[LOFT]

I’m writing in this forum because it is a more well developed arena for good information as well as informed opinion.

I recently purchased a NextBase 322GW refurbished from Best Buy Canada. I wanted it for a long road trip (1500 miles) with a rental car. And then to either use it for road trips with my X5, or a permanent installation.

My experience with the product and NextBase generally was OK, but not inspiring. First, it’s good that NextBase offers customer service on a low to medium priced product, but it’s the kind where there are a pool of CS reps and it takes 24-48 hours to get a response to a question. So, if you have an immediate issue you have to spend time in reading “support materials” and hopefully get the right answer. Over time, I might have become more proficient on using the device.

The product worked pretty well during the trip, but it was “buggy”. Several times the device shut down or it simply stopped recording or identified a memory card failure.

I had purchased a high end 128 GB card and re-booting the device started everything working again. NextBase’s position was that I should only use the NextBase memory card.

Loading the videos on to my phone was uneven…perhaps it was the local wifi, I’m not sure but between the memory card issue and the loading issue, I never felt really confident that the device was going to capture an important event, ie. such jerk cutting me off resulting in an accident.

The device is set to record in 60 second cycles, and that worked well. I’m not sure why anyone would need more than that, and I would erase the file because I’m not capturing images for the purpose of memorializing the road trip.

I guess the other point is that the device is pretty sophisticated in capturing real time data, GPS, etc. which would be good in the event of an accident.

At the same time, it just feels like it’s trying to do too much and overly complex for something that could be a simple dash cam. NextBase recommends leaving “tracking” option always on, so between that and shutting off the microphone because I caught myself swearing at other drivers on a regular basis, there is the privacy issue.

At this point, I’ve concluded that this is fine for road trips but it’s another headache for day to day ownership and driving.

One final point is that the image capture of the camera is pretty good, and would be improved even more with an available polarization filter.

I welcome the forum’s thoughts.

[Dandle]

I have been using the GW522 on my families cars for the last four years (four cars). All apart from my wife's one have been perfect, other than replacing the batteries about three years in (replaced with cells purchased from Aliexpress which were pretty cheap). My wife's one does some random photo captures now and then but that its. The quality of footage is great with the rear cameras added as well and i believe they have a polarising filter built in.
I even take one of them on holiday if I'm hiring a car.

[LOFT]

Originally Posted by Dandle

I have been using the GW522 on my families cars for the last four years (four cars). All apart from my wife's one have been perfect, other than replacing the batteries about three years in (replaced with cells purchased from Aliexpress which were pretty cheap). My wife's one does some random photo captures now and then but that its. The quality of footage is great with the rear cameras added as well and i believe they have a polarising filter built in.
I even take one of them on holiday if I'm hiring a car.

I just did a youtube search on battery replaced for the 522GW...not exactly plug and play...take everything apart and re-solder the new battery in? I thought apple made battery replacement difficult.

[P1]

I bought Garmins for all my cars. Three of them have the 47s and one of them has the 57. I've been very pleased so far.

[typedcl]

Originally Posted by LOFT

My experience with the product and NextBase generally was OK, but not inspiring.

I own a 522 and 422. I agree with what you're saying that it's a solid OK and nothing more.

Originally Posted by LOFT

The product worked pretty well during the trip, but it was “buggy”. Several times the device shut down or it simply stopped recording or identified a memory card failure.

My 522 was like that until I switched to Nextbase SD cards. I tried both Samsung and SanDisk (specifically their high endurance ones for continuous recording).

The 522 is still a little glitchy. The 422 has been solid.

Originally Posted by LOFT

Loading the videos on to my phone was uneven…perhaps it was the local wifi, I’m not sure but between the memory card issue and the loading issue, I never felt really confident that the device was going to capture an important event, ie. such jerk cutting me off resulting in an accident.

I'm not a fan of their app. But just reading it off the memory card works.

My experience with their video is daytime is pretty good. Night time, is pretty situation dependent.

Originally Posted by LOFT

At the same time, it just feels like it’s trying to do too much and overly complex for something that could be a simple dash cam. NextBase recommends leaving “tracking” option always on, so between that and shutting off the microphone because I caught myself swearing at other drivers on a regular basis, there is the privacy issue.

Did you look at other dashcams? There are cheaper ones with less features. I would have guessed you picked this one because you like the price/feature point. (That's why I went with them.)

Originally Posted by LOFT

At this point, I’ve concluded that this is fine for road trips but it’s another headache for day to day ownership and driving.

I feel much more at risk in day to day driving than road trips. But our situations could be very different.

Originally Posted by LOFT

One final point is that the image capture of the camera is pretty good, and would be improved even more with an available polarization filter.

Yeah that filter does a great job of eliminating windshield glare... really nice for late afternoon situations.

[Dandle]

Originally Posted by LOFT

I just did a youtube search on battery replaced for the 522GW...not exactly plug and play...take everything apart and re-solder the new battery in? I thought apple made battery replacement difficult.

It's pretty simple takes less than 10 minutes and just three wires to solder back on.

[SKBSY8]

Been having dash cam ever since my first card and been testing out quit a few brands so far. Just replaced my front dash cam to viofo A119 V3 last year since my venture x2 has been giving me issue (overheat, occationally shut down). Both are within US $100. I usually set my loop recording for every 3 mins(based on size of the memory card) so the dash cam wont constantly deleting file at the background (when memory is full). Remember the memory card plays the key role here too since u need a fast read/write memory card. Sometime you get get them cheap on amazon when is onsale.

I agree on the idea for less features on the dash cam. All those wifi connection or GPS tracking are useless to be honest with u. As long as the dash cam does it’s job and recording on a high quality video that’s all it matter to me. I only pay attention to these two features, the res.(both day and night) and the temperature tolerance(NYC area).

For the play back function, I just got the memory card reader so I can just take the memory card out and play it on my phone if necessary. Is simple plug in and play on my iPhone without headache.

*Oh check if the dash cam has any software update as well and that help with the buggy situation from time to time.

[LOFT]

Thanks for all of the input today. Yes, I was prompted to do an immediate firmware update when it arrived.

Probable next steps: Get a NextBase memory card to see if that solves the "bugginess", and find a boutique cell phone repair shop that will also do a battery replacement.

[Dandle]

I use Sandisk V30 micro sd cards in mine with no issues.
Battery wise I fitted these and they have been perfect.

[LOFT]

Originally Posted by Dandle

I use Sandisk V30 micro sd cards in mine with no issues.
Battery wise I fitted these and they have been perfect.

I have a SanDisk Ultra Plus 128GB....a very high end card, on sale at Best Buy.

[LOFT]

My google searches on this subject resulted in the attached review appearing in my Google news feed.

Interesting headline "Way more than just a camera", re: features and complexity. And the memory card has to be regularly reformatted even if it's a Next Base card.

Confirms my impressions.

https://www.autoblog.com/amp/2022/04...sh-cam-review/

[Dandle]

That's not my experience of the four we have.