Nextbase - 522GW Dash Cam - Black

As of mid 2019, the Nextbase 522GW is the only Dash Cam that has Alexa voice recognition built in - which is why this device is priced higher than many other models. The feature works quite well, but if you have no desire to use Alexa in your car, then you can save money by selecting a different dash cam (Such as the Nextbase 322GW). Be aware that Alexa is NOT able to record traffic photos or video. In order to ensure video is captured and saved, users still have to manually hit the button on the bottom of the physical camera - which moves the file into a saved folder. But, having Alexa in the car is very convenient as it can be used to play music, check weather, add items to a calendar, and even add items to a grocery list. Alexa is just a touch slower than the response time on an Amazon device (such as the Dot, Echo Dot, or Show), but it is a feature that I believe most people will find useful. Besides having Alexa, the 522GW has nearly every other feature that can be found in a dash cam. The only exception is a backwards facing camera that would film the inside of the car - and this can be purchased as an accessory that clicks into the side of the dash cam. Here are the reasons why I ranked the 522GW as 4 stars instead of 5: - If you wear polarized sunglasses then you cannot see the dash cam screen. - The Alexa feature cannot be used to record video or pictures. This is a HUGE fail. Being able to simply say “Alexa, Record that!” would have been very convenient and an important reason to have voice recognition on a dash cam. - Upon starting the car, it takes a full minute before the Amazon Alexa feature is usable. This means you have to wait to start your music by voice command - which is rather annoying. Luckily, the unit does play a chime to let the driver know when Alexa is enabled - WIth this dash cam, Alexa does not appear to be able to play from or control Spotify. - The parking mode is too sensitive (even when the g-force sensor is set to low). It saved a video every time I got into my car which filled up my memory card with videos that I did not need. - Using the phone App to view the camera life or to download files takes quite a long time. It works better to simply remove the memory card from the dash cam and plug it directly into a computer. - The camera uses a mini USB cable instead of the more popular Micro USB, or USB-C. Luckily, the cable is included and there is not often a need to remove the camera from the vehicle. - The camera puts a “Nextbase” tag at the bottom of the video & pictures. This mode cannot be turned off - however the watermark can be manually cropped out of each video without losing any important visuals. - The Physical Camera is designed for use in Europe (where the drivers side is on the opposite side as in the United States). This means that the attachment that records the inside of the car is on the right side of the Dash Cam. If users want to record video of their car’s cabin, they will need to place the dash cam on the passenger side of the car (so that the rear-view mirror does not block the camera). When mounted on the passenger’s side of the car, video does not have the driver within full view. The other option would be to mount the camera right in front of the driver - but, this would block the driver’s field of view - which is dangerous. - The package does not come with any cable mounts. Cable mounts may not be required, but as they are so incredibly inexpensive - it would have been nice to have a couple included to help with routing the cord out of view. - The package does NOT come with any memory card and they physical device does not have any internal memory. - The set-up instructions do not include any mention of how to use the suction mount. ****I recommend viewing the full User Manual online at the following web address**** https://cdn.nextbase.com/nextbase-en-gb/2019/03/NBDVR522GW-User-Manual_R3.pdf Overall, Nextbase has been very thoughtful in designing the camera to work well and to be user friendly. It does come with a polarized lense that does an excellent job reducing windshield glare. Simply twist the ring around the lense until the glare of the dashboard can no longer be seen on the screen. Personally, I greatly appreciate that snapping pictures is as simple as just tapping on the middle of the touch-screen. If the screen saver is on, you will need to tap twice. The first tap will turn the screen on, then you can tap to take a still photo. With Nextbase, Photos are saved to their own folder - separately from saved videos and a 3rd folder which saves the videos that are recorded over in a loop as the memory card reaches capacity. Both video and still photos have excellent clarity which allows users to easily read license plates on the cars in view. And, because the images are high definition, users can zoom in pretty closely once the file is on a computer. Another brilliant design feature is that the camera does not need to be plugged in using the power cord. The 12-24V power cable plugs into the mounting base which then holds the camera securely using a magnetic connection. This means that users can simply pull the camera off of the mount without having to actually unplug it. This ensures that the power cable is undisturbed and continues to be hidden away. What might be most impressive (after Alexa functionality) is the SOS Feature (which actually is free to use). The 522GW allows you to fill out a quick emergency profile which is emailed to the user’s emergency contact & insurance company if it senses that there has been an accident. The email includes GPS coordinates so that the vehicle can be located if the driver is unresponsive. The 522GW is easily the best Dash Cam that I have experienced, and for those who want Alexa functionality in their car - I absolutely recommend it. Other Tips: 1) Video Length: By default the camera records in 1 minute increments. This can be adjusted to 1, 2, or 3 minute videos. 2) By default the camera is saving duplicate videos - one high quality and another low quality. This is to help reduce file transfer times when moving videos onto a phone or computer. I suggest turning this feature off to maximize the number of high quality videos that can be saved on the memory card.

My first impressions of the Nextbase 522GW were when I viewed the dashcam on-line at Bestbuy.com, in a nutshell I was thinking nice stuff and liked what I saw in the pics and read in the spec’s. When the 522GW arrived, I knew my first impressions were spot-on. What I found upon opening: - First-rate design - Polished aesthetics - Gorgeous Large 3” IPS Touchscreen for viewing and managing - Mounting system that secures the dashcam firmly to the windshield - All cables included The system came surprisingly in a rather small package relative to typical packaging. To quote on old idiom, “The best things come in small packages.” Delightfully this holds true with the Nextbase dashcam, there is loads of brilliant tech packed inside. Setup is straight forward, smooth, and quickly accomplished. The Nextbase app should be downloaded first and ran for step by step instructions, my nature lead me to start up the cam and go into the setup screen to look at the settings/options which I went ahead and set. Then I went back to step one and ran the app and sync’d the cam to my mobile which just took a few moments to accomplish. The app is well designed, intuitive and takes you effortlessly through setup procedures including running firmware updates. This is truly one of the best, smooth and easy apps to connect to a device that I have used, that I highly appreciate after some apps I have had to deal with in previous products. After syncing and updating I checked into the settings screen and was pleasantly surprised to see all my cam settings were loaded. Good stuff and an excellent app. Features: - Built in Alexa - Blue Tooth and Wi-Fi support - 1440p HD resolution at 30fps recording - 3” IPS Touchscreen with excellent viewing - Polarizing filter to reduce windshield glare - G-Sensor for accident detection - Emergency SOS contacts first responders with GPS location - Live viewing on your mobile device app - GPS Coordinates Stamp - Speed Stamp - Date & Time Stamp - MicroSD’s are supported up to 128GB - Parking Mode – if the G Sensor detects an event will switch on and record - Emergency SOS – if there is an incident detected it will contact Emergency services in your GPS area The built in Alexa (operates like all Echo devices) is a welcome addition, instead of reaching for the mobile and Google for directions, weather. Etc. you can ask the built in Alexa. This is very useful to me, instead of having to fumble with my mobile (which is highly distracting) to turn on music streaming I just direct Alexa. Plus, it is now illegal in my state to have your mobile in your hand while driving. Believe at present the 522GW is the only dashcam with built in Alexa. The recording’s GPS/Speed/Date & Time/Model stamps are turned on by default but can be turned off in settings. A small item I like is the charging plug has a low hue blue light, my last dashcam had a bright red light which I found annoying. A nice touch in a well thought out product. The dashcam runs quite warm to the touch, just took the dashcam on a 1000-mile roundtrip and it was especially warm in the sunlight. Does not affect the quality or operation of the unit and hopefully will not affect long term durability. After the thousand-mile trip the mounting system held up in the hot sun, which I appreciate having had a previous brand which occasionally would fall from the windshield. Not what you want when navigating rush hour traffic, tended to make me jump a bit while driving. The 522GW is approximately 35% smaller than their previous 512GW and mounts discreetly and out of passenger’s view. The Nextbase does not come with a MicroSD card and you will need to purchase one for the system. Personally, I picked up a top brand 128GB card highly spec’d at Up to 100MB/s read and 90MB/s write speeds; UHS Speed Class U3 and Speed Class 10. At today’s pricing it is an easy call to go with a high-end card, my card cost only $19.49! For smooth recordings at higher resolutions and FPS you should install a fast MicroSD. Nextbase provides a detailed 50-page user manual which you download from their site covering every aspect of the system from setup to operation. Good documentation is always a big plus in my book. The Nextbase 522GW is a fully featured highly functional dash cam system which has performed marvelously around town and on my long trip in 95-degree heat. Set my cam to record at 1080P at 60FPS and the videos are vivid and smooth in playback. Highly recommend the Nextbase 522GW dashcam.

Aside from a few quarks, this is a near perfect dash cam with all the bells and whistles. Unboxing: The unit comes with a lot of goodies but lacks a Micro SD card, so you will need to get that separate. Keep in mind this thing records non-stop at 1440p, so I highly recommend getting a “high endurance” U3 rated memory card, one that is designed for speed and constant use. Other than that, it comes with the unit, a mini type B USB cable (not micro and not C), auto power cable, adhesive doc, suction cup mount, cable wedge thingie and manual. I was very surprised it came with mini USB and not micro USB or USB C. This is now the only device I have that uses mini USB. Luckily, I do not plan to unplug it often so it is not a huge deal, just surprising. Set up: First, it states you must charge it for two hours prior to use. After that, you should download the app, pair it with your phone and then decide how you want to mount it. As stated, it comes with the windshield adhesive mount and a suction cup mount. I went with the adhesive mount placing it near my rearview mirror. The power cable has more than enough slack to route it up through your car’s trim, under the steering wheel area and into the power socket. The software setup is a little weird… As stated, you should download the app, when setting it up you can tell it is a company from a different county as there are many little details such as “town” instead of city you will notice in the prompts. It is not a huge deal, but you should look out to make sure everything is properly set up for your geographic area. Use: This thing is a powerhouse! The touch screen is pretty clear if you need it. While driving the only thing you might need it for is to take a quick photo with a tap in the middle of the screen. There is a button on the bottom center of the screen which will “protect” the latest video in the event of an incident so you can download it later. When I stopped my car, I opened the app and it offered to offload my 3 “protected” videos that I saved to test. With my limited use I could be wrong, but it appears if you offload to the app onto your phone, a 30 second movie will be around 10mb in side. If you upload the full 3mb video (you can set them to 1, 2 or 3 minutes), it will be around 600 mb. It seems the smaller 30 second ones are at a lower resolution when downloaded. Again, I might be wrong but so far as I can tell, if you want the full 1440P version, you might need to take the memory card out and put it in your computer. What I found really cool is the SOS feature. If the device detects an accident, it will look for an acknowledgement from you on your phone, if it goes unanswered, it will report the incident to local emergency services along with your latitude and longitude. I clearly have not had a chance to test it since I haven’t had an accident, but it provides great peace of mind. I believe the device comes with 12 months free then pay after that. Alexa integration is built in. There is no navigation, but you can link it up for normal Alexa use such as timers, weather, music, audible, etc. Useful but not the most important thing. GPS is built into the device, I am not sure how much it pulls from GPS itself and how much it pulls from the phone as it looks like my phone is using GPS more since I synced up the device, individual experiences might vary. Also cool is the lens polarization. When setting it up, if you see any glare from the windshield, rotate the lens and it will polarize it to reduce the issue. A simple but extremely useful feature. I recommend you go into the menu and turn on “auto power off” as it will run off battery until drained if you do not. To go with this there is a parking feature which will detect and report parking incidents while you are away, I cannot vouch for the effectiveness of this as no issues happened during my use. Cons: As stated, I was a little annoyed with the setup as there are a lot of little issues with regions. The device should probably come with a micro SD card, at least in small capacity to get users started. Overall, the device has more pros than cons, so it is easy to forgive. Summary: A great device that provides piece of mind. It is worth the money to protect you from insurance issues and provide an extra layer of emergency protection. Setup is not hard but ensure you pay attention to the options and make sure you register for SOS. Also, buy a good micro SD card to go with it!

I have been in the market for a dashcam for quite some time. I’m glad this one came along. I have seen others that require a you to setup a 4G phone account with a service. I’m sure that is fine for some. But this is not an option I was looking for. I was looking for something with great video. A set it and forget it, especially someone hits me while I’m parked type of camera. This fits the bill with the options I was interested in. A forewarning, there isn’t a lot of instructions and sometimes I like to have a quick guide to check on stuff If I have questions. There is a startup guide but that’s where it ends, even checking the app I felt as if I was just lumbering around until I could find an answer. (like recording or taking a still image) You will have to hit the website for this or search for videos. On to the review. I found the camera to be of very good quality, doesn’t feel cheap. I like the 2 different mounts to choose from. My camera will float between a couple of cars. So I didn’t care for the permanent mount that is included but the suction mount is perfect for my needs. The included power cord is very long, enough to place the unit just about anywhere in your window. I also like the fact that the unit has a battery should you only need it for short trips and not want to hook in the power cord. I pre-charged the unit as directed then downloaded the phone app. Immediately the app noticed I was on firmware version 6.X and needed up graded to 16.3 (wow). I did run into an issue. As I was updating, the update got stuck after the unit was to reboot. It didn’t come back. I waited for 30 minutes as the message on the unit said do not hit any buttons or power cycle during firmware. I then discovered the unit was unplugged so fair warning only update firmware when plugged in. It then continued to update and finished. The app is very user friendly and easy to navigate, you can set up just about every option you need from it. I tested the unit and checked my library on the phone. Each clip was easily viewable, sound and video were clear, even when I transferred the card to a PC to view it on a larger screen. I found the pictures, video and sound to be very nice. I started the app while in my house and the car in the drive way, I started the live view and it connected!! That’s a strong Wi-Fi built in antenna to do that. I was at least 75ft and a few walls away. For future updates to the app it would be nice to be able to control the start and stop recording. I have mine set to always record, so it would be nice to shut this off, if I would know it wouldn’t be needed for a while. Or even shut this off, if it was parked to in my garage and connected to my home Wi-Fi while I was away. Over all I am very impressed with the camera, it does exactly what I need a dash cam to do. If you feel the need for a reverse view camera for shots of your interior or out the back window. There is an optional camera that you can buy as an add on . It attaches to the side of the camera. I’m giving it 4 stars, would have got 5 if they had a more detailed instruction manual included. One should never have to hit up the internet to find out more info on a purchase. I would recommend this to family and friends

Love the quality of recording, setting up the dashcam was easy and touchscreen is very responsive. Only thing I hated is built-in battery power doesn’t last long (recommend wired power kit) and syncing to smartphone (iPhone) takes long and saving videos to download to smartphone is difficult at times. Hope updates fix the problem soon. But I would recommend this brand over the others.

Everyone has their own reasons to own a dashcam but mine is to simply hold people accountable to their actions. So what is important to me is a high enough definition camera that can read license plates. This camera does that and more. Pros: • Solidly built • Solid mount options • Wifi transfer files to your phone • Robust phone app and desktop app • High viewing angle of the high resolution screen Cons: • Transfer speeds of vids to your phone can be slow (around 5 mins for 1 min vid) • Expensive (but worth it) The kit comes with everything you need to install and tuck your wires in for a clean install. You do need to purchase a memory card. The windshield mount can either be 3M taped or suction cupped. The suction cup isn’t just the run of the mill type. It’s a very well thought out and hasn’t budged even with 100 degree temps. Once mounted, the camera is actually magnetically attached. Nice touch there! Initial setup is painless but the firmware update did take over 20 mins. Daytime vids are clear and can easily read license plates. The built in polarizing filter is a nice touch to help with the glare. Nighttime vids are surprisingly high quality but you won’t be able to read license plates due to over exposure from your headlights. I leave my on 1080p even though it can go up to 1440p. File sizes to transfer at the largest resolution can be daunting. A bonus feature is the parking mode. This will record videos if it detects motion or feels a bump. My only gripe with the parking mode is that it doesn’t record before the “incident” but only after. My ring doorbell does a better job at this as I feel the moment before a motion or bump is critical footage. Video transfer is via its own wifi signal. This is a feature that I was looking for because my prior dashcam didn’t have wifi so I had to take the memory card out and view the vids on my laptop. This nextbase dashcam will allow you to view your vids straight to your phone. The phone app is so robust that it overlays speed, a map of your path and g forces during your video clip. All very handy for insurance claims! The computer app is even more robust and allows you to upload to their cloud for free. I’m impressed that it’s a free cloud service! In summary, I do highly recommend this dashcam to anyone looking to help keep honest people honest. This may be the best dash cam out there for the money.

I’ve taken my NextBase on a few trips around town now and I’ve really enjoyed the video quality! I’ve had one other DashCam before this and it sucked. This DashCam’s actually video quality isn’t grainy and the window attachment has a strong magnet that doesn’t compromise how sturdy it hangs from the glass. The cons for me are that it still requires a clunky wire to charge the device. It makes the vehicle terribly ugly and though it’s long enough to tuck in and around the car it is a task that can annoy you. The NextBase application is very intuitive and easy to transfer files, title files, sort and move. Alexa is built in and a feature you can turn on, oh and there’s an SOS feature for emergencies or crashes so great for a young driver! I’ve been wanting to drive for a car service but feared that something random might happen but having the NextBase gives me a little more peace of mind that I can do it with ease. As far as size as concerned it is about the size of your palm or an old pager, the mount is easy to mount on the glass and the magnet is so secure it’s almost tough to remove it from the glass so that’s good! Hope this helps.

First the good, the NextBase 522GW dashcam is a well built, fairly compact unit with a full 3” inch (960 x 480) touch screen. Video quality is very good and it records up to 1440p (2560 x 1440 @ 30 frames per second) or will do standard HD resolution (1920 x 1080 @ 60 frames per second). Sixty frames per second comes in handy in this use case as video taken really works well with the driving playback experience. Now higher resolution or frames per second video lead to large files and one of the annoying things (at least from my perspective) is you only have the option of recording 1 or 3 minute videos. For a long trip, if you want to review portions of your trip you have to navigate through a bunch of files, which can get a bit tedious, but smaller files might make more sense (since they are easier to download via mobile apps, more on that later). The camera is feature laden, with built in GPS which records telemetry such as coordinates and speed (both of which can be configured to display on the recordings). It also has a shock sensor and some unique S.O.S. features which can be configured to notify emergency services (via your smartphone) if you have an accident. Given what I describe later, I would not depend on that function at all. In any case two different mounts are provided, one of the suction cup variety and one that glues to your windshield. The bracket separates from the body of the camera (the power plugs into the bracket) and kinda snaps in place with the help of a magnet. You would think this would make the camera easy to remove, however not so much as I had problems removing it from the windshield with the unit mounted behind my rear view mirror (perhaps there is a way to perform some ninja wrist move). There are mobile apps (iOS, Android) and a PC based app, all seem to have some real cool features. However, I had major issues with the stability of the iOS app on my iPhone 6s. Numerous times I had problems pairing them, with connections failing, pairing requests not appearing (or the searching for accessories prompt on iOS). A firmware upgrade downloaded after first connecting (and hopefully they will release an update that makes the camera more stable). While the unit records high resolution video they produce fairly large size files, this makes them impractical to access in any way, shape or form from my iPhone. Videos downloads (even when connecting via “high speed WiFi”) are sloooow and unstable. The connection constantly drops and reestablishing them is a challenge. I deleted Bluetooth connections and reinstalled the app on my iPhone numerous times. None of this improved the functionality in these areas. I had better results with my Galaxy Tab A tablet and the android app, videos still downloaded slow but I was able to get a few videos off the dashcam. The only real successful way for me to get videos off this dashcam was to remove the microSD card and play via my PC. There is so much to like about this unit, however the integration with mobile devices is not one of them. Hopefully there will be a firmware update for this unit or updates in the mobile apps that make the advanced functions that require connectivity to a mobile device more stable and frankly useable. Pros: - Great video, including 1440p 30fps or 1080p 60fps (and lower res formats) - Well built - Polarizing lens for clarity - Clear touch screen (speed can be displayed as a screen saver) - time lapse feature Cons: - Unstable connectivity to my iPhone 6s - Slow video download speeds - Quirky