Nextbase - iQ 1K Smart Dash Cam with 4G/LTE and GPS - Black

The dashcam is decent. I'm able to look at some clips of events that occurred on the app, but I am not able to review full drives from the app. I would need to remove the SD card and review on a computer. The video on the app looks choppy, but it looks fine on a computer. I purchased this after having a Ring dashcam, where I was able to review entire driving events from within the app, but this does not do this.

The Nextbase iQ smart dash cam offers all the standard benefits you can expect to see from your modern day dash cams along with some added security benefits. On the higher end of the price point it begs the question "Is this really worth it?" Out of the box you get quite a bit of gear and hardware to set up the dash cam the way you want. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the different amount of hardware given to you which allows you some flexibility on how you want to run your set up. For example, you get the get main unit along with double sided mounting tape, the main 16 pin OBD II power cable, the provided SD card and about 3 different power cables to run directly to a dedicated fuse block. Whats a OBD II power cable? You car guys know what that is but for those that don't the OBD II connector, connects directly to your vehicles diagnostic port. This is the port that goes directly to your cars computer and location is going to very from vehicle to vehicle, so you may need to do a little digging to find the location. But with that being said most cars older than 1998 may not have this port, and Nextbase was smart enough to understand this and provided a variety of different fused cable wires that allow you to run directly to your vehicles fuse block. The only added thing you have to do is simply mount the ground cable directly to a good ground. Anyways i don't want to get deep in to the install as Nextbase does provide a installation video through their provided QR code walking you through this step by step. Don't worry it truly is not complicated at all. Diving right in to the features and quality of the video taken you will find some similarities to other dash cams and some added features that may help get you out of a bind. Video quality is superb during the day time and decent during night driving. During day time drive video quality is smooth with not stuttering and all footage is capatured in HD quality. Night time is good as well as the oncoming vehicle lights and street lights provided ample lighting however being parked in a low lit area the camera may struggle a bit. Parked outside my house the forward facing camera pretty much was useless as it struggled to pick up footage however the camera facing the Cab offered ample IR lighting and visibility was well enough to make things out. I will upload some photos to show this. The dash cam does also provided an additional port for you to run another rear facing camera, which you can purchase directly from Nextbase. This is for those of you looking to get some close up shots of whats going on behind the vehicle. The cam does detect battery voltage and will go in to sleep mode when it detects anything less than vehicle charging voltage. When in sleep mode it will monitor things based on your settings and send you push notifications should it detect something. In moments of detection the camera wakes up and the ring around the base will start to flash red and begin recording. Live recordings can be pulled up directly through the app regardless of your location however there are a few things to keep in mind. The vehicle is able to do this by using 4G/LTE so if the vehicle is in the mountains or any area where you struggle to get cell service, then you will struggle to pull the live video feed up and may not be able to pull it up all until signal strength gets better. Recordings are saved to the SD card so even if you can't pull live footage all events will still be saved. You have your standard impact settings which you can set how sensitive you want the camera to be when it detects impact, which once detected it will lock the footage and save it. Now there are some features that set this device apart and make it worth the price point. For starters you change modes all via voice commands which will allow your camera to adjust to a given situation. For example you say "hey dash cam, privacy mode on." The camera will flash blue as it receives your command then it will proceed to turn of the camera facing the passenger compartment allowing you some privacy. It will at the same time shut of audio recording so that your conversations can remain personal. One cool feature that i really like is witness mode. You can wake the camera up and tell it to go in to witness mode which at that point it will send a message to whoever you put in as a contact and will give them a link to the camera. At this point the 3rd party that you designated as a witness can see and hear everything that is going on live and be there with you to witness and help out by contacting authorities should anything seem off. This is great for people who have young drivers who may be getting pulled over or maybe got in to a fender bender at night. Through witness mode you can also pull GPS coordinates to know where your party is at as well. The unit does provide a EMS mode which when it detects a impact that may have resulted in bodily injuries it will automatically contact 911 or your local emergency services and allow a ping to be sent with your current GPS location. The dashcam has built in lcd screen which will pop up a icon showing a SOS icon and letting you know emergency services are being contacted for you. Where this unit really shined for me through its live second by second gps location, mph tracking and G-Sensor reading. Why i like this feature so much is cause when drive my vehicle it tends to stand out and grab the attention of local law enforcement. There have been times i feel i could of won court cases with some added information proving my point. Well this unit does just that. Let's say you get pulled over for speeding in a school zone when you know for a fact you were not. You can pull up the camera footage of said area you broke the limit and track you live speed with a gps map showing you step by step your movements along with speed which all sync up with camera recording. This means you can now physically show your speed and location along with camera footage all backing up your claims if you were wrongfully accused. And the fact that this unit hooks directly up to your vehicles diagnostic port means it is tapping in to hopefully the vehicles computer pulling live accurate data which will lend even more credibility to your claims, should you find yourself being wrongly accused. The accuracy of recording mph along with actual mph is dead on with a 2 +/- mph discrepancy from what i can see. Overall this unit is a solid buy and well worth the price given what it is you are trying to use this for. If i had a 1990 toyota tercel that had 20 different colors of paint and 3 different tire sizes then i would would pass on this unit. However if you take pride in your vehicle and are looking for added eyes to a watch on your vehicle? Then Yes. Are you looking for some added evidence to take to court to help you win speeding cases? Yes, buy it. Have young drivers your worried about? Absolutely buy it. And if you are a uber driver, tow truck driver or any driver that deals directly with the public, then this a 100% must buy. With the roadwatch A.I. and guardian feature about to come out, this makes the unit even more desirable should it function the way its supposed to. One thing to mention that i forgot to add is the services are free however in order to truly benefit from the full features they do kind of force you in to a subscription plan with the lowest being $9.99 and the next tier being $19.99 in order to use the EMS feature. Still with that being said this is a very solid buy and well worth every penny.

Nextbase iQ 1K dash cam is promoted as the world’s first truly smart and fully connected 4G Dash Cam. Designed to secure your vehicle 24/7, the camera is marketed in three varieties, the iQ 1K which has a front and cabin camera designed with a 1080p resolution, an iQ 2K which has a front and cabin camera with a resolution of 1440p, and an iQ 4K whose front camera is 4K and cabin camera has been designed with a 1440p resolution. All three versions of the dash camera are designed to work with rear cameras which are sold separately and that are all 1440p. This review was written after installing and using the Nextbase iQ 1K dash cam. Nextbase iQ works with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. It was designed to interact with iPhone, iPad and Android and works through an app loaded on any of these devices. Named by TIME magazine as one of the best inventions of 2022, the Nextbase iQ has a built-in 32 GB U3 microSD card and a 4G sim card that are pre-installed. These cards can store information for up to two weeks with a subscription, but then should be reformatted to continue use. There are three levels of the subscription, and the two paid plans are a requirement for accessing the smart features of the dash camera. The basic subscription, the “Solo” plan allows use of the iQ app, has voice control, and provides real time text notifications. The “Protect” plan requires a $9.99 a month or $99.99 annual fee and includes 4G data, use of the iQ app, voice control, real-time image notifications, live views, smart sense parking, has a witness mode, roadwatch ai, guardian mode, remote alarm, and 30 days of cloud storage. The “Protect Plus” plan has a fee of $19.99 a month or $199.99 annually and includes everything in the “Protect” plan plus it also includes the ability to have multiple users, an emergency SOS, automatic incident back-up, real time notifications and it has an extended warranty. Neither the Roadwatch AI nor Guardian Mode are available yet. The product comes with a 1-year warranty, and I could not find out on the website what the extended warranty included that is part of the “Protection Plus” plan. It was quite easy to install the dashcam. For the 24/7 smart cam to be able to work properly, it needs to be plugged into the vehicle’s OBD connection or into the fuse box. The cables to do either is provided in the package. If you prefer not to use the OBD connection, red cables have been provided that plug into the fuse box. After the app has been downloaded to your mobile device, the cables need to be plugged into the iQ camera. When the vehicle’s ignition is turned on, the camera will immediately start to install the updated firmware, etc. through the app. Using Bluetooth and Wi-Fi the camera can connect instantly. This device has several particularly key features with the subscription plans. The Witness Mode can be activated through the Voice Command by saying, Hey iQ, start Witness Mode. The camera will then capture video and send it to emergency contacts that have been entered by the user into the app. The Emergency SOS can also be life saving as it will notify emergency contacts if the iQ detects a crash and it will send the location of the crash, the driver’s identity, and medication information to emergency personnel. When the device is fully operational and on a paid subscription plan it will see everything within an approximate 75 percent range around the front, even when the car is parked, and it will record events. An additional rear camera is needed to see 360 degrees around the car. With just the front facing Smart iQ camera it will let you know if there is an event near your car without having a rear camera installed, even when the vehicle is in parked status. I would recommend this to someone that travels and drives frequently for business. Parking your car in various places has become more dangerous in the past couple of years. With the full subscription plan, you can watch your vehicle from anywhere 24/7. The Witness feature and Emergency SOS are both excellent features that anyone could use. I think the subscription of almost $200 a year is a little pricey and I personally need to use it more to see if I can justify that type of expense. The company does give a three-month trial which does help the user see the Nextbase iQ’s full potential.