Product Description
Review: Excellent cameras, polarising filter, GPS logging,
magnetic-mounts - I’ve installed the pair of Nextbase 522
‘dashcams’ (front and rear) in my Mazda3, using the Nextbase
hard-wire kit . The images are excellent, especially those from
the front camera with the polarising filter cutting out
reflections off the windscreen. The reasons I chose this dash-cam
above others with extra features are the built-in polarising
filter, the GPS logging, and the option of 60fps for the 1080
lines full HD. The wifi and Alexa etc are nice to have for some
people, but I’ll not be needing them as I don’t use a phone in
the car. The on-line instruction manual pdf and firmware update
support are both good, and it has a reasonable menu system and
user interface on a good touch panel display. Everything works as
advertised. The first thing I did after checking the supplied
64GB SDXC chip was to update the firmware in the camera to v19.1.
Then I tested and configured the system with both cameras sitting
next to the computer, much easier than after installing them in
the car. I decided against using the optional ‘Dual File’ system
(hi and lo res for each camera), simply to have more hi res
recording time on the chip. I installed it with the separate
hardwire kit and added extra ferrites either side of the
converter, just in case, to ensure the DAB and FM radio kept
working. If the radio stops working after installing a
third-party hardwire kit, try the accessory socket lead supplied
with the camera. Some of the cheap hardwire kits are not fit for
purpose and radiate vast interference. Bear in mind that the
polarising filter will compromise the night vision performance
slightly (the camera is effectively wearing dark glasses), but it
is a great advantage in eliminating reflections off the
windscreen. Fortunately the night vision is excellent. Read and
understand the full on-line instruction manual at least once
before trying to use the cameras, because there are several
useful tips that might prevent the unwary from making silly
mistakes. A few minutes here could save a lot of time later. The
quick start guides are not really good enough, especially when
compared with the vast amount of options available shown in the
full manual. The G-sensor is way too sensitive, and I’ve ended up
switching it to Low although I considered Off. Low is fine for a
normal softly suspended family balloon. This sensor comes into
its own when the system is in the Parking Mode, and will allow
recording of hit and runs or merely people walking into front or
back of the car. There is no image stabiliser function
(anti-shake). Not a problem if using a secure mounting with the
adhesive pad and adaptor. There is no zoom function, the field of
view is always 140° wide angle, I would have preferred the option
of 120° which is what I chose to use on my old G1W dash-cam .
Mounting and connecting the cameras was simple, even if getting
the relevant interior trim panels off the car undamaged was not –
too easy to break fiddly retaining clips and spares required and
not a task for the faint hearted or anxious. Access to the car
manual helped a lot, showing exactly where all the clips are and
the correct methods for removal. Finagling the rear camera lead
through the least populated flexi-tube to the hatchback was
‘interesting.’ The one weakness in the combined set of front and
rear cameras and memory chip is the Nextbase own brand 64GB
memory chip, one of the slowest ‘U3’ ‘V30’ SDXC chips in that
size I have tested recently (using H2TestW) at only 20.5Mbytes/s
write and 21.2Mbytes/s read; it did not reach the 30MB/s
suggested by the speed marking. (On other supposedly slower ‘U1’
chips I’ve seen writes around 30MB/s and reads over 60MB/s.) The
capacity is indicated as 59360Mbytes (62,243,471,360 bytes
including 393,216 of exFAT formatting overhead) with no errors.
However, this chip is still fast enough for not too much
compression of images from the pair of cameras bearing in mind
that I’ll only be using 1080p 60 on the front camera while the
rear camera is limited to 720p 30, however if the front camera
was 1080p 30 then the rear would also be 1080p 30. Now that we
have cameras hardwired in each car at least they will always both
be in use and not stranded in limbo between cars as was often the
case with the old G1W.
Review: Good quality camera - I purchased the 522gw front and
rear with hard wire kit. It came with nextbase as card which is
essential. It works faultlessly and is easy to couple to phone
but must have both low and high quality images recorded to allow
phone streaming. Good price to from independent market seller
izilla
