The Best Dash Cams 2023

With cash-for-crash scams and a lot of bad driving, the streets can be pretty mean these days. And with insurance premiums sky-rocketing at the moment, you should get a dash cam for your car.

It isn’t going to prevent collisions or car park scrapes, but it’ll record video evidence of what happened so you can prove to your insurer that it wasn’t you driving or parking badly.

Because of this, a dash cam can more than pay for itself.

Fortunately, you’re in the right place: we can demystify the jargon and tell you what to look for. Better still, as we’ve reviewed dozens of dash cams, we can tell you exactly what to buy.

If your budget will stretch to it, we recommend buying a dash cam that comes with a rear camera because, a front-only camera isn’t going to capture someone driving into you from behind.

It’s usually easy to install a dash cam yourself , plugging it into your car’s 12V socket for power. But if you want a dash cam to record car park prangs, you’ll probably need to have it ‘hard wired’, something that’s best left to the pros.

Hard wiring involves connecting the power wires to your car’s fuse box. It’s not a difficult job for an enthusiastic DIYer, but some retailers and manufacturers offer a fitting service for a fee. The hard-wire kits are usually an optional extra, costing around £15/$20.

The only other thing you need to factor in to the overall price is a microSD card for storing video, as most dash cams don’t come with one.

The best dash cams to buy

1. Viofo A129 Duo – Best for most people

Pros

• Good quality video
• Compact, unobtrisuve design

Cons

• Parking mode requires hard-wiring
• Thick cable to rear camera

This front and rear dash cam dispenses with the frills and concentrates on what’s important: recording good-quality video. This means it’s cheaper than most rival front+rear dash cams, but do watch out as some bundles don’t include the GPS mount and the polarising filter.

Both are worth having so you can prove where the video is recorded and to remove reflections in the video.

The wedge design of the front camera means you still get a screen but it still tucks away behind your rear-view mirror for a stealthy install. The rear camera, although small, has a thick cable which can be hard to fit behind trim neatly. The A229 Duo (no longer available, sadly) has a much thinner cable, and records in 2K front and rear – a higher resolution than the A129’s 1080p.

Read our full Viofo A129 Duo review

2. Nextbase 122 – Best budget front-only dash cam

Pros

• Very affordable
• Magnetic quick-release

Cons

• Low-quality video
• No GPS

The 122 is a very low-cost dash cam which uses the same handy magnetic quick-release mount as more expensive models in the range, so it’s really convenient to remove from the car to transfer video files.

It’s the only dash cam here which records at a lowly 1280×720 pixels, and there is certainly less detail. However, the 120-degree lens means it is much easier to read number plates of oncoming cars as they’re physically larger in the resulting video. Quality is acceptable during the day, with most registrations visible when you pause the video.

Like most dash cams, even those costing five times as much, it can’t often capture registrations at night as detail levels really drop off. However, you should still be able to prove what happened if an incident happens in front of you.

There are no frills, such as Wi-Fi or GPS, but the 122 is nice and compact and has easy-to-use buttons and menus.

We’d recommend paying more for a 1080p dash cam, but if your budget is very limited, this is a good choice.

3. Viofo T130 – Best for Uber drivers

Pros

• Great parking mode
• Front, interior & rear cameras

Cons

• Parking mode requires hard-wire kit
• So-so app

At a similar price to a lot of front + rear dash cams, the T130 is good value as it has a third camera that records inside the vehicle. All three cameras deliver good video quality that – as long as it’s not night time – can usually be relied upon to show clearly what happened in an incident. Resolution is enough in most cases to read registration plates.

The interior camera uses infrared LEDs for decent night vision, but quality is still better during daylight.

The app could do with some interface improvements, but it generally works reliably and makes it easy to adjust the dash cam’s settings – there’s no screen on the T130 and only certain things can be controlled using the buttons.

One of the highlights is the versatile parking mode which can record time-lapse video, as well as full-motion video if it detection motion. You’ll need the hardwire kit to use this mode, but it doesn’t add much to the total cost.

Read our full Viofo T130 review

4. iOttie Aivo View – Best front-only dash cam for stealth

Pros

• Simple to install and use
• Good-quality video

Cons

• Sold only in the US
• Alexa functions aren’t particularly useful

The Aivo View is the first dash cam from iOttie, a company better known for its phone accessories.

Though it isn’t the cheapest single-lens dash cam you can buy, it ticks the important boxes. It’s about as easy to install as dash cams get, delivers good quality video day and night at the default settings and comes with a remote control button for taking photos (or videos) on demand.

There’s no screen, so you have to use the app to change settings, see the live view and review saved videos. They can be downloaded to your phone, but it’s a very slow process.

It can record while you’re parked, but you’ll have to provide your own power supply for this, such as a USB power bank, as iOttie doesn’t offer a hardwire kit. This is far from convenient, and you have to enable parking mode as well: it won’t automatically switch when you connect a different power source.

Read our full iOttie Aivo View review

5. Nextbase iQ – Best connected dash cam

Pros

• Great monitoring features
• Impressive app
• Easy to install

Cons

• Very expensive
• Subscription required for connected features
• Some features not yet available

The iQ is a dash cam, but it’s also a smart security camera you can put in practically any car and get alerts on your phone if anything happens.

There are three models: 1080p (1K), 2K and 4K. They have a second camera facing the car’s interior, but you can buy an optional rear camera for a better view of what happens behind the vehicle.

The total price isn’t cheap, but in our opinion, it’s the best connected dash cam available right now… even if a couple of the headline features (including Roadwatch AI and Guardian Mode) aren’t yet available.

Read our full Nextbase iQ 2K Smart Dashcam review

6. Garmin Dash Cam Live

Pros

• Great captures day and night
• Large display and phone connectivity
• Saves captures to the cloud
• Live view and vehicle tracking

Cons

• Expensive for a single-channel dash cam
• Cloud uploads require subscription
• No option of a rear camera

We’re now starting to see ‘connected’ dash cams which allow you to see a live video feed, just as you can with a home security camera. It will automatically upload video to the cloud, too. But for any of this, you need to pay a subscription because, sadly, mobile data is still relatively expensive and gigabytes of cloud storage certainly isn’t free (even if Google et al give you some for free).

The Live itself is a well-designed dash cam that’s easy to install, and its magnetic mount makes it simple to remove and replace in your car.

There are a few downsides, not least the high price. We’d expect at this price to see 4K resolution, but the Live makes do with 1440p, a sort of half-way house between Full HD and 4K. Image quality is very good, though, and it comes with a microSD card, albeit just 16GB. One of the strangest things is that the Live doesn’t offer an optional rear camera: it’s front-facing or nothing.

Still, if you only want or need a front-facing dash cam and find the ‘live’ aspects attractive, the Garmin does a good job.

Read our full Garmin Dash Cam Live review

7. Nextbase 422GW – Best-value dash cam with Alexa

Pros

• Alexa built-in
• Good safety features

Cons

• Average video quality
• Rear cameras are expensive

The lowest-priced model in Nextbase’s Series 2 range to have Alexa and Emergency Response, the 422GW also supports the range of rear cameras, records at 1440p and is sensibly priced. Image quality is good, but unremarkable.

If you don’t need all the 422GW’s features, then you can save money by opting for the 322GW.

Read our full Nextbase 422GW review

8. Viofo A119 v3 – Best-value single-lens dash cam

Pros

• Good-quality video
• No unnecessary frills

Cons

• Requires hard-wiring kit for parking mode
• GPS mount costs extra

Viofo understands what people want from a dash cam: good quality video recording, plus recording options when your car is parked.

There are no extra features such as lane-departure, speed camera: even GPS is optional, so you can pay less if you don’t want it. This keeps the price down while still offering great quality.

There are three parking modes to choose between, but you will need to buy and fit the hardwire kit to use them.

Read our full Viofo A119 v3 with GPS review

9. Nextbase 622GW – Best 4K dash cam without subscription

Pros

• Great 4K video
• Built-in Alexa

Cons

• Expensive
• Price doesn’t include optional rear camera

The 622GW was Nextbase’s all-singing, all-dancing flagship until the iQ came along. It has all the features you can think of, and then some more that you can’t – plus it comes in a burnt orange Sienna Limited Edition with 5% of profits going to MS Society UK.

Core video quality is very good, partly thanks to the stabilisation which helps to sharpen details. At night, it’s still impressive, but don’t expect to be able to read registration plates.

Alexa could be handy if you stream music while driving, and the Emergency SOS and what3words integration is a nice extra (though it is a subscription service, not included as standard).

If you don’t want a rear camera, you might be able to justify spending this much on a front-facing camera, but there isn’t a huge trade-off in quality if you step down to the 522GW.

Read our full Nextbase 622GW review

What to look for in a dash cam

Ultimately, high-quality video is what you need from a dash cam. But specifications alone can’t tell you if one is better than another, and quality varies a lot. That’s why you should read our reviews and see examples of the quality you can expect at day and night.

Don’t be swayed by a wider-angle lens: the higher the number, the smaller everything is in the centre of the image. We prefer a lens with a 140° field of view, or less.

Similarly, a higher resolution doesn’t automatically mean better quality.

Manufacturers often talk of ‘night modes’ but this can be just as misleading as resolution. Again, refer to our reviews to find out whether a dash cam is any good at recording at night.

Extras features such as GPS are worth it as this will record your precise location and speed, so you can prove where you were, which direction you were driving and that you weren’t speeding.

Wi-Fi, on the other hand, may not be as useful as it’s typically quicker to removing the microSD card and copy the video files you need straight to your PC or laptop. But for dash cams without screens, you’ll get Wi-Fi as a matter of course so you can adjust settings via the companion app.

We’ve found safety features such as lane-departure warning or forward-movement alerts aren’t always useful as they don’t always work reliably. However, any dash cam that can warn you of safety camera locations is useful.

Best SD card (microSD) for dash cams

Hardly any dash cams come with a microSD card, but you need one to store video. Don’t just buy the cheapest one you find, though. Recording video constantly requires a card that supports high write speeds, and that’s especially true if your chosen dash cam has two or three cameras instead of just one, or if it records at 4K resolution.

You should look for a U3 or V30 cards: this means it will have a write speed of at least 30MB per second (usually more).

Here are four microSD cards we recommend. They come in various capacities, and you should check your dash cam’s manual or specifications to find out the maximum capacity it supports before buying a card. Go for the biggest capacity supported, if you can afford it, because the card will then contain more hours of footage.

• SanDisk Extreme Pro
• PNY Pro Elite
• Samsung Extreme Plus
• Manfrotto Professional

What is a dash cam?

It’s a camera which records video while you drive so you have evidence of what happened and who was at fault if a collision or some other event occurs. Some dash cams can also record while your car is parked.

What is the best dash cam?

The best dash cam for most people is the Viofo A129 Duo. It’s sensibly priced and has a second camera that sticks in your car’s back window to capture what happens behind you. Video quality is good, and it has the option of recording in various modes while parked, so long as you buy and fit the hard-wire kit so the dash cam still has power when you’re not driving.

How much is a dash cam?

Dash cams start at around £20 / US$20 and go up to as much as £500 / $500. You get what you pay for, so expect poor quality video from the absolute cheapest models and detailed, 4K video from the most expensive. You also get more features such as GPS, Wi-Fi and even 4G, plus more cameras, as you spend more.

How do you install a dash cam?

You can install a dash cam yourself. They all come with a power cable that plugs into your car’s 12V socket. All you need to do is stick the dash cam to your car’s windscreen (usually at the top somewhere on the passenger side) and route the wire from the 12V socket to the dash cam.

If the dash cam has a rear camera, a second wire must be routed from the front camera to the rear.

Are dash cams legal?

Yes, dash cams are legal in most countries, including the UK, US, Canada and Australia. Portugal is one country where privacy laws mean they are not legal to use, and you need to be careful when using them in Austria and Luxembourg, again due to privacy laws. You can, for example, use a dash cam in Austria to document an accident. But you cannot use one for surveillance.

How do dash cams work?

However, almost every dash cam has a ‘G sensor’ which can detect an impact, such as from a collision. If something triggers this sensor, the video being recorded will be ‘locked’ to prevent it being overwritten and lost.

Are dash cams worth it?

Yes. They provide independent evidence which can help to prove that you weren’t at fault in an accident. That could save you a lot more money than the dash cam cost in higher insurance premiums and other potential costs.

How do I format an SD card for a dash cam?

There should be an option in the menu on the dash cam to format the card. If your dash cam does not have a screen, the option should be available in the companion app on your phone. Alternatively, you can put the microSD card into a card reader in your laptop or PC and format it in Windows File Explorer.

Where is the best place to mount a dash cam?

Place it where it will not obstruct the driver’s view. Generally, that means outside of the area the windscreen wiper sweeps on the driver’s side. The best position is behind the rear-view mirror on the passenger side where it is out of the way and doesn’t prevent the sun visor being used.

How can I hide dash cam wires?

Wires can usually be pushed behind the car’s plastic trim. You may need to use a trim tool to open up a gap big enough for the wire, but it’s best not to remove any trim if you can avoid it because clips often break.

Use cable ties to secure the cable beneath the glovebox when routing the cable to the centre console.

Author: Jim Martin, Executive Editor, Tech Advisor

Jim has been testing and reviewing products for over 20 years. His main beats include VPN services and antivirus. He also covers smart home tech, mesh Wi-Fi and electric bikes.

Recent stories by Jim Martin:

• Nextbase iQ review
• Nextbase launches internet-connected iQ car security camera
• Viofo A229 Duo review: 1440p front + rear video

At a glance

Expert’s Rating

Pros

• Great monitoring features
• Impressive app
• Easy to install

Cons

• Expensive
• Subscription required for connected features
• Some features not yet available

Our Verdict

The iQ is a smart security camera you can put in practically any car and get alerts on your phone if anything happens. It’s expensive though, and there’s not much point in buying one unless you also take out a subscription. It has promise, but at the time of review was missing some of its big features.

Best Prices Today: Nextbase iQ 2K Smart Dashcam

Nextbase has spent years developing the iQ, and its launch was pushed back several times. It’s now on sale at last, albeit without a couple of key features that the company has shouted hyped up over the past 18 months or so.

However, as hard a concept as it is to sell to consumers, the iQ is meant to be an ever-evolving platform that will get new features over time.

The only problem with that approach is that this isn’t a cheap gadget and, as with so many internet-connected ones, you need to pay a subscription to use the features.. even if they’re not yet there.

There are three models in the range: 1K, 2K and 4K, starting at £349 / $499 and rising to £449 / $699. The resolutions refer to the forward-facing camera, but there’s also a cabin-facing camera, and an optional rear camera for £149 / $199 which wasn’t quite on sale at the time of writing but should be from 14 November.

Nextbase sent the 4K model for review.

Features & design

• Easy to install
• Embedded SIM
• 64GB microSD card included

The iQ has been designed from the ground up, and that’s very obvious if you’ve seen or owned any of the company’s previous dash cams.

It has a fairly chunky base which attaches to your windscreen and has a fabric speaker cover much like a smart speaker. The LED ring only adds to that similarity.

Jon L. Jacobi / Foundry

The two cameras are mounted in a pendant-style unit that points downwards into the car. In your hand, it seems like it will be large and obtrusive, but when installed it really isn’t.

The design is necessary for the camera to get a good view of the interior and passengers. The cabin camera also has infrared LEDs so you can still see what’s going on at night when the cabin is dark.

Nextbase includes a 64GB microSD card which you shouldn’t ever need to remove from the iQ, but you can upgrade it to 256GB if you want to.

It’s used to record video like a traditional dash cam, but the iQ does way more than that, and I’ll get to that in a second.

Installing the iQ in your car is simple because Nextbase includes a clever power cable that plugs into your car’s OBD II port. You might have to Google its location if you’re not familiar, but all cars since around 1996 have one.

Jim Martin / Foundry

The connector is as slim as possible so should fit behind a cover, but the cable exits from the side which proved to be a problem in my wife’s 2013 Vauxhall Corsa which has a recessed OBD II port, making it impossible to plug it in. It wasn’t an issue in my Ford Focus though.

There is a solution in the box though: fuse taps that you can connect to the appropriate fuse in your car’s interior fuse box. The only disadvantage is that you need to know which fuse to use, and to find a handy bolt that connects to the car’s chassis to which to attach the negative wire.

The only gotcha is that the adhesive mount needs to be stuck to your windscreen in a precise orientation. Rotate it slightly left or right and the iQ won’t be vertical, so it’s a good idea to offer it up with the camera attached to the mount.

Jim Martin / Foundry

The power and rear camera cable use proprietary connectors, like squared-off USB-C, which attach neatly into the rear of the iQ.

Jim Martin / Foundry

As part of the process you need to install the Nextbase iQ app on your phone and create an account. The app will walk you through the hardware installation and ask if you have a rear camera. The iQ’s data connection should activate and you’ll have to scan a tiny QR code on the iQ’s screen.

This is where the process fell down for me, as the code seemed far too bright in the preview and any slight movement of the phone caused it to blur. Using the tips provided in the app, it did eventually scan after I double-tapped the preview to turn on my phone’s rear LED flashlight and slowly move the phone closer to and away from the screen until it scanned.

Jim Martin / Foundry

If you manage to jump this particular hurdle, the iQ will download the latest firmware and restart, at which point you can see the live camera view and adjust the angle to get the best view of the road ahead (and behind if you have the rear cam).

Live view & alerts

Getting back to features, the embedded SIM means the iQ is always connected to the internet. It isn’t the first dash cam to do this, but it’s certainly the best-executed.

Via the Nextbase iQ app, which has clearly been inspired by Ring’s, and with the appropriate subscription in place, you can watch the live views from each camera and see on a map exactly where the car is along with the What3Words location.

Jim Martin / Foundry

Of course, any security camera worth its salt will tell you when something important is happening and the iQ is good at it. Using a variety of sensors, including radar, it will send you notifications of “Parking events”, which could be someone reversing into your car in a car park or a person loitering with intent. I found it would also notify me when I parked up and got out of the car, and again when I returned.

You can watch the recorded event, which shows all camera views on the same screen, and a useful red highlight on the playback bar means you can skip straight to where the action happened.

Jim Martin / Foundry

These aren’t the original full-resolution versions, though. They’re standard-def 848×480-pixel clips.

In the SmartSense settings in the app you can adjust how far away in each quadrant to monitor. There’s also a setting for the ‘activation voltage’ at which SmartSense should kick in.

Jim Martin / Foundry

This is different from the ‘Low power cut-off’ setting which shuts off the iQ if your car battery drops below a set voltage in order to ensure it doesn’t drain so much you can’t start the engine.

Emergency SOS

One of the other main safety features is Emergency SOS, something previous Nextbase dash cams have offered. You’ll need a Protect Plus subscription to enable it.

When set up, the iQ will monitor for a “severe crash” and when it detects one it will automatically send an SOS to emergency services with your exact location and – if you’ve provided it – your medical data.

You’ll receive a call back from those services but if you’re unable to answer, an ambulance will be dispatched to your location automatically.

Voice commands

You can also say a variety of other things prefixed by “Hey dash cam” such as:

• Turn the microphone on
• Turn the microphone off
• Start recording
• Stop recording
• Lock this file
• Turn the cabin camera off
• Turn the cabin camera on

For each, your command is processed locally and there are many variations of each command so you don’t have to remember the exact phrase. They all worked reliably when I tried them while driving.

Fortunately, turning the mic off only means audio isn’t recorded – it remains on to listen for your next command.

Currently, there’s no spoken feedback: everything is communicated using alert tones and a small LCD display which shows icons – it isn’t used for showing video.

Missing features

As mentioned, a couple of features are not available at launch. One is Guardian Mode. This is designed partly for parents with young drivers who want to keep tabs on them. When it’s added, you’ll be able to set speed and location limits, and get notifications when the car exceeds or leaves them.

This is also useful if you leave the car at a garage for repair, or with a valet.

A talk-back feature will allow you to communicate with whoever is in the car, too.

The second headline feature that isn’t available is Roadwatch AI. This uses a combination of computer vision and radar to identify other road users, their speed and trajectory.

This data can then be used alongside the video itself to help prove what happened if there is, for example, a collision.

As the iQ records video using H.265, you can’t use Nextbase’s current desktop viewer as it supports only H.264, so there was no way of getting at any of the recorded meta data at the time of review.

Performance & quality

As you’d expect at these prices, quality is good, although perhaps not as good as might hope for. Resolution depends upon the model you buy. The 1K has 1080p front and cabin cameras, but the interior is recorded at 1440p if you buy the 2K or 4K models.

The rear camera records at 1440p and can be connected to any of the three models.

Jim Martin / Foundry

I tested the 4K and the quality from the main front-facing camera is generally respectable, and a step up from Nextbase’s 622. There’s lots of detail which means you can read registration plates of other vehicles, whether they’re parked or driving.

There are quite a few exceptions to this, though. At night or if the weather is bad, details can be obscured by rain on your windows, or because your car’s headlights are reflecting off number plates.

The wide field of view means cars also have to be quite close by, otherwise their plates are simply too small to see. Usually, though, you only care about these details if another car hits yours – meaning it will be very close.

As there’s no HDR, dynamic range is somewhat limited and this can cause over- or underexposure when the sun is in the frame.

It’s surprising there’s no polariser for the front or rear cameras, neither built-in nor optional. There are just two video quality settings in the app, too, one being to disable audio recording. That leaves only exposure, which can be set separately for each camera.

Here are some examples of snapshots from day and night recording from all three cameras.

In the app, you’ll find recordings split into two sections: Events and Library.

Events is the important stuff, such as impacts, motion detected while parked and manual recordings where you’ve locked a file by saying the command, or pressing the button on the underside of the iQ. All are uploaded to the cloud automatically if you have a Protect Plus subscription.

Library is where you’ll see a complete timeline of all the events along with the regular continuous clips recorded while driving along. You can download any of these clips within the app as long as the iQ has power and a mobile data signal – and you have a Protect or Protect Plus subscription.

Whenever you download something, you can pick which of the camera feeds to include: you don’t have to download all of them.

It can take a while for the iQ to wake up and start streaming video if it’s in low-power mode, but the app does a great job of telling you what it’s doing rather than merely showing a spinning circle.

Although there’s built-in Wi-Fi, Nextbase says it’s working on a direct Wi-Fi link and expects local downloading to be possible some 4-6 weeks after launch.

You can of course take out the microSD card and pop it into a card reader on your laptop or PC but Nextbase has added an HD download option in the app. Unfortunately, this is only for videos in the Library tab. It’s not an option in the Events tab, but those are the clips you’re more likely to want to download. There, you’ll see the standard-def version which are automatically uploaded to the cloud as part of a Protect Plus subscription.

Continuous recording splits clips into 30-second chunks. These are 143MB for the front 4K camera, and 86MB for the cabin and rear 2K cameras. Alongside each is a low-resolution 5MB version which is what you see in the app.

With all three cameras recording, the 64GB card can hold around 1.5 hours of footage.

In terms of power usage, I found the iQ worked fine in a car that’s used every day and has a battery that’s in good health. But if you leave it parked a lot of the time, you’ll find the iQ switches off to preserve power after a day or two and therefore won’t be able to notify you or record anything.

Price & availability

In the UK you can buy the iQ from Halfords or direct from Nextbase .

As mentioned, the 1K costs £349, the 2K £399 and the 4K £499. The rear camera is £149.

In the US prices are higher: $499, $599 and $699 respectively, and these are the same whether you buy from Nextbase or Best Buy .

It’s possible to use the iQ without a subscription: the free tier is called ‘Solo’. The only feature it includes is text notifications sent when an event has been detected. These don’t specify what type of event and as you can’t connect remotely, you won’t be able to see the live view, nor watch cloud recordings of the event.

This means a subscription is essential: without it, the iQ isn’t much different to traditional dash cams.

In the UK the cheaper Protect tier costs £6.99 per month or £69.99 per year, while Protect Plus is £9.99 or £99.99.

In the US, prices are again higher at $9.99 per month or $99.99 for a year of Protect, while Protect Plus is $19.99 per month or $199.99 per year.

Protect Plus stores events for 180 days and also adds multiple user accounts (so other family members can use the app), Emergency SOS and automatic incident backup. The latter is an important distinction: if you opt only for Protect, nothing is uploaded: you just get the option to download videos remotely to your phone manually.

For alternatives, see our roundup of the best dash cams.

Should I buy the Nextbase iQ?

The iQ is the smartest dash cam I’ve reviewed. It’s great to be able to watch the live view and see what’s going on when notifications arrive, as well as see where your car is from the GPS location.

The app is – on the whole – great and it makes the iQ easy to use. Voice commands are useful, too.

However, despite that long development time, the iQ feels like an unfinished product. There are a fair few features missing, not just Roadwatch AI and Guardian Mode but things like the ability to download full-resolution videos to your phone via Wi-Fi and watch videos alongside GPS and G-sensor data. Firmware updates, of which there have been a good few during my testing, aren’t notified: you have to go into the settings and check manually to see if there’s a new version to download.

Nextbase says it’s working hard to address these things, but there are no guarantees of when they’ll arrive.

Regardless, price is going to be the sticking point for many: paying £349 / $499 for a 1080p camera is asking a lot, and it’s a further £149 / $200 for the rear camera (which is a wise investment).

Given the relatively high subscription prices it’s disappointing that videos backed up to the cloud are so low quality and that you need Protect Plus for events to be uploaded to the cloud automatically: a feature we take for granted on Wi-Fi security cameras.

Finally, there’s the one-year warranty, which is standard for Nextbase. But with the promise of the iQ being upgraded with new features over a longer period than that, it feels too short.

Ultimately, the iQ is a great security device for your car which should improve over time. I’ve no reason to doubt that Nextbase will make good on those promises, but you might want to wait a bit until some of them are fulfilled before shelling out.

Best Prices Today: Nextbase iQ 2K Smart Dashcam

Author: Jim Martin, Executive Editor, Tech Advisor

Jim has been testing and reviewing products for over 20 years. His main beats include VPN services and antivirus. He also covers smart home tech, mesh Wi-Fi and electric bikes.

Recent stories by Jim Martin:

• The best dash cams 2023
• Nextbase launches internet-connected iQ car security camera
• Viofo A229 Duo review: 1440p front + rear video

At a Glance

Expert’s Rating

Our Verdict

Not everyone will need all the 422GW’s features but even if you don’t it’s still great value (but not in the US). And be prepared for a struggle to get Alexa working.

Best Prices Today: Nextbase 422GW

We’re reviewing the 422GW here which sits just one step below the current flagship, the 522GW . There will be a 4K 622GW at some point, but at the moment it’s still in the works.

Price & availability

The new range completely replaces the old models, but prices remain the same, so the 422GW costs £129 , just like the 412GW did. But as those old models are now discontinued, you’ll be able to pick them up at a discount while stocks last. However, with so many new features, it makes more sense to go for a model from the new range.

Nextbase has expanded to the US, where the 422GW costs a lot more: $229.99 from Best Buy.

For alternative choices, see our roundup of the best dash cams .

Features & design

The biggest change is the mounting system. The old Click&Go was good, but it was too tall and meant the dash cam hung a bit too low on the windscreen for a lot of cars. The new system sees the mounting point moved to the front of the camera, making the whole thing a lot more compact.

If there’s one negative, it’s that the magnets are so strong, it’s hard to remove the dash cam from the mount and if you’re using the suction cup rather than the sticky pad you’ll have to hold the cup to prevent it being pulled off the windscreen.

As before, the power cable attaches to the mount, so you can remove and replace the dash cam without worrying about wires. Unless, that is, you opt for the wired rear camera, which attaches to the mini HDMI socket on the side. More on this later.

The 422GW is noticeably smaller than the 412GW it replaces, being considerably narrower, but there’s still a good-sized screen. There are only two buttons: power and an emergency button (centred below the screen) which you can push to protect the video being recorded from being overwritten when the microSD card is full up.

Everything else is done via the 2.5in touchscreen. The new interface is simplified, with far fewer confusing icons on screen and presenting four main options when you tap on the settings cog. By default, the 422GW records at 1440p, the highest resolution, at 30fps. You can change to 1080p60, but it won’t auto switch to 30fps at night for a brighter image, so isn’t recommended.

The intelligent parking mode, which is off by default, runs from the 422GW’s internal battery. It uses the G-sensor to detect a bump at which point it will turn on and record a short clip, which will be put in the PROTECTED folder on the microSD card so it can’t be overwritten. It won’t necessarily show what triggered the recording, but it can prove valuable evidence if someone hits your car while it’s parked and then drives off in view of the dash cam.

Emergency SOS

One of the two new headline features is SOS. This works in conjunction with the new MyNextbase app on your phone. In the event of a serious crash, the dash cam will talk to the app and monitor for movement. The app will display a countdown on your phone and if the alert isn’t cancelled by the driver or a passenger, the emergency services will be notified about the incident, along with the GPS coordinates from your phone.

Nextbase is proud of this, as it’s the first aftermarket system of its type and only one of two apps that have been approved to contact the emergency services directly. The system works in other countries too, not just the UK.

You get a year’s free access, but after that it costs £2.99 per month. We’re told there will be discounts for buying an annual subscription and the option to only activate SOS for special trips, such as holidays.

In our early testing, there was a bug which meant the SOS became disabled in the app and we had to enable it each time we got into the car. This has now been fixed, but it is by no means the only bug in the app.

If you forget your phone, the dash cam will alert you and display a red screen to remind you that the feature can’t operate.

Alexa, save that recording.

The 422GW is the first dash cam to have Alexa built in. Although it works using your phone’s data connection, it enables hands-free Alexa while your phone is locked with the screen turned off, and the Nextbase Alexa skill adds some dash cam-specific functions. So you can say “Alexa, protect that recording” instead of pressing the button below the screen.

You can also get Alexa to start and stop recording, though these commands aren’t particularly useful given you probably want your dash cam to record continuously.

At the time of writing, two months after the 422GW went on sale, the Alexa skill wasn’t available so we couldn’t try out these functions, but we could enable Alexa from the MyNextbase Connect app and use her usual capabilities.

Microphones in the 422GW pick up your voice, and the dash cam uses Bluetooth to communicate with your phone. Alexa then responds via your phone’s speaker, but if you have a Bluetooth-enabled car stereo you can have your phone connected to that as well to hear Alexa through your car speakers. It’s quite a complicated set up, but it’s the best approach if you want to use Alexa to control music playback.

Initially we used a Huawei P30 Pro to test the MyNextbase app, but having failed to get Alexa working several times we contacted Nextbase about it and were told that the aggressive power saving measures of the phone meant it wouldn’t work. But we tried again with an iPhone and had a better experience.

MyNextbase Connect

The new app is better than the old one, but it feels a lot like beta software that needs finishing. The layout is intuitive for the most part, but there are two menus and both include ‘Dash Cam’ but do different things. In the pop-out menu for My Dash Cam you can change dash cam settings, but on the home screen the Dash Cam button takes you to videos stored on the microSD card. Library contains videos you’ve downloaded.

All slightly confusing, but more importantly the new app is much better for reviewing video directly from the dash cam. This is largely thanks to its ability to play a low-res version of each video clip. But it’s also handy that you can see your position on a map as the video plays, or the telemetry data.

You can’t download a clip to your phone when viewing: you have to go back to the list of videos, tap a hamburger-style icon which puts it into select mode. You can then select a number of clips, download them, delete them or protect or unprotect them. There’s no secondary check, so any unprotected videos will be deleted immediately, but not if they’re protected: those clips can’t be deleted.

The full-resolution versions of clips are downloaded which can be up to 220MB in size, but there’s still no way to trim a clip before downloading the part you need: you have to have a minimum of a one-minute clip. Still, transfer speeds aren’t too bad and it only takes a couple of minutes to download one.

There’s another new feature called AutoSync which transmits the low-res videos to your phone and uploads them to the new Nextbase Cloud where they are kept for 30 days. There’s no charge for this, and Nextbase says there will never be. Unfortunately, there’s very little help in the app an no explanation of how to enable AutoSync or how to access these videos in the cloud.

Rear cameras

The 422GW, just like the 322 and 522, supports the new range of three rear cameras. One is a traditional wired unit which attaches to your rear window.

The second is a unit which plugs into the right side of the dash cam and uses a zoom lens to record the view out of the rear (Rear View). Finally there’s the Cabin View camera which is very similar but has a wide-angle lens and so records everything inside the car, but you can’t really see what’s happening out the rear window.

All are the same price, £50 in the UK and $99.99 in the US

The problem with the plug-in cameras is that the connector is on the ‘wrong’ side for UK drivers. Most people place them to the left of the rear-view mirror or behind it entirely. But so the rear-facing cameras aren’t blocked by the mirror you either have to mount the dash cam much further to the left (where it will likely be in the way of the sunvisor) or much lower, where it takes up more windscreen space.

We had a problem with the rear view camera, too, which caused the 422GW to lock up and refuse to record – seemingly stuck at one second – and occasionally had to reformat the SD card because of errors.

Performance

Video quality is largely the same as before. Nextbase says there are improvements, but they’re hard to see when you put the 412GW and 422GW’s footage side by side. However, that’s not a bad thing: quality is very good, and crucially, registration plates are almost always clear and readable when you pause a video.

Unlike the 522GW there’s no polarising filter, but you can buy one for a rather exorbitant £20 from Halfords which fits the whole Series 2 range.

There’s no fancy stuff going on to improve quality at night, so more often than not, you’ll find footage quite grainy and details such as number plates impossible to make out. But that’s par for the course with dash cams.

There is a new GPS system which runs at 10Hz, so it means your position is recorded 10 times per second. It leads to a much more accurate measure of where you were on the road at any given time, so it could come in handy if you have to prove your innocence should an insurance claim be made against you, for example.

It also means the GPS speed display (which is now shown in blue, not yellow as on the older models) is much more accurate and updates instantly.

Rear camera quality is best from the Rear Window camera, which is wired. The Rear View is a lot easier to install, and a more convenient choice if you own a convertible, but quality isn’t nearly as good. In our test car we saw a lot of video wobble – often called the jello effect – and the zoom lens compresses the perspective so it can be tricky to tell exactly how far away things are.

Here’s a 720p clip from the zoom rear view camera:

Our other gripe is that there are far too many different notification sounds, few of which have any on-screen indication of what they mean. And the more features you enable, the more beeps and tones you’ll hear. We still haven’t worked out what they all mean… and they can get pretty annoying.

Finally, there’s new desktop software that works much like the old version. It’s disappointing that the files are listed as they appear on the SD card, so there’s no way to play back front and rear cameras simultaneously, and it doesn’t filter out the low-res clips which are only intended for playback in the mobile app. This means you have four videos for each recorded minute: two for the front camera and two for rear.

MyNextbase Player does allow you to edit clips, remove sound, add annotations to each france and even remove the data displayed at the bottom. But even that part won’t allow you to put front and rear footage together, either side by side or overlaid. The only option is to join videos so they play one after another. Or you can use alternative video editing software, of course.

Verdict

Overall the 422GW is a good dash cam, and it’s admirable that Nextbase has managed to implement the Emergency SOS feature.

Alexa integration is great if you can get it working, but our experience was less than smooth, and you’re out of luck currently if you have a Huawei phone.

It’s also good to have the choice of rear cameras, but a shame that – in the UK at least – they don’t connect on the left-hand side.

Hopefully Nextbase will fix the software issues and improve the app: it’s still disappointing you can’t select just a few seconds from a clip and download it to your phone.

Specs

Nextbase 422GW: Specs

• Display Size: 2.5in touchscreen
• 140° wide-angle lens
• GPS Logging: 10x per second
• Speed Camera Alert: No
• Micro SD Included: No
• Built-in Alexa, Emergency SOS
• Intelligent parking mode
• Compatible with rear camera modules
• Polarising filter: compatible
• Accessories supplied: 4m car charger, suction mount, adhesive mount, mini USB cable

Best Prices Today: Nextbase 422GW

Author: Jim Martin, Executive Editor, Tech Advisor

Jim has been testing and reviewing products for over 20 years. His main beats include VPN services and antivirus. He also covers smart home tech, mesh Wi-Fi and electric bikes.

Recent stories by Jim Martin:

• The best dash cams 2023
• Nextbase iQ review
• Nextbase launches internet-connected iQ car security camera

At a Glance

Expert’s Rating

Pros

• Lots of detail
• Emergency SOS
• Alexa

Cons

• Expensive
• Colour accuracy

Our Verdict

Expensive, but packed with features and offering detailed video quality.

Best Prices Today: Nextbase 622GW

Nextbase took its time to launch the 622GW: almost a year after the rest of the range. But it’s here now and it is literally packed with features.

On top of the 522GW, it has that higher 4K resolution, image stabilisation, extreme weather mode and what3words, to make it easier to tell the emergency services exactly where you are.

Like the 522GW, you can connect one of the three rear camera modules that Nextbase offers and turn it into a front-plus-rear dash cam which records footage to in sync to the same microSD card, which isn’t supplied. The 622GW also has Alexa built-in along with the Emergency SOS service, which is free for the first year, then you have to pay a small subscription fee.

It also shares quite a lot of other similar features to the 522GW: a touchscreen interface, the MyNextbase companion app, a magnetic quick-release mounting system and a big ‘ol lens barrel poking out the front with a polariser on it.

Design

Just like other models in the range, the 622GW shares a similar, traditional dash cam design with a large 3in screen on the rear which sits perpendicular to the road. That means it doesn’t hug the windscreen and keep out of the way of sun visors as well as the Viofo A129 Duo, for example, but the magnetic mount that attaches next to the lens does make it more compact overall than many dash cams.

The mount houses the GPS receiver and there are two options here: suction or adhesive. The latter is preferable as suction mounts tend to fall off from time to time, whereas the 3M adhesive is tough to get off even when you need to remove it from the windscreen.

Installation is straightforward if you’re using the bundled cable that plugs into a 12V socket somewhere on your dashboard or centre console, but it’s much neater to go with the hardwire kit that you can either install yourself or pay Halfords or another supplier to fit for you.

The kit isn’t required for the intelligent parking mode, which uses the camera’s own battery power to monitor the G-sensor for movement and record when your car is hit.

Nextbase now offers a Limited Edition 622GW Sienna version which sports a burnt orange colour, with 5% of profits being donated to MS Society UK.

4K video

The headline feature, of course, is the 4K video. It records at 3840 x 2160 pixels at 30 frames per second. This is considerably more than the 2560 x 1440 pixels that the 522GW is capable of and image quality is further improved by digital stabilisation. Strangely, this is disabled by default, as is the new extreme weather mode which can ‘see through fog’.

Aside from what appeared to be a failure of the white balance system that resulted in colours appearing far too warm, quality is impressive.

Pause a video and you should be able to make out registration plates just about anywhere in the frame: on cars driving past, in front of you, parked by the side of the road or even those waiting in a side road waiting to pull out.

The new sensor’s larger pixels definitely contribute to better quality at night, as video is noticeably sharper than any previous Nextbase dash cam and there’s a lot more detail and better contrast.

You’ll still struggle to see registration plates, but that’s partly because of their reflective nature in the UK which means they turn white when your car’s headlights shine on them. The fact you can see some blurry characters on this van’s plate is quite remarkable.

For those who like the technical details, 4K video is recorded in MP4 at a variable bitrate. Some files showed a total bitrate of under 50Mbps, while others approached 60Mbps. Audio is pretty good, recorded in stereo at 512kbps at 16kHz. You can turn off audio recording, but unlike other dash cams which have a button for this, you have to dig into the 622GW’s video settings menu to do it.

It’s worth noting that you have to set the resolution to 1080p if you want to use the 120fps slo-mo mode: you can’t review 4K footage at that frame rate.

If you connect a rear camera to the 622GW it will still record at 4K, but all rear modules are limited to 1080p.

Here’s the full-resolution night-time clip:

MyNextbase app

When connected to the 622GW’s Wi-Fi, you can see the view from the lens, change settings and also review recorded video clips. Downloading the 400MB that a one-minute clip demands is surprisingly quick over Wi-Fi (running at about 20Mbps to my Huawei P30 Pro), so while I could complain that there’s still no way to trim clips or pick which few seconds of a clip I actually need, download the full minute is do-able even in 4K.

The low-res preview files are enabled by default but, again, you can disable these if you don’t want them taking up space on your memory card.

Price & availability

Although the 622GW will cost you £249.99 from Halfords , that’s the same price its predecessor, the 612GW, cost.

In the US, Nextbase dash cams are much more expensive, and the 622GW will set you back $399 from Best Buy .

In the UK, you can buy a rear camera for £49, but in the US they’re $99.99, making the total front-plus-rear package a whopping $500.

For cheaper alternatives, see our roundup of the best dash cams .

Verdict

The 622GW certainly lives up to its flagship status, both in price and features. If you want the absolute best, this is it. There’s great image quality both day and (relatively speaking) at night.

You also get some genuinely useful safety features including what3words which, when enabled and there’s GPS reception, lets you press the shortcut icon on the screen to get your precise location in a format that couldn’t be easier to relay to emergency services over the phone. The SOS feature goes further and informs them of your whereabouts if you remain motionless after a heavy collision.

Specs

Nextbase 622GW: Specs

• Display Size: 3in touchscreen
• 140° wide-angle lens
• Resolution: 1080p @ 120fps, 1440p @ 60fps, 4K @ 30fps
• GPS Logging: 10x per second
• Speed Camera Alert: No
• Micro SD Included: No
• Built-in Alexa, Emergency SOS
• Intelligent parking mode
• Compatible with rear camera modules
• Polarising filter: built-in
• Accessories supplied: 4m car charger, suction mount, adhesive mount, mini USB cable

Best Prices Today: Nextbase 622GW

Author: Jim Martin, Executive Editor, Tech Advisor

Jim has been testing and reviewing products for over 20 years. His main beats include VPN services and antivirus. He also covers smart home tech, mesh Wi-Fi and electric bikes.

Recent stories by Jim Martin:

• The best dash cams 2023
• Nextbase iQ review
• Nextbase launches internet-connected iQ car security camera

Nextbase officially announced the iQ at CES 2022. It’s a new range of dash cams that do more than simply recording when you’re driving and parked up.

That’s because it’s also a security camera for your car. And no security device would be much use if it couldn’t notify you of critical events. So one of the iQ’s key features is internet connectivity, but it has a bunch of other features as well.

It isn’t the only dash cam to have a built-in SIM – Blackvue’s DVR750 and Thinkware’s T700 LTE already have them – but the iQ does more and offers higher resolution video.

How much does the Nextbase iQ cost?

There are three models:

• 1K – 1080p resolution – £349
• 2K – 1440p resolution – £399
• 4K – 2160p (UHD) resolution – £449

All three have two cameras, one facing the road in front, and one facing the cabin. The cabin camera on the 4K model records at 1440p, not 4K. A 1440p rear camera will be available in the near future for £149, and this mounts in your rear window for a clear view of what’s happening behind.

In the US, subscription costs are higher. Protect costs $9.99 per month or $99.99 annually, while Protect Plus is $19.99 per month or $199.99 per year.

When is the Nextbase iQ release date?

Developing the IQ took longer than expected: the company had originally said it would go on sale before the end of 2022, then pushed it back to spring 2023.

The iQ was finally released on 30 October 2023.

You can buy an iQ immediately from Nextbase , or from Halfords in the UK.

Nextbase

What are the Nextbase iQ’s features?

At launch the iQ has the following features, but Nextbase has always said this is just the beginning and it plans to add new features regularly in the future.

• Smart Sense Parking : Using a combination of radar and g-force sensors, you get notifications (with images and video) when someone is acting suspiciously around your vehicle
• Driving/Security Mode : The iQ automatically switches between driving and parking modes, connecting to either your car’s OBD II port, or using the included hard-wire kit.
• Witness Mode . Activated using your voice, this records any incident and uploads the recording to the cloud and shares it with an emergency contact or designated third party in real-time.
• Live View: Just like a home security camera, you can watch the live camera feeds at any time via the Nextbase iQ app.
• Event notifications: Sent in real-time for events you’ll care about such as when someone reverses into your car in the car park or when an intruder attempts to enter your vehicle. Fast wake-up means you won’t miss anything important.
• Remote Alarm: Via the app you can set off the iQ’s built-in alarm to deter intruders.
• Emergency SOS : Alerts the emergency services with your location and other critical details following a serious accident.

Future features, which are already well into their development, include:

• Guardian Mode: Sends a notification when your vehicle exceeds a set speed or location, useful for parents wanting to keep tabs on young drivers.
• Push to Talk : This lets you to speak to anyone in the vehicle, whether your kids or an intruder.
• Roadwatch AI : Tracks the speeds and trajectories of other vehicles around you, as well as pedestrians, cyclists and e-scooters, providing warnings to the driver and evidence that can help prove who was at fault in the event of a collision.

Another feature on the horizon is Driver Aware. Also known as DMS, this will monitor the driver using infrared sensors and provide alters to combat distracted and/or drowsy driving.

Nextbase

Nextbase iQ subscriptions

As mentioned, there are three options. Solo is free, but doesn’t allow you to connect to the iQ remotely to see live or recorded video. Here’s how they compare. Any marked with an asterisk means those features are coming soon:

Solo – Free

• Nextbase iQ app
• Voice control
• Real-time text notifications

Protect – £6.99 per month or £69.99 annually

• Nextbase iQ app
• Voice Control
• Real-time image notifications
• Live View (60 minutes)
• Smart Sense Parking
• Witness mode
• *RoadWatch AI
• *Guardian Mode
• Remote Alarm
• Cloud Storage – 30 days

Protect Plus – £9.99 per month or £99.99 annually

• Nextbase iQ app
• Voice Control
• Real-time image notifications
• Live View (120 minutes)
• Live View Look Back
• Smart Sense Parking
• Witness mode
• *RoadWatch AI
• *Guardian Mode
• Remote Alarm
• Cloud Storage – 180 days
• *Multiple User Accounts
• Emergency SOS
• Automated incident back-up

We’re reviewing the iQ and will have a full review soon. If you need recommendations of more affordable models, here are the best dash cams to buy .

Author: Jim Martin, Executive Editor, Tech Advisor

Jim has been testing and reviewing products for over 20 years. His main beats include VPN services and antivirus. He also covers smart home tech, mesh Wi-Fi and electric bikes.

Recent stories by Jim Martin:

• The best dash cams 2023
• Nextbase iQ review
• Viofo A229 Duo review: 1440p front + rear video