Nextbase 322GW

The 322GW sits in the middle of Nextbase’s dash cam range – but is it the one you should buy?

ash cams vary widely in design, price and functionality, with some offering 4K video or an entire suite of driver assistance features. Others are much simpler but perhaps lack the crisp video quality you need to record video detailed enough to be used as evidence after an accident.

Thankfully, there is a halfway house, a sweet spot in the dash cam range. The Nextbase 322GW slots neatly into this segment.

First up, the most important aspect of any dash cam – video quality. Here, it shines brightly, thanks to 1080p Full HD video resolution at 60 frames per second. This means you get enough pixels to produce a clear image, and a fast enough frame rate to make video smooth.

Much like the rest of Nextbase’s GW range of dash cams, the 322GW is fairly compact, has a touchscreen display on the back, and a smart magnetic mounting system. The camera measures 47 x 85 x 45mm, weighs 82g, and the LED display is 2.5 inches.

While there is a USB power port on the camera itself, the included power cable also

D$249 nextbase.com

plugs into the windscreen mount. This makes it very easy to remove and replace the camera, as you just pull it away from the magnetic mount and away you go. There’s also an HDMI-out port for plugging in a rear-facing camera, if you want to buy that too. The 322GW includes Nextbase’s Emergency SOS feature, which uses a connection to your smartphone to call the emergency services and give them your precise location if an accident is detected and you don’t respond.

There’s also a parking mode, where the camera enters a low-power mode that uses the internal battery and will only fire into life when it detects some movement, such as something pranging your car while exiting the adjacent parking space.

Finally, GPS is included for logging your precise location, speed and direction of travel. All of this data can be added to every video the camera records, if you so wish. Integrated GPS like this makes for a more seamless process than connecting to your smartphone.

If your budget for a dash cam is just under $250, then you really can’t go all that wrong with the Nextbase 322GW. It’s easy to use, produces high-quality Full HD video at 60fps, and the Emergency SOS feature could be genuinely life-saving.