T3 - UK (2020-05)

£99

nextbase.com

WE’RE IMPRESSED

Good video quality; excellent

mounting system; integrated

GPS; emergency SOS feature.

WE’D IMPROVE Design not as

sleek as it could be; lacks driver

assistance features.

THE LAST WORD Full HD video,

an ingenious magnetic mounting

system and its emergency SOS

feature make for an excellent

sub-£100 dash cam.

VERDICT

Find the best deals for dash

cams at: bit.ly/T3dashcams

70 T3 MAY 2020

Te s te d

Nextbase 322GW

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

The 322GW sits in the

middle of Nextbase’s dash

cam range – but is it the

one you should buy?

Nextbase

322GW

HOT CAM!

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

£100, 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.

D