Just Add Insanity to the Nextbase 622GW Dashcam Review

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This high-end dashcam records everything. Bad drivers are not among them

Rivian Dashcam

Nowadays, having a dashcam is a smart idea. In the event of an accident, insurance companies frequently assign responsibility (and, as a result, increased premiums) to both parties, but video proof of culpability is unmistakable. YouTube is maybe even better. We chose to try one of these $400 dashcams on our long-term Toyota Mirai after utilising Nextbase's top-of-the-line 622GW on our 2022 Rivian R1T Trans America Trail journey and finding all the cool things it can do. Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and capture a spectacular accident on tape! (Spoiler alert: we didn't, but we did capture some amazing footage of a sprinting bear.)

The 622GW is Nextbase's flagship camera, and its feature set is almost as mind-boggling to us as one of Lieberman's evaluations is to Quilter's Monthly readers. The 622GW can record video at resolutions up to 4K (ideal for obtaining licence plates from hit-and-run drivers), has image stabilisation, a polarizer on the lens to reduce glare in the windshield, excellent low-light performance, and can accept Alexa instructions. It detects collisions and immediately saves the footage right before and after, as well as calling emergency personnel and transmitting your position and medical history.

If you don't know where you are, What3Words will inform you. There are also rear-view and cabin-cam add-ons for the camera. There's also a time-lapse feature, which we utilised to document our Trans-America Trail trek with Rivian. As far as we can determine, the Nextbase 622GW can do everything a dashcam can accomplish.

The dashcam itself, a good long wire with a 12-volt "cigarette-lighter" converter, and a windshield mount with both adhesive and suction attachments were all included in the 622GW's package. An SD card is missing; Nextbase suggests its own cards ($19.99 to $99.99) to provide enough writing speed to record the massive quantities of high-definition footage captured by the camera.

Professional installation is always an option, but with little help from Nextbase, it was simple to remove a few interior trim panels from the Toyota and disguise the wiring. We put the dashcam into the 12V outlet under the Mirai's centre armrest, but because the socket is only powered while the car is turned on, we wouldn't be able to wake up and capture parking-lot impacts. Nextbase manufactures a $29.99 hardwire kit that connects directly to a power supply or fusebox and provides continuous power to the camera.

The power cord fits into the windshield mount (which also houses the GPS receiver), and the camera magnetically hooks to the mount. This makes it simple to remove the dashcam and conceal it from thieves. Nextbase sells a range of handy add-ons, such as two rear-view cameras—one wired that fits in the back window and another that snaps straight into the side of the 622GW—and a cabin-view camera.

Rivian Dashcam

The dashcam is quite simple to set up using the touchscreen on the rear, and we generally left the default settings alone (save for audio; we decided the insurance adjuster need not hear us singing along with Depeche Mode). All we had to do from there was go on the road and wait for someone to strike us. When a collision happens, the 622GW's g-sensor detects it and immediately copies 30 seconds of video—10 seconds before and 20 seconds after the collision—to a different folder, guaranteeing that it is not overwritten.

We never had a collision, but we saved a lot of film manually; there's a bright red button on the bottom edge of the camera that manually copies the aforementioned 30 seconds of video to the secured folder. While we haven't gathered anything remarkable enough to make us YouTube stars ("Stupid Drivers in Los Angeles 2021—You Won't Believe What Happens Next! "), we were taken aback late one night during our TAT journey when a bear barreled across the route directly in front of us. It was preserved for posterity with a simple push of the button.

Rivian R1T and a Bear

The 622GW records both low- and high-resolution copies of all movies, as well as files for the rear-view camera, if one is installed. There are numerous methods to view video, including using a Nextbase phone app or any movie-player programme, but we preferred to insert the SD card straight into our PC and use the MyNextbase Player. It displays the video stream as well as telemetry data such as current and average speed, direction, location, and g forces. It shows the car's location on Google Maps and may display front- and rear-facing feeds individually, side by side, or in a picture-in-picture manner.It's fantastic to watch video and telemetry, since it's a terrific way to examine your quick runs on your favourite twisty roads, but we wouldn't suggest such hedonism.

Problems? We didn't come across many. We discovered that the plug-in backup camera doesn't operate very well, at least not in a car with a small rear window like our Mirai. The camera's exposure is thrown off by the gloomy interior, and much of what we could see in the back glass was blown out, however we did make out the numbers on licence plates. If you want to capture what's behind you, the wired rear-view camera, which costs $99.99, is the way to go.

Rivian Dashcam

On our Trans America Trail trip, we had a few instances of the cameras overheating in the sun and shutting down, necessitating a cool-down, reboot, and (frequently) resetting of our settings. Even on sweltering Los Angeles days, this didn't happen with the camera we mounted in the Mirai—but our travel times seldom surpassed 2 hours. The cameras on the Trans-America Trail ran for up to 14 hours each day.

We were mostly pleased by how much the Nextbase 622GW dashcam can achieve. We had a lot of fun with the Time Lapse feature, and we appreciate how we can quickly film all of the highway foolishness we encounter in magnificent 4K magnificence. And, while $400 isn't inexpensive, if the dashcam provides us with the evidence we need to protect our insurance premiums from rising, it's well worth it. All we need now is for someone to smash into us in dramatic way so that we can record the collision on camera. What happens next will astound you!