Verdict
The NextBase 122 is an entry - level dash River Cam , designed to cover the basics . It uses NextBase ’s brilliant Click&Go PRO mount , has a GB - sensor to detect any knocks when your car ’s park , and has a small colour screen . However , it does n’t have GPS , and does n’t record especially decipherable videos - particularly at nighttime . It ’s an improvement over some garish bolt cams , but you’re able to get right on a budget .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
If you ’re after a cheap , simple dash River Cam , NextBase ’s entry - spirit level 122 might seem like a good alternative .
It ’s very introductory , supporting only 720p ( standard HD ) video , and forgoing the kind of fancy number one wood assistance features you get further up the range . More significantly , it ’s missing GPS , so it ca n’t severalise where you are or how tight you ’re travelling . drop a little more and you get much good image quality .
Design and features
There ’s no getting out from the fact this is a elementary elan cam . Compact , and look much like a regular television camera , it miss out on the touchscreen and advanced feature you might expect from a more expensive gadget . It ’s not totally introductory , though . It has a colour screen which , while far too belittled to work on well as a viewer , lets you access and adjust the television camera ’s configurations without require a personal computer or smartphone .
This camera disc in 720p ( received HD ) result . While that ’s a duad of steps down from the QHD or 4 K you ’d get on range - topping examples , it should be enough to capture the important details from most impulsive events . Should something hap , there ’s a big button at the base of the sieve to immediately protect your video from being overwritten .
Perhaps more importantly , the 122 ’s lens extend a horizontal slant of only 120 ° , rather than the 140 ° offered by the rest of the NextBase range . This narrower angle should still be enough to trance everything conk out on in front of your car , but it overlay less of the area to the side .
gayly , the 122 make out with the same Click&Go PRO mount used by the ease of the NextBase sprint cam range . It ’s an excellent system , where the tv camera ’s power cablegram remains for good in the setting , and the camera itself is held in place by brawny magnets . you’re able to simply tug it free and cluck it back into place whenever you need to take away or refit it to the cable car .
With no GPS pass catcher , this tv camera ca n’t stereotype videos with GPS coordinates or your fomite speed . In many cases that might not be an issue – for model , if you just need to prove a traffic light was green as you drove through it . However , it could leave you with problems if somebody else claim you were speeding . There ’s no GPS fourth dimension source , either , which could potentially leave you vulnerable if somebody gainsay the exact meter of an incident .
The NextBase 122 does n’t have advanced driver aids , but it does have a useful parking mode . Park up , and the camera enter a rich eternal rest , while its g - sensing element varan for any bumps to your car . If there is one , it ’ll wake up and start record within a few seconds . The system of rules wo n’t capture the actual impact , but it could cater authoritative grounds of what happened next .
It ’s deserving mentioning that this bolt Cam River does n’t support NextBase ’s grasp of rear and cabin opinion camera . It also only supports MicroSD card up to 32 GB . While that ’s plenty to capture all but an epic effort , it does mean you ’ll need to back up any important TV promptly or chance them being overwrite by new ones . Like other NextBase dash cams , there ’s no fore - facing LED to warn other road users that you ’re filming .
Performance and video quality
This is an soft panache River Cam to live with , but it might call for a minuscule tweaking . Like other NextBase cameras , its CRT screen remains on by default . I find oneself this distracting , but you’re able to set it to go gloomy after a few import . Parking mode is switched off out of the box , but there seems little downside to turn it on . The photographic camera ’s battery did n’t go flat and I did n’t get any faux alarms , at least until I removed the camera from the car – then it started recording with the slightest movement .
I quickly grew to love the NextBase mount , which realize it easy to fit and remove the 122 . I was n’t so keen on the camera ’s MicroSD slot , however , as I plant it hard to fight the card far enough in to eject it . This camera ’s menu can be a picayune bit fiddly , too .
In accuracy , these niggles are all things you ’d sort out within the first week or so of ownership , but you ’d be gravel with the NextBase 122 ’s indifferent video calibre . Whether in clear , overcast or black weather , there ’s a want of sharpness that goes beyond the television camera ’s relatively modest 1,280×720 resolution . Even in daylight recording , noise was evident in darker areas of the frame . The dynamic range was poor , with lighter area of the frame being washed out .
Night metre telecasting was very pitiful , with the camera struggling to resolve construction and stationary cars with any level of clearness . Number plates were completely unreadable , even when passing parked cable car at depressed speed . The NextBase 122 could n’t blame out much detail under street light , or even in the route directly in front of my cable car ’s fairly muscular headlights .
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Should you buy it?
If you ’re on a rigorous budget , the NextBase 122 is one of the cheaper photographic camera out there . It ’s skilful than nothing .
You do n’t call for to spend much more for far good television character .
Final Thoughts
The 122 is meretricious , and it has several seemly features , but it ’s let down by its telecasting lineament . While it ’s salutary enough to catch the basics of an accident , it ’s not sharp enough to faithfully capture subtle detail . At nighttime it ’s very short . This lack of clarity , coupled with the lack of GPS clock time or speed datum , means it might not be able to facilitate you in some cases when another dash cam could have . Why bother , when you could spend another £ 20 or so and get something much better , like theNextBase 222 .
Trusted Score
How we test
We examine every dash cam we review soundly over an lengthy period of clock time . We use stock run to compare lineament right . We ’ll always tell you what we find . We never , ever , accept money to review a merchandise .
chance out more about how we try in ourethics insurance .
FAQs
No , this is a forward - facing camera . It does n’t have the need slot to link up one of NextBase ’s rear or cabin view cameras .
you’re able to by a hardwiring outfit , but there ’s only a coffin nail lighter lead in the box .
Test Data
Full Specs
