Had enough of 522GW and can’t take anymore

[dangerousdriver77]

Having had a 412GW previously which I had exchanged twice, I stupidly got sold on the 522GW and boy what a mistake that was! Since owning it, the dashcam has let me down 2 out of 4 occasions when I needed it.

I have gone back to Halfords, exchanged the dashcam, the hardwire kit, rear view camera module, SD card and I still have problems. The funny thing is I have had two brand new Ford’s in the time I have owned the 522GW and I have had issues with both vehicles.

Nextbase support are friendly and willing to help, but it’s not the customer service I have an issue with. It’s the actual product. Never before have I had to jump through so many hoops and reset a device as much as this one! The app is all but useless and if you do need to pull footage off the cam, it is far easier to take the SD card and use a card reader on your PC. The Alexa features are beyond useless, It just feels like instead of trying to get the basics right, Nextbase decided to cram as many useless features in that are poorly implemented.

The issues I have suffered since owning the 522GW are as follows, but not limited to:

A) Not recording whilst driving meaning an accident or incident is not captured. B) Constant SD card failure meaning no recording C) Parking mode is useless and only seems to work if I open the door. D) Battery keeps going flat on car despite being hardwired. E) Cam will either stop and restart randomly or not record at all. F) Camera recordings seem affected by the rear view camera

I was sent an SD card from Nextbase with the 19.1 firmware which had not been released to the public at that point. This has done nothing and my camera will remain on even after exiting the vehicle despite being on a switched live, which today meant my car was dead. The AA patrolman said the camera was drawing 2.7A which is enough to drain a battery overnight. So, I have taken the camera out of the car and I am going to take it back to Halfords tomorrow and demand an exchange for a Garmin or Blackvue. All I want is a camera that does what it should. This is something Nextbase have routinely missed with their products.

Anyone suggest a good alternative?

Cheers

Leon

 

[Kremmen]

I wasn't fully happy with the series 2 units when they were first released, I don't like ball joint mounts or batteries, so looked around and did lots of research. The problem with ball joints is that you have to reposition the camera at each re-mount and they aren't, in the main, rough road compatible.

If Nextbase had updated the 380 to 1440 QuadHD and a CPL then I'd still be a customer as their customer service, as mentioned, is second to none. I liked the 380 mounting system but the 1080@30 max let it down making number plates almost impossible to read.

I've found a very reliable, Sony equipped QuadHD 1440, rock solid mount unit that has given zero problems in just under a year. The cost was a third of what Blackvue want.

Qualifier: I don't use parking mode.

 

[Nigel]

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[Drsdriver]

Having had a 412GW previously which I had exchanged twice, I stupidly got sold on the 522GW and boy what a mistake that was! Since owning it, the dashcam has let me down 2 out of 4 occasions when I needed it.

I have gone back to Halfords, exchanged the dashcam, the hardwire kit, rear view camera module, SD card and I still have problems. The funny thing is I have had two brand new Ford’s in the time I have owned the 522GW and I have had issues with both vehicles.

Nextbase support are friendly and willing to help, but it’s not the customer service I have an issue with. It’s the actual product. Never before have I had to jump through so many hoops and reset a device as much as this one! The app is all but useless and if you do need to pull footage off the cam, it is far easier to take the SD card and use a card reader on your PC. The Alexa features are beyond useless, It just feels like instead of trying to get the basics right, Nextbase decided to cram as many useless features in that are poorly implemented.

The issues I have suffered since owning the 522GW are as follows, but not limited to:

A) Not recording whilst driving meaning an accident or incident is not captured. B) Constant SD card failure meaning no recording C) Parking mode is useless and only seems to work if I open the door. D) Battery keeps going flat on car despite being hardwired. E) Cam will either stop and restart randomly or not record at all. F) Camera recordings seem affected by the rear view camera

I was sent an SD card from Nextbase with the 19.1 firmware which had not been released to the public at that point. This has done nothing and my camera will remain on even after exiting the vehicle despite being on a switched live, which today meant my car was dead. The AA patrolman said the camera was drawing 2.7A which is enough to drain a battery overnight. So, I have taken the camera out of the car and I am going to take it back to Halfords tomorrow and demand an exchange for a Garmin or Blackvue. All I want is a camera that does what it should. This is something Nextbase have routinely missed with their products.

Anyone suggest a good alternative?

Cheers

Leon

Got exactly the same issue, it doesn’t always record your journey. It’s been doing this since new to be honest November 2019. When ever I check an incident it’s not recorded the whole journey.
Some days it’s fine and some it’s not. It’s just not reliable. I’m forever formatting it, it’s up to date on the latest firmware.
yesterday I drove 165 miles . Stopped for 1 hour and then drove another 50 miles. Then drove home so another 200 odd miles later in the evening.
Today i wanted to look at an incident that was a close call on the journey in the morning and it had not even recorded any of it. Not even the last 50 miles. It still had footage from the previous day and beyond so it wasn’t overwritten . It did however record my journey home.
it buggers belief the time you want it , it doesn’t perform even thou all the signs are there saying it’s recording / speed displayed. Its so unreliable.
Taking it back to Halfords today for an exchange, if that one plays up it’s getting binned for a different make .

 

[M8TJT]

Bin (return it as not fit for purpose now and have a read of the link in the previous post to yours.
Seems that NB are on a slippery slope to the expensive end of bottom for reliability.

 

[Kremmen]

I didn't like the latest range still being battery and ball joint so switched brands, very glad I did. My current choice is serving me well.

 

[Drsdriver]

Took it back to Halfords this morning and they exchanged the nextbase sd card for a new one, bought the same time as the dashcam Nov 19. Will see how this performs and if no change they will swop the dashcam for another 1.

 

[Tony lovelock]

I've had a gut full of my 422gw had it for a year now, I got rid of my 412gw because I thought the battery was crap but the 422 battery is even worse imo! Have to unplug it from the mount, charge inside the house every other day... What a joke! Yeah new models have battery's still & the prices are high as mentioned. Still waiting for a deal on the vio a119 v3 & polarising filter to be available on amazon... Mind you the a119 v3 is an awesome dash cam & cheaper in price compared to the 422 & 522gw

 

[SawMaster]

NB's newest series of dashcams are chock-full of problems (do ANY of them work correctly and reliably?) and worse, their customer service has also gone to crap too Quite a shame for someone who used to do well. They will find plenty of company at the bottom of the pile

Phil

 

[Tony lovelock]

I used to like when tiffany was in here not sure what happened to her as she left unexpectedly... But she'd always message you or woukd respond to posts on here... I was hopping for the next series to go capacitor but guessing for some reason it was reasonable to fit it & stuck with the internal battery

 

[Rickn55]

Must admit Nextbase have always been fab when I've had any issue with their products, Millie on here is a great help all tho she seems to have disappeared. I needed some spare 3M pads for my 522 and they responded via email and got them sent to me within a few days so they're fully open again.

Must admit my 522 has been trouble free so far even Alexa works as it should, only problem I've had is the 1080p 60fps poor quality issue. Very impressed with the quality of the footage just a shame you can't record the rear window cam at 1080p while the front is 1440p. Hence why I'm going to sell it on when the 622 comes out and put it towards getting that. Just hoping the 622 doesn't have many problems being 4K with all those new features packed in..

 

[Kremmen]

I really thought NB had turned the corner with the 380. It didn't have the camera on a pendulum vibration inducing stalk, didn't have the ball joint that meant you had to realign it every time you mounted it, was capacitor and didn't dangle down advertising itself.

The 380 just needed some work to improve the resolution, allow a CPL and they would have been onto a winner.

When I was sent a promotional video link for the series 2 range I knew straight away they wern't for me.

 

[Darkwing]

Having had a 412GW previously which I had exchanged twice, I stupidly got sold on the 522GW and boy what a mistake that was! Since owning it, the dashcam has let me down 2 out of 4 occasions when I needed it.

I have gone back to Halfords, exchanged the dashcam, the hardwire kit, rear view camera module, SD card and I still have problems. The funny thing is I have had two brand new Ford’s in the time I have owned the 522GW and I have had issues with both vehicles.

Nextbase support are friendly and willing to help, but it’s not the customer service I have an issue with. It’s the actual product. Never before have I had to jump through so many hoops and reset a device as much as this one! The app is all but useless and if you do need to pull footage off the cam, it is far easier to take the SD card and use a card reader on your PC. The Alexa features are beyond useless, It just feels like instead of trying to get the basics right, Nextbase decided to cram as many useless features in that are poorly implemented.

The issues I have suffered since owning the 522GW are as follows, but not limited to:

A) Not recording whilst driving meaning an accident or incident is not captured. B) Constant SD card failure meaning no recording C) Parking mode is useless and only seems to work if I open the door. D) Battery keeps going flat on car despite being hardwired. E) Cam will either stop and restart randomly or not record at all. F) Camera recordings seem affected by the rear view camera

I was sent an SD card from Nextbase with the 19.1 firmware which had not been released to the public at that point. This has done nothing and my camera will remain on even after exiting the vehicle despite being on a switched live, which today meant my car was dead. The AA patrolman said the camera was drawing 2.7A which is enough to drain a battery overnight. So, I have taken the camera out of the car and I am going to take it back to Halfords tomorrow and demand an exchange for a Garmin or Blackvue. All I want is a camera that does what it should. This is something Nextbase have routinely missed with their products.

Anyone suggest a good alternative?

Cheers

Leon

Take it out the car. Lay it on concrete. Then jump up and down on it. You will feel more satisfied with the result than you are with Nextbase. Then go and buy a Garmin. Get peace of mind and your life back.

 

[Kremmen]

Then go and buy a Garmin.

Garmin Viofo