Should I Upgrade To 522

Auld Reekie

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I have just purchased a new car, I removed my old 512gw +rear cam from my old intending to put it in my new car, not got round to fitting it yet.

Should I ditch the old 512 gw + rear cam and upgrade to the new 522gw?

Reading the forum here it seems like there's lots of complaints about this, that and the next thing as if NB still haven't learned from the previous model. But reviews from the usual reviewers give it glowing reports, who do I believe.

I don't need the emergency sos thingy on the cam, my car already has that.

I need a bit convincing if the upgrade is worthwhile, does it still fill your card up with protected files each time you go over a small bump, does parking mode work any better than the 512 gw?
Anyone who has upgraded to 522gw from the old 512gw was is worth it?
Thanks
 
You will get a varied response asking the question you posed. For myself the upgrade from the 512GW to the 522GW was worthwhile just for the rear mount camera. It is brilliant in design and has worked faultlessly in the few months I have been using it.
I am with you on the SOS facility. I have no need for this safety feature.
I really wanted Alexa to work well, and for a while it did up to the last firmware update, but now it has a tendency to lock up the dashcam to such an extent that I needed to carry a pin in the car to reset the camera. If I didn't pull over and reset the camera the camera would be like an electric toaster when touched. I have now disabled Alexa and no more lockups. I have re-fitted the Amazon Echo Dot in the car and will use that until Nextbase acknowledge the fault and issue a fix (they have been absent on this forum for quite a while now).
If this seems like a negative reply to your question I will balance it with the positives I have found. The recording quality of both the front and rear camera exceeds my 512GW. It works reliably with a good quality memory card that meets the Specifications as laid down by Nextbase. The rear camera mounting system is superb and while I acknowledge that the magnet is so strong on the front camera, that removing it causes a need for re-alignment every time it is re-affixed, this only takes a few seconds and I get no vibration issues with the front mount.

I hope this goes some way in helping you make an informed decision. Remember that people with issues are more likely to post on these forums than the people who are happy with their purchase.

Regards Spuds
 
Yeh I agree with Spuds regarding the 522.
I moved also from a pain in the arse 512, to a 522 for the rear camera, and both outperform their predecessors.
The only problem I have with alexa is the lack of skills which apparently have been submitted which takes around 3 weeks according to support, but this has entered into multiple months, from a proposed date of 1st June, but anyway the camera is way and above the 512 it replaced.
 
.... and wifi never connects and its impossible to use the app to download the clips and the picture is no better that my 5 year old cheap china dashcams and Alexa is very limited

Buy a 522 mebee - upgrade from something already quite decent to a 522 ... dont even consider it - the bad reviews are the ones you want to take note of
 
Do you plan to take the unit out of the car a lot? The magnets in the bracket are far too strong and the suction mount comes of the screen pretty much everytime and even if it doesn't it moves the arm so you have to check the aim when putting it back on. The cable for the rear camera is fiddly in the dark, can't understand why they didn't put it on the bracket.
 
Thanks for your replies guys, sounds sort of reminiscent of when the 512 came out, problems again with a new cam, at least then NB had a staff member who visited the forum and gave helpful advice, can't remember the lady's name. It seems they are in too much of a hurry to add new features that don't work too well instead of camera design & quality vid'
I think I may jump ship to another brand but maybe use the old 512gw for a rear cam. Thanks again for taking the time to answer my questions.
 
I can see where you're coming from and would have looked at something different myself but I'd had a 412GW for a while and was very happy with it and the wife wanted a dashcam so I put that in hers and treated myself to the 522 with rear camera on a promo. The 522 isn't that much better than the 422 imho and the bracket issue is driving me nuts, I don't take the unit out that often but having to pfaff around with it really is a pain, I'm considering getting the dremmel out and seeing if I can reduce the magnet or replace it altogether and the phone always connects the camera but alexa connects when it wants to. I actually wonder if NB let people try this things out in prototype before releasing them because with a few tweaks it could have been so much better.
 
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