I haven’t been idle with the Jeep Wrangler. I’m not doing anything crazy with it either, though (ie, there’s no lift or big tires and bling wheels).
Some things added since I bought it less than a year ago:
- Mopar rubber floor mats (front and back) – these were a birthday gift from my sister.
- Side steps / Nerf bar
- LED headlights
Last week, my Mobius action cam died. I’d been using it as an dash camera in the STI and kept using it as a dash cam when I got the Wrangler. Well, I can’t say I didn’t get my money’s worth. I used it a LOT. It looks beat-up. When it wouldn’t start, I troubleshot for a bit then decided to buy another. I actually ordered one but it got lost when being delivered.
My wife asked why I didn’t just get a real dash cam. I thought about that for a bit. I could actually benefit from a camera that was purposely designed for automotive commuting.
I went to Best Buy and looked at what they had. They had so many that I was overwhelmed. I ended up spending close to an hour just trying to compare each camera’s stats and capabilities. I walked out with the NextBase 322GW.
It took me a solid week to assess the unit and study it, which actually frustrated me. It wasn’t as simple as plugging and playing, as it has a crap load of options that I had to be aware of.
For example, I didn’t know that it requires a Class 10 SD card. It will not work with non Class 10 cards. Then when I found a spare one, I thought that the camera was broken because it wouldn’t record to the SD card. I later found that the card went bad (bad sectors that won’t go away). For now, I’m using an 8GB card.
As well, for awhile, the unit kept running out of power. Apparently, it needs to be charged for two hours right out of the box before use. Also, the unit will run out of power if you don’t configure it to automatically shut down when the ignition is off. Also, there is a feature that will re-enable the camera and record footage if it feels that the car is being bumped/moved. Well, you can adjust those settings and it can be too sensitive to the point that it continually enables, draining the camera’s charge.
There’s a hard-wire kit for the unit but for now I’m using my power outlet on my dash. That’s a pain because I was using that outlet to charge my phones (work and personal phones) while driving to/from work. I lost that capability when I got this camera, I guess. I may have to use the hard-wire option.
I did hide the cabling with a plastic tool that comes with the camera that helps you to tuck the cabling behind auto trim pieces. That helped a LOT. The cabling is now hidden.
The unit comes with two mounts: one being more of a permanent type of mount where it uses aggressive 3M adhesive, with the other mount being a suction cup mount. I’m currently using the suction cup mount.
As I learn the unit, it begins to grow on me. It comes with wifi capability so that the owner can connect to it using his/her smartphone. It also has phone apps for it for both Android and Apple phones. It is also GPS capable and you can turn on things such as speedometer details, location of video…there’s far more than I’m going to list, though. It has a feature to allow you to contact authorities. It will also automatically contact the authorities if it’s g-sensor registers a high measurement (indicative of a crash) – you can disable that feature or use a red button on the back of the camera to stop the auto-call to first responders. As well, you can use that same red button to lock a video file from being overwritten when you’ve gotten into an accident.
And lastly, you can also purchase a rear-facing camera, a rear window camera, and a cabin view camera (you purchase them as modules).
I can go on and on with talking of these features. As much as I hate all the options, I don’t have to use them all. I do have to understand them, though, so that I can get the best experience from the camera (and so I’m not causing myself negative experiences).
Do I recommend this camera? Yes, I do.
