And this brings us to an important question. Is the feature-set of the Nextbase 622GW enough to justify its price tag? Or, is the Garmin 66W dash cam good enough for your requirements? Well, that’s what we will find in its post as we pit the Nextbase 622GW against the Garmin 66W to find which dash cam is the best one for you. Since it’s going to be a long post, let’s get going, shall we? But before that,
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Specs That Matter
Design and Installation
The Nextbase 622GW looks like the small digital cameras of yesteryears, with a rectangular body and protruding lens. For a dash cam, it’s a little bulky. On a positive note, it bundles a three-inch touchscreen display at the rear, making it easy and convenient to review footage. The Nextbase 622GW is attached to the windscreen by a sucker mount. The mount also houses the port for the power cable. This arrangement gives the dash cam a neat and compact despite its bulky shape. This design ensures that you do not have wires dangling below the rearview mirror. Of course, you will have to take care of the cable management of your car. The modular design means that you can easily take the dash cam off the mount to check things on display quickly. Buy
Nextbase 622GW Dash Cam
As opposed to the slightly bulky frame of the Nextbase 622GW, the Garmin 66W has a sleek and compact build and shares a similar build as some popular action cameras. Like its predecessor above, it has a display on the rear. The only difference is that the display is smaller by an inch. It attaches to the windscreen via a magnet mount. But unlike the one above, it hangs a little away from the top of the mount. A couple of physical buttons are on the sides, and the power cable goes on the side. Again, this arrangement means you will have a cable going from the camera to the power source. And you will have to invest in clips and mounts to keep unsightly cables out of the way.
Features That Matter
Let’s start with the affordable Garmin 66W dash cam. This one bundles some of the essential features. Not only do you get a wide 180-degree field of vision (FoV), but you also get your hands on high-res video (1440p). At the same time, the 66W brings home Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connection which makes it easy and convenient to transfer videos and footage to the companion app on your phone. This arrangement makes sure you can review videos without taking out the SD card from the camera. As noted earlier, the 66W can record 1440p. However, the frame speed is locked at 30fps. Thankfully, you can go up to 60fps when you switch to 1080p. Apart from the above, you get a few nifty features such as collision alert, lane warning departure alert, Travelapse, and red light camera alert. More importantly, it bundles GPS for tracking the location and cor-ordinates of your car. Like most cameras, the time and date are embedded in the video. This feature comes to the picture when you have to present the video footage as evidence. You can turn off the watermark feature. When it comes to the Nextbase 622GW dash cam, it supports What3Words integration, a GPS alternative that helps in accurately pinpointing your car’s location and comes in handy when locating crashes and accidents. Apart from that, the built-in G-Sensor is designed to save footage automatically whenever the camera detects a crash or bump. The best part is that this sensor triggers if you hit something while parking your car. The 622GW is also powered by a small 370 mAh battery. By default, the camera goes to sleep when you switch off the engine. However, if the G-sensor is triggered in case of a crash, the dash cam wakes up and starts recording. Another cool feature is the Alexa integration and you can issue voice commands. This helps so that you don’t have to take your eyes off the road for simple tasks.
Video Quality and Performance
Regardless of the design and the features, a dash cam is of no use if it doesn’t deliver clear videos both day and night. The 4K Nextbase 622GW delivers clear and sharp videos. You will easily make out the details, whether it’s taken during normal daylight or rainy nights. The 622GW has a dedicated mode for poor weather. At the same time, the polarising filter ensures that the footages are free from over-exposure and harsh glares. More importantly, the footage has the correct date and location details. So, how easy is it to view the videos? The 3-inch touchscreen makes things easy. But it’s not without faults. For example, the tiny icons on the screen make it a little difficult to navigate. Considering that there is a huge price difference between the Nextbase and the Garmin dash cam, the Garmin 66W does a good job of capturing details of the scenes in front of the car. Though it does a good job in low-light, it’s susceptible to headlight flares in low light, as per the folks at PC World. That said, the camera captures a wide vista, thanks to its 180-degree wide FoV. However, the fish-eye distortion at the edges and a zoomed-out view can be an issue.
Which One Should You Buy
So, should you choose the Nextbase 622GW over the Garmin 66W? Well, if you are looking for crystal clear video footage that you can also use for travel vlogs (as well as for evidence), then this camera turns out to be the perfect pick. And the GPS features make it easy to track the vehicle in case of some unfortunate accidents. It does have some shortcomings. For example, the companion app can be a little difficult to operate and is not intuitive. On the other hand, the Garmin 66W is a good pick if you do not want to empty your pockets. For a 1440p resolution camera, it records impressive videos. But, more importantly, it has the most essential features like GPS, parking mode, and image stabilization. Buy
Garmin 66W Dash Cam
But at the end of the day, the field of view is a little too wide. The distortion around the edges makes the video unusable in anything other than the main goal—evidence in case anything unfortunate happens. Buy
Nextbase 622GW Dash Cam
Buy
Garmin 66W Dash Cam
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