Nextbase 512GW Dashcam Installation

[steamship]

Originally Posted by Markr

Will do Neil - I suspect I will have it a couple of days, so will text you once I have it, just in case anything goes wrong with the arrangements!

Sounds like a mini-meet to try out the new D5 at Markr's house

Just kidding, though I'd love to see one in the flesh.

[Markr]

So car back with new boot module and dashcam fitted. To get the correct feed, they had to wire it back to the fuse box in the boot, so 3 hours, but well worth it, no visible wires.

Now to the D5 which I had for 2 days - was a standard wheelbase car, with few options that were evident. My initial reaction was that it was quieter than my D4 and a slightly better ride, but it had 19” wheels rather than my 20”, but upondriving mine again tonight, the ride and noise was not noticeably different, so perhaps I wanted to think the D5 was better in both regards.

The exterior change is quite subtle, so without the D4 alongside, not immediately apparent it is different, unless you know your 8’s.

Inside, it appeared to have standard seats, although they had climate seats, which in the configurator is only available on Comfort seats, but if they were comfort seats, I could not adjust the bolsters like I can in my D4.

The centre panel is now pretty much two screens, covered in fingerprints, but the MMI wheels and controls have gone, relying totally on the touchscreen. I can operate it when stationary, but on the move very hit and miss, as you need to hit the button exactly, and at a certain speed and pressure - thank god it had adaptive cruise and lane keep assist to mask the fumbling. On this count, whilst the graphics are fantastic, it is a miss in terms of both control and position, so in my view the flip up screen on my D4 is positioned much better for glancing across at.

Other strange things are the size of the gear selector, much bigger than D4, and the way in which the door handles work - you have to operate from underneath, rather than from the front - really strange and definately not second nature.

Last point, no analogue clock in the centre of the dash - and I really missed it.

Overall, nice car and no doubt I will have one after the D4, but more evolution rather than revolution and would want more spec, like better speakers, which I think are all variants of B&O now, but the lack of MMI control that you can operate without looking is my biggest issue.

Neil popped along for our mini-meet and we went for a drive, so interested in his view too.

Cheers
Mark

[BigAl5]

Great review of the D5 Mark. What do you think of the nextbase web cam?

[mattylondon]

I went through two Nextbase dash cam's. Both failed due to the lithium battery becoming too hot. Nothing else wrong with Nextbase, after all they are re badged DOD dash cams which are rated quite high. Because of the battery problems I now use a VIOFO capacitor based cam and it works great.

[pete-p]

Originally Posted by mattylondon

...I now use a VIOFO capacitor based cam and it works great.

I use this camera too and agree that the picture quality is very good. The newest version with an S on the end (e.g. A119S) uses a Sony chip and had improved connections.

[mattylondon]

The A119S is the model I bought, about 6 months ago for £75ish. I can't fault it at all. I like the shape as it fits next to the interior mirror and rain sensor plus the small GPS mount - much more concealed than the Nextbase. Do you have polarised filter? I don't, just wondered if there's much difference?

[pete-p]

I use the polarised filter as it was recommended from the reviews I saw. I'm not sure if it does much since I've not done a comparison, maybe I should one day but it could be tricky to get the same test conditions each time.

The issue I have is that the GPS doesn't always work very well but I think that's down to my heated screen blocking the signal rather than a fault with the camera.

I also like how firmly secured it is to the screen, it should help reduce any vibrations but probably not much of an issue in an '8 though!