Nextbase iQ Dash Cam review: A high-tech, smart surveillance solution

Nextbase iQ Dash Cam review in a sentence: A high-tech dash cam that offers a one-stop solution for your vehicle, albeit on a subscription basis for the best features.

If you’re growing increasingly tired of dismal driving standards and nervous about the alarmingly high number of people driving without insurance, it makes a lot of sense to get yourself one of the best dash cams. I’ve been using one for a while now, which turned out to be just as well after our stationary car was rear-ended by someone else doing around 40 miles an hour.

We were just about to pull away at the lights when the other car ploughed into us, with our front-facing dash cam footage showing how our vehicle was pushed across the carriageway and into the verge after the impact. There’s no doubt that it made the job of contacting our insurer that much easier. Therefore, I think that having a dash cam fitted is prudent and fast becoming nigh-on essential. Well, just as long as you’re happy with having a record of your own driving too that is.

If you can get a model with a camera facing the rear as well as out the front, then so much the better. Even more useful is this smart cam, the Nextbase iQ Dash Cam, which also monitors the interior of your car. In fact, the innovative new model from this leading British brand covers all bases and a little bit more to boot. In short, it’s a complete surveillance solution for vehicles, even though you’ll need to buy the supplementary rear-facing Nextbase camera as an extra.

All told then, the Nextbase iQ Dash Cam is not going to be cheap, plus there’s a subscription fee to pay if you want all the bells and whistles. Nevertheless, it is currently one of the best dash cam packages on the market.

While you’ll find a whole stack of front-facing options in the best dash cam guide, there are rather less to choose from in the best front and rear dash cams for any kind of vehicle. It’s currently quite a sparsely populated part of the market and the Nextbase iQ certainly stands head and shoulders above the competition, for now at least. Just as long as you don’t mind buying the Nextbase rear-facing camera as an additional extra, even though it’s not essential.

(First reviewed December 2023)

Nextbase iQ Dash Cam review: price and availability

Nextbase iQ Dash Cam review: price and availability

You can purchase the Nextbase iQ Dash Cam in one of three different versions and it’s available now from Amazon and other leading online outlets. Cheapest of the trio is the 1K resolution model costs, which is priced at $499.99 / £349. Next up is the 2K resolution model, which costs $599.99 / £399. Meanwhile, the best of the bunch is a 4K resolution model, which costs $699.99 / £449. 

It's worth noting that while you can use the camera without the frills, the whole point of this package is to exploit its smart features. Therefore, you’ll need to sign up for the Nextbase iQ subscription packages. The Protect subscription costs £6.99 monthly or £69.99 annually, while the Protect Plus is £9.99 per month or £99.99 annually. The entry-level Solo edition is, however, free to use as is. 

If you also want to kit yourself out with the Nextbase supplementary rear camera, that will cost you $199.99 / £149.

Nextbase iQ Dash Cam review: design and build

The Nextbase iQ Dash Cam arrives in a chunky box that is packed with everything needed to get setup and running including the camera unit itself. This is a beefy unit, which contains a section with the camera lens and sensor, while the other part of it is a bulbous microphone sandwiched with what are presumably two antennas. There’s a circular-style sticky pad, which mounts to your screen and ports for the various cables, all of which are included.

Considering its high-ticket price, the money does feel justified as it is nicely designed and feels solid enough too, even if you’re making do with the cheapest 1K resolution model. My test unit was the 4K package, which obviously includes more muscular innards. It’s worth noting however, that whichever model you plump for, the Nextbase iQ Dash Cam needs to be plugged into your vehicle’s ODB II port, which is generally found underneath one side of the dashboard.

Nextbase does give you the option of hardwiring the camera into your car, but some people like the flexibility of being able to move their dash cam from car to car. You can do that with the ODB II route, although they can be quite tight to unplug again once you’ve clicked it into place. 

In addition, for anyone fretting about their battery, the Nextbase iQ monitors this and shuts itself down if power runs low. What you definitely cannot do with the Nextbase iQ Dash Cam is plug it into a circular 12V socket, which might strike it off the shopping list of anyone who prefers that connectivity route.

Nextbase iQ Dash Cam review: Features and functions

Nextbase has incorporated three major features into the iQ Dash Cam. These are made up of Smart Sense Parking to help make parking easier, Witness Mode, which is a voice-activated control for capturing evidence when it’s needed, while instantly saving it to the cloud as well as notifying a specified emergency contact. Meanwhile, Live View lets you keep tabs on your vehicle at any time, using the accompanying Nextbase iQ app.

It should be noted though that you’ll enjoy all of the best features and functions by opting for a subscription, rather than making to with the base-level model that works well enough with the app, but without all of the extras. This is called Solo, which has voice control and real-time text notifications. 

Sign-up for the Protect version and you get the Nextbase iQ app voice control, real-time image notifications, Live View (up to 60 minutes), Smart Sense Parking, Witness mode, RoadWatch AI, Guardian Mode, Remote Alarm along with Cloud Storage for 30 days.

Head for the Protect Plus subscription though and you’ll benefit from the Nextbase iQ app voice control, real-time image notifications, Live View (up to 120 minutes), Live View Look Back, Smart Sense Parking, Witness mode, RoadWatch AI, Guardian Mode, Remote Alarm as well as substantial Cloud Storage for 180 days. There is also the ability to have multiple user accounts along with Emergency SOS and Automated incident back-up. Nextbase points out that the RoadWatch AI and Guardian Mode features are arriving soon, along with a Push to Talk option.

Nextbase iQ Dash Cam: Performance

Aside from all those features, the hardware credentials of the Nextbase iQ Dash Cam are solid too. If you’ve got the 1K version, it records at 1080 x 1920p, or full HD but the mid-range 2K iQ model records at 2560 x 1440p. Pick of the crop though is the 4K version of the iQ, which captures video at a resolution of 3840 x 2160p. All models have the same 140-degree field-of-view along with the same interior-facing camera too, which is built-into the main unit.

This part of the package captures footage from the inside of your vehicle at full HD via a neat 180-degree lens, which also features infrared night vision. As mentioned earlier, you can complete your surveillance package by adding a Nextbase rear-facing camera. This connects to the main unit with a cable and records video at 2K resolution through a 140-degree lens and is priced at $199.99 / £149. Add it all together and the overall coverage is second to none.

My 4K model worked perfectly, with quality footage and excellent audio in a wide variety of driving scenarios. The great thing is that it just gets on with the job, so you don’t really have to do anything unless you want to manually intervene. Alternatively, when you’ve finished driving you can review any footage using either the app on your phone or on your laptop because everything is stored in the cloud, so it’s safe and secure. 

This is a great option as, in the event of an accident you can tend to forget to remove the media card from the unit. Having that piece of mind adds value in itself. In fact, the smart tech of the Nextbase iQ, which includes GPS, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi along with 4G connectivity through Vodafone in the UK and Europe and T-Mobile in the US makes it a real winner with me.

Nextbase iQ Dash Cam review: verdict

The Nextbase iQ Dash Cam is quite a bulky bit of kit, especially when compared alongside some of the more svelte models you can buy. However, the additional size is justified when you weigh up what this unit is capable off. Even the 1K model will be more than adequate for most drivers, but if you want the extra crisp footage delivered by the 4K model then be prepared to pay for the privilege. The same goes for the smart features and cloud backup, all of which come via the Nextbase subscription packages outlined above.

Nextbase has also stated that it will make the additional features it promises available to owners as they become available, which adds value and does give your expensive purchase a degree of future proofing. While the Nextbase iQ Dash Cam comes armed with potent hardware and software, it’s also mercifully easy to install and configure. It took me less than half an hour to get up and running, following the step-by-step procedure that is clearly presented within the app.

Overall, then, it’s a pretty impressive bundle, just as long as you’re happy with the purchase price, the fact that you get the best features using a subscription package and don’t mind the way it connects to your car.

Nextbase iQ Dash Cam review: also consider

If you're looking to save a little money then you can check out our best cheap dash cam deals page, and if you're looking to record all angles then you can read our best front and rear dash cam guide.