Nexar Pro dash cam review: mid-range camera offers user and wallet-friendly option

Nexar is a relatively small player in the dash cam market, offering just two devices. There’s the entry-level Beam, priced at just over £100 and the Pro, priced at £159.99 but currently on offer at various retailers.

The Pro is a two-camera setup designed in part for professional drivers such as taxi drivers who want the reassurance of an inward-facing camera to monitor passengers, as well as a front-facing one to record what’s happening outside the vehicle.

In the box are the main front-facing camera and internal infrared-equipped second camera each with their own mounts, a 32GB memory card (which can be upgraded for an extra cost) a 12V adapter and cable, fitting tools and simple installation instructions.

Design and fitting

The Nexar Pro is among the growing number of dash cams that don’t bother with a viewing screen on the device. That means it can be more compact than some similarly priced units and the lozenge-shaped casing will sit fairly neatly out of view in most cars. Unlike a lot of other cameras which come with single-use sticky pads, the Nexar uses a suction cup mount with a swivelling socket. It’s not as small or neat as some other mounts but it does allow you to test and reposition the camera multiple times and offers some of the best adjustability we’ve seen.

The secondary, inward facing camera looks like a smaller version of the main camera and comes with its own mini-mount for positioning close to the main unit, essential as the connecting cable is very short.

Features

Nexar has kept the spec of the Pro fairly simple, so there are no glitchy ADAS alerts but also no specific low-light settings and no proper low-power parking mode - something a lot of cameras do offer. What you do get is a front facing camera with 1080p recording and a 135-degree field of view, plus a 720p interior camera with infrared sensors for low-light use.

You also get one of the most straightforward and useful mobile apps we’ve seen. You have to use the app to get the camera working but the connection and setup process are simple and make the Pro very user friendly compared to the buggy, poorly implemented apps from some brands. The app allows you to live stream footage from your camera and will produce a drive map and drive video automatically when you stop. It also uploads any auto-detected incidents to your free cloud account for safekeeping and can create an insurance report using data like speed, force of impact, location and video footage, although we weren’t able to test this.

Image quality

The Nexar Pro’s 1080p resolution is at the lower end of the dash cam standard these days, with more and more devices offering 2K or 4K recording. However, for all its relatively low-spec, the images it produces are pretty good. They lack the sharpness of the very best devices but are generally clear and smooth, with decent contrast and enough detail to use as evidence should you ever need to. The low-light performance is also surprisingly good considering there is no special “night vision” processing. The interior camera’s lower resolution is still good enough for its intended purpose and the infrared function offers peace of mind to business users travelling at night, such as taxi drivers.

Verdict

The Nexar Pro proves that you don’t need to spend huge sums to get a decent dash cam. The image quality is better than its on-paper specs suggest and the interior camera is ideal for business users. Only the lack of a rear-view camera and parking mode count against this good value, easy to use option.