Nextbase vs 70mai vs Viofo: Which Dash Cam to Buy in Ireland (2026)

Nextbase is the dash cam brand most Irish drivers know by name. It is on the shelf in Halfords, it is in the ads, and it is the brand people type into Google before anything else. 70mai and Viofo are online brands that most people meet in a review, an Amazon listing or a forum thread. So the question we hear at the workshop is always some version of: is the Nextbase worth the extra, or is one of the others better?

We fit dash cams every week at our workshop in Rosemount Business Park, Dublin 11, and we hardwire all three brands, plus Vantrue, BlackVue and Thinkware units that customers bring in. We stock 70mai, so we have a horse in this race; this guide says where the other two are better, and the prices are what you would pay in Ireland in October 2026.

The short answer

• Want it today from a shop, with Emergency SOS: a Nextbase 522GW. It was €179 at Halfords.ie and €239.99 in Nextbase’s Irish store at the time of writing, plus a hardwire kit for parking mode.
• Sharpest video at night: a Viofo A229 Pro, with a 4K Sony STARVIS 2 front camera and a 2K STARVIS 2 rear camera, about €351 on Amazon.ie.
• Best value supplied and fitted: the 70mai A800SE 4K with RC22 rear camera, €340 supplied and hardwired with parking mode at our workshop.
• Taxi, ride-share, chauffeur: the three-channel 70mai T800, €490 supplied and fitted.
• Already bought one online or in Halfords: we fit any brand, from €100 for a front camera and €150 for front and rear.

Side by side

	Nextbase 322GW / 522GW / 622GW	70mai A800SE / T800 / 4K Omni	Viofo A119 Mini 2 / A229 Pro
Where you buy it in Ireland	Halfords.ie, Nextbase’s Irish store	Radio King (supplied and fitted), online	Amazon.ie, Viofo’s online store
Front video	1080p / 1440p / 4K	4K on all three	2K / 4K
Image sensor	Omnivision on the 622GW	GalaxyCore on the A800SE, Sony STARVIS 2 IMX678 on the T800 and 4K Omni	Sony STARVIS 2 IMX675 and IMX678
Power cell	Lithium battery	Supercapacitor	Supercapacitor
Rear camera	Plug-in module, €69.99	Included with the A800SE (RC22) and T800	Two-channel versions
Parking mode	Series 2 Hardwire Kit, €29.99; no buffer on the 622GW	Hardwire kit; buffered recording on the A800SE	HK4 kit; the A229 Pro keeps 15 s before an impact
Extras	Emergency SOS, what3words	Optional 4G kit	GPS on both, polarising filter with the A229 Pro
Price, October 2026	€131 to €290, camera only	€340 to €490, supplied and hardwired	About €173 to €351, camera only

Prices move every month and every sale weekend, so treat them as a guide. Fitting is the same price whichever badge is on the camera.

Nextbase: the easiest to buy today

The Series 2 range is still on sale in Ireland in October 2026, despite the newer iQ and Piqo models: the 322GW, 422GW, 522GW and 622GW are listed in stock in Nextbase’s own Irish store at €165.99, €149.99, €239.99 and €289.99, and Halfords.ie had the 322GW at €131 and the 522GW at €179. That is the main reason people buy a Nextbase: you can see one in a shop on Saturday and have it in the car that afternoon, and returns go back to a counter rather than a courier.

What you get is a tidy camera with a good phone app, GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and safety extras the others do not offer. The 622GW, for example, has Emergency SOS and what3words, and a rear camera clips onto the side of any Series 2 unit as a module: Rear View, Rear Window or Cabin View, €69.99 each.

Which one to pick:

• Nextbase 322GW: 1080p, the budget option for a town car that lives in a driveway.
• Nextbase 522GW: 1440p, the most searched Nextbase in Ireland and the sensible middle of the range.
• Nextbase 622GW: 4K, the one to buy if you want to read a number plate two cars ahead.

The trade-offs are worth knowing before you pay. Every Series 2 camera runs on a lithium battery rather than a supercapacitor, and DashCamTalk’s 622GW review notes a 45 °C operating limit and no buffered parking mode, so a knock while parked starts recording after the impact rather than a few seconds before it. Parking mode itself needs the Series 2 Hardwire Kit (€29.99 from Nextbase, €30 at Halfords.ie).

The newer Nextbase iQ answers most of that: built-in 4G, a supercapacitor, a hardwire and OBD cable in the box. TechRadar gave it 4.5 out of 5 but pointed out the catch: Witness mode, LiveView, Guardian and cloud storage need the Protect plan, listed at £6.99 a month or £69.99 a year in the UK. At €359 to €539 at Halfords.ie before the subscription, it is a different price bracket. The small Piqo (1K and 2K) is the budget model; TechRadar called it good value with a picture clearly behind the iQ.

Nextbase dash cam installation: we hardwire Series 2 cameras with the Nextbase kit, run the rear module cable through the headlining and down to the rear glass, and set parking mode and the cut-off voltage before the car goes back to you. Prices are in the fitting section below.

70mai: the value pick, and the one we stock

We chose to stock 70mai because the cameras give the most for the money once you add the rear camera, the hardwire kit and the fitting, and because the three models we recommend most use a supercapacitor. Honest notes on each:

• 70mai A800SE 4K with RC22 rear camera: 4K front with hardware HDR on a GalaxyCore sensor, 1080p HDR rear camera in the box, supercapacitor, GPS, Wi-Fi and buffered event recording. DashCamTalk calls it the unloved middle child of the range: strong HDR in daylight, behind the Sony STARVIS 2 cameras at night. It is still the best-value front-and-rear set we fit, at €340 supplied and hardwired.
• 70mai T800: three channels, 4K front and 4K rear on Sony STARVIS 2 IMX678 sensors plus an infrared cabin camera, supercapacitor, GPS and Wi-Fi 6. TechRadar gave it 5 out of 5 and an Editor’s Choice, with the fair complaint that the parking kit is extra and the wiring is a lot for a DIY job. €490 supplied and fitted; it is the camera we fit for taxis.
• 70mai 4K Omni (X800): a rotating 360-degree camera on a Sony STARVIS 2 IMX678 sensor, 4K at 60 fps on its own, supercapacitor, 4G with the optional kit. Turn the lens to the road, the cabin or the window. €490 supplied and fitted with the rear camera.
• 70mai M310: a compact screenless 2K camera on a SmartSens sensor with a small battery. Parking mode with the UP03 kit records a 30-second clip when the G-sensor trips, plus time-lapse. It is the cheapest clean hardwired install, €250 supplied and fitted, and fine for a town car; we would not pick it for motorway commuting.

For parking mode we fit the UP06 adjustable hardwire kit (three cut-off voltages), the UP03 or the OBD kit that plugs into the diagnostic port. The 4G hardwire kit adds alerts to your phone when the parked car is hit, with a SIM and a data plan on top.

Viofo: the enthusiast’s choice

Viofo is the brand dash cam forums recommend when image quality is the only thing that counts. Its current cameras use Sony STARVIS 2 sensors and a supercapacitor, and the parking modes are the most configurable of the three brands.

• Viofo A119 Mini 2: a small front camera, 2K at 60 fps on a Sony STARVIS 2 IMX675 sensor, supercapacitor, GPS and 5 GHz Wi-Fi. About €173 on Amazon.ie.
• Viofo A229 Pro (two-channel): 4K front on a Sony IMX678 with a 1/1.8-inch sensor and a 2K IMX675 rear camera. With the HK4 hardwire kit (about €22) it keeps 15 seconds of video from before a parking impact, plus time-lapse and low-bitrate modes, and it comes with a polarising filter that cuts dashboard glare. About €351 on Amazon.ie. TechRadar rated it 4 out of 5 for excellent day and night video, with the warning that there is a lot of wiring and a lot of settings.

The catch is buying it. Viofo is not on the shelf in Irish shops; you order it from Amazon.ie or from Viofo’s own store, which ships in 8 to 12 working days and leaves customs and duties to the buyer, so check the total at checkout. In October 2026 the older A139 Pro and T130 were listed as unavailable on viofo.com, so be careful with old stock. If a Viofo fails, the return goes through the seller rather than a counter in town.

Vantrue, Red Tiger, Thinkware and BlackVue

• Vantrue N4 Pro S: three channels like the T800, with a 4K IMX678 front, a 2K rear and a cabin camera, a supercapacitor and buffered parking mode, about €380 on Amazon.ie. DashCamTalk found it bulky and not the best at night.
• Red Tiger: the F7N is sold as 4K, but DashCamTalk’s test found the 4K is interpolated from a 2K IMX335 sensor. Whatever the box says, check the sensor before you pay for 4K.
• Thinkware and BlackVue: premium, cloud-connected cameras priced at the top of the market. We fit both regularly; they make the most sense for fleets and for drivers who want live view without a phone in the car.

What matters more than the brand

The badge on the camera matters less than five things you can check on any spec sheet. Our best dash cam in Ireland guide goes through each in detail.

1. The sensor, not the megapixels. A Sony STARVIS 2 sensor reads a plate under streetlights through a wet windscreen; a small cheap sensor gives you a smear at the same resolution.
2. Supercapacitor, not a battery. The camera lives behind glass through summer sun and winter frost. A supercapacitor has no battery to age or swell.
3. Parking mode, hardwired. Most damage happens with nobody in the car. Parking mode needs constant power through a hardwire kit with a low-voltage cut-off, and a buffered mode catches the seconds before the knock.
4. A rear camera. Rear-end shunts are the incidents a front camera cannot prove.
5. A proper memory card. Use a high-endurance microSD card; Nextbase’s Piqo comes without one, the 70mai T800 includes 128 GB.

Already bought a Nextbase or a Viofo? We fit any brand

Bring the camera in, or send us the model and your registration first and we will confirm the price for your car. Fitting a camera you already own at our Dublin 11 workshop:

• Front camera: €100
• Front and rear: €150 to €250, depending on how the rear cable reaches the tailgate or rear glass
• Hardwire kit: €30 to €50 if your camera did not come with one, or bring the Nextbase or Viofo kit
• Unusual installs: €100 an hour, quoted up front

Every fitting includes a fuse-box connection through a fuse tap (nothing in the factory loom is cut), the cable hidden behind the A-pillar trim and the headlining with care around the curtain airbag, the rear camera cable taken through the tailgate grommet, parking mode and the cut-off voltage set, the memory card formatted, and a test of recording and parking mode before you drive away. Book it on the dash cam installation page or message us on WhatsApp. If you are weighing us against a fitting chain, our Halfords dash cam fitting comparison sets out what each price includes.

Recording the road legally in Ireland

Owning and using a dash cam is legal, and the footage is useful to Gardaí and insurers. The Data Protection Commission’s guidance for drivers is stricter than many people expect: the household exemption is read narrowly, recording other road users can bring data protection duties, recording audio in the cabin needs a very strong reason, and a taxi or bus driver who records passengers is a data controller. Keep footage private unless you are giving it to the Gardaí or your insurer.

Gardaí take road traffic reports through the online Traffic Watch form, but as of October 2026 there is still no way to upload video through it. Save the original file from the card and keep it until you are asked for it.

Our verdict

Driver	Our pick	Why
Town car, tight budget	Nextbase 322GW, or the 70mai M310 at €250 fitted	1080p or 2K is enough in town; buy where it suits you
Wants it today from a shop, with SOS	Nextbase 522GW or 622GW	Easy to buy and return, good app, Emergency SOS
Commuter, M50 and motorway	70mai A800SE 4K + RC22, €340 fitted	4K front, rear camera, supercapacitor, buffered parking
Night detail above everything	Viofo A229 Pro	Sony STARVIS 2 front and rear, 15 s pre-impact buffer
Taxi, ride-share	70mai T800, €490 fitted	Three cameras including infrared cabin view
Bought one online already	Any brand	We fit it from €100

The best dash cam is the one that is recording when something happens. Pick the sensor and the supercapacitor over the logo, hardwire it so parking mode works, and get it fitted so the cable is the last thing anyone sees. If you are not sure which to buy, tell us your car and how you drive, and we will tell you what we would fit.