Unlike other dashcams it does not have a screen, which is fine - after all, you know what’s in front of you. Hopefully, anyhow; if you don’t then you have bigger issues. Also, the absence of screen makes the unit smaller and lighter which definitely helps in keeping it affixed to your windscreen. Plus, it consumes less power which helps it keep a charge when you’re not driving and the vehicle is turned off, so it can be your sentry. Other screen-based dashcam models typically turn off when the car does.

To drive the Nextbase Piqo you must use the Nextbase smartphone app, designed specifically for the Nextbase Piqo. If you have a previous Nextbase dashcam you might already have the Nextbase Connect app but you need this new Nextbase one, which is designed for the Piqo range. Actually, if you search for a new dashcam in your Nextbase Connect app it will remove the pairing with your other Nextbase dashcam; the Nextbase Connect app will only support one dashcam at a time.

Follow the instructions in the app to create a Nextbase account, then put your Piqo into pairing mode (hold down the power button for five seconds until it pulses blue), then let the app find it.

Once connected, the app will check for new firmware and update your device. Then it is ready to go!

Well, in theory. In reality this was nowhere near as easy as it should have been.

First, after I signed up in the app I was emailed a verification code to confirm my address. I entered this into the app and it sat, spinning, saying ‘please wait’ for what seemed like far too long. So long in fact that I killed the app and re-opened it, but happily it logged into my account right away. Whatever I was stuck waiting for appeared not to matter.

Next, pairing the device took multiple attempts. Far too many. The first time I tried the app said it couldn’t find the Piqo even though I had the phone and dashcam right next to each other on my desk. I paired it successfully in my iPhone’s Bluetooth menu, and then tried the app again. It said it found the Piqo but complained it couldn’t pair - perhaps because I’d already done so. So, I ‘forgot’ it from my phone’s Bluetooth menu and tried again. This time success! The app found the Piqo, paired with it, asked me to join the Piqo’s private WiFi network, said it had a firmware update, started installing it … and then popped up a message saying ‘accessory not supported’ and ‘firmware update failed’.

The app asked if I wished to retry, but pressing retry did nothing. Over and over; it was if the app was frozen. Killed it, but when I restarted the app I was asked to begin pairing again - my detected Piqo was not there.

And again - the app simply kept searching for the Piqo saying dashcam not found.

I killed the app, went to my phone’s Bluetooth menu, saw it had popped up there, ‘forgot’ the device, then started the process again. Put the unit in pairing mode, let the app find it, let it check for updates - this time, perplexingly, it said the firmware was up-to-date and then - hoorah, I was in the app. My Nextbase Piqo 2K showed as connected, with firmware 28.3, and the app gave me options to adjust settings, see live view on the phone, learn about the Piqo, understand what the different LED colours and flashes mean (solid red or slow flash = recording, fast flash = protected recording, crash detected = red and blue dual flash, red and white flashing = error, not recording = solid blue, Bluetooth pairing = slow blue flash, Bluetooth pairing gailed = fast blue flash, SD-card issues = orange, white = voice command, purple = witness mode), view your recordings library, and check out extra options, such as a paid subscription for extra protection.

Specs-wise, the Nextbase Piqo comes in both a 1K (1080p) model and 2K (1440p) model. Both do the same things but the 2K captures a larger frame of view, and accordingly, has a larger file size.

The camera comes with a 32GB micro-SD card, but supports larger capacities to give you extra storage capacity. That’s particularly useful if you use it in the parked sentry mode.

It also includes a four metre USB-C to USB-C power cable and a cigarette-lighter USB power supply in case your car does not have USB-C sockets. Nicely, the power supply has dual USB-C ports so you can charge a phone too. It's a good touch from Nextbase.

Now, the Nextbase Piqo records footage as you drive - that’s what it’s for. But it does more than this. Built-in emergency SOS can send automatic alerts to emergency services as a paid feature, while witness mode lets you issue voice commands to secure key evidence and notify loved ones. What this means is that specific recordings you tag as protected will not be automatically overwritten as the SD-card runs out of space. Normally, it will keep recording by rolling over and replacing the oldest recordings. Protected recordings become read-only and are not overwritten.

Additionally, the device can automatically detect when you are parked and give you alerts about interesting events - i.e., your vehicle is knocked - when you return to the vehicle. And, guardian mode will notify you if speed or geofence limits are exceeded. Another mode, witness mode, will let you use voice commands to alert friends or family. You can specify up to four contacts. Instead of using your phone’s address book, the app asks you to enter your contact’s names, numbers, and email address. However, in my case, it kept saying ‘failed to save contact’ so your mileage may vary.

The smart parking mode is disabled by default, and requires a permanent live power supply via Pro install or Quick Connect cable. You turn it on in the app’s settings menu.

Another setting allows you to modify the impact sensitivity, with the trade-off being the more sensitive it is, the more recordings it will protect. You can also adjust the balance between how much history you can maintain on the micro-SD card against how sharp and clear the video is. It’s worth experimenting with these, but it’s also worth investing in the highest-capacity micro-SD card you can.

The camera is so small it becomes almost invisible on your windscreen, save for the power cable. It supports Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, along with GPS, and can stamp your recordings with your number plate, the date and time, speed, and GPS coordinates. Or not - you can turn these on or off individually. It has night vision, and up to 145 degrees of vision.

You can purchase the Nextbase Piqo 1K for $199, and the Nextbase Piqo 2K for $299. You can use the dashcam immediately and all its features. However, for an optional $4.99/month subscription fee you can save your recordings online for up to 180 days, gain the emergency SOS feature, and get a second voice for the device’s spoken instructions. Additionally, the subscription service provides 36 months of warranty for your dashcam.

Ok, facts above are one thing. How does it work in practice? Happily, despite my annoyances with the app’s quirks in initial sign up, initial pairing, and with the witness contacts not saving, the device itself is super easy to affix to your windscreen. It records seamlessly and easily. Viewing the footage on your phone is easy - once it was paired, it stayed paired, and downloading or sharing the footage is a simple enough provided you don't have wireless Apple CarPlay. If you do, well, swapping the micro-SD card is my suggestion.

The Piqo dashcam uses Bluetooth to connect with your phone, but to download media it switches to Wi-Fi. Yet, if you’re sitting in your car with the engine on and you have wireless Apple CarPlay your CarPlay will drop out (fine) but then reconnect and disrupt the Wi-Fi connection to the Piqo. This isn't Nextbase's doing; it's simply the reality that, like the Piqo, CarPlay also uses Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. While a phone can simultaneously connect to many Bluetooth devices, it can only have one Wi-Fi connection and CarPlay has an auto-reconnect when dropped feature.

You can disable CarPlay either in the vehicle or on the phone, but truthfully, that may be a nuisance dealbreaker for some. Nevertheless, if you get around CarPlay but have a lot of media the Wi-Fi sync takes a long time and your phone goes to sleep unless you keep touching it. Or it may take so long that the dashcam switches off due to inactivity. Or, more frustratingly, the app will simply say “something went wrong” and force you to start over. Hence, you need to pay a lot of attention and keep both gadgets awake and alert before you can see your images. Once you have them synced, however, you can download footage and you can share footage.

Hopefully Nextbase is listening and can improve the oddities in the Nextbase phone app, but the good news is the dashcam itself performs admirably. Its 2K footage is crisper than previous dashcams I’ve used, and the tiny size is a huge boon. I’ve had no end of dashcams continuously fall off my windscreen due to their weight combined with the harshness of the Australian sun on the adhesive material. I’ve had no such problems with the Nextbase Piqo, thank goodness. After all, if my Linkt e-tag comes with an adhesive so strong that I can’t even scrape it off once I’ve removed the e-tag, I was sure dashcam providers could solve this too.

The app may frustrate you a little, but once it works, it works. And the piece of mind of having dashcam footage is tremendous. Like insurance, it’s something that when you need it, boy, do you really need it. I’m sure we remember the story of the Melbourne driver traversing a small suburban road when a little girl ran out. While alleged witnesses claimed the driver was speeding recklessly, his dashcam proved his innocence. Thankfully the little girl was not hurt, but who could say what may have happened to the driver were it not for his dashcam.

The Nextbase Piqo 1K and 2K are available online and also from Harvey Norman.