If you are choosing between these two, you are comparing our modular system with our latest 4K release. Both record the road in 4K and include built-in LTE. Both plug into your OBD port and run parking mode off that connection with nothing extra to buy.
The word 4K is doing a lot of work in that sentence, though, and the detail underneath it is where your decision actually sits.
The road camera
Your Beam4 records the road at 4K and 30fps through a Sony IMX678 sensor at F1.7, across 146 degrees. Nexar One records 4K at 25fps through a Sony IMX415 at F1.75, across 135.6 degrees.
Five frames a second sounds like nothing until something moves quickly. A plate on a car crossing your bonnet at speed is on screen for a fraction of a second, and more frames mean more chances that one of them is the readable one. The extra ten degrees of view matter for the same reason, because they cover the lane beside you rather than just the car in front.
Beam4 also features dedicated day and night HDR modes. Nexar One manages lighting through its ISP, but Beam4's explicit HDR handles high-contrast transitions, such as low sunlight, more effectively.
The cabin camera
Both cameras use 940nm infrared for the cabin, so on paper they look the same after dark. They are not, because Beam4 uses an RGB-IR sensor and Nexar One does not. Without it, infrared leaves a purple tint on your daytime footage. Beam4 does not have that problem.
Your Beam4 also arrives with the cabin camera already in the unit. On Nexar One, the cabin camera is an add-on you choose when you configure it, so a Nexar One that does what a Beam4 does out of the box is something you build rather than something you buy.
Parking mode
Beam4 reads your car battery directly and manages its own draw against what it finds. Nothing else in our range does that, and it is the reason you can leave parking protection on rather than turning it off in week three because you are nervous about a cold morning.
The rest
Beam4 records three audio channels, picking up sound inside the car and outside it. Your storage comes with a 256GB card already fitted, whereas Nexar One asks you to pick a storage capacity to match your preference.
The price, which most people get backwards
Nexar One starts at $329.95, which looks like the cheaper camera. That is the road camera on its own. Match it to a Beam4 with 256GB and the cabin camera, and Nexar One is $429.95. Beam4 is $399.95 at its early bird price.
So the better camera is also the cheaper one, as long as you are comparing the same thing.
Side by side
| Feature | Nexar Beam4 | Nexar One |
|---|---|---|
| Road camera | 4K at 30fps, Sony IMX678 | 4K at 25fps, Sony IMX415 |
| Road field of view | 146° diagonal, F1.7 | 135.6° diagonal, F1.75 |
| HDR | Day and night | None |
| Cabin camera | 1080p at 30fps, 132°, included | 1080p at 30fps, 131.6°, add-on |
| Cabin night vision | 940nm infrared, RGB-IR sensor | 940nm infrared |
| Daytime colour with IR | Clean | Purple tint |
| LTE | Included | Included |
| Parking mode | Reads your battery directly | Yes |
| Storage | 256GB card, fitted | You choose the capacity |
| Price, road and cabin, 256GB | $399.95 early bird | $429.95 |
So which one?
Buy Beam4 if you want a cabin camera at all. It is sharper on the road, it handles difficult light, its cabin behaves properly at night, its parking protection watches your battery, and configured like for like, it costs thirty dollars less.
Buy Nexar One if you only want the road, and nothing else, for as little as possible. At $329.95 without the cabin camera, it is the cheaper way into a 4K Nexar, and that is a perfectly good reason to choose it.