Osmo 360

I have never owned a GoPro, but started 360 photography in 2005 with a mirror-ball add on for a digital camera. I’ve owned 360 cams from Giroptic, RICOH, Kodak and now have Insta360 and DJI. While my RICOH had better photos than the ONE X2, I got a ONE X2 because it had better software and was more fun. I instantly used a "worse" camera more than any of the other models I had. As I moved from X2 to X3 to X4 to X5, each comparison always had some things I thought the earlier model did better. With my DJI Osmo 360, I got it specifically for low light, hoping it might be my "go to" for low light situations, and the X5 for everything else. I’ve already seen alot of footage comparing it to other cameras, and some things look better on the Max 2, and other things look worse. Personal preference is a b-tch ;) What do you expect the niche of the Max 2 to be? What are the things that GoPro does better?

Osmo 360 anytime. Been using it for 2 weeks now. Absolutely love the video quality. Especially the night mode on it is really good.

I returned mine because they dropped the price on the 360 to the same price. I kept my action 4 and added the 360.

I have a pocket, action 4 and 360. Each have their purpose. Where any will help over an iPhone the most is audio quality with a DJI mic. In terms of what to buy both the 360 and action can shoot without wide angle distortion. So it’s choosing gimbal and easier selfie recording with the pocket vs waterproof and tough but needing to aim and accessorize more with the action.

There isn’t really a great option for longer rides so I feel your pain. The cycliq ones seem good but the failure rates and bad customer support have turned people off. GoPro and Insta360 X5 are ok options but you’ll need spare batteries for more than about 1.5 hours of recording. Insta360 is easier to deal with because you can almost get away with only one camera. The new DJI Osmo 360 looks promising for a bit less than the Insta360. Garmin has the Vue for out front that does last for 6 hours of recording but is pretty expensive and has poor low light recording. I managed to get one for 25% off and have been pleased with the footage during daylight hours. No issues reading license plates. They also make a radar camera for the rear of the bike but the video is even worse than the front facing Vue. I’m personally waiting on a new rear camera/radar with improved video.

I just got the DJI osmo 360 after trying a few different options. It works good but there are some buts. Battery life: at 8k/50fps it pretty clearly captures every license plate from every angle that is within about 10', so close enough to be a danger and further out ones you can zoom in and see them albeit a bit blurry. Battery life at that rate is absolute shit though. I have a small 4500mah battery bank (not saying the capacity is accurate as they rarely are) and I would say at most I get out of that is maybe 3.5 hours although its very new to me, I keep screwing things up here and there when using it and I am working on playing with different things to make it last longer like next turning off the wifi and the always on display. Battery life at 8k/30fps, I screwed this one up on many levels but I would say I would still only get about 4.5 hours out of it so not enough for a long ride but again, I have not played with turning off different options to extend the battery life at all in this mode. However the difference in the ability to capture license plates is noticeable. It will still capture them within the danger zone but not as clear and no chance to "zoom in" to see it any better. Also would be nice to have a "save file on impact detection" option so when I do get smushed the video will not be overwritten but at the moment, the battery life is short enough that it shouldnt be an issue. EDIT: Just to add, with screen off, USB charger plugged in it will overheat in about 30 minutes if you are not moving. Riding along it seems good.