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Top Pros
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Reddit Reviews
2-buckWhy not Black Friday x4? I’m guessing $320.
EUR! Right. I guess I was thinking Black Friday was just a us thing. X5. It’s not just the battery life and low light but also the detail. It lets you zoom in more on the fun accidents. I’m not a fan of the air because of the battery life. Not that I’m selling you on an x4 but the lens guards work fine. The stitching is fine. I use an x4 as a dashcam on my bike helmet. That and also for snowboarding and rock climbing. So same kinda thing. I just edit vids of friends and family. My friends have GoPros and we edit the vids into one. The x4 is impressive because it captures every accident. But I do wish it had more detail for zooming in. So the X5 might be worth it. Forget the Osmo. DJI’s software isn’t there yet. About the editing. Once you get it, it’s easy. But the refraining is still an additional step. I use the giro in my phone to record the framing. There are several ways to reframe and the software is impressive. But it’s hard to offer all that without making it fiddly. I got the x4 for $320. My guess is insta will have a better deal than 389 EUR soon
8gxeInsta 360x4 was absolutely awesome
According-Rush-7704If it’s your first just go for the x5. I’ve used the x4 for more than a year and as long as it doesn’t break there very little incentive to move to the x5 on the basis of low light performance
AdWrong9540I have a insta 360 x4. Absolutely love it. Designed for extracurriculars so the stabilizer within the camera is the best! Ive used it while jumping and everything and it really gets good footage, also shoots everything around you so if something is happening behind you, you will have it on film!
aeplusI use an Insta360 X4 with motorcycle mount on my R3. It has decent night time videos that I have posted on YouTube. 5k resolution downgraded to 1080p because I use a freeware clipchamp.
aerowtfI have an insta360 x4. It’s cool but it’s pretty bulky and doesn’t do great with up-close footage (because of the stitching, you can see the line) and uses lens protectors that are finicky to deal with so i would probably just get the best/newest used GoPro you can find, an extra battery or two, and the accessories you want.
x5 may also be worth it for the easily replaceable lenses. If you scratch the x4 lenses you have to mail it in and pay a lot. saying that as someone who bought an x4 and hates dealing with the foggy lens protectors but is too worried to use it without them. A few months later they came out with the x5 🙄 with the dive case that may be less of an issue unless you plan on using it for other things like i do
AgreeableAd9724A agree with this. I have an X4 and a GoPro. The x4 is an awesome bit of kit, but falls short for diving. The underwater case is enormous, and I’m terrified of scratching it. The GoPro is small, compact and image quality is awesome.
I use my 360 on the bike, it’s a great camera. One time I dived I’m glad I used the Insta360 because I caught a shark swimming right behind me chasing a turtle. Would never have known if I didn’t see it during editing.
AkujunkanXMy personal philosophy for 360 videos is they need to be exciting. Otherwise, why shoot in something so immersive. With that in mind, the person that takes bigger risks, usually, will get the better video. So the x5 with user replaceable lenses means so much more than just initial cost - it means you'll risk the shot that could make your video legendary against someone who won't. The x4 does have third party lens replacements, but besides them requiring the user to "break the seal" so to speak, they are ungodly, a more delicate operation that most would not have the tools or patience to to perform on-site. The new x5 system can easily be done in 5 minutes, anywhere.
allenhuffmanI 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?
android_alpacaTLDR: I personally really like the versatility of the 360 cameras like X4 Air (if I could only own one it would be a 360 camera), but the small size of the Go 3S makes it a more discreet device. In the end, it's depend on your use cases and imagination. I have Go 3S and regular X4. The X4 Air is about the size/weight of a chunky candy bar/short TV remote/ or slim eyeglasses case and they have distinctly different use cases. Use the Go 3S for established POV videos - for example mounted on your head, chest, or to the body of a instrument. Here you have established stationary positions of the camera and viewing angle. For instance, I mounted a Go 3S to an Air Rocket my kids launched as part of a school project and I got a good slow motion sequence of the crowd on the ground as the rocket blasted away. Use the X4 Air when there is a lot of movement going around that makes it hard to properly aim it - for instance you want a full body view of yourself (with no visible poll) from 3-10 feet away as your are moving (hiking, skiing/snowboarding, etc), or say you are trying to video your friends moving (skiing/snowboarding) while you are also moving where it would be tricky to casually keep them well framed in the camera (a veteran/pro videographer will be able to anticipate/follow the action with some communication/planning with the moving subject... but a 360 camera makes this a lot easier). I've also mounted the 360 camera to a fishing pole and a hockey stick and the 360 camera can easily stabilize the extremely movements of those two poles while still focusing on the action at hand (i.e. the lure being flung into the water, or the players and puck despite the camera twisting/spinning along). As for the drone, the Antigravity drone is not schedule for release until early 2026, so that will be far from now. Whether a drone will replace the X4 again depends on your use case... with a 10ft (3m) pole, the X4 Air can do a lot of similar angles to a drone being within 10-15 of the subject and isn't limited by the various regulations around a drone (drones are noisy and banned in most state/national parks, within 15-20 miles of airports, and landmarks and public/private buildings). You can easily make a video of what looks like a drone flying behind/in front of you with a 360 camera on a long pole. What you can't do with a normal 360 camera is get a view 100-300 ft in the air away from anything else (like a bridge or tower).
I don't know about gimbal mode for X4 Air. I think it depends on what you want to do with the camera. I have an Ace Pro and an X4 and I use my X4 a lot more in general because of the convenience of having a 360 pespective that allow reframing after the fact. I also have the X2 awhich was 150g and I notice the weight of the X4 (200g) at the end of a 100cm pole (a long lever) while snowboarding as I like to keep the stick horizontal and at waist height. The X5 is 200g as well so it will be a bit heavier than the 165g X4 Air. Last I checked the X4 Air is like $150 cheaper for a slight reducing in low-light image quality (the sensors are smaller) and like 15 minutes less battery life. So I would pick the X4 Air for action sports usage (handheld out in sunny weather) as well as to save some money. But if money is not an issue and you want the absolute best image quality available on a Insta360 right now and you are mostly not long-lever handholding (e.g. head, chest or object mounted) than I would got with X5.
I have a X2/X4 and a Ace Pro. X5 is a 360 camera. So when you crop it down from 8K 360 to a 16:9 viewport with say a 90 degree field of view... you are at something around 2.7K resolution (note you can shoot single lens in 4K, but it is an ultra, ultra wide field of view... so it's not going to be as good as a normal 4K as well). Personally, if I have to have only one camera with me, I always take my X4... it is just much more versatile as I think the convenient of framing and tracking almost always outweigh the loss in quality. Some times I have both an a magnetic-quick mount stick and just swap between the two depending on whether I need the reframing ability of the 360 camera or not.
TLDR: I would get the X4 Air as I believe it is equal or cheaper than the X4. Otherwise X4 is fine. I always shoot in 8K personally and that gives me like 75 minutes of continuous recording (which I think is plenty in most cases - especially on a bike since you can connect an external power to it). X4 Air is splits the difference between the X4 and X5 in image quality (i.e. better than the X4) has replaceable lenses. It has like 65-70 minutes of 8K battery life. Yes, you can swap batteries as they recharge to 80% in about 20 minutes (you can charge the X4/X4 Air/X5 as well via USB port if you aren't in a lot of water) - you say you want to "record all day" but how many hours of actual footage do you plan to take? I find 60+ minutes of footage is a lot (although you mentioned dashcam footage and the camera I believe have a loop recording mode that will just keep recording and only save 5/10/30 minutes - there is a infinite mode that clears out the oldest loop clip as well). Note you can still replace a X4 lens, just that you have to send it it... so if you are mostly kayak fishing and not crashing your road bike a lot - it's probably ok. I've had an X2/X4 for \~5 years and my main crashes was flipping face first running on a BMX dirt jump course next to me kids and I only got a tiny scratch on my X2 lens (to be fair I was protecting it so my face and hands got scratched a bit).
I can definitely tell my X4 (200g) is noticeably heavier at the end of a long pole compared to my old X2 (150 g). X4 Air is 165g and the X5 is also 200g like the X4. The X4 Air has bigger sensor than X4 and so has better video quality and so sits as cheaper option to the X5 as it is $400 vs $550 for the X5 (the regular X4 is $425). I found this Youtube comparison of video quality of the three cameras here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsYJtg-O4f4. X4 Air also has field replaceable lenses compared to the X4 and earlier cameras and addition to Me Mode (which auto-creates a 16:9 MP4 centered down the selfie stick) it has InstaFrame (16:9 video center on your face) as well as 8K HDR (regular X4 only has HDR for 5.7k).
Yes... I really noticed the weight increase from the X2 (150g) to the X4 (200g, X5 is also 200g) when snowboarding with it on the end of a extended pole when riding like this [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ReTFna\_vKLs](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ReTFna_vKLs)). For straight airs isn't fine, but I kind of flail/flap my arms a bit on spins and the weight of the camera at the end of a pole throws me off a bit when I land. Going to the X4 Air (165g) would help.
Camera sensor sizes use a very archaic and non-intuitive naming scheme... when they are listed as fractions... so the sensor size is bigger with the smaller denominator. The X4 has a Type-1/2" sensor (\~30.7 mm\^2) while the X4 Air has a Type-1/1.8" sensor which is roughly 38mm\^2. The X5 has a Type-1/1.28" that is roughly 71mm\^2 Here's a video I found on YT that shows side by side video comparisons - [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsYJtg-O4f4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsYJtg-O4f4) (I have no affiliation with the video, it was just the first video I found today that did good side by side videos). Also the weight savings is non-trivial. I really noticed the weight increase from my X2 (150g) to my X4 (200g). The X5 is also 200g and the X4 Air is 165g.