Insta360 X3 Battery Kit - 360 Action Camera with 5.7K 360 Active HDR Video, 4K Single-Lens Camera, Waterproof, FlowState Stabilization, 2.29" Touchscreen, AI Editing, for Motorcycle, Wintersports

After having used the camera for more time now and having tested the video editing software, I am updating my review with a better score. First of all the recording quality is great, both video and audio and can be viewed on a big screen TV with crystal clear image. The camera has a wind noise cancelation feature that you can turn on that I really like. It works by the camera having four mics, one on each side, and the camera chooses audio input from the mic that has no wind noise. This makes audio recording great in any condition. I used this camera to record some family videos during a festival in town. Being able to just hold the camera up with the invisible selfie stick and record without having to worry about what is in frame is great and allows you to be in the moment. Then after I got home, with the included video editing software you can just reframe the video making it look "professionaly" shot, capturing all key moments. For example we had many family members attend this festival and I was able to capture key moments without even realizing it until I started editing in the software. It even allowed me to experience moments I had missed while I was focused on something else. Which is what I would describe as a sort of a spiritual experience. This made realize the 360 video recording isn't just a gimmick or for specific scenarios. It is fantastic to capture everything happening around you and allowing you capture specific events that you would have missed with a normal camera. The software is very easy to use and allows you to follow a target or adjust keyframes manually. It comes with a plugin to be used with professional video editing software if needed. In my first review I mentioned the camera overheating, but that was in the scolding California sun, no shade and no air movement. I have not had any problem with overheating other than this one time, so this was just due to these extreme environment conditions. I ordered the mic adaptor that has just arrived and am looking forward to testing it with a wireless mic.

I bought this just barely 1 week before a 12 day Antarctica cruise with Silversea cruiseline Feb 22-Mar 3, 2024. I learned how to use most of the key features before leaving. The amazing part is it truly is 360 degrees - just put in your best forward facing position (higher is better) and it allows extreme flexibility of editing any angle from the center view point. It is best to have forward facing to avoid some occasional artifacts in 'stitching'. And being in Antartica where average daytime temperatures were 0-3C/33-37F - the Insta 360 X3 didn't overheat (as was mentioned by others using it in temperate climates. So the cool Antarctica temperatures really resulted in some great footage. The downside is combing through your recording and finding the key parts you want to edit. I recommend if possible noting on your phone (if accessible) or a small paper notebook what time a specific event occurred. It would allow you to advance to that time marker and edit as necessary. One quirk I saw was the color balance was 100% wrong in the bright light of an Antarctica landing - the water and foreground were heavily tinted sky blue for some reason. In other cloudy settings the color was correct. I suspect the overwhelming shift between snow and water were wreaking havoc with the color sensors. I did put it under water a few times with the standard housing and it worked fine - no leaks, but underwater visibility - I could not find any wildlife swimming nearby. Not fault of camera but have to keep trying. The stability of the video is really amazing and the auto-level with horizon is near magical. I have great recording of us departing the cruise ship on a Zodiac inflatable boat and having the selfie stick high - allowed me to show a view of us in boat from a low 'drone-like' altitude. Very amazing flexibility of views that can be tweaked so many ways. This text doesn't do it justice - check out the YouTube videos and you'll see what I mean. Definitely worth it if you have an exotic vacation in your plans. Note: Mixed bag as a dash camera. It does overheat as mention in forums and will automatically shutdown to protect the camera. Also, a deal breaker for me is the audio cannot be turned off - it is ALWAYS recording sound. The forums have asked for this for YEARS since the original camera Insta 360 came out - this is X3 and now there is X4 - unclear if audio is selectable on X4.

Really nice video and pictures while riding a bicycle. Qaulity is very good, and camera is strong, i have fell off the bike few times and the camera doesnt even notice it. its really easy to set up and to moint it. Its king of big for the helmet so i mout it on the handlebars. Price is ok, but now there are more options, it will be good to reduce cost.

Google is phasing out their photosphere feature on their Pixel phones and I wanted something that could do 360 photos faster for capturing environments on vacations or anything else I want to document. The HDR mode is really good for dimly lit indoor environments which was the first thing I used this on. I was moving out so I wanted to capture the old rooms and the new place. The camera takes awhile to setup and get going. And then when I did take a 360 photo it was all in black and white. Apparently I had to do something or wait for it show up in color, but they don't make that clear, I thought I was using some wrong mode. I use the HDR mode which doesn't seem to have that extra step (it does take a few seconds for the HDR to process though). The photos save to your SD card, but I like the feature where you can upload this to your Google Photos account where I can view them like I could with the old photosphere feature (looking around with VR mode). And of course it's just where I like to keep my photo albums. The invisible selfie stick is crazy too! It looks like the camera is floating. Overall, I haven't used the other features yet since I was mostly interested in 360 photos, but it gets the job done and the photos look great.

Great product and great quality! Don’t forget to order a micro card. The editing tools on the app are pretty cool, but takes a little bit to get comfortable with them. Found a lot of instructional videos. Can’t find an app that works on MacBook, but is on phone. Highly suggest purchasing!!

Update: April 2025- technical team diagnosed the problem as a hardware problem. Refunded my purchase. Upgrading to 5 stars. Update: March 25- technical team reached out and are attempting to rectify the problem. Will update further. Camera works well. No issues with recording and video quality. Very frustrating connection issues with the camera and a mobile device to transfer the videos. It connects 1 out of 10 times and disconnects during the video transfer process almost all of the times. I tried several different mobile phones and tablets, both iOS and Android. Paid for cloud storage from Insta360 with the hopes of bypassing the mobile transfer, but the camera refuses to connect or remain connected for me to complete the setup process and connection to the cloud. Very frustrating and disappointing.

I'm having a blast recording with this. However under higher speeds you do pick up a LOT of wind noise. But that's to be expected. I think I may upgrade to the newer model soon considering this has been so good to me.

This has turned out to be one of the most useful purchases I have made. A 360 camera is like having a multicamera film crew in your pocket...or like having one of those cranes that carries a film camera, which can be pointed in any direction, but this camera points in ALL directions at once. If you had unlimited cash and reckless abandon, you could hit the record button on this camera, chuck it across a field, and have a perfectly stable shot focused on whatever you want, if your SD card survives the aftermath..lol. The image stabilization works the same way YouTube videos can be optionally stabilized after you upload footage to the site...the software zooms in on your subject, creating a cropped image, and eliminates all jiggling that way. However, since this camera films everything around it at once, there is unlimited area for the software to zoom, resulting it completely stable footage in any direction, on any subject captured by the 2 lenses. Since each lens actually captures WIDER than 180 degrees (the area captured by each lens overlaps), the software is able to remove the selfie stick at the bottom, if you choose to frame the your shot focusing on yourself. This allows you to create footage that looks as if it is being shot from a drone following you (if you're clever and hold the stick in the right way). To frame your footage on what you want your video to be focused, you can use either the PC/mac software, or the phone app. Since your phone has accelerometers, you can play your footage back on the app while orienting your phone as you would your head when you look around at things, and focus on whatever you want after the fact. On the computer software, you simply drag the view to what you want to see in the shot, right-click to add a keyframe, and repeat. The software then transitions the view to whatever you designate as a keyframe as the video plays back. I regret not getting one of these ages ago!