We’ve had the new Insta360 X5 in the gear bag for about four months now and it’s been doing its job without any drama. Nothing has broken, nothing has fallen off and it’s captured a heap of riding footage along the way. If you’ve used the X4, the concept is exactly the same, film everything in 360° and worry about the angles later. But, the X5 adds a few upgrades that should make the footage better and the camera easier to live with.
The biggest change is the new 1/1.28-inch sensors, which are about 144% larger than the X4’s, plus a new triple-chip processing system that helps clean up the footage. It still shoots 8K 360° video at 30fps, which means the files are big but the quality is excellent. To be honest, when you’re blasting through the bush it’s hard to notice the improvements straight away, but the footage does look sharp and consistent. It also has a PureVideo low-light mode if you’re filming in darker conditions.
One upgrade we did notice was the battery life. The new 2400mAh battery lasts longer than the previous model and fast charges quickly, which means less mucking around swapping batteries. Like the X4, the best part is still the way it captures everything. You don’t have to aim the camera, just ride and pick the angles later in the app. Some people have mentioned they don’t love the distorted 360 look in our clips, but you can easily use the Dewarp option and run it more like a normal action camera.
It’s also built tough. Be careful of the bul bours lenses though. It’s waterproof to 15m, and there’s now a replaceable lens system, which is a big deal if you’re mounting it on dirt bikes where things tend to get smashed around. So far the X5 has been reliable, simple to use and doing exactly what we bought it for.
GET IT HERE Insta360 Official Store, Amazon, and select retailers
BILL $747.99
BROWSER store.insta360.com
