GoPro Max 2 360 Camera Review: It’s Finally Here

This is arguably personal taste. Of course if you want to stop eyeball scrolling with super-saturated, eye-popping colors, the Insta360 X5 is your friend. Personally though, I like the color from the GoPro better even when shooting in 8-bit color. It’s probably worth checking out some videos from both to see which look you prefer before you invest. One advantage of the GoPro is that if you want to get into post-production coloring in apps like DaVinci Resolve, the 10-bit color option gives you a lot more latitude.

I also found that, in bright light, for shooting the kinds of action cameras I usually use (bike rides, hiking, etc.), the Max 2 footage was sharper than the same scene shot with the X5. The difference isn’t huge, but especially in scenes with lots of foliage, the Max 2 comes out ahead with sharper edges and better contrast.

Like most 360 cameras, the Max 2 offers a single-lens mode, which is handy for those times when you know you don’t want a second lens (for example, if it’s mounted on your chest). In single lens mode the Max 2 essentially becomes a 4K Hero 13. The same lens modes are available, as are most video options. The big difference is that you’re capped at 4K rather than the Hero 13 Black’s 5.2K. But single-lens mode is convenient because it saves you from reframing that footage.

While the Max 2 wins in picture quality (slightly) and color science (with 10-bit support), it unfortunately doesn’t win in audio. The Max 2 manages to pack 6 microphones, which it then uses intelligently (for example when there’s wind coming from the left it dampens that mic and relies more on the right mic). That all sounds very nice, but unfortunately the audio in my tests was subpar no matter what I did. It was noticeably quieter and flatter than the X5, shooting side-by-side in the same conditions.