Insta360 - X4 Air

I previously had a GO 2, and loved how tiny it was. Didn’t feel wearing it. But it was limited, so wanted to try a more full featured camera. I debated between X5 and X4 Air, but opted for the X4 Air for smaller size. I’ve only used it one day mountain biking, but for chest mount the weight wasn’t an issue. I also tried helmet mount for 360 footage. I definitely felt the weight, but it was doable. I’ll probably do chest mount majority of the time for comfort, but like having the option to do some 360 videos as well.

I’ve been debating which camera to get, with my primary use being POV while mountain biking. And while a dedicated POV camera would likely be best for this, I like the idea of a 360 camera for the diversity of shots I could get for all activities. My biggest concern with the X5 is the size, which is why I’ve been strongly leaning toward the X4 Air. And as far as POV shooting, I know the X5 and X4 Air can shoot in POV mode with a single lens. Unfortunately X4 Air is out of stock.

**TLDR: 360 camera for the least amount on work in the moment. PM me I can private share you some of the videos I've taken of my kids so you can kind of see what it will be like** I have multiple young kids and am often watching them all by myself. I'm also a gear addict so I've tried all of the types of cameras you are looking at and use them all, but if I were to pick one camera to bring with me it would be the 360 camera. So overall, I recommend the X5 or X4 Air (which is lighter and cheaper, but a little less image quality and less battery life as a tradeoff). While 360 camera, you can kind of set it and forget it and then pull out some moments later on your computer/phone whenever you have time (i.e. when the kids are in bed). Insta360 desktop app offers "deep tracking" which lets you pick a person and it will do all the processing for you, although you need to let it run in real time. The mobile app has something similar and against you just kind of pick a face and let it work on the video. There is a new app that is polarizing, but supposedly you kind of let the app do most of the work for you (again with face tracking). You can either hold the camera on a selfie stick, or set it up on a tripod on a table (that's what I do for birthday song videos), clamp it to your stroller, or even stick it on your backpack and just have it start recording - **because it is recording a spherical 360 video of the entire scene, it will always get something** \- although ideally it is 3-10 feet away from you or your kids otherwise they will be kind of small in the frame. After that at night you can scrub/fast forward through the long video and cut out a few clips that you like. Sometimes if there is a stationary object that changes over time (a birthday cake disappearing as it is eaten or a sand castle being built) and I will turn the video into a timelapse by speeding up the video. If that feels like too much work, the X5 has "Me Mode" and "InstaFrame Mode" which does all of this in camera and gives you are video that is ready to share (although you still might want to trim it a bit). "Me Mode" automatically crops from the spherical to a 16:9 4K video that tracks down the selfie stick which pretty much guarantees you will be in the video (since you are holding the selfie stick). You can also flip the direction so Me Mode so that instead of recording whatever the handle of the stick is pointing at, if records whatever the stick is pointing at (think of it like a magic wand) that makes it very easy to make sure your subject is in the video frame when recording. "Instaframe" basically focuses on the first face it see and keeps tracking that throughout the video. The drawback is that I think the resolution is lower (1080p) - overall, that is one of the major tradeoffs you are doing, the **video quality from a 360 camera is always going to be less than the other types of camera for the flexibility in subject framing.** In terms of gear, just starting need the camera and make the 2-in-1 tripod-selfie stick. Maybe get a clamp mount so you can clip the 360 camera to your stroller (or backpack shoulder strap). So that's the 360 camera. There is also the small POV camera. Those are great for hands free videos, but I ironically find they take more mental work because you need to consciously setup the framing a lot more (i.e. have the camera mounted on your head/chest, turn them on and try not to shake your head or shirt too much and you might point the camera too high/low). They are great for 5-15 second clips though (I record it playing with the kids whether it is tag, frisbee/ball with the kids, or just hugs). There is less battery life though so I am personally more judicious with using them. Between Insta360 Go Ultra and the DJI Nano - I recommend the Ultra because it has a SD card in the camera itself. The DJI Nano stores the video to internal memory, which then you need to manually transfer to the SD card in the docking module because it won't store to the SD card directly (source: http://dji.com/nano/faq). Finally there is the Osmo Pocket 3, that has the best video quality, the best stabilization and pretty good subject tracking... but with it's not so wide angle view I found it require the most fiddling with. It is good if you can set it on a table/tripod at home and then select your crawling baby as a subject and just let it play, but I like the faster option of setting up the 360 camera and just pressing the record button (quickcapture will turn on the camera and start recording in like 2 seconds and then turn off the camera when you press record again).

TLDR: 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.

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).

TLDR: I have Ace Pro and X4... and I would get the x4 Air myslf to spend less time/thinking in the moment than trying to block and frame stuff with my Ace Pro, but YMMV depending on the type of stuff you do and how you want to record it. Also to consider it that unlike the X3 the other poster mentioned - X4 Air and X5 have quality of life no-editing options like Me Mode and Instaframe that create an MP4 that you can use immediately. Me Mode which creates a 4K video that centers the viewport down the shaft of the selfie stick (which is basically what you want 90% of the time when videoing yourself). It's what I do when recording myself hiking, snowboarding, skiing, etc. Me Mode can be "reverse" so it takes a superwide 4K video of what ever is at the top of the camera (i.e. you point the selfie stick like a wand at what you want to record). That 4K video is not as good as the 4K out of traditional recent action camera. Instaframe is tracking your face and editing/frame the viewport to follow you. I only have the X4, so I don't have it and haven't use it personally. I've always had a lot better luck with the Insta360 app than with the GoPro app and for the 360 cameras, there are some AI tracking options in the new 2.0 app (a lot of people hate it though so YMMV, I use the desktop app myself). As for Ace Pro and Ace Pro 2... I think the Ace Pro is like 80-90% of the Ace Pro 2. The new one is a better at wind noise reduction and low light video and a little wider angle. I think it gets a bit more battery life too - but none of the feature seemed THAT much better (otherwise I would have upgraded myself).

X5 is the best image quality, but at 200g (same as my X4) is heavy at the end of a 100cm stick, and a little tippy on a helmet/unicorn helmet moubnt. The X4 Air is 165g (more like my 150 X2) and $150 USD cheaper (well it was because the sales so I don't know the difference right now). YMMV, but I like ski-pole, or 100cm selfie stick versus chest or helmet mount (as I would just use my Ace Pro for that).

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.

My apologies, I misread your post and thought you said it was a large bitrate *and* sensor size. You are right image quality is a combination of sensor size, bitrate, and encoding - although I personally would value the larger sensor over the bitrate (and AFAICT both support the same encoding - eg h265) especially when its a 25% increase in sensor size versus a 10% decrease in bitrate (180 vs 200 Mbps). FWIW, the X4 Air also has HDR in 8K versus just 5K for the regular X4. (as well as Instaframe mode, which is like Me-Mode, but instead of centering on the selfie stick, it crops a 16:9 viewport around your face - skipping the need to edit in post). Finally, the X4 Air is $400 while the regular X4 is still more than that (like the the $425 price range). It isn't enough for me upgrade my X4 to get the X4 Air - but personally I would pick the X4 Air over the X4 in basically every situation. Versus the X5, I agree that the X4 Air is the cheaper/lighter option and good for extreme sports while the X5 is the best image quality at a higher price.

I'm actually tempted to downgrade my X5 to this since 90% of my use is daytime ski/snowboard shots. The weight on a helmet mount is very noticeable.

Having the camera at the end of a pole attached to my backpack strap, i think this is very much what i need. The X3 was already border-line too heavy, i could never do X5.

I almost bought the air over the x5 but I like to do night riding so the pure video mode sold me

I run a DJI Action 4 and just picked up an Insta 360 x4 Air as well. The insta 360s sounds pretty good and you’ll be pretty happy with that. The DJI on the other hand sounds fucking amazing! You can hear everything going on. It’s wild.

There are some comparisons between the X4 Air and the X5. The X5 has better picture quality, but I went with the X4 Air and have had no thoughts about the quality. Recommend the X4 Air. I had an X2, but the mount broke and I lost the camera. The X2's quality was also really good, but the small circle screen was awful. No complaints about the X4 Air

As a user of x5 and having tried x4 air, I would recommend x4 air. Video quality difference ain’t that a big deal to me since I ain’t an influencer and honestly I can’t tell the difference. The weight difference on a fully extended stick is very significant however. Both cams have replaceable lens, which is a superbig plus for me. X4 air is cheaper. And I don’t think anyone shoots in 8K cause ur fps suffers (x4 air has 8k too)

I love my X4 but the one time I did not have the lens guards on, it tipped over and now there's a small scratch/dent on one of the lens which is visible on the footage just slightly but it still visible lol Make sure to keep lens guard on, but it'll slightly reduce image quality. But the X4 Air got replaceable ones though

I have insta x4 air and it is not for snowboarding. Too heavy, long poles.... Nothing to enjoy. Gopro was much better