GoPro
GoPro MAX2
Six years after the first MAX, GoPro finally shipped a successor, and the twist-off lens covers are the headline that matters. Every 360 camera lives or dies on scratched glass — the lenses bulge out past the body by design and there is no guarding them properly — and the MAX2 joins the Insta360 X5 in making a scratched lens a field swap rather than a service ticket. Around that sits true 8K spherical at 30 fps with 10-bit colour and GP-Log for grading, a 200 Mbps Maximum Bitrate mode added in GoPro's June 2026 firmware (300 Mbps with the experimental GoPro Labs firmware), built-in GPS and a six-microphone array. The two compromises are real: 5 m of bare waterproofing, the same as the original MAX and a quarter of the Insta360 X6's, and 66 minutes at 8K30 is less than half what the X6 claims.
Sensor area against the rest of the catalogue
Derived from the standard optical-format table rather than copied off a spec sheet, because makers print a fraction that hides it. The table and the arithmetic.
Battery, with the small print
- Maker’s claim
- 1 h 6 min at 8K30 spherical, ideal conditions
- Third-party test
- None collected. We publish a tested figure only where a named outlet has run one and stated its conditions.
What a reframed clip is worth
This camera records 7,680 px across a full 360°. A normal 16:9 clip pulled out of it uses only the slice its field of view covers, so at a typical 80° reframe the usable width is about 1,707 px — roughly 1.7K.
7,680 × (80 ÷ 360) = 1,707 px
An estimate. Stitching, supersampling and the projection move it by a few per cent either way. How this works.
Specifications
What the GoPro Premium plan gates
~$59.99 a year, which is why the year-one figure on this page is ~$359 rather than ~$299.
- •Unlimited cloud storage and automatic upload for GoPro footage
- •Guaranteed camera replacement, no questions asked
- •Up to 50% off GoPro accessories
Features
- ●True 8K spherical video at 30 fps
- ●Twist-off replaceable lens covers, swappable in the field
- ●200 Mbps Maximum Bitrate mode and 10-bit colour with GP-Log
- ●Built-in GPS
- ●Six-microphone array for 360 audio
- ●In-camera POV and selfie modes that skip the reframing step
- ●Magnetic latch, folding fingers and a 1/4-20 thread
Strengths
- +Lens covers twist off and cost far less than a repair — the single biggest running cost of a 360 camera solved
- +A 200 Mbps mode in stock firmware, and 300 Mbps with GoPro Labs, for fast-motion detail
- +10-bit colour with GP-Log gives real grading headroom
- +Built-in GPS for speed and route overlays, which most 360 cameras lack
- +Records a straight POV or selfie clip in-camera, so easy shots skip reframing entirely
- +Six microphones record 360 audio
Drawbacks
- −5 m of bare waterproofing, a quarter of what the Insta360 X6 manages
- −66 minutes at 8K30 against the X6's claimed 140
- −The 1/1.9-inch sensors are small for a 360 camera in 2026
- −GoPro's desktop and mobile 360 reframing tools are slower than Insta360 Studio
- −The fisheye glass still protrudes far enough that a guard or a cap is not really optional
What owners say
Summarised from owner discussions and published long-term reviews.
GoPro's return to 360 lands as a serious camera with one very good idea. The lens covers twist off and are sold as parts, which addresses the failure mode every 360 owner eventually meets: the fisheye glass bulges past the body, cannot really be protected, and scratches. Owners treat that as the single most useful thing any 360 camera maker has done recently.
Around it sit genuinely high specifications — true 8K spherical, 10-bit, GP-Log, a 200 Mbps bitrate mode (300 with GoPro's Labs firmware), six microphones and built-in GPS. The in-camera POV and selfie modes matter more than they sound, because reframing every clip is the hidden cost of owning a 360 camera and this skips it for the easy shots.
Where owners are less enthusiastic is water and endurance. Five metres bare is shallow for the category, and 66 minutes at 8K means a spare battery is not optional. The other repeated theme is software: people who have used Insta360's reframing tools find GoPro's slower, and that comparison comes up in almost every MAX2-versus-X6 thread.
What owners like
- +Twist-off replaceable lenses are the change owners rate highest — scratched glass has always been the running cost of a 360 camera and this turns it into a part
- +The single-lens POV and selfie modes let easy shots skip reframing entirely, which owners describe as the feature that gets the camera used on ordinary days
- +Built-in GPS, which most 360 cameras lack, matters to anyone overlaying speed or route data
- +10-bit with GP-Log and a 200 Mbps mode give it real grading headroom
Common complaints
- −Five metres of bare waterproofing is shallow for a 360 camera, and owners coming from an Insta360 X-series notice immediately
- −Around 66 minutes at 8K30 is roughly half what the Insta360 X6 claims, and owners plan around spare batteries because of it
- −GoPro's reframing tools are slower and less capable than Insta360 Studio, and owners who have used both say so plainly
- −It arrived six years after the original MAX, and a recurring question in the discussion is what niche it is actually meant to fill
Questions owners keep asking
How deep can the MAX2 go without a housing?
Are the replaceable lenses worth it?
How long does it record at 8K?
Do I still have to reframe everything?
GoPro MAX2, head to head
Cameras people look at alongside it
More from GoPro →
GoPro
GoPro MAX
A 2019 camera that GoPro quietly refreshed in 2025 with an Enduro battery and a 1/4-20 mount, and which survives because of one thing it still does well: it also works as a normal action camera. Point it forward, pick a digital lens, and the front sensor alone shoots 1440p or 1080p with Max HyperSmooth — historically the most aggressive stabilisation GoPro has ever shipped, because the second lens gives it a bigger picture to steal from. The spherical side is dated: 5.6K30, 8-bit, 78 Mbps, and lenses that cannot be replaced when they scratch. Treat it as a cheap dual-purpose camera with a very good stabilised single-lens mode, not as a current 360 camera — and at GoPro's own prices the newer MAX2 now costs less, so it only makes sense well below list.
This is the camera that introduced the tall 8:7 sensor readout, and it is the reason the Hero body has barely changed since. Shooting the full 27 MP frame and cropping to 16:9, 9:16 or 4:5 in the edit is a workflow rather than a spec, and it is still the single most useful thing GoPro has added in five years. The Hero 11 keeps GPS, which the Hero 12 dropped, and the older HyperSmooth 5.0 is a hair behind 6.0 without being visibly worse. Where it falls behind is GP-Log, which arrived a generation later, and the 1/4-20 thread, which did not. GoPro no longer lists it, so remaining stock and used cameras are the way to buy one now.
GoPro
GoPro LIT HERO
Four LEDs around the lens, and an entire product built to justify them. The LIT HERO is the 2024 HERO body with 4K60 instead of 4K30, a magnetic mount, and a ring light bright enough to be useful at arm's length in a dark bar, a tent, or a night ride. Whether that is worth the premium over the plain HERO depends entirely on whether you shoot after sunset; the sensor is the same small 1/2.3-inch chip, so the light is compensating for a limitation rather than adding a capability. Reviewers have found it the most confusing camera in GoPro's line precisely because it sits above the HERO on price and below the Hero 12 on everything but the LEDs. The bright spot is runtime: GoPro rates it at over 100 minutes of 4K60 with the light off. Like the HERO, it stabilises footage in the Quik app rather than in the camera.