Insta360
Insta360 X3
Four years old and still on sale, because the entry price into spherical capture has not really moved below it. 5.7K30 is the ceiling — this is the generation before the X-series went 8K — and reframed to a normal 16:9 shot that leaves roughly 1.3K of usable width at a typical field of view, which is the honest number the marketing never quotes. What it does well is exactly what it did in 2022: throw it on a selfie stick, shoot everything, decide where to point later, and let FlowState make the result watchable. The 2.29-inch screen was the first usable one on a 360 camera, and the invisible selfie stick trick still reads as magic to anyone who has not seen it.
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 21 min at 5.7K30 360 video, lab 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 5,760 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 1,280 px — roughly 1.3K.
5,760 × (80 ÷ 360) = 1,280 px
An estimate. Stitching, supersampling and the projection move it by a few per cent either way. How this works.
Specifications
What the Insta360+ plan gates
~$35.88 a year, which is why the year-one figure on this page is ~$315 rather than ~$279.
- •Cloud storage from 200 GB up (X-series cameras need the Premium tier)
- •Free camera replacement through Insta360 Care / FlexiCare
- •A free extra year of warranty
- •Priority shipping from the Insta360 store
Features
- ●5.7K30 spherical video with full 360° horizon lock
- ●72 MP spherical stills
- ●Single-lens 4K30 mode
- ●2.29-inch rear touchscreen
- ●Waterproof to 10 m bare, 50 m in the dive case
- ●2290 mAh battery
Strengths
- +Under $300, the cheapest current 360 camera from a major brand
- +Same FlowState stabilisation and reframing workflow as the flagships
- +2290 mAh battery is bigger than several newer cameras'
- +A huge stock of cheap used accessories and selfie sticks exists for it
- +The battery is user-replaceable and spares are cheap and plentiful after four years on sale
Drawbacks
- −5.7K reframes to roughly 1.3K of usable 16:9 — visibly soft on a large screen
- −1/2-inch sensors and a 2022 processor, so low light is poor
- −Lenses are not replaceable
- −Insta360 publishes no bitrate or bit-depth figure for it
- −No magnetic mount and no internal storage, both of which the newer bodies have
What owners say
Summarised from owner discussions and published long-term reviews.
Four years old, still on sale, and still the camera owners point newcomers at when the question is whether they will actually enjoy shooting 360. The workflow is identical to the current flagships — throw it on a stick, shoot everything, decide where to point afterwards — and the invisible selfie stick trick still reads as magic to anyone who has not seen it.
What it cannot do is hold up on a big screen. 5.7K sounds close to the current cameras until you work out what a reframed 16:9 clip is worth, which is around 1.3K. That is fine on a phone and obvious on a television. Low light is poor, and the lenses cannot be replaced.
As a way of finding out whether 360 shooting fits how you actually record things — before committing five or six hundred dollars — owners rate it highly, and the resale market for them is healthy.
What owners like
- +It is the cheapest current 360 camera from a major brand and owners still recommend it as a first one
- +The same FlowState stabilisation and reframing workflow as the flagships, so nothing about learning it is wasted
- +A 2290 mAh battery that is larger than several newer cameras'
- +An enormous stock of cheap used accessories, sticks and guards exists for it
Common complaints
- −5.7K reframes to roughly 1.3K of usable widescreen, which is visibly soft on anything bigger than a phone
- −1/2-inch sensors and a 2022 processor make low light poor
- −Lenses are not replaceable, and owners scratch them
- −Insta360 publishes neither a bitrate nor a bit depth for it
Questions owners keep asking
Is the X3 still worth buying in 2026?
How much sharper is the X5 than the X3?
Can I still get accessories for it?
Insta360 X3, head to head
Cameras people look at alongside it
More from Insta360 →
Insta360
Insta360 X4
First of the X-series to shoot 8K, and the model that made spherical capture mainstream on bike handlebars and ski poles. The 200 Mbps ceiling is actually the highest of any X-series camera except the X6 — Insta360 spent the bitrate on holding detail through the stitch. What the X4 does not have is the thing the X5 introduced: its lenses are fixed, and a scratched fisheye is a service job. The sensors are 1/2-inch, less than half the X5's area, which is exactly where the two cameras separate once the light drops. Bought as a daylight camera at its current price, it is a lot of resolution for the money; bought expecting the X5's night performance, it will disappoint.
Insta360
Insta360 X4 Air
Lightest 8K 360 camera Insta360 has built, at 165 g — 35 g under the X5 and 31 g under the X6 — and that number is the whole pitch. On a helmet or the end of a selfie stick, thirty grams is the difference between a rig that stays put and one that wobbles. It keeps the things that matter most from the X5: replaceable lenses, 15 m of bare waterproofing, magnetic mounting. The sensors step down to 1/1.8-inch, roughly half the X5's area, and the frame-rate ceiling drops to 4K50 in single-lens mode against the X5's 4K120. Against the X4 it is the better camera in every way except peak bitrate, at a lower price, which makes the older model a hard recommend now.
Insta360
Insta360 X5
Replaceable lenses arrived here first, and they changed the economics of owning a 360 camera. The fisheye glass on any spherical camera sticks out past the body and gets scratched — it is the category's defining failure mode — and on the X5 a scratched lens is a twenty-minute swap with a part you can keep in a bag. Around that, dual 1/1.28-inch sensors with roughly 2.4× the area of the X4's drive 8K30 supersampled down from an 11K capture, and a triple-chip stack runs PureVideo for low light. Fifteen metres of bare waterproofing, 2400 mAh, 135 minutes at 5.7K30. Against the newer X6 it gives up 8K50, 10-bit and 5 m of depth; against everything else, it is still the 360 camera most people should buy.