I have owned almost all of the Insta360 GO series cameras and it feels like this new one announced today is the pinnacle of all the tech and design that Insta360 has been working on across their cameras over the years. It brings better battery life, higher resolution and frame rates, better design, more integration for sports overlay, and much, much more. The winners in all of this? Us, the consumers, as this camera is definitely one that many people will find is their one to always have on them.
The New Insta360 GO Ultra
Link: Insta360 GO Ultra – $449 (this is an affiliate link)
There are several improvements to this camera from its predecessor, the GO 3S. Here is a list of those:
- Upgraded Sensor: They increased the sensor from a 1/2.3″ to 1/1.28″ (the same sensor size as in the iPhone 16 Pro). This equates to an over 200% surface area increase and a 200% improvement in per-pixel light intake.
- AI Chip Advancement: Insta360 has continued to push the envelope on AI integration and chip advancement and this camera was not left out of that with its new 5nm chip to help give even better image quality
- Double the frame rate: It now is 4K at 60 frames per second, up from 30fps. This means more fluid video and the ability to slow it down in editing for cool, slow motion shots in 4K.
- Low Light Improvement: With PureVideo mode on this camera, it will help your video quality in low light to be much improved from the GO 3S
- Ultra Long Battery Life: You can now get up to 70 minutes of recording with the camera battery alone and up to 180 minutes if you are filming in the Action Pod. If you record in 4K 60FPS on just the camera, you will get about half of that time at around 36 minutes. But, you can recharge it to 80% in just 12 minutes
- Upgraded Audio
- MicroSD Slot: This is a big one that many people, myself included, were really wanting. While built-in storage is nice, it is much more flexible to have a card slot so you can swap cards when they get full, transfer the card to your computer to offload files, and get much greater capacity without having to make that choice at the time of purchase of the camera. I’m loving this!
The form factor on this has changed from the pill shape to this square form. I didn’t think I would like it but now I really do! It is easy to hold and the greater surface area helps to not accidentally push the touch sensitive button of the camera.
With the new (optional) headband, this is now my favorite camera for running. Most headbands for other action cameras are bulky and have to have a third strap that goes on the top of your head to make sure the weight of the camera doesn’t pull it down over your face. This new camera is still so lightweight that a simple, lightweight strap easily will go on your head and you could almost forget that the camera is there!
Thanks to the Action Pod, I can control the camera easily and see what I’m shooting – not something that is possible with something like a GoPro or DJI Action camera. Combined with the FlowState stabilization, it is very easy to capture some nice, smooth video even while running. You can see some clips in the overview video above.
I only had about a week with this camera and so this is not a full review at this time but more of a first-look/overview. I will have more videos coming out in the next week or two on comparisons and showing how to get the best out of this new camera.
I can tell you this – it is now my favorite action camera and will also be a favorite for travel. This works great with the included magnetic pendant to let it sit on your chest as you check out your next vacation destination, on the airplane, hotel, or anywhere you want to easily capture content without having to actually hold a camera.
I have an epic race coming up in a couple of months and I am so stoked to be able to have this camera with me. I had wanted to use a 360 camera and a regular action camera but wasn’t looking forward to wearing a bulkier action camera on my head – this is the answer to that!
