Insta360 GO 2 Camera Review

The Insta360 GO 2 is an incredibly portable camera. It folds up into a compact size that makes it super easy to toss into a small bag or purse. It's also exceptionally lightweight. The camera also comes with a charging case with little kick-out tripod legs and additional controls. With the case on, the camera measures as follows:

• Height: 2.6 in / 6.7 cm (closed); 5.2 in / 13.2 cm (open)
• Width: 1.9 in / 4.8 cm (closed); 0.98 in / 2.5 cm (open)
• Depth: 1.0 in / 2.6 cm (closed); 1.0 in / 2.6 cm (open)
• Volume: 5.1 in3 / 83.6 cm3 (closed)
• Weight: 0.19 lbs / 0.09 kg

The Insta360 GO 2 feels decently well-built. The camera itself is made of smooth plastic. Without the charging case, the camera feels small and somewhat fragile. The lens, in particular, feels like a weak point, though it does come with a lens cover, which you can replace if it ever gets scratched. Thankfully, the camera is waterproof without the case. The included magnet clip is also very strong, so the camera feels very securely attached around your neck when using it.

Aside from the tripod legs, which are thin and have weak attachment points, the case is pretty solid. There's a bit of flex in the walls, but the bracket that joins the two halves of the case is made of a brushed metal alloy and feels sturdy. The magnet in the case is also very strong, so the camera isn't likely to accidentally pop out of place.

The charging case isn't waterproof. Only the camera itself has an IPX8 waterproof rating, meaning it's rated for continuous immersion in water.

• Insta360 GO 2 camera
• Charge Case
• Lens cover
• USB-A to USB-C cable
• Easy Clip
• Pivot Stand
• Magnet Pendant
• Quick start guide

The Insta360 GO 2 isn't the most comfortable to shoot with when you aren't using one of the included mounts or grips. When used with the charging case, as it's mostly intended to be, it's fairly comfortable when pointed toward you. It's lightweight, and the buttons are easy to reach with good tactile feedback. You can even shoot hands-free if you use the magnetic pendant, which allows the camera to stay mounted on your clothing. That said, if you're pointing the camera away from you, it becomes harder to use comfortably, with the controls being harder to reach. The camera is also very small and sleek, making it easy to drop or lose grip if you aren't careful. It can also be a bit cumbersome to use your phone as a screen, especially if you're shooting handheld.

While the Insta360 GO 2 has a small display that shows you the camera's settings, aspect ratio, and storage info, it's meant for use with your smartphone and the Insta360 app. The info display is bright enough to see on a sunny day.

The app menu is very simple and easy to use. You can quickly adjust settings like ISO and shutter speed. The app also has built-in editing features, including filters, color adjustments, playback speed and aspect ratio options, and more, so you can easily make adjustments to your photos and videos and almost immediately share them from your phone. The on-camera display also gives you access to a limited version of the menu, as seen here.

The Insta360 GO 2 has mediocre battery performance and falls significantly short of its advertised runtime for video. In its charge case, the camera lasts a little under an hour long on and off with several overheating interruptions. That's much shorter than the advertised 150 minutes in standard video mode and 110 minutes in Pro video mode. When removed from the charge case, the camera only lasts about 10 minutes of continuous video recording. Within those 10 minutes, we also experienced three overheat interruptions. On the upside, you can keep using the camera while it charges via USB, except if you plug it into a PC, as it'll go into data transfer mode, and you can't use it to take photos and videos.

The Insta360 GO 2 doesn't have a continuous shooting mode. Unfortunately, it also takes six seconds for the camera to process a photo after taking it, regardless if you shoot in RAW or JPEG. That also means you have to wait six seconds after taking a picture to start recording video, which can slow you down a bit if you're trying to capture a fleeting moment.

The Insta360 GO 2's wide field of view makes it easy to take stable handheld images.

The Insta360 GO 2 can record video in 1080p and 1440p. You can see a sample of 1440p footage here. The camera also has a LOG picture profile for those who plan on grading their footage and want more control over the look of their videos. However, given the limitations of the camera and its sensor, it's probably not worth it to shoot with this camera in LOG.

In regular video mode, the camera can record 1080p at 30 fps or 24 fps for more cinematic-looking footage. It also has a 'Slow Motion' mode that records at 120 fps without audio. This mode also incurs a drastic 2x crop.

Internal recording is good. While the camera has a max recording time of half an hour, the length of your video clips is determined by the video mode you're in. In 'Pro Video' mode, the max clip length is 10 minutes, in regular 'Video' mode, it's 15 minutes, and in 'FPV' mode, it's the full 30 minutes. The only exception to this is 'Timelapse' mode, which allows you to record up to 110 minutes continuously with the charging case, producing a seven-minute max time-lapse video.

Video quality is poor overall, even in more controlled lighting conditions. Though it's better than cheap action cameras like the Campark V40, it isn't quite as good as the GoPro HERO10 Black. In low light, there's heavy noise and loss of detail. The camera also struggles to bring out detail in heavily shadowed areas.

The camera doesn't have much rolling shutter effect in terms of skewed vertical lines. However, it's helped by its fisheye field of view.

The Insta360 GO 2 uses built-in memory. You can buy a version with 32GB or 64GB.

The Insta360 GO 2 itself doesn't have any inputs and outputs, but the charging case comes equipped with a USB-C port and a tripod mount. Unfortunately, the camera doesn't have a headphone jack or mic input.