Pros
- Great out-of-camera photos and videos (for an action camera)
- Easy-to-use app
- Replaceable lenses
Cons
- Lacks some of the features of the Insta360 X5
- Poor low-light performance
- An update for sure, but not a huge one
The GoPro Max 2 is a waterproof 360 action camera capable of 8K video. It’s easy to use and capable of capturing vibrant images and videos with no adjustment to settings or extensive processing. The updated Quik app lets you easily edit the photos and videos however you want, so you can post reframed content on any social media platform.
The Max 2’s greatest aspect is that it’s faster and easier to use than its main competitor, the Insta360 X5. However, the X5 is in many ways a more capable camera, not least because of its better low-light performance. To quickly get good-looking images and videos, especially for beginners, the Max 2’s greater simplicity is actually a strength, and that’s why it’s an Editors’ Choice winner.
Specs and hardware
- Photo resolution: 29 megapixels (7,680×3,840)
- Video resolution: 8K30
- Sensor size: 1/2.3-inch
- Lens: 14mm (35mm equivalent) f/1.8
- Image stabilization: Digital
- Screen type: 1.82-inch LCD
- Storage: MicroSD
- Weight: 195g (0.43lbs)
- App: iOS/Android (Quik), desktop (Player), also plugins for Premiere Pro, After Effects and Resolve (ReFrame)
The Max 2 uses the same general design as the original Max. Its square shape is shorter but wider than the Insta360 X5. It’s marginally smaller overall but I don’t think that difference will matter to most people. The smaller size does mean a smaller screen, however, which makes navigating menus and checking footage a little more cumbersome than with the X5.
On each side are two 1/2.3-inch image sensors behind user-replaceable lenses. Those smaller sensors (the X5 has far larger 1/1.28-inch sensors) likely help in keeping the camera size small but are a liability in low light. More on that in a moment.
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GoPro’s big marketing push for the Max 2 is that it has «true 8K» resolution. This gets into the weeds a bit, but it’s worth explaining. All consumer 360 cameras use two lenses and two image sensors. Each lens/sensor captures slightly more than 180 degrees of view. The overlap is then «stitched» together to create a seamless, or mostly seamless, usually, photo- or videosphere of everything around the camera. GoPro’s claim is that other 360 cameras, including the X5, record 4K video with each sensor, but because of the overlap, the end result isn’t technically 8K anymore. It’s more like 7K-plus because the pixels used for stitching shouldn’t be counted in the final result. GoPro, instead, records greater than 4K resolution per sensor, so when it’s stitched together, it’s actually 8K.
The proof is in the pudding, so to speak, or in this case, the image quality. GoPro claims «up to 21% more resolution than the competition.» It has supplied a variety of tests to show this is the case. In my testing, I’m not entirely convinced. Not in GoPro’s claims per se; those could be entirely accurate. It’s just in the videos I’ve recorded with multiple 360 cameras at the same time, the difference wasn’t particularly apparent. And really, ~20% isn’t that huge a difference.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve long been a proponent of greater resolution with 360 cameras. I’ve been using and reviewing them for a decade, and 8K is the minimum we should have, but that’s a separate battle. I’m just saying that 20% means you can crop in slightly more, or your desired crop is perhaps slightly more detailed. This isn’t like the difference between HD and 4K. That’s a 300% increase. Honestly, it doesn’t really matter because the images and videos out of the camera are sufficiently better than Insta360’s that the increased resolution, there or not, is almost irrelevant.
The rest of the hardware is pretty standard GoPro, including the foldable GoPro «fingers» mount along with a 1/4-20 tripod/selfie stick mount that’s similar to what its last few action cameras have had. One minor complaint: I wish the included lens covers were one unit. After removing a 360 camera from a bag or pocket, it takes extra time to remove the lens covers. The Max 2’s are small and fiddly to remove, and there are two of them. So one extra thing to lose. Insta360 has a cap that slides over the entire top of the camera, which, to be fair, is bulky to fit in a pocket when you’re using the camera, but it’s less annoying overall and faster to remove.
Usability and photo quality
Using the Max 2 is largely the same as other 360 cameras. Best results are at the end of a selfie stick, as the camera can «remove» the stick from images, so it looks like the camera is hovering above you. Swipe the Max 2’s screen to choose between videos, photos and time lapses. There are multiple, adjustable presets within those three categories where you can set resolutions, framerates and so on. You can also program different parts of the screen to have quick access to frequently used settings and features. If you’ve used any GoPro in the past few years, this feels basically the same.
Because the Max 2 shares the two-button layout of its other cameras, with the power/mode button on the side and the shutter button on top, it’s a little less convenient to capture something when the camera is at the end of a selfie stick. Other 360 cameras have the shutter button at the bottom, making it easy to reach without having to bring the camera all the way back down, so the top is within reach. If the shutter timer had a setting between 3 and 10 seconds (what happened to 5?), this would be even less of an issue. Not a huge annoyance, but a notable one. It does support voice commands, which means you can always shout at it, or control it with the Quik app.
GoPro cameras have a specific and often quite identifiable aesthetic. It’s a contrasty look with rich colors. Personally, I like it, as do a lot of other people apparently. The Max 2’s images and videos have this aesthetic, which is notable because of how much better they look compared to the X5’s. Insta360 has come a long way with its image quality, but between the two cameras, the GoPro’s images typically look better without any extra editing. During my testing, I posted images from both and posted them on my Instagram stories, and everyone liked the GoPro images better.
Broadly speaking, the photos and videos from the Max 2 look great on social media. A traditional action camera, notably GoPro’s own Hero 13 Black, will have greater video resolution and framerates, but when converted down to Instagram/TikTok resolutions, the difference isn’t as significant as it seems. You could say it’s just different tools for the same job.
However, there is one aspect where the X5 significantly outperforms the Max 2: low light. The Max 2, like GoPro’s Hero cameras, is abysmal in low-light situations. The footage is borderline unusable. The X5’s videos are much brighter, and while far from perfect, they’re acceptable given the size of the camera. The Max 2’s smaller image sensors just aren’t capable of absorbing enough light once the sun goes down. There are likely dynamic range limitations with the Max 2 as well, but for an action camera, that’s usually less of a concern.
Editing is as simple as the camera
Once you take a photo or record a video, you move to the next step required of 360 content: editing. All 360 content has to be edited for posting on sites like Instagram and TikTok. You can post 360s as 360s on Facebook and YouTube, but most people post cropped and edited versions of their footage.
Because of that, a camera’s editing app is crucial. GoPro’s Quik app is a little clunky, but it is generally easy to use. Getting your footage into the app takes a few taps. With photos, you can add filters, adjust exposure, contrast, color, etc., and reframe so you’re only showing the portion of the photosphere that’s most interesting. Or, as you can see in one of the above photos in this review, create TinyPlanet images.
With videos, you can do all the same things you can do with photos, plus trim the length and add camera movements. This latter feature, unique to 360 content, lets you rotate and spin the image around after you’ve recorded. This means you can focus the view on yourself, someone else, what you’re seeing or whatever you want, and you can do this in multiple ways.
The traditional way is to add key frames where you focus on what you want manually, adding a marker for the editor to focus on in the export process. Alternatively, you can use your phone as a viewfinder, tracking the motion in the video by moving your phone around like you’re inside the video. This movement is recorded by the app and will be in the final exported video. You can also have the app automatically track an object (a snowboarder, for instance) or focus on your POV. There’s a slight learning curve, but it’s presented well and fairly easy to use even for beginners. There’s also a desktop app, rather misnamed «Player,» that can do some of the editing Quik can do for individual photos and videos. For more advanced editing, there are free plugins for the major desktop editing programs.
While GoPro’s Quik app will meet the needs of most users, Insta360’s app goes further. In it, you can create a video with multiple clips, add transitions and change camera angles — all at once. Quik currently can’t handle multiple 360 videos, so you first need to trim and crop your 360 content, export it as a rectangular video in your desired aspect ratio and then use Quik’s editor to create a multiclip video. It’s an extra step that makes Quik feel clunky.
This partial 360 compatibility extends to the cloud. GoPro’s subscription service will automatically back up 360 footage and images just like non-360 content but it won’t edit it into little recap videos like it will with non-360 footage. On GoPro’s Media Library cloud website, you can view 360 images and videos as 360s, but the latter are only presented in very low resolution. You can download the original files, however.
So Insta360’s mobile app can do all that Quik does, plus it has additional image editing and multiclip editing tools. However, it’s more complex, and with that, there’s more of a learning curve. Its desktop app is also easier to use with more options, especially if you have a lot of footage to edit. GoPro disappointingly canceled its desktop version of Quik last year.
8K 360, too
On paper, the Insta360 X5 is the obvious choice. Larger image sensors mean better low-light performance, greater still-image resolution means sharper photos and a more elaborate app means more editing options. The reality is a bit different. The Max 2’s strengths are largely separate from specs.
Is the GoPro Max 2 worth buying?
The Max 2’s two biggest strengths are its image quality straight from the camera and its ease of use. Despite making great strides in image quality, Insta360 still lags GoPro. GoPro’s color science, aka what the colors and contrast typically look like without post-processing, has been consistent across its cameras for many years. It’s a saturated, contrasty aesthetic that is, to my eyes and many others’, quite pleasing. While Insta360 has come a long way, the results from its cameras still don’t look quite as good. However, you can certainly fix them with different exposure settings (the X5 especially overexposes) or «fixing it in post.» So for many, the greater flexibility of the X5, especially in low light, will offset this minor increase in workload.
Then there’s the ease of use. Technically, the Quik app is less capable than Insta360’s, but because of that, there’s less of a learning curve for new users. The workflow from «record a video» to «post a video» is simpler (for the most part) compared to Insta360. However, if you want to make more elaborate videos, that will require extra steps with Quik, whereas it’s all in the same place with Insta360.
What it comes down to is this: If you just want to post what you shot as fast as possible with little to no editing, well, technically, a regular action camera will always be faster. Between the 360s, though, the Max 2 is quicker. (Huh, maybe that’s where they got the name for the app?) You can do more with the X5, but if you don’t want to do more, the Max 2 looks better with minimal fuss, especially for beginners.
