Unbiased Insta360 Ace Pro 2 review | How it really works for MotoVlogging

The Insta360 Ace Pro 2 on review here promises high performance in all light conditions and features a flip-up screen to make it a lot easier to frame shots from in front of the camera, as well as access all the controls.

Available with a single battery for £389.99, or with two for £409.99, I’ve been testing it on various bikes to find out if it’s the best motorcycle action camera by comparing it to the DJI Osmo Action 4, which has been my favourite device for quality and ease of use… Is the Ace Pro 2 really any better? Let’s find out…

PLEASE ENSURE YOU SET THE SAMPLE VIDEOS TO PLAY AT 4K RESOLUTION

Pros & Cons

Why you can trust this review

No manufacturers or distributors ever have any influence on the reviews I write or film, I won’t ever do any paid reviews, and I’ll never agree to affiliate links. All products are tested fairly and equally, and if anything changes over time, I’ll update the written reviews.

Your purchasing choices should always be your own – Bennetts BikeSocial is just here to help ensure they’re informed choices.

One camera, one bike

Testing the Insta360 Ace Pro 2 on the BMW R1300GS

The Insta360 Ace Pro 2 can do (almost) everything

The video above was shot entirely on the Insta360 Ace Pro 2, with the camera shooting in 4K resolution at 25 frames per second. Exposure was left in automatic mode, the bitrate was set to high (you need to change this in the settings), and sharpness was at the default medium. The only changes between shots were the viewing angles, with active HDR left turned on.

I edited it in Premiere Pro with a music track from Artlist, which will become more important to know later in the review, and it took me about 45 minutes.

I’m impressed with this camera. In my review of the Action 4 Pro I explained why I was using 360 cameras less (though devices like the X4 are still very good), and having horizon lock on for the shots with the camera off to the side of the bike in the video above meant I didn’t need to worry about the position of it; the same went for the shot of the suspension, which benefitted from making the bike appear to move while you couldn’t see anything else for reference.

Overall image quality is very good (we’ll look at comparisons later), and the magnetic clip fastening is impressive, making it very quick and easy to swap the Insta360 between locations (as long as you have multiple clips). Sadly it’s not compatible with DJI’s quick-release clip.

The camera is only meant to fit onto the clip one way around, but the magnets aren’t massively powerful, so if you’re in a panic and have to get a shot urgently, it is possible to clip the camera on the wrong way around without unscrewing the bracket. The magnet in the base of the Ace Pro 2 isn’t powerful enough to oppose the clip’s magnet when put on back to front, but downside to this is that, unlike the DJI Osmo Action 4, you can’t just stick the camera to a metal surface for stationary shots.

Of course, one of the biggest highlights of the Insta360 is its flip-up screen. Appearing very well-made and solid, this allows you to easily see the full screen and access the controls easily from the front or back. The benefit of this when composing shots shouldn’t be underestimated, and I’ll say now that this will be my first choice for on-the-go pieces to camera and as a second camera, for instance in my videos shot in the garage, as it’s a lot easier to see the framing from a distance compared to the DJI with its small screen on the front.

But it’s not perfect. If the camera’s in a confined space you might not be able to flip the screen up, which can make framing on-bike action awkward, and not allow you to change settings without taking the camera off.

For many situations it’ll be fine, but while it’d add to the cost, this system would be flawless if there was also a touch-sensitive screen on the front that could also show the view in a smaller window, like the DJI. The Ace Pro 2’s front screen is monochrome and displays only the remaining card space, battery level, recording mode, elapsed time and recording status. There is a big LED that shows it’s recording – handy when it’s mounted to your helmet or chest – but checking the framing from this position can be very hard, especially when helmet mounted.

Another very notable inclusion is the removable wind muff – a metal mesh with a foam insert that reminds me of ED-209, and combined with the wind noise reduction (turned on for all the videos in this review), gives very good sound even at speed. You’ll be able to hear the audio quality in the other video samples, and will understand why I used music in the one above later on…

A massive deal for me, and something that put me off the previous Insta360 Ace Pro is the fact that the lens guard is now removable, with replacement Ace Pro 2 covers costing £19.99. Having damaged the surface of several action camera lens covers over the years (weld spatter and angle-grinder sparks), I would never recommend a camera that didn’t have this.

Finally, the Insta360 smartphone App, which is needed to activate the camera, but then only required for firmware updates, to edit footage on your phone or to control the camera remotely, is available on both the iOS and Android app stores. The peace-of-mind of not needing to side-load an app on Android does give Insta360 an advantage over DJI.

There are a huge number of shooting modes available on the Ace Pro 2, including high frame rates for slow-motion footage:

PureVideo is intended for better low light footage, which we’ll look at later. Free-frame shoots a square-format video with guides on the screen showing how the footage will look cropped horizontally or vertically. Choose which you want when editing on the smartphone or the free Insta360 Studio app for Mac or PC.

The dash-cam mode is also very impressive – choose the length of each clip and it’ll record one after the other, deleting the earliest as space is filled, just like a dedicated dash-cam. Where extra thought has gone into this is that you can choose the space allocated on the memory card for the dash-cam (the Ace Pro 2 supports microSD cards up to 1TB), so you can still have plenty of room kept available to film the things you want, while also having it recording all the time.

An alternative to this is the ‘pre-record’ mode, which works up to 1440p resolution and is constantly recording but not storing footage. If something happens that you want to keep, hit the button and up to the last 120 seconds will be recorded, then everything following until you press stop, at which point it returns to its clever standby mode again.

Ace Pro 2 8K test

Comparing the Ace Pro 2 at 8K with the Osmo Action 4 at 4K

8K is NOT just a gimmick

I was sceptical of the value of being able to shoot in 8K resolution, and while the footage above does show the superior clarity compared to the DJI Osmo Action 4 – especially when zoomed in – it’s at the expense of the stabilisation’s performance, which while kind of acceptable, is clearly lacking. The HDR mode also gets turned off in 8K mode, and this can be seen in the burned-out clouds.

Less vibration-prone and fast pitch-changing footage would be better when shot in 8K, but it is surprisingly effective even in these fairly harsh conditions.

Where the Insta360 Ace Pro 2’s 8K mode really excels though is in more static shots, for instance when shooting in my garage…

Ace Pro 2 FoV and resolution test

8K performance excels here

The video above shows all the fields of view available on the Ace Pro 2, and how they compare to the Osmo Action 4. What’s really striking is how much better the Insta360 is for noise, and how far you can zoom in when shooing in 8K mode. The lack of HDR in 8K here didn’t make much difference at all, though if there had been an outside window in the shot it might have been more prevalent.

As before, the wind noise reduction was left on; this review is intended to be for motorcyclists not professional videographers, so I’m keeping everything as automatic and standard as possible.

Something I hadn’t expected was how resistant to over-heating the Insta360 Ace Pro 2 is – in a test with no draft at about 19°C with the camera on my desk, it shot 8K 25fps footage for 56 minutes until the battery ran out, with no sign of any overheating. Impressive.

Ace Pro 2 Standard stabilisation

Compared to Osmo Action 4

The Ace Pro 2 has slightly lazy stabilisation

Have a look at the footage above (and listen to the audio comparisons, filmed on a BMW R1300GS), and you might notice that when coming out of bends the stabilisation – ‘Standard’ on the Ace Pro 2 and ‘Rock Steady’ on the Osmo Action 4 – is a little slow to catch up on the Insta360, leading to a slightly weird feeling of the bike almost swerving at the last minute. It’s not a real deal-breaker, and I assume that Insta360 could iron this out with a firmware update.

Keeping in mind that I’m using standard exposure settings with auto HDR on both cameras, and that both offer flatter ‘Log’ modes for greater refinement during editing, I think that the Insta360 has slightly more natural colours in auto compared to the DJI, and a little less contrast, resulting in fractionally better footage. But the HDR – which can be turned off – produces some distracting edges on the trees at times. Overall it’s very good, though I would be tempted to shoot in Log and tweak this footage later for more important videos.

Ace Pro 2 High stabilisation

Compared to Osmo Action 4

With the Ace Pro 2 set to ‘High’ stabilisation and the DJI to ‘Rock Steady+’, the Insta360’s stabilisation delay when exiting bends becomes more pronounced, especially when exiting the trees at 0:18. Please excuse the bug splat at 2:44.

The edges on some trees remain visible here, but hopefully this is something that could be dialled back a touch with a firmware update in the standard auto modes.

Horizon levelling comparison

Ace Pro 2 vs Osmo Action 4 test

The video above shows the cameras in Horizon Levelling mode. This is great if you’re backflipping off a cliff into the sea, but on bikes I prefer to see the horizon move. Still, where I shot the rear shock with no context of the road in the first video, Horizon Levelling certainly made it more dynamic. The slightly laggy stabilisation is still evident in this mode.

Control over the camera is very good, with plenty of settings available to tweak, as well as full manual control if you want it. The shutter speed can be adjusted from 1/8000 second down to the limit of the frames per second (so 1/25 at 25fps, 1/50 at 50fps etc), which will make for great motion blur outside if you’re using ND filters (I haven’t had a chance to test these). There is an option to add blur in the app, but I’m not all that impressed with the results.

There’s also a setting to reduce jitter, which increases the shutter speed to minimise smaller vibrations in lighter scenes.

Note that the footage I’ve shown in this review was shot using V1.0.10, which was the first full consumer firmware. I also used the Beta firmware pre-release, but this did have some glitches that were ironed out for the launch.

Ace Pro 2 night footage

Shooting in the dark with both cameras

Low light and night footage on the Ace Pro 2 is very good, but not perfect

In the field of view test earlier, I used the standard video mode and found the noise to be incredibly well controlled, especially when compared to the DJI Osmo Action 4, which I’d thought was good already. As the camera was static, I had no need to use the PureVideo mode, which is intended for better low light shooting.

The video above sees the cameras mounted to the nose of the BMW R1300GS, then on the screen facing back, to compare the night time performance...

With both cameras in standard 4K/25 mode, the Ace Pro 2 has the edge in clarity, and stabilisation to a small extent. But switch over to PureVideo mode and the Ace Pro 2 really stands out, details being significantly clearer than the Action 4, and vibration massively reduces. It’s still not as good as daylight footage of course, but it’s very, very impressive. If you need to shoot at night, the Insta360 is the obvious choice.

Note that the audio seems rough on the Ace Pro, which I can only put down to some moisture being left inside the mic port after the water test, which was done earlier in the day.

The Insta360 Ace Pro 2 could boot up a little faster

I was impressed with how quickly the DJI Osmo Action 4 can boot up and start recording in its quick start mode compared to the Insta360 X4, but while the Ace Pro 2 is an improvement over its 360 brother, it’s still lacking compared to the DJI…

It should be pointed out that the Osmo Action 4 takes 6.75 seconds to start up from a long period of being off, but once used once, it stays in a slightly more ‘alert’ state for a fair amount of time, which means a subsequent start is a lot faster.

Being able to leave the Ace Pro 2 off, then power it up and start recording with a single press of the record button – and have it turn off when you press it again – is really helpful, but I do find the button (and the DJI’s) to be a little less tactile than I’d like. Granted, accidental filming is less likely in a bag, but with motorcycle gloves on it’s a bit more of a fiddle than I’d like.

One thing to note is that the Insta360 Ace Pro 2 (and X4) has an option to long-press the record button when you finish, which then gives the ability to erase the recording. Handy to save some faffing if you’re walking around filming, but on the bike it can be hard to judge a long press and short press with gloves when you’re riding, so I turned this off in the settings.

The Ace Pro 2 isn’t heavy, but it is bulkier than the competition

The Insta360 Ace Pro 2 isn’t so big and weighty that it’s a problem by any stretch, but depending where and how you use it, the size and weight could be worth being aware of. MotoVloggers who have the camera on their helmets might want to consider it (as well as the limitations of the front screen)…

The Ace Pro 2’s waterproofing is good, but…

The Insta360 Ace Pro 2 doesn’t have an IP rating, but the company says it’s waterproof down to 12m without the optional dive case (60m with it). I’ve not had a chance to use it on a long ride in heavy rain yet, but hose and immersion testing has revealed no problems.

The screen will change settings and stop recording due to rain hitting it, but you can lock it by swiping down and selecting the option on the first page, then just swipe the screen to the right to unlock it.

The wind muff has foam inside, so should be removed before use in the wet but if you forget, nothing bad will happen besides your audio being muffled until it dries out. A plain plastic cover with a hole in for the mic is supplied if you remember to use it.

The issue I have with the Ace Pro 2 is the microSD card slot being under the same cover as the USB-C port. I don’t really like talking while riding, but MotoVloggers need to be aware that the card slot could be susceptible to water ingress if they’re using a wired mic. I had no problems in heavy rain with the Osmo Action 4 and a wired mic, but I wouldn’t risk it here as a USB-C port can be made water-resistant, but an SD card slot is another matter.

On the subject of the microSD card, it’s a small thing but I’d have liked it to be rotated 180°, so the ridge of the card is easier to get your nail under – as it is, set close to the raised edge of the body, it’s hard to flick out. Having snapped a microSD card in the past while trying to get it out of a GoPro, I like to see them as easy to remove as possible.

AI Editing test

I didn’t do ANY of this!

Artificial Intelligence editing is a bit rubbish

Using exactly the same clips in pretty much the same order as I did to make the first video in this review, the above is what the Insta360 smartphone app came up with. This is AI editing, with the auto AI highlights turned on while filming to give the best chance of making something exciting.

It didn’t.

Sadly, the accelerometers in the camera failed to pick up on what many of us would consider to be the more interesting riding shots, the clip at 0:53 being a great example – this was when I turned the camera on before then riding through a great S-bend.

0:43 shows a random car passing by while I turned the bike around and rode back.

A lot of the clips have been slowed down, making it look like I’m crawling into bends and adding smeary artefacts due to it all being shot at 25fps. If I’d shot at 100 or 120fps, slowing it down would have made some sense.

And as for those captions… I saw no option to change or remove them, so you’re left with the cheesiness. To be fair, there are other templates to choose from, but this was what it chose and it looked the least nasty to me.

Editing is a lot quicker if you download all the clips to your phone, but I left them on the camera and ran the editing software on my Pixel 7 Pro, which took a total of 32 minutes, and resulted in a 1080p export. So all things considered, I think you’re better off editing motorcycle footage yourself.

Auto editing is also limited to a maximum of 20 minutes of clips to make up the short video, and it can't include 8K footage.

This is something that I’m sure we’ll see improve over time, and I’ve no doubt it’d work a lot better for those filming walkabout videos, but for motorcycling at least, I don’t think the AI algorithm has this nailed yet.

What’s also worth noting is that I got a copyright content warning as soon as I uploaded the AI-generated video to YouTube, meaning it can’t be monetised. While the music in the Insta360 app is free to use, it’s only intended for Insta360’s own community. Upload it anywhere else and it won’t be an issue for your own personal use, but if you put any of it in a video you want to make money from, you’ll be out of luck.

Where artificial intelligence, or the machine learning that comes from it at least does seem to work is in the excellent noise control and picture enhancement that we’ve already seen.

Automatic AI highlights can be turned off, which I do in order to reduce the load on the battery, and highlights can be marked manually by tapping the flag on the screen, but this isn’t really convenient when riding. It’d be great of it could be done with the optional remote, but that doesn’t seem to be an option.

Insta360 Ace Pro 2 battery life

Shooting in 4K 25fps, the Insta360 Ace Pro 2’s recording time is pretty much identical to the DJI Osmo Action 4. In 8K/25 it’s reduced, but still impressive and more than enough for most of the times I’d be using it…

The Ace Pro 2 stops recording when the 1,800 mAh battery reaches about 4% to ensure the files are correctly saved. Recharging from full takes just over 45 minutes with a 30W charger, and an hour and a quarter with a 5V 3A charger.

I have the dual battery bundle, which adds £20 to the purchase price, or spare batteries cost £34.99 each.

Essential accessories for the Insta360 Ace Pro 2

There are various bundles available when buying, so check them out for a potentially better deal depending on what or how you shoot, but these are my recommendations…

Multi Mount, £49.99 | I can’t stress enough just how brilliant this is! Made by Pgytech, it’s a hugely versatile tripod that can be used to stand the camera at various heights, with a ball-head for 86° of movement. The top is a ¼” tripod thread, but an adaptor is supplied to attach any GoPro-style mount (which of course, the Insta360 mount is).

It also makes a great carry handle when shooting low angles (the Ace Pro 2’s flip-up screen is brilliant here), you can hang it off a door or road-sign, and it’ll extend from 21 to 51cm.

There’s even soft silicone feet moulded into the bottoms of the legs for extra stability, and it

includes a lanyard, which loops neatly around the fasteners to keep it out of the way.

The maximum capacity is 500g, so whatever camera you’re using, this is pretty much an essential. My only tiny criticism of it is that it has a GoPro-style thumb screw with four ridges, which is a lot hard to get purchase on than the excellent two-ridge design adopted by Insta360 and DJI in all their own kit.

Quick Release Mount, £38.99 | This is an extreme version of the standard Insta360 mount, which costs £14.99. Made of aluminium, it has the same magnetic mounting clips in the top, and tabs that drop down for GoPro style mounts, but includes a lock to ensure it’s secure, and included thicker silicone for the top to reduce vibration further (which I fitted).

The real benefit of this mount though is the ¼” socket in the base to screw it straight onto a tripod, and the ¼” threaded adaptor plate that clips onto the top. If you also have a X4, for instance, you can fit this plate to it, then swap the two cameras between the base of this, or the standard mount.

Action Invisible Selfie Stick, £46.99 | An essential for the X4, this is also great for getting shots off to the side of the bike with it strapped down, or using a clamp. The sliding mechanism is very smooth, and there’s even a fine mesh covering the air outlet on the bottom, so the quality and attention to detail make me feel the price is somewhat justified, but cheaper options are available, like the £27.99 Invisible Selfie Stick.

Heavy Duty Clamp, £39.99 | Another accessory that’s ideal for the X4, but also great with the Ace Pro 2 when the selfie stick is screwed into the top as it makes a great clamp for off-bike shots, especially when stabilised across the rear seat with zip ties.

Flexible adhesive mount, £18.99 | These stick really well to any surface, so are a great alternative to standard GoPro-type mounts as they flex to suit the shape. I also trimmed one down to use it as an excellent chin mount on my Arai Quantic while riding in Spain. The 3M adhesive can be replaced if you want to reuse these – I bought a roll of it to avoid buying new mounts.

Portable Charging Case, £64.99 | With a built-in 10,000 mAh battery, this charging case can keep not just two Ace Pro 2 batteries charged and ready to go, but also the original Ace Pro, the Ace and the X4 and X3, so it’s an incredibly versatile piece of kit. There’s space for two extra microSD cards, and you can use this as a power bank too. I haven’t tried this device, but it also solves the problem of only being able to charge one battery at a time. If you film a lot, this could be a very worthwhile investment, but if you only want to be able to charge multiple Ace Pro 2 batteries at once, at home, consider the £49.99 Fast Charge Hub. For the extra £15, though the Portable Charging Case would be my choice.

ND Filter set, £94.99 | Made by Freewell, I haven’t had a chance to try these, but the fact that they mount securely to the front of the camera (rather than pressing on as is the case with the DJI Osmo Action 4 and 5 Pro) means they’re totally secure in use. ND 8, ND16 and ND32 should mean you have one suitable to drop the shutter speed right down in bright sunlight for more cinematic, natural motion blur. The fourth filter is a fixed polariser that could add saturation to skies and reduce reflections, though I’ve yet to try one of these on any action camera. They’re expensive, so make sure you’ll get the use out of them…

GPS Action Remote, £80.99 | The wireless Bluetooth 5.0 remote allows you to start and stop recording when the camera isn’t within reach, which can be incredibly handy on a motorcycle (not to mention safer). It also uses GPS, BeiDou and GLONASS satellites systems to allow you to add speed and route mapping to your videos. It’s waterproof to 5m (so should be fine in the rain), and can control the Ace Pro 2 or the X4. A great motorcycle accessory, I haven’t tried one but there’s also the £149.99 GPS Preview remote available that has its own screen so you can see what the camera sees. Not as much use on a motorbike, though it could help with framing up some shots.

Is the Insta360 Ace Pro 2 good value?

Ah, now we a big stumbling block for Insta360 when the Ace Pro 2 is compared to DJI’s Osmo Action 4: the price.

Granted, DJI also offers the Osmo Action 5 Pro that’s still cheaper, though it doesn’t offer 8K recording, and I haven’t tested it. On paper, the Ace Pro 2 would be my choice between those two.

Is the Ace Pro 2 worth £101 on top of the Action 4? For general filming on the bike in daylight, I’d have to say no. However, low-light footage is significantly better, the flip-up screen is great for studio work especially as a second camera to my main Canon XA70, and that 8K footage allows me to punch in more if my composition wasn’t great, or I want to add some movement to the shots.

Only you can decide whether it’s worth the extra money, and I’d be keen to hear your opinions at the friendly Bennetts BikeSocial Facebook Group.

Five alternatives to the Insta360 Ace Pro 2

While Bennetts BikeSocial is not a dedicated tech review site, I do try to cover things that are of interest to many riders, so have tested a fair few, if not all action cameras. Here are some others to consider…

• Insta360 Ace Pro, £329.99 | Currently reduced, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this previous model in some Black Friday deals this year. I’ve only used one very briefly, and the quality was very good, but the Ace Pro 2 has the edge. More importantly for me, the lens protector isn’t removable, which makes it a hard no for my needs.

• DJI Osmo Action 4, £289 | I used the Action 4 for my ride to Spain and loved it. Compact, easy to use and very high performance, it’s only when comparing with the Ace Pro 2 that some of its limitations – mainly in lower light – become clearer. Still, it’s an excellent camera and one I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend. Read the full review of the DJI Osmo Action 4 here.

• DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro, £329 | The Action 5 Pro doesn’t shoot in 8K, but it does have the ability to auto-centre subjects by shifting the frame within the sensor’s capture area (though only up to 2.7K resolution). I’ve not tested the Action 5 Pro, but footage I’ve seen suggests that the Ace Pro 2 and the Action 4 produce more pleasing footage.

• GoPro Hero 13, £399.99| I’ve briefly used a Hero 12, but otherwise my experience with GoPro stopped at the Hero 7 that I bought many years ago. It’s strange to see what was the father of action cameras as we know them apparently playing catchup with Insta360 and DJI, but the cost and performance – based on what I’ve seen – make this, the most expensive of the single-lens actions cameras, hard to justify for most motorcyclists apart from the 400fps burst frame rate at 720p.

• Insta360 X4, £499.99 | The X4 is not a replacement for a single-lens action camera, but it is an incredible tool. It does have limitations, and don’t be fooled by that 8K resolution (it’s 2.7K maximum once your footage is framed), but the ability to film everything, then choose the shot later is hugely powerful. It takes a little more work to get your shots published, but it’s worth it and this is a tool that’s very useful if you can afford it. Just be careful of the vulnerable lenses, and don’t assume the removable covers are perfect. Read the full review of the Insta360 X4, and its comparison with the X3 here.

These are just five of many alternatives – you can find all the action cameras we’ve tested here and be sure to regularly check for the discounts available through Bikesocial membership.

Insta360 Ace Pro 2 review - Verdict

If you only want an action camera for shooting on-bike footage during the day, then in many ways I think the DJI Osmo Action 4 has the slight edge, mainly thanks to its more compact form and front screen. It’s also got slightly better image stabilisation when shooting motorcycle footage (for now at least) in daylight. But if you’ll be doing pieces to camera and interviews too, the Insta360 Ace Pro 2 has some very real advantages. And if you’re shooting at night, the Ace Pro 2 is outstanding.

As single-lens action cameras go, the Insta360 Ace Pro 2 is an extraordinary piece of kit, and it truly brings some brilliant features and quality, so you’ll certainly see this being used in a lot of my upcoming videos on the Bennetts BikeSocial YouTube channel.

Do you own this camera, or want to know more about it, or anything else motorcycle related? Join us at bikeclub.bennetts.co.uk.