Insta360 X5 review | Honest, unbiased test

Date reviewed: April 2025 | Tested by: John Milbank | Price: £519.99 | www.insta360.com

The Insta360 X5 on review here is a significant update to the X4, making it potentially one of the best motorcycle action cameras on the market. With the company having come up with a solution to the biggest stumbling block of these devices – the vulnerable lenses – there’s now very little reason not to use this camera for everything.

I’ve been testing the Insta360 X5 on a variety of bikes to see how it compares to the X4 in image and audio quality, as well as destruction testing the lenses. I won’t attempt to cover every influencer-friendly feature it has, but if you’re a motorcycle (or scooter) rider looking to film your adventures, this review will help you make the right choice…

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 will update the written reviews.

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

Insta3650 X5 showreel (BMW R1250GS)

All footage was shot in standard mode 8K 25fps

The Insta360 X5 captures almost everything

360 cameras use two lenses to film 180° fields of view from both sides, stitching the footage in-camera to allow you to select the framing you want in the excellent Insta360 app (available on the Apple Store and Google Play store).

It doesn’t quite get everything – objects close to the sides of the camera will disappear as it can’t see them, and even a few meters away you could see some anomalies where the two sides are stitched. That’s why the selfie stick is never in shot – the camera’s incredibly clever, but it doesn’t paint the stick out; it’s just not visible. Look carefully in some of my footage and you’ll see parts of the bike that don’t quite line up, where the camera was clamped to it.

While the smartphone app is great for composing shots into quick and easy social media videos, and has some excellent effects to play with, I prefer editing my footage in the Insta360 studio, which is available to download for MacOS or Windows. You can adjust all the framing here, as well as transitions and even track objects before exporting your finished footage.

There’s also the option to download a plugin to reframe the raw Insta360 .insv files within Premiere Pro, though I was unable to test this, perhaps due to the business-managed build on my computer.

This is an 8K camera, but that’s across the entire field of view – when you’ve reframed and exported the footage you get 4K. If you shoot in the 5.7K or 4K modes, you’ll get 1080P output.

What’s the difference between the Insta360 X5 and the X4?

With great deals inevitable on the Insta360 X4, you might be wondering which is the best 360 action camera to buy, so here are the key differences…

As a motorcycle rider looking to capture footage that’ll be used in videos along with shots from various other cameras, the replaceable lenses are the biggest news as they mean that if the worst happens I’ve not potentially written the camera off, or left struggling to get it repaired.

The InstaFrame feature automatically tracks you for easy selfie shots that can be quickly uploaded to social media from the app, but it’s limited to 5.7K+ or 5.7K (24, 25, 30 fps) with a reframed output of 1080P in 9:16 or 16:9 formats.

If you’re using the X5 as a tool to capture professional-looking footage that you’ll frame later (it only takes a few minutes), the PureVideo mode will be of more interest as it offers a vast improvement to night shots.

Waterproofing is important on any motorcycle action camera – especially in the UK – as it could be subjected to rain at motorway speeds. You can theoretically go five meters deeper with the X5, but I never had any problems with the X4. Still, I fear my Insta360 X5 may no longer be safe to use in the rain, given how I’ve damaged the body and knowing that one of the buttons got punctured by a thorn in the attack testing…

Destruction testing the Insta360 X5 lenses

Finding out how strong they really are, and how easy they are to replace

The Insta360 X5 lenses are tough AND replaceable

Insta360 says that the new X5 has more scratch-resistant lenses than the X4, so I tested them…

In the video above you can see how I dragged it through some thick brambles as this was how I lightly scuffed the lenses of the X4 and the X3 before it. Though these marks didn’t destroy the older cameras, they did sometimes become noticeable when the sun hit them at just the right angle.

However, after wiping the X5’s lenses they still looked perfect. It does seem that they’re stronger, but while Insta360 describes them as ‘sapphire like’, I don’t have a Mohs hardness test kit to find where scratches and deeper grooves occur, so I rubbed the lens on the road to simulate the way I destroyed an X2, which fell off the back of a scooter a few years ago.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, even a brief unscheduled interface with the road still ruins the Insta360 X5’s lenses, though as you can see from the video it takes a lot of effort to actually smash one.

The truly brilliant move by Insta360 is designing in the ability to replace the lenses yourself, and with each kit costing just £34.99 it’s not the end of the world if things go wrong.

The lens kit includes a single replacement, a dust blower, brush, plastic pick, cleaning cloths and a tool to unscrew the lens, so is surprisingly good value. A scratched lens is pretty quick and easy to replace, but picking out all the broken pieces of glass after my testing took about ten minutes and was quite fiddly as the shards had dug into the diaphragm.

Once the lens is replaced, a setting in the camera quickly and easily recalibrates the stitching and the X5 is like new.

Well, mine’s not, as while shooting the low-angle footage on my GS from the front it touched the ground and scraped away a corner. The camera still runs fine, but I daren’t use it in the rain or underwater anymore. Hopefully some Sugru will seal it…

Insta360 X5 night footage

Comparing the X5 with the best the X4 can do

The Insta360 X5 is very good in low light

Thanks to the larger image sensor, the Insta360 X5 can gather more light per pixel than the X4. In standard 8K shooting modes the difference between the two cameras is clear in the video above.

But select the PureVideo mode – which can operate at the full 8K resolution that allows for 4K framed footage – and you’ll see an even bigger improvement over the Insta360 X4, which struggled in low light and needed dropping down to 5.7K for more usable results.

The video above shows the high quality that’s achievable, and while the image stabilisation does struggle a little at times in low light, the performance is incredible. I’ve noticed that PureVideo footage tends to be a fraction softer, but for night shots that’s no problem. In the garage, I find that standard mode is fine.

Insta360 X5 daylight footage

Comparing the Insta360 X5 with the X4

The Insta360 X5 gives better footage in daylight too

Besides the vulnerability of the lenses on previous 360 cameras, my main complaint with the Insta360 X4 was that in high-contrast lighting the image would sometimes burn out. This could be reduced by running the camera in the ‘Active HDR’ mode, but then the recording resolution was limited to 5.7K, meaning you ended up with 1080P footage once it had been reframed.

The new Insta360 X5 will still only run in a maximum of 5.7K to access the Active HDR, but the standard 8K 25fps footage is so much better that the burn-out is only really noticeable in some clouds on bright days.

I’ve included full runs in the video above so you can see how changing lighting affects both cameras. Make sure you view it full screen at 4K – the difference between the X5 5.7K Active HDR footage and X5 8K standard is also very noticeable.

The new image sensor and processing power of the Insta360 X5 really has given it significantly better image quality; try pausing the video above at times and you’ll see the difference not just in light control but also clarity.

Insta360 X5 wind noise control

Here’s the camera’s mounted in the wind, next to the exhaust and then the intake resonators

The new Insta360 X5 controls wind noise well

You should have noticed from the daylight comparison footage that wind noise is better controlled in the new Insta360 X5 than it was in the X4 thanks in part to a new filter on the front (which can be cleaned out with some supplied stickers or tape if necessary). It’s got its limitations though, as you can hear in the video above – when filming on the GS at lower speeds the standard exhaust could be clearly heard, but as speed increased it was lost in the removal of the wind noise (this was with reduction set to the default ‘strong’, but it can be reduced). However, when filming the ZX-6R shot, the X5 was still out in the wind, but it picked up the air intake resonator really well.

The Insta360 X5 can be paired with the Cardo Packtalk Edge, 4X, 2X and Neo intercoms, and the Sena 50S, 50R, ST1, 10S and C30 units. You can also pair it with AirPods and Galaxy buds, and while Insta360 doesn’t list it, I was able to link it to the DJI Mic Mini, where it showed a peaking level on screen and recorded audio no problem.

Audio can also be mixed, with the camera and Bluetooth sounds being controllable in the app.

The Insta360 X5 supports a range of resolutions

As someone shooting with a variety of cameras in the UK – often indoors – I need to be aware of the flickering that can occur under some lighting in our 50Hz mains frequency. Having the ability to shoot at 25fps (or multiples of it) means there’s no horrible strobing effect in my garage, and I can match the frame rate of my other cameras. Here are the frame rates and resolutions available on the Insta360 X5:

The Insta360 X5 can also be used as a single lens action camera for standard output:

The Insta360 X5 has great battery life

The Insta360 X5 uses different batteries to the Insta360 X4, so you’re out of luck if you have the old model, and you can’t use the Portable Charging Case that works with the X3, X4, Ace Pro 2, Ace Pro or Ace.

As I mostly use a 360 camera to shoot short bursts of specific footage I find the battery life has never been an issue, but it is improved in the X5, partly thanks to a 2,400mAh battery, up from 2,290mAh in the X4. Here’s how they compare in my testing:

The new X5 does take a little longer to charge a flat battery, but it’s unlikely to be a problem for most users.

You can shoot until the power runs out or the card’s full, but 8K footage will be broken up into 30 minute chunks. If you’re shooting something particularly long there’s a tiny fraction of a second’s break between the clips, but it’s barely noticeable.

Insta360 X5 size and weight

The Insta360 X5 is basically the same size and weight as the X4, only measuring just over a millimetre taller. On my scales, they weigh the same…

It’s unlikely that any X4 cages will fit the new X5 due to the slight increase in height and the repositioning of the USB-X port’s door.

Insta360 X5 price

The only real reason I can find to not buy the Insta360 X5 is the price. That’s not to say it’s expensive – especially when you consider that it’s effectively two action cameras stuck together – and it’s only £20 more than the X4 was when it was released. But it is a sizeable investment.

That’s the point though – if you’re going to take advantage of being able to reframe your shots later, and capture multiple angles in one pass, the Insta360 X5 is an excellent investment. And now the lenses can be easily and cheaply replaced it’s something that can be an incredibly powerful and versatile tool.

This is what you get in the Inst360 X5 Essentials bundle

These are the best Insta360 X5 accessories

As standard the Insta360 X5 comes with a protective pouch, one battery and a USB-C charging cable. That’s enough to get you going, especially if you already have some mounts (the X5 still has the standard ¼” threaded socket on the base), or there’s the ‘Essentials Bundle’ that I have on review, which also includes a second battery, a 114cm Invisible Selfie Stick, a pair of standard lens guards, a silicone lens cap, the Utility Fast Charge case and a carry case. Whether the savings of this bundle are worth it is something only you can decide, and depends what you already own, but it’s handy to have the custom-fit case even if it isn’t the most efficient use of space (I usually pack everything into a Kriega Kube).

The Standard and Premium lens guards have been redesigned for the X5 and are easier to put on and take off, but with water and dust still able to get inside (though not as easily as with the X4) their value is limited. Given the replaceability of the lenses themselves – and the excellent price point – I won’t be using the guards unless I’m filming something that I know will damage the lens, for instance directly in the path of stones being thrown up by a bike’s wheel.

Here are the accessories I recommend for the Insta360 X5…

Lens Cap, £6.99 | It’s a shame this isn’t included with the camera as standard as I’d say it’s the most important accessory. A small soft case (with space for a pair of lens guards) is included with the camera and is great, but the optional Lens Cap allows you to protect the lenses (with or without the standard or larger premium lens guards fitted) while the camera’s mounted. It’s quick and easy to whip off before you shoot, and while it doesn’t protect the screen, it’s this style of cap that I’ve used since the X2. Make sure you buy one when you order your camera if you’re not getting a bundle.

Note: this is the same lens cap as for the X4

Action Invisible Selfie Stick, £46.99 | Thanks to the fact that the Insta360 X5 can’t see what’s directly to the top, bottom and sides, selfie sticks disappear from view in any footage. This selfie stick is pricey, but it’s carbon-fibre and extends to a very useful 103cm. Most importantly, it’s also fairly rigid when extended. It’s got a ¼” male tripod connector at the top, as well as a female one at the bottom, so it’s easy to screw onto a clamp. Cheaper options are available, like the £27.99 Invisible Selfie Stick, which also has 10.5cm more reach, though it’s a fraction less rigid when fully extended.

Heavy Duty Clamp, £39.99 | This clamp is absolutely brilliant, and now one of my most valuable tools since it can clamp onto crash bars, handlebars, grab rails and more. The X5 screws directly onto the ¼” thread, or for a longer reach (for instance the off-bike shots in the video above), I screw on a selfie stick that I brace with cable ties for better rigidity.

The head of the clamp can rotate through 360° and tilt through 180°, so I can almost always find the angle I need.

The only point you need to be aware of is that, as this is such a rigid and direct mount, if you clamp it to a particularly vibey location (like the frame of a single-cylinder run at speed), it can make some cameras shut down. I’ve not had it happen with a 360 camera, but I did have both a DJI Osmo Action 4 and GoPro Hero 12 shut down using this mount.

Flexible adhesive mount, £18.99 | You could use standard GoPro-style mounts with a ¼” adaptor, but these flexible mounts are a lot easier to stick on pretty much any motorcycle surface without having to choose between a flat or curved mount (or faffing with the orientation). I also trimmed one down to stick to the chin-bar of 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 – so while pricey, they’re very useful.

Weatherproof USB-C port, £?? | NOTE: NOT YET TESTED. Not available at the time of writing, I’ll update the review when I’ve had a chance to try this as by providing what’s promised to be a weather-proof seal for the charging port, it could be valuable not just for extended periods of all-weather filming, but also if the X5’s used as a dash-cam.

Mini Remote, £29.99 | NOTE: NOT YET TESTED. With a claimed range of up to 10m, the Mini Remote could be great for starting and stopping recordings when your camera’s out of reach (for instance stuck out in front of the bike or on top of a 3m pole at the side of the road).

I’ve yet to confirm that this works with the X5, and I don’t know how it affects the camera’s battery life, but it has the potential to be a very useful accessory.

GPS Action Remote, £80.99 | NOTE: NOT YET TESTED. With built in GPS, this remote will allow the X5 to export footage with data such as speed and location. The built-in screen also gives confirmation that recording has started and stopped.

As with the Mini Remote, I’ve yet to confirm that this works with the X5, and I don’t know how it affects the camera’s battery life. I also don’t know what the range is like or if it can reconnect automatically if you go out of range.

Utility Fast Charge Case, £?? | While I usually find that one battery is enough when filming with the Insta360 X5, if you need more power this case is a great addition. It allows you to charge two batteries at the same time (though you need to supply your own charger), and it can also act as a power bank with one or two batteries installed.

An LED for each of the two batteries shows the charge status, and a USB-C cable is built in that can supply power to other devices, or act as the case’s charging lead.

A sliding door on the back covers up to three microSD cards that click in securely enough and are easy to remove, though the door is easy to knock open. Personally, I only use one 128GB card in the camera as if I fill that I’ll have too much footage to wade through!

Extended Edition Selfie Stick, £109.99 | Made of carbon-fibre and extending to a massive 290cm, this is an expensive accessory, and while not one I’d consider an essential, weighing only 363g and packing down to 36cm long and 3.8cm diameter, it’s a useful addition to the kit bag.

I used it to get the drone-like shot of myself riding in the demo footage at the start of this review by zip-tying it to a road sign. Granted, a DJI Neo costs just £20 more, but the winds were gusting at up to 38mph at the time, which was way too high for that or my DJI Flip.

If you want to get shots in impossible to reach areas, the Extended Edition Selfie Stick can be far less hassle than a drone, and you don’t need to worry about prohibited spaces. Just don’t use it near electricity lines or in a storm!

I tested this stick (pole?) while filming myself, but if you’re getting shots of other riders it could be used for some moving shots while you hold onto it, creating an even more realistic drone angle.

The only problem with a stick this long is that you have to start the camera before you extend it, so a remote would be very handy.

Multi Mount, £49.99 | The Multi Mount is 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, and an adaptor is supplied to attach any GoPro-style mount.

If you only want to use it as a tripod for the X5 then there are cheaper options, but I find this hugely useful to use with other cameras too, like the Ace Pro 2 reviewed here. With a bit of finessing you can just about get it to disappear when attached to the X5, but proper selfie-sticks are far more effective.

The Insta360 X5 could make a great dash cam

With the optional weatherproof USB-C connector cover, the Insta360 X5 could be left running all the time on your bike as a dash-cam.

A portion of the MicroSD card can be allocated for loop recording, meaning there’s always space to film the things you want – the camera will just fill the loop space and delete the older recordings as it goes. As a guide, 50GB of space will provide a one hour loop at 5.7K 25fps, or half that at 8K.

All the standard resolutions and frame rates are available in ‘Road Mode’, but of course they will affect the storage space required.

There’s the option to have the camera automatically start recording as soon as it’s connected to a power source, and a timestamp can be turned on or off.

Insta3650 X5 showreel (Honda ADV350)

All footage was shot in standard mode 8K 25fps, with no adjustments to colour

There’s not much I don’t like about the Insta360 X5

The Insta360 X4 has proven to be a great piece of kit for getting some unusual angles, but the lenses remained vulnerable (I wasn’t a fan of the guards), and some lighting situations led to slightly disappointing footage.

The X5 has pretty much fixed all of that, so my only criticism is that while you can use it in manual mode rather than full auto, you can’t use the ‘I-Log’ flat colour profile above 5.7K filming resolution. This is a bit disappointing as some might like to be able to grade the footage in post-production, though it’s no deal-breaker for me as the output is very good anyway.

I’m not worried about the fact that a lot of the auto modes only work in 5.7K as I don’t tend to use them much. And if I do, at least they still allow a framerate of 25fps (yes, I’m looking at you DJI with your locked-to-30fps modes on the Flip and Neo).

I’m not going to criticise the cost as, honestly, I think given the tech inside this camera, it’s pretty fairly priced.

If, like me, you struggle sometimes to stop the Insta360 X5 (or X4) recording with gloved hands, trying turning off ‘Long press Shutter Button to cancel recording’ in the settings.

Three alternatives to the Insta360 X5

At the time of writing there’s nothing out there that comes close to the X5 for motorcycle use, but here are some other options…

• Insta360 X4, £425.99 (at time of writing) | Prices will vary as long this previous model remains available, and though it’s a superb piece of kit, I’d suggest that the X5 is worth the investment. Read the full review of the Insta360 X4 here.

• GoPro Max, £349.99 | The last GoPro I used was a Hero 12 and while it was perfectly competent, the brand has fallen out of the spotlight for many users with the outstanding single-lens DJI and Insta360 cameras available. I’ve not used the 360° GoPro Max, so can’t comment on its performance. Read DC Rainmaker’s full review of the GoPro Max here.

• DJI 360 camera, £??? | Rumours have been knocking around for a while of a 360° DJI action camera, and give the brilliance of its Action 4 for instance (review here), it could be an exciting launch if it happens. Surely an inevitability, whatever form it takes a DJI 360 camera will have a tough fight on its hands with the X5, and we hope to review it if it becomes a reality.

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

Insta360 X5 review: Verdict

In some ways I’ve only scratched the surface of what this camera is capable of, but I wanted to focus on its use in motorcycling, so the modes like Star trails, Interval photos, Bullet Time, Timelapse and Me Mode are just neat bonuses that I’ll perhaps dabble with from time to time. If you don’t want to reframe footage after capturing everything then it’s not worth spending the money on a 360 camera – save your money and get one of the excellent single lens action cameras we’ve reviewed here – though while there are some small limitations to the quality of footage of the Insta360 X5 in high contrast lighting situations, it’s much less noticeable than with the X4 (even on a 4K TV).

Now that the lenses can be replaced on the Insta360 X5, the only real reason I can see to not buy one is simply the price. If you can afford it, the X5 is an incredibly powerful tool that comes very highly recommended, so keep an eye on our YouTube channel and you’ll see what new angles it lets me find in future videos…

Insta360 X5 video review

A compilation of X5 test footage