I’ve taken this tiny Insta360 GO Ultra camera travelling and put it through its paces, and here’s why I think its worth adding to your travel kit.
A few years ago we bought the Insta360 X3 camera, which we took with us to Lapland and on our Iceland road trip. Although we loved it, we never really used that camera and its clever 360 features to their full potential. So, instead of it collecting dust on the shelf, we eventually ended up selling it on.
But ever since, theres been so many times on our travels when we’ve wished we had a small and discreet action camera to easily capture our adventures. Whether that was zooming along a Norwegian fjord in a RIB boat, taking on the rollercoasters at Phantasialand, or most recently, throwing ourselves down all the waterslides at Siam Park!
So when Insta360 reached out to me and sent me their Insta360 GO Ultra camera to try out, I really couldn’t wait to put it to the test and have fun sticking a tiny camera to as many random objects as possible… but we’ll get to that later!
After trying this pocket-sized action camera out and putting it through its paces on our cruise around the Med, I can’t wait to share why I think this nifty little camera could become your new favourite travel companion. One that’s always ready to capture your memories on land, sea and sky.
Insta360 GO Ultra at a Glance 👀
- Compact size makes it travel friendly or great for shy content creators
- New improved MicroSD storage
- Easy POV filming
- Magnetic back means you can use your surroundings as a tripod
- Camera detaches from the pod
In this article...
1. First impressions & size of the GO Ultra
When I first opened the box, I was actually shocked at just how tiny this action camera is, especially when it’s outside of its action pod.
This tiny cubed package held the camera and a couple of its accessories, and I couldn’t believe it all fitted inside such a small box. Outside of its pod, it’s not much larger than my Apple AirPods case! Coming in at just 46×45.7×22.4mm and only 70.4×48.8×33.3mm when attached to the rest of the action camera body.
But don’t let its small size make you think this action camera is just a gimmick or a toy that’s not cut out for the job. The Insta360 GO Ultra is a cracking little action camera that can film in 4K, with silky-smooth stabilisation, and for something with such a small footprint, I was genuinely impressed at what this camera can do.
Unlike lots of other action cameras, you can remove the Insta360 GO Ultra from its pod, which then makes it such a discreet camera to use. This is perfect for shy content creators, or people who want to film or take photos without drawing too much attention to themselves. I personally loved this feature.
Another thing I really enjoyed was just how light the GO Ultra is. Weighing only 52.9g outside of the pod and 108.5g when connected, it’s so light to carry around that you can easily forget about it and just enjoy the moment you’re capturing, without the camera taking away from your own experience.
This is especially true when you’re using it in the POV configuration. You can attach it, hit record and then completely forget you’re even wearing it.
The build quality also feels robust. You can toss this little action camera into your handbag or pop it into your hiking backpack and know that it’s going to be fine travelling around on your adventures with you. It feels tough enough to handle all our travel plans, whether that’s catching some thrills on some of the UK’s best rollercoasters or driving off-road in dusty dune buggies.
2. The hands-free/POV filming experience
What really sets the Insta360 GO Ultra apart from many other action cameras is the hands-free POV footage that you can capture so easily and more importantly for me, so discreetly. No selfie stick in sight!
The box comes with two of the most important accessories: the Magnetic Easy Clip and the Magnetic Pendant. But theres a vast selection of other accessories you can purchase separately to expand your kit should you wish. Theres even a pet harness so your 4-legged friends can get involved too.
So far, I’ve only used the two accessories that came with mine, and if I were to purchase any additional accessories it would probably be the mini-2-in-1 tripod to capture alternative clips that aren’t POV-style. For example, if I were hiking up Snowdon, I might want to capture more of an in-video shot of myself walking rather than having the entire thing filmed from my own POV. Another accessory I might purchase is the Action Mount, which would work well for capturing driving content on road trips.
Both the Magnetic Pendant and Magnetic Easy Clip work when the GO Ultra is removed from its pod, and I found both of them to be brilliant accessories. The battery life also lasted long enough for the type of footage I wanted to capture. However, if you’re looking to record for multiple hours at a time with the camera outside of its pod, this could be a drawback for you, but I’ll cover battery life properly later!
The Magnetic Pendant is so easy and discreet to use. All you have to do is pop the necklace-style accessory on underneath your top and then attach the GO Ultra onto your chest. The camera snaps onto the pendant through your clothing using strong magnets, which you can rotate slightly to alter the angle at which the camera sits on your chest. Then, depending on whether you want landscape or portrait video or photos, all you have to do is twist the camera around and it will automatically alternate between the two orientations. And if you’re wondering how do you know which orientation its filming, the direction of the little red light indicates portrait or landscape.
It’s such an easy accessory to use, and if the colour of your top matches the camera (it comes in black or white) it becomes even more discreet and draws very little attention to you. It’s far less noticeable than wearing a standard action camera chest strap, which can be bulky and uncomfortable. There’s only a very small flashing red light on the GO Ultra to let you know when it’s recording. I wore it like this when we went on the new Falcon Fly in Montenegro, and it captured the moment perfectly.
The magnet has a strong connection, and I never found myself worrying about it falling off. However, if you’re doing something a little more extreme, or perhaps you’re wearing it like this underwater through a swimming costume or wetsuit, it also comes with a tether strap. So should the camera somehow fall off, it’ll still be attached to you and you won’t end up watching your £300+ camera slowly sink to the depths of the ocean, which I think we can all agree would put a bit of a dampener on the holiday!
Another accessory it comes with is the Magnetic Easy Clip. This is great for quickly clipping onto the peak of a cap and capturing a slightly higher POV. It’s perfect for things like bike riding, horse riding or hiking, where you want the footage to freely move in the same direction as where you’re looking. And because the camera is so light, you barely even notice the weight of it clipped to your cap. Far more comfortable than mounting a full-sized action camera to a headband, which is both very noticeable to you wearing it and everyone else seeing you walking around with it!
The main thing with the GO Ultra being so small and lightweight is that it just makes capturing hands-free travel content so much easier. Whether that’s hiking, sightseeing, taking on rides and fun activities, or just travelling in general when your hands are already full with luggage, passports and all the other random bits and pieces you somehow end up carrying around.
3. Image and video quality on the GO Ultra
Obviously, image and video quality is a major factor when deciding which action camera to buy, and the Insta360 GO Ultra didn’t disappoint.
I’ve found the image quality to be detail-rich, with the colours nicely saturated but still balanced straight out of the camera even in bright harsh light. There’s no washed-out, muted raw footage that needs to be colour-graded before you can actually use it either.
Obviously, your preferred tones and aesthetic are personal, and you might have a certain style that means you want to colour-grade your footage in post-production. But I think the footage looks clear and bright SOOC, meaning you can use it pretty much right away and save yourself some editing time. There are a few different colour grades you can chose from too, including I-Log, Standard, Glow, Selfie, Vivid, NC Film, NC2 Film, CC Film, CC2 Film.
The 1/1.28-inch sensor lets in plenty of light and helps to keep skin tones looking well balanced too. There are no pale, ghostly faces or orange-tangoed limbs that look like you’re trying to audition to be the next Oompa Loompa! And with the option to film at 4K at up to 60fps (frames per second) it captures high-quality footage that can also be turned into smooth slow-motion videos. Perfect for capturing those lapping waves, rushing waterfalls or any other moments where you want to slow things down and really see what’s happening.
We used the GO Ultra for taking photos too, and at 50MP, I was really impressed with the quality. You can punch in and crop these photos quite heavily before the quality starts to deteriorate, so reframing your photos in post isn’t really an issue.
4. Low-light performance
The Insta360 GO Ultra is able to perform in low-light situations well, which is handy as not everywhere you travel is going to be perfectly lit all of the time.
Thankfully, this little action camera is capable of capturing video even at dusk, dawn or night-time. By switching the settings to its PureVideo mode, the GO Ultra handles poorly lit situations surprisingly well, whether that’s overcast British weather or dark and moody restaurants. On a lot of cameras, these are the moments when you’ll start to notice a loss of detail and extra fuzzy noise creeping into your photos and videos. But with the PureVideo setting switched on, I found I could carry on capturing video in lower-light situations.
5. Stabilisation
Stabilisation on the Insta360 GO Ultra is brilliant, it was one of the things that most impressed me about this tiny camera.
The first time I really noticed it was when I was recording a video walking alongside our Princess cruise ship, and the stabilisation genuinely amazed me. I’ve always thought iPhones had pretty good stabilisation, but it’s nothing compared to what this mini action camera is capable of. The footage was so smooth you’d think it was attached to a gimble. Even when walking up the steps on the Old Town City Walls of Dubrovnik in Croatia, the footage didn’t look particularly jittery, despite me doing absolutely nothing special to keep the camera steady.
6. Battery life on the Insta360 GO Ultra
Insta360 claims you can get up to 70 minutes of recording from the removable camera, and up to 200 minutes with the Action Pod, depending on recording conditions and settings. Now, much like electric cars, those figures rarely match up perfectly with real-world use! And I found the manufacturer’s claims to be a little generous.
On a full charge, in 35°C heat, I was getting around 45 minutes from the mini camera. And that was while turning it on and off for lots of short one-to-five-minute clips rather than simply recording continuously.
For the type of videos and photos I need to capture for my blog, this is plenty. I’m not generally wandering around for hours recording continuously, so being able to grab short clips throughout the day works perfectly for me. However, for some creators, this might not be long enough. Particularly if you’re planning to capture lots of continuous or underwater footage, as only the camera itself is waterproof.
The good news is that charging is rapid, and it can reach 80% in around 12 minutes. Perfect for busy travellers who don’t have time to sit around waiting ages for their camera to recharge. Plus it automatically charges back up when its popped into the pod.
7. The Action Pod doubles up as a monitor
The fact that you can remove the camera from the Action Pod is what makes the GO Ultra extra versatile, but the Action Pod itself has a whole set of benefits too.
It has a 2.5-inch flip-up touchscreen which can be used as a mini monitor to help frame yourself, or to easily change settings when you’re in position. With a few swipes, you can switch from video to photo or change the filming aspect settings from Dewarp to Ultra, or even switch it to a timelapse or timeshift.
I find the touchscreen responsive and simple to use, and the fact that it works as a mini monitor when the camera is mounted somewhere is incredibly handy. Even if you’ve stuck the camera to a lamp post or the side of your bike, you can take a look at the Action Pod and easily control the settings. Alternatively, you can use the Insta360 app on your phone, which can also double up as a monitor.
8.Enjoy Clear audio on the Insta360 GO Ultra
If you’re not just after scenic B-roll, the Insta360 GO Ultra also does a great job at capturing crisp audio and would work well for vlogging. Although I don’t personally use the camera for talking-to-camera content, when I tested it out, I found it handled background noise and wind surprisingly well and the audio came out really clear.
If you’re visiting somewhere with extreme weather conditions, like Iceland, where the wind and rain weren’t afraid to flex their muscles, you could always use external microphones with dead cats. And if you’ve never heard of a dead cat before, I’m not being savage. It’s those fluffy little things you see on microphones that do an incredible job at blocking out wind noise! Insta360 actually have their own external mics which have magic e-ink so you can personalise and switch up the appearance.
9. Magnetic camera accessories & mounting
The Insta360 GO Ultra comes with a range of different accessories, so there’s something suitable for a variety of sports and activities to help you get the best possible footage.
The standard bundle comes with the Magnetic Pendant, which is best for filming subtle, hands-free POV footage and gives you a far more discreet filming option compared with the chest straps you get with some other action cameras. You also get the Magnetic Easy Clip, which you can quickly attach to the peak of your cap or pretty much anything else it will clip onto, such as a bag or even your shoes. It’s great for capturing creative shots during hikes, walking through cities or riding your bike.
Because the GO Ultra camera itself is magnetic, mounting it to the accessories couldn’t be simpler. Just line them up and let the magnets do their thing. Alongside the magnetic accessories, theres separate accessories available to use when the camera is nestled inside its Action Pod, giving you even more options depending on how you want to film. You can see the full list here!
10. Improved storage on the GO Ultra
The GO Ultra has changed the way storage works compared with the older GO models. Instead of having limited built-in storage, the new GO Ultra requires a microSD card and can support cards up to 2TB. That gives you loads of storage space and importantly for travel, the option to simply pop in a spare card if you run out of space while you’re away.
11. Waterproofing of the Insta360 GO Ultra
Only the camera part of the Insta360 GO Ultra is IPX8 waterproof up to 10 metres, whereas the Action Pod it sits in is only splash proof at IPX4. So whatever you do, don’t take the Action Pod into the sea with you, because you’ll very quickly kill off a £300+ action camera in a matter of seconds.
We took the camera for a dip in Corfu and Dubrovnik, and the underwater footage was clear, although ever-so-slightly distorted. You can correct this and get even better underwater footage by switching out the regular lens for the specific aqua lens, which is sold separately. For a lot of people, I expect the standard lens will be perfectly adequate, but if you plan to use the GO Ultra mostly in the water, its probably worth purchasing the Aqualens.
12. How easy is the GO Ultra to use?
I found the Insta360 GO Ultra a breeze to use and set up. Initially, you have to download the free Insta360 app and connect your device to it, but this process was stress-free and easy to do, even for someone slightly non-techy like myself!
The buttons are clear, with a small power button on the side and a record button on the top, while the settings can be controlled quickly using the responsive touchscreen. You can also quickly access the menu by pressing the ‘Q’ button on the side. Once you’ve set the camera up initially with your preferred settings, it will remember them the next time you switch it on. Then should you wish to change them, you can simply bring up the menu by swiping across the screen.
It’s also got a brilliant pre-recording setting, which, when enabled, means you can recover footage from something that happened a few seconds before you hit record, perfect if you just missed the hero moment.
13. Why is the Insta360 GO Ultra good for travel?
When you’re travelling light, the Insta360 GO Ultra can save you a surprising amount of space and weight inside your backpack. With this little camera, there’s no need to bring all the additional accessories you might need with a traditional action camera, such as a chest strap or tripod, because you can simply magnetise it to your chest or use your surroundings.
You don’t have to just use it for video either. It’s also perfect for getting photos of yourself, or photos of you together, while showing more of your surroundings thanks to the wide-angle lens. So you can move beyond the standard holiday selfie where your face takes up approximately 97% of the photograph and see more of where you are.
14. What makes the GO Ultra unique?
One of the biggest things that makes the Insta360 GO Ultra unique is the sheer versatility of the magnetic camera. You can mount it to anything magnetic, which is incredibly handy when you’re out and about. Basically, the world becomes your tripod!
I found myself attaching the GO Ultra to metal fences and railings, lamp posts, signs, frames, lamps and so much more. Although I did soon discover that a lot of things I thought would be magnetic turned out not to be. It turns out not all metal is created equal when it comes to magnetic strength, and I quickly learnt to give things a little test before trusting my precious camera to them!
But once you get the hang of it, it’s so much fun experimenting with different positions and angles. It gives you the opportunity to capture travel footage that you simply wouldn’t get from holding your phone.
15. Things I didn’t love about this action camera
To be completely honest, there wasn’t much that I didn’t love about the GO Ultra. The quality and ease of use is amazing and It’s such a neat little bundle and took up barely any space in my handbag, which is exactly what I want from a travel action camera.
The only things I really noticed were that the camera got quite hot at times when it had been recording for a while. However, I was also using it in a very hot country where everyday was 35c+ so it definitely had a battle on its hands. The only other thing was that the battery time didn’t quite live up to the manufactures guidelines (but when do they ever?)
I also found it really tricky to open the tiny compartment to remove the microSD card. I’m guessing it has to be extra tight to help maintain the waterproofing, but it can be quite fiddly to access when you’re trying to get the card out.
None of these things would put me off using the camera though, I really do love it, but they’re worth mentioning because this is an honest review and not a love letter to Insta360!
16. Who is the Insta360 GO Ultra actually for?
I’d recommend the GO Ultra for anyone looking for a small and discreet action camera to capture travel or action content without drawing too much attention to themselves. I think its particularly well suited to shy content creators or vloggers, and travellers who want to pack light on their trips. Because its so small, it opens up loads of options for recording creative angles, and capturing fun POV footage without having to wear bulky accessories. It’s also great if you don’t want to walk around holding a camera all day.
The GO Ultra is so light and easy to use that you can attach it, hit record and then get on with enjoying whatever it is you’re doing, and I think that’s probably the biggest selling point for me. Because when you’re travelling, or on holiday, you don’t want to spend your entire day thinking about cameras, batteries, tripods and whether you’ve got the right angle. Sometimes you just want to experience something and be in the moment, and I think this camera allows that. Its also packed with loads of incredible features that you can just have fun experimenting with.
Maybe think twice if you…
Need more than around 50 minutes of continuous recording from the camera on its own, or you want the entire action camera housing to be waterproof.
My verdict
I’ve genuinely loved using the Insta360 GO Ultra and can’t wait to take it with me on our future travels. It’s been a brilliant addition to my travel kit and as its so small and discreet I can already see it getting a lot of use.
The combination of its tiny size, lightweight and magnetic design, impressive image quality, excellent stabilisation and most importantly, the ability to capture hands-free POV footage makes it a really useful little travel companion. It doesn’t feel like another bulky piece of tech that you have to remember to pack and lug around all day. Instead, it’s something you can pop in your bag, quickly attach when you need it and then get back to enjoying your adventure.
I cant wait to keep learning my way around this action camera, as its definitely earned its place in our travel bag!
Ready to upgrade your action content? Get yours here.
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