#Insta360

Motorcyclists love to tell stories about things that happened while they were riding. Having video evidence to back it up makes the stories even more fun. Who would believe you if you said that, as you were hard on the brakes from 160+ mph into Turn 2 at Laguna Seca, a ground squirrel ran across the track in front of you and the $100,000 Ducati Superleggera you were piloting? Well, Troy was able to document Mister Squizzles’ near-fatal dash, thanks to his helmet cam, and put an end to our disbelief. (See the proof here.)

Heroics aside, traveling by motorcycle is even more fun when you can capture the important moments of your trip while you’re actually riding. Group rides can be relived later. Track day lean angles can impress your buddies. Then there are the workday road warriors who commute via bike through the concrete canyons of their local city. They need the moto-equivalent of a dash cam to keep tabs on the other road users who are often paying more attention to their breakfast burrito than the other vehicles around them.

You just need to choose the right action camera, and you’ve got a ton of options. There are helmet cams, 360 cams, and even permanently mounted dash cams for commuters to use in case of a mishap. No matter what you want to record, there is a camera to handle that task. So, we’ve chosen what we think are the best motorcycle cameras around. Let us know in the comments if you have a personal favorite that isn’t mentioned here.

Here at MO we’ve become fans of the new kid in the action camera room – Insta360. As the brand name implies, its specialty is 360-degree cameras which allow the user to capture all the action surrounding the camera, and decide after the fact which elements of the action they’d like to feature in their video. The beauty of this is that you never miss the action because the camera was mounted or pointed in the wrong direction. We’ve previously tested Insta’s One X, One R Modular 360 camera, and the tiny GO 2 pocket action camera.

We’ve previously reviewed the Insta360 One X action camera. The One X was launched in October 2018 and is capable of shooting 5.7K 30fps 360 video, with features such as Flow-State Stabilization, slow motion at lower frame rates, Bullet-Time video, and more. The camera comes with an easy-to-use and elegantly-designed phone app and desktop app which gives the user absolute control of what portion of a 360 view around the camera they would like to highlight.

MO Tested: Insta360 OneX Camera Review

I came away impressed by the One X’s 360 capabilities to capture all the action around a motorcycle – action that would otherwise be missed by conventional action cameras – but found issues with instability of the .insv video files and found the LCD screen with two-button controls on the camera a bit hard to use in the real world. The 360 technology is a game-changer for what it allows the casual user to easily capture, but the camera design was a bit vulnerable for regular use mounted on motorcycles and corrupted files occurred a bit too often to be easily forgiven.

As you no doubt know, Motorcycle.com also produces videos to go along with nearly every motorcycle review we publish. So, when the opportunity came along to get our hands on a 360 camera for the first time, we couldn’t say no. Chances are you’ve already seen some footage with the camera in prior reviews, too. Normally, our video guy Sean Matic doesn’t involve himself with the written word, instead focusing his attention on moving pictures of the questionable MO team. But considering how he’s the one with the most “seat time” with the Insta360 OneX camera, we couldn’t think of anyone better to tell you how it works. Here are his impressions. -TS

Why 360-degree action cameras? One reason is for virtual reality or VR video. You know, that immersive video experience with special nerd goggles where technology fools you into feeling like you’re actually in a scene – like walking a tight rope 500 feet above the Grand Canyon – while standing in Best Buy. Cool stuff for sure, but not something we do here on the MO Tubes. So why 360 then? It’s a question I asked myself when I first heard 360 cameras were available and creating buzz at the consumer level. Truthfully, the VR world is not one I explored very much as the resident MOron with a camera. However, now that Insta360 sent us a OneX to test, I’m a convert.