Introduction
Four years can be a long time in the action camera world. When GoPro quietly retired its original Max 360 camera back in 2021, it left a gap that its upstart rivals wasted no time filling – the Insta360 X series went from strength to strength, while DJI eventually waded in with its own debut 360 camera, the Osmo 360. So, the GoPro Max 2 arrives with something to prove.
At first glance, it’s unmistakably a GoPro. The square body is a beefed-up echo of its predecessor, sitting slightly squatter than both the Insta360 X5 and DJI Osmo 360 without feeling cramped. It’s waterproof to 5m without a case and compatible with the mounting ecosystem GoPro has spent 15 years building. If you’ve already got a drawer full of GoPro accessories, the Max 2 slots straight in.
The headline act is what GoPro calls “true 8K”. Where rivals are accused of counting overlapped or inactive pixels to justify the 8K badge, GoPro says its 360 output contains at least 3840 active pixels on each axis.
Priced at $499/£450, the Max 2 sits between the surprisingly affordable DJI Osmo 360 and the premium Insta360 X5. It’s not the cheapest option in this category, then, but GoPro is betting that its image quality, ecosystem and simplicity are worth the extra outlay. Having spent several days with the camera, I have a reasonable sense of whether that bet pays off.
Design & build: lens is more
Pick up the Max 2 and it immediately feels like something built to take punishment. The chunky plastic body has a reassuringly solid quality to it – there’s no flex, no rattle, nothing that gives you cause for concern before you’ve even left the house. GoPro doesn’t assign it a formal IP rating, but the 5m waterproofing is sufficient for paddleboarding, surfing, kayaking and most water sport activities short of diving. Serious scuba fiends will need to wait for the dive housing GoPro has in development; for everyone else, it’s plenty.
The Max 2’s most distinctive design feature is its tool-free replaceable lens system. With 360 cameras, those protruding fisheye lenses are a constant source of anxiety – they’re exposed, they’re convex, and they’re expensive to replace if something goes wrong. GoPro’s solution is elegant: the rubber barrel of each lens lets you twist it off with your fingers – no tool required. The lenses themselves are relatively affordable to replace too, which takes a lot of the stress out of risky shooting scenarios.
There is, however, a price to be paid. During testing, I noticed condensation forming inside the lens when moving between different temperature environments – going from a chilly morning outside into a toasty building, for instance. It’s not something I’ve experienced on other 360 cameras, and I suspect the removable lens design creates a less-than-airtight seal that allows moisture to sneak in. You can fix it by removing the lens and giving it a wipe, but that’s hardly ideal when you’re mid-surf session.
Mounting options are impressive. The Max 2 supports classic mounting fingers – compatible with a vast ecosystem of first- and third-party accessories – plus a standard tripod thread and GoPro’s newer magnetic latch system. That triple compatibility means decades of action camera hardware works with it straight away. Whether you’re clipping it to a kayak, bolting it to a helmet or fixing it to the nose of a surfboard, there’s a mount for the job.
The 1.82in touchscreen is bright, responsive and stays usable with wet fingers. Controls are kept simple: two large rubber buttons handle power and shutter duties, with the touchscreen handling everything else. GoPro’s UI has always been one of its strengths, and the Max 2 upholds that reputation. Even if you haven’t used a GoPro in ages, you’ll quickly get the hang of it.
There’s also built-in GPS, which stores your location data automatically as you record. It’s a useful edge over both the Insta360 X5 and DJI Osmo 360, neither of which offer it as standard.
Performance and features: simple to use, occasionally hot under the collar
Getting footage off the Max 2 and into a shareable format is straightforward. Transfer wirelessly to a phone running GoPro’s Quik app, reframe your clips using manual keyframes or AI-assisted object tracking, and you’re done. I think Quik is a competent 360 editor – it’s not the most feature-rich in the category, but it gets the job done without requiring a degree from film school. Finished clips can be saved to your camera roll, shared to social media or exported elsewhere.
Desktop editing is handled by the updated GoPro Player app, which now supports Adobe Premiere and DaVinci Resolve plug-ins for direct 360 file import. For users already embedded in those editors’ workflows, then, it’s genuinely useful. For everyone else, Quik will do the job.
It’s worth noting that Insta360’s software suite – particularly its AI-assisted editing and the Insta360 Studio desktop app – remains more sophisticated than GoPro’s. If seamless, polished social content with minimal effort is a priority, the X5 has the edge in that department.
Battery life is acceptable rather than exceptional. GoPro doesn’t specify a runtime figure, but in my testing the 1960mAh cell lasted just under 30 minutes of continuous 8K 30fps recording before the camera shut itself down to avoid overheating – and with battery life remaining. Drop to 5.6K and you get closer to an hour before heat becomes an issue, with around 10% battery left at that point. Thermal shutdown during extended recording is a real frustration, though using the camera in cooler or breezy environments does improve things. For casual adventure shooting – clips rather than continuous capture – it’s less of a concern, but anyone planning a long day out would be wise to pick up a spare battery or two.
The battery is removable, at least, which means hot swapping in the field is possible. That’s a more practical solution than cameras with sealed batteries that require a full charging cycle mid-adventure.
Image quality: happy in daylight, humbled after dark
In good light, the Max 2’s image quality impressed me. GoPro’s ‘true 8K’ claim holds up: footage is sharp and detailed, with the kind of punchy, saturated colour palette that GoPro has made its signature. Stitching is seamless, selfie stick removal works reliably, and distortion is well controlled. Whether you’re shooting from a helmet at speed, panning slowly across a seascape or, as in my sample video below, shooting some vlog-friendly footage using a selfie stick, the results look pretty excellent.
For those who want more control in post-production, there’s support for the GP-Log flat colour profile alongside standard colour, and 10-bit capture means there’s space to push things in editing. I had good results applying a LUT and tweaking the image in Quik – the flat footage has more to work with than you might expect. The maximum bit rate is 120Mbps (or 300Mbps for users of GoPro Labs).
Frame rate options give you flexibility beyond standard capture. Shooting at 5.6K 60fps opens up 2x slow-motion or smoother real-time motion, while the 4K 100fps mode allows for more dramatic slow-mo, provided you’re happy to drop resolution. Stills top out at 29MP in 360 mode, which is fine as a novelty or for the occasional keepsake, but it’s clear that video remains the main attraction.
In bright conditions, I’d put the Max 2 marginally ahead of its closest rivals for raw image quality, thanks to GoPro’s colour science and the resolution advantage. One minor caveat: footage shot in very bright, open skies can look slightly overexposed and washed out, a consequence of having to expose for a full 360-degree view rather than a single direction. It’s manageable with manual exposure adjustment, but worth knowing.
Low light is where the Max 2 falls short, and it falls short noticeably. Both the DJI Osmo 360 and Insta360 X5 offer dedicated low-light modes that produce pretty clean, usable footage after dark (I found the X5’s PureVideo particularly impressive). The Max 2 has no such mode, leaving you with the standard profile, and the results in dim conditions are noisy and smeary. Twilight shoots simply won’t look anywhere near as good as your daytime clips. If you shoot a lot in challenging light, it’s a limitation worth considering.
The condensation issue mentioned in the design section above also has a direct impact on image quality when it occurs; affected footage shows a visible haze that you can’t recover in post. It’s an occasional problem rather than a constant one, but it’s worth factoring in if you regularly move between contrasting temperatures.
GoPro Max 2 verdict
The GoPro Max 2 is a strong return to 360 cameras – one that delivers class-leading image quality in daylight and backs it up with the kind of rugged build, intuitive controls and mounting flexibility that GoPro does so well. The true 8K claim is more than marketing bluster: footage is sharp, vibrant and detailed in a way that rivals can’t quite match – at least when the sun is out.
The frustrations are real, though. The condensation issue is an annoyance that seems directly linked to the tool-free lens design – a trade-off GoPro probably didn’t intend. Low-light performance is disappointing compared to what the DJI Osmo 360 and Insta360 X5 can do. And the thermal management situation means extended recording sessions require some patience and planning.
If your adventures happen mostly in daylight – surfing, paddle-boarding, mountain biking, skiing – the Max 2 might be the best 360 camera you can buy at this price. If you shoot in low light regularly, or want the most polished companion app experience, the X5 gives you more. Either way, the 360 camera market is better for having GoPro firmly back in the mix.
GoPro Max 2 technical specifications
| Sensor | 2 x 1/2.3in CMOS |
| Photo resolution | Up to 29MP |
| Video recording | Up to 8K 30 fps / 4K 100fps |
| Screen | 1.82in 314 x 556 |
| Storage | microSD card slot |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3, USB-C, GPS |
| Dimensions | 64 x 69.7 x 48.7mm |
| Weight | 195g |
