Is the Insta360 X6 really more expensive than the X5?

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I see many people talking about how much more expensive the new Insta360 X6 is compared to the previous model. But is it?

In 2025, the X5 was released with a price of $549. To use it, you also needed a memory card.

For the Insta360 X6, on launch day (8/12/2026) the only way to buy the camera here in the U.S. was as a bundle. There were two bundles available, and they included things other than the camera. I wondered how much we were paying for the X6, so here is the breakdown:

Essentials Bundle

The $799 Essentials Bundle comes with:

Previous standalone cameras just came with the normal battery (now called a LITE battery). The X6 LITE battery is $24 https://store.insta360.com/product/x6-lite-battery?c=6963

Doing some math, the accessories and extended warranty add up to $254. With this bundle being $799 at Best Buy when it launched, that makes the camera around $545 plus a $24 LITE battery for a total of $569. (And Best Buy had the bundle priced at $769 making the camera available for $549 – cheaper than the X5 during its launch.)

The effective cost of the X6 (with battery, and not having to buy a 32GB memory card) is therefore about the same as the X5 plus 32GB memory card.

But the standard bundle does not compare as well…

Standard Bundle

The $699 Standard Bundle comes with:

This gives us a very different price. Without the extended warranty and other accessories, you basically have a camera with memory storage and an extended battery for $699. Subtract away the flash cost and battery cost then add the LITE battery and you get $649. With this bundle, that is the effective cost of an X6 with nothing but the normal battery.

Does my math add up?

Your OS loyalty limits you.

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It should be obvious that if all you have is a sedan, you probably won’t be moving any furniture. Likewise, if all you have is a 2-seater car or pickup truck, you won’t be taking any extra people with you on a road trip. Households that have multiple vehicle types are far more flexible with what they can do. While I only have a hatchback car, I also have an electric scooter and make great use of that for short errands, saving gas and maybe polluting the planet just a bit less than driving my car would.

The same can be said about operating systems, whether than be a desktop computer OS such as macOS, Windows or Linux, or a mobile operating system such as Android, iOS, or iPadOS.

During my days as a Windows PC user, all I could run was Windows stuff. Linux became a thing, allowing folks like me to dual-boot and take advantage of a world of open source software plus Windows software. I never ran Linux on my Toshiba laptop, but I did dual boot into Microware OS-9000 (but that’s a story for another time).

I really learned the value of running more than one OS when I switched to Macintosh in 2001. I was suddenly able to run a new (to me) world of Mac software, as well as continue to run all my Windows programs via Connectix’s Virtual PC emulator (later Microsoft Virtual PC). I gained so much by being able to run the Mac stuff I wanted, and still have access to Microsoft Money or PC-only development tools like BASIC Stamp and such.

Google Maps versus Apple Maps

All this to say … right now, iPhone users may have a map advantage. I generally use Google Maps for the majority of my searching, but over the years I have found a number of cases where the Apple Maps satellite view is more up to date than what Google has. For instance, up until recently, Google Maps was showing the Lost Island Theme Park in Waterloo, Iowa as a large patch of dirt — even though the park had been open five years.

Google Maps of Lost Island Theme Park via Street View (7/22/2026)

Meanwhile, Apple Maps was showing the park built out, though not updated enough to have the new roller coaster they added last year.

Apple Maps of Lost Island Theme Park (7/22/2026)

Had I only used Google Maps, I’d still be looking at dirt. (NOTE: The top screen shoot from Google was created on July 22, 2026 — it shows dirt because this is the image Google uses for their Street View upload site. If you go to maps.google.com you can see their more updated image that shows the park there.)

There are likely many examples where the other case is true and Google Maps has more updated aerial imagery.

All this to say … if you use an iPhone, you should have Google Maps installed in addition to Apple Maps. If you use an Android phone, there is no Apple Maps app available, but you can at least access it via the web browser at https://maps.apple.com

Don’t limit yourself. You can have more capabilities ;-)

And all you Open Street Maps fans can comment away telling us how much better than is than either of these choices.

More Insta360 X6 differences to be aware of.

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I am still “new” with Insta360. I did not get my first Insta360 camera (the ONE X2) until 2022. Since then, I have tried to follow each new release (X3, X4, X5 and now X6) fairly closely – following rumors, leaks, and early paid promotional videos done by YouTubers. (By “paid” I mean “paid with hardware”. You will note that people who say bad things about these companies do not receive free hardware the next time around, so you only see positive promotional videos from these folks because they understand this.)

Here are some things I have learned that we did not know about before the launch:

Dive Case requires swapping lenses

Unlike the X4 and X5 dive cases, the X6 dive case requires swapping out the normal lenses for special underwater lenses. This was shown in the following video:

This means if you take it to the beach to use on land, then want to go into the water a bit, you have to find a clean place to do a lens swap. This may be a dealbreaker for casual users such as myself. I took both the X4 and X5 to Discovery Cove in Orlando, Florida, and used it to take normal 360 photos/videos as well as 360 underwater videos. Even in a simulated beach oasis such as that, finding a clean place to do a lens swap is likely not practical.

An Insta360 Support employee explained why in a comment:

“Hey there, thanks for your post.

This design is used to balance optimal underwater imaging and device portability.

X6 features a much larger sensor to deliver better image quality. However, in an underwater environment, accommodating such a large sensor traditionally requires a massive spherical dive case. This wouldn’t just be bulky to carry, it would also create excessive buoyancy, impacting how easy it is to use when diving.

Our dedicated Underwater Lenses is optimized to solve this. It allows the camera to maintain its exceptional image quality underwater while keeping the dive case compact, lightweight, and easy to handle.

We have carefully noted your suggestion, and our R&D team will continue exploring innovative solutions to enhance future user experiences.”

– https://www.reddit.com/r/Insta360/comments/1vmj87y/comment/p3dgcfq/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Is the tripod thread mount different?

In order to record my raw footage comparison videos, I use a dual-camera mount bracket thing.

At first, I thought there was something different about the X6 screw depth. They did redesign the base no the X6 for use with a new type of quick release, so it is physically different than what the X5 and X4 used. However, a user on REDDIT measured and confirmed the depth was identical to the X5. Insta360 Support chimed in:

“Hi there, thanks for the detailed comparison.

X6 uses a different bottom structure design with an added pogo pin interface for the Power Selfie Stick and charging cradle. As a result, the effective depth of the 1/4″ screw mount is slightly deeper than on X5, this is a design difference, not a defect.

If you need a more secure fit with third-party mounts, using a thin spacer (as you’ve done) or the official Quick Release Mount is recommended.

Hope this helps.”

– https://www.reddit.com/r/Insta360/comments/1vmmlqd/comment/p3dj10a/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

More to come?

As I learn more things like this, I will update this blog post and add notes at the top explaining what was last changed.

Until then…

Insta360 brings A.I. slop editing to your videos

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Real musicians fought against things like rhythm boxes (later called drum machines), synthesizers and samplers. Today, these technologies are accepted even though somewhere out there a violinist is getting less work because a sampler/synthesizer can be “good enough” on a recording. And, well, drummers may be having the hardest time of all of musicians…

But I digress.

I have discussed the “A.I. is a tool” topic in the past. The better technology works for the untalented, the more impressive it will be when guided by someone who knows what they are doing.

And then there are videos… No one really knows what makes them popular.

A crappy cell phone video can go viral and be seen tens of millions of times. Meanwhile, a whole team that put together an Oscar-worthy short film gets a few hundred views. Your talent means nothing if no one sees it. Getting lucky is still a more powerful way to be seen.

And editing videos? Yeah, some folks do really crappy editing jobs, and get tons of views, while someone who does professional-level editing may produce content no one cares about.

Insta360 is about to give the folks who do really crappy editing a new robot to do their editing for them:

Be on the lookout for more cookie-cutter videos that seem like they were all made by the same editor. Because they will be. Bleep, bloop.

Sure, this will give people with really poor editing skills the ability to have highly polished robot-looking edits done on their footage. It might even produce better results than some skilled editors.

But much like clip art and stock music, once we start seeing it over and over (and over), it will just be another example of “A.I. slop” to many.

But it sure is going to be fun to play with until folks get sick of “the look.”

Then we will need a name for it. “A.I. slop edit?” Comment away if you have some ideas…

Computer video titles in 1987

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Even by the late 1980s, most households did not have camcorders. Most households did not have a home computer. Even fewer had both. Thanks to my dad giving me some old gear as he upgraded, my household did.

Behold, a VHS video intro I did in 1987 on my Radio Shack Color Computer 2. The CoCo only had RF (TV) output and my VHS recorder was an editing deck and did NOT have a TV tuner. Since the CoCo did not have audio/video out, and the recorder did not have RF inputs, I just pointed the camera at my color television and recorded the titles that way.

Oh yeah. State of the art.

Insta360 X6 available to order at Best Buy US

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UPDATE: Some folks on REDDIT saw it in the store on Sunday (8/10) and were able to order and receive on Monday (8/11) and activate the camera. I had checked around 3pm CST on Monday and Best Buy did not have it listed. Your mileage may vary.

Essential:

https://www.bestbuy.com/product/insta360-x6-8k-action-camera-essentials-bundle-black/J39VLT4TY9/sku/6685236

Standard:

https://www.bestbuy.com/product/insta360-x6-8k-action-camera-standard-bundle-black/J39VLT4TL6/sku/6685237

Says “delivery BY tomorrow” so … if you feel lucky . . .

Activation Warning

Folks who managed to get their hands on an X6 early reported they could not use it. Like much modern “smart” hardware, the camera is useless until it phones home and activates with the Insta360 server. There was a report of someone being able to activate and firmware update, so this may be what was in the latest Insta360 app update v2.31.1 which released yesterday.

Columbus P-1 Mark 2 GPS remote and Mac

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I realize most of the issues I post about here are related to Windows, so let’s balance things out a bit.

I have a Columbus P-1 Mark II GPS:

Columbus P-1 Mark II 10Hz Professional GNSS Data Logger

This device logs GPS coordinates to a microSD card and is far more accurate than using my phone or even the dedicated Insta360 GPS Remote. I have had issues where the GPS signal recorded by those devices is glitchy enough that Google Street View will reject the data.

Thus, a dedicated hardware device.

When I first got it, I could plug it up to my Mac and it would mount as a USB drive. At some point, this stopped working. I just tested it with the same cable on a Windows 11 machine and it indeed mounts as a flash drive, as it should.

What happened? I notice when I check it out on macOS it is there, but is in the GNSS Receive Mode rather than the USB flash drive mode:

GNSS Receiver Mode is a feature that lets the device act as a USB GPS receiver using software on a PC/Mac/etc.

The way you select these modes is simple: Plug it in while powered off and it should be a USB drive. Plug it in with the power ON, and it should be a receiver.

It is unclear what control the computer has over the power mode of the device.

Anyone ran into this? Posting for the search engines…

Facebook: Certain actions have been restricted due to unusual activity.

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Or,

Life without Facebook is … really good.

I have not used my personal Facebook page in years, and do not have Facebook Messenger installed so the only thing I really use Facebook for these days is for Pages I admin, and groups I participate in.

I think two of my Pages are monetized, though I do not recall how they got that way. One has only earned me a few dollars, but the other recently earned me $33, then $78 and the next payment should be about $180. Surprising, considering I do nothing any different today than I ever have — I just posted something that touched a nerve and folks decided to share. Neat.

But, when this happened, Facebook decided something was wrong and blocked me from being able to Reply to comments on my own pages. I would receive noticed like this:

Fun. I spent a few days trying to get this corrected (there were no notifications on my mobile apps), and eventually found where they needed me to “verify” again. I had already previously had to send them scans of my driver’s license (when money is involved, the government wants to track it). I did that again, or at least tried to. App problems, image rejection problems, etc. On the third try it worked and their AI robot said everything looks good and it could find no problems.

But I still kept receiving this message.

A.I. robot help is useless. It gave me three different instructions telling me where to go and what to click on. Each time, I would explain “there is no such option in that menu.” It wasted my time, and I stopped. The only thing it said was that I should want another 24-48 hours and not touch my pages since that could be resetting the block.

I took the week off…

And it has been GREAT! Even though most of what I post is scheduled ahead of time, scheduling those posts still might take me 15-30 minutes to do for the next few weeks of posts. I also liked to go in and Like or respond to Comments on posts that were getting a lot of attention (one has been seen over 250,000 times, which is weird considering my page only has a few thousands followers).

Just when I thought “maybe I will enjoy posting more now that they are paying me to do it,” they take away my ability to do so ;-)

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Anyway, just wanted to say … they certainly did help me use their service much less. Maybe next week I will check again and see if I can get back to becoming rich by wasting time on Facebook.

To be continued?

I ran my iPad battery down, and now it will not charge…

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There is a thing known as calibrating a battery that sources say you should do once a month. This is done by running your device all the way down (such as a phone, tablet or notebook computer) and then giving it a full charge to reset the battery life estimates. For some devices, just running it down until it shuts off and recharging is enough. Others, such as notebooks with backup suspend modes and such, the instructions might say to run it down, then leave it for another 5 hours before recharging.

Apple may actually be doing this internally on their devices now, or perhaps I do not understand the jargon here:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/119954

But general repair sites, such as iFixIt, offer instructions:

https://www.ifixit.com/Wiki/Battery_Calibration

This week I decided to do this for my iPhone, MacBook Air, and iPad.

But my iPad never came back. After running it all the way down, I plugged it into a charge and got the expected “please recharge me” screen:

iPad “Recharge Me” screen.

It did not seem to recognize my charging cable that I always use. I ended up trying three things:

  1. Old style USB-to-C cable on a dock USB port.
  2. USB-C cable from MacBook Air to the iPad.
  3. Original iPad charger and original cable.

Even after leaving it plugged up overnight to the (confirmed working) original Apple iPad charger and cable, the iPad still had no charge the next morning. Attempts to reset it did not work. Perhaps it just died.

I am posting this here in case anyone else runs into this.

This iPad is over 5 years old, but still under AppleCare+ warranty, so I am taking it in to see what they can find. Gotta love extended warranties ;-)

To be continued…

Insta360 X6 preview videos released

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On August 6, 2026, Insta360 seems to have allowed the preview videos for their new 360 camera to be posted. Some “reviewers” do up-front explain they were sent the hardware for free (which should be obvious; you cannot buy it yet), while others do not mention their video is sponsored with hardware. Of course.

Go to YouTube and take a look, but don’t expect too much yet. They seem quite limited to what they can say right now, and are unable to show any comparison videos — making the early release pretty pointless.

“Pro Tip” (again, there is no such thing unless your professional job really is giving tip): If a video does not tell you they got the gear for free, you may wish to skip their later “review.” If they are hiding the fact that they have been compensated with hardware, what else are they willing to hide? Also, be aware that if a “reviewer” who receives free hardware says bad things about that hardware, the company is less likely to send them more hardware in the future.

And so it begins…