Two days ago, the Insta360 X5 was announced and made available for sale. Amazon US had it for sale about an hour before the official launch announcement. Amazon Germany and Canada had also jumped the gun, so folks were able to see the official product name and all the specs before the official release.

This was quite a different launch than the past ones.

I received my X5 on April 23rd, the day after the announcement. There was a firmware update 1.0.0 waiting when I activated it, and this update introduced features that none of the pre-release YouTubers had access to. Thus, we should expect a second round of videos to cover this stuff.

X4 versus X5 in “normal” 8K mode

Here is my quick sample I did last night:

I also stopped by a local bar and grill (dim indoor lighting) to see what the new PureVideo mode would do:

I will be doing more tests and comparisons soon.

But I digress…

Hype and Hammers

This is pure speculation, but it seems like the pre-release YouTubers were all given a script or at least marketing bullet points for them to insert into their videos. Many of them recreated the “lets hit the camera with a hammer and break the lens then replace it” that had been shown to us by the Insta360 teaser video a week ago. I really doubt that all these content creators are so uncreative they would just recreate the manufacture’s marketing video.

The second thing I have noticed is the use of hype in the videos (title, thumbnail, etc.). I do not recall seeing so many “hype” references for the X3 or X4 launches. And, honestly, what hype? An announcement came out a week ago announcing “something new” coming on April 22nd, and that was it. There was no hype. We just had the normal speculation videos/posts/tweets/etc. online. I suspect “hype up the hype” may have been a marketing directive as well.

Have you noticed any other patterns? Please leave a comment.

So far, I like everything about the X5 better than the X4 except having to buy all my accessories again. (See that link for the list, and contribute if you know of things I have missed.)

More to come!