Today we have the world's smallest action camera – the Insta 360 Go 3.
And we're going to get the world's first ever look at it from the inside. Probably
going to be relatively difficult since it's sealed tight and waterproof to 16 feet. But
the camera does do some pretty cool things. I hear the internal heat dissipation system has
been upgraded. Huge thanks to Insta 360 for sponsoring this video. It's always brave to
let the entire world to see how your product works from the inside. So let's get started.
[Intro]
The new Insta 360 Go 3 action camera has a very unique form factor. Initially it arrives
sitting in something called an action pod, but with the click of a button,
the Go 3 can detach and become its own standalone camera with 45 minutes of battery life. At just 35
grams it is extremely tiny – about the width of my finger. The cool part is that the action pod
with the camera detached can then become a remote display using bluetooth. The flipscreen is able to
see what the camera is doing from a distance and acts as a remote control for the Go 3. This was
really helpful when I was using the camera to see the inside of my truck during my Rivian review.
The tininess, while filming at 2.7K resolution gives us a detailed view
of places that would be otherwise very difficult to see and gives
us a more unique perspective than a larger camera could accomplish.
The Go 3 is not just for video either. Among other things we have time shift, time lapse,
and time capture for if you want footage at a certain time like a sunrise or star lapse,
but don't actually want to wake up that early. Docked back into the action pod
which also doubles as a charger, it brings our total battery life up to about 3 hours.
The action pod is able to clip into all the normal mounts we would see with action cameras,
except for this time the mounts pull double duty, being able to attach to the Go 3 as well as the
action pod for extra versatility. We have the suction mount, a hat clip, and a long winding
monkey tail. The unique abilities when the Go 3 is undocked and able to magnetically attach to
a pendant worn around my neck underneath my shirt, giving us a more first person,
video game style view that I used when showing off how my Rivian doors hold water after a rainstorm.
Speaking of which, the action pod itself is splash resistant and able to keep out water.
So I wasn't all that worried when using the 120
frames per second to capture some water splashing in slow motion.
When the camera is undocked from the action pod, however, and filming all by itself,
it can withstand up to 16 feet of water...as long as you don't lose it.
Small little tubes are basically impossible to find once they're lost in the water.
The intense level of waterproofing is going to make it very difficult to get inside,
but I'm sure we can find a way. The previous Go 2 had a time limit on clip recordings due
to thermal throttling. But now with the Go 3, recordings are unlimited and it'll be interesting
to see how Insta 360 has accomplished this heat dissipation. The exterior protective glass lens
is very easy to unscrew and replace. Definitely nice. There's also a button on the front of the
Go 3 that can start and stop recordings so we can commence our teardown right here under that front
flap. It doesn't get us very far though since this thing is very much sealed tight with no screws,
no clips, and no way for us to easily enter. But the thick plasticky rubber bumper around the
outside is also not wanting to come apart. So like I always say, sometimes violence is the answer.
With a slight squish from my oversized pipe wrench, we can bust into the sealed enclosure.
And only after prying off the back wireless charging magnetic back does the camera finally
decide to turn itself off. And strangely enough, it looks like the Go 3 is actually using the rear
magnetic mounting system as a heat sink, which makes a whole lot of sense when you think about
it. Magnets are metal and metal is a great conductor of heat. It's kind of a brilliant
solution. The internal magnets are working double duty. Super cool...figuratively and literally.
There are three more ultra tiny screws, tinier than even the screws most smartphones have.
The gold kapton tape can come off. Then we can unplug the battery and extension
ribbons just like little Legos. We find the camera sensor ribbon literally glued
to the back side of the motherboard. Smart of Insta 360 to glue it in place,
considering all the abuse and vibrations that action cameras go through.
The battery comes out next. This is what gives the little unit its 45 minutes of run time.
It has 310 milliamp hours worth of energy. Basically the same capacity as an Apple watch.
Going deeper we find the lower circuit board. These boards help manage the flow
state stabilization, horizon lock, and voice controls. We also have the copper plate that
helps move heat back to the magnets. With a bit more prying we can unceremoniously
decapitate the camera sensor from the lens. This guy is able to film in 2.7K, slow motion,
time lapse, star lapse, and quite a few other modes. A lot of power in very small packaging.
One of the more interesting modes is called free frame video where the camera uses its
whole sensor to record footage, which can then be changed to horizontal, verticale,
or square later on with the app. It's nice having some versatility and the ability to
use the footage on more than one platform. Using the full sensor is also how the Go 3 manages its
flow state stabilization. Imagine the red box being the final output and the blue box is the
full sensor size. Flow state stabilization keeps the footage professionally stabilized within
the sensor while the camera itself is jiggling and jittering around. The horizon lock feature
is kind of similar, but instead of stabilizing footage to the camera, it stabilizes the footage
to the horizon. Kind of nice for the more extreme stuff. And with the AI video editing ability in
the 360 app, it can even stitch all the good clips of a fun day together automatically.
The lens itself appears to be very permanently glued into the Go 3 housing. Oh wait...there are
some screws. Like I always say, violence is never the answer. With 2 screws gone we can see our
cast metal camera bracket. This also doubles as another heat sink as we can see from the thermal
paste surrounding the lens housing. Air is an excellent insulator, so without the thermal paste
allowing heat to move to the metal, the camera components would overheat, throttle, and turn off.
I'm glad that with all this extra cooling the Go 3 has no more recording time limits.
There is one more inner portion of the lens that can be unscrewed,
but the rather resilient exterior lens stays mounted to the camera body. It's good that
there's an easily swappable glass lens on the outside since the actual curved lens of the
camera is very much permanent. Overall I'm pretty impressed. The Go 3 makes for a very versatile
sidekick. Definitely not meant to replace a main filming camera, but it does great at getting
into small places and getting more unique and otherwise impossible to get perspectives. There
is no expandable internal storage, but with its tiny form factor and waterproof rating,
it makes sense. Plus having onboard storage means no more forgetting your memory. The Go 3 has 32,
64, and 128 gigabyte options. It'll be a fun addition to my camera arsenal,
except for now I have to buy another one. Speaking of which,
if you're curious about current pricing or want to get one for yourself, I'll leave a link down
in the description. And as always, thanks a ton for watching and I'll see you around.