For the past month now, I've been using the new Insta360 Flow as my main travel gimbal.
The Flow is Insta360's first attempt at an AI tracking stabilizer that has everything
you need to take your videos to the next level built right in and it's ready to go in a twist.
The Flow features a lightweight, portable design, a built in selfie stick, a clever
tripod hidden in the handle, a cold shoe mount on the arm for your mic, a smart control wheel
with touch controls, up to 12 hours of battery life, the ability to be used as a battery
bank for your phone and some incredible AI and software features thanks to the Insta360
app.
The Insta360 app lets you do things like enable that AI tracking, change settings, gesture
controls and even edit all of your footage together with just a few taps.
The Flow is a gimbal that offers you a whole lot more than just stable footage.
I recently took the Flow on a road trip from Albuquerque to Houston, and I was surprised
by how awesome of a travel companion this gimbal turned out to be.
Everything about it just feels so quick, natural and well thought out.
Before we continue on, I wanted to share with you guys a little reel that I shot with my
iPhone 14 Pro and the Insta360 Flow from my trip.
After that, we’ll rewind to a quick unboxing and carry on with this review, sound like
a plan?
Let’s go in 3…2…1!
[Footage shot with Insta360 Flow + iPhone 14 Pro]
Alright so as you can see, this gimbal delivers some incredible results.
I mostly had it on the auto setting when I was filming and that pretty much takes away
the thought of any kind of setup.
You just put your phone in the grip, twist open the handle and you're ready to go.
It’s very convenient when you’re out and about on the go.
So, now unboxing time!
When you first get this gimbal, as with all Insta360 products, the packaging is really
nice.
In the box, you’ll find the gimbal itself loaded with instructional stickers, the magnetic
phone mount, a USB charging cable, some documentation, a rubber grip for the handle and a cloth carrying
case.
Getting into the Flow of things, no pun intended, is super easy.
Like I mentioned earlier, you just put your phone in the grip, attach it to the gimbal,
unfold the handle and you're ready to start filming.
For controls, there's a joystick up front, a trigger around back, a touch control pad
around the joystick for changing settings and a wheel around all of that for zooming.
What’s neat about the design of the Flow is that Insta360 put most of the electronics
in the arm of this gimbal so that allowed them to fit a tripod in the handle.
It’s a very clever design and of course, it’s super helpful too because you didn’t
need to carry a separate tripod around.
It’s one less thing that you need to worry about.
There’s even a cold shoe mount on the arm to mount a microphone or an accessory if you’d
like.
You can also buy custom inserts for the arm so you can cover the electronics and customize
things a bit.
Insta360 went above and beyond to try something different with this gimbal and I love that.
It’s familiar yet so different than anything else out there.
When you pick up the Flow in your hand, it’s easy to see that this is a very well thought
out gimbal.
As far as ergonomics and handling goes, the Flow is incredible.
This gimbal is smaller and lighter than most out there so that of course makes it easier
to carry and travel around with.
This is a gimbal that can easily be folded and slipped right into your pocket or a small
sling bag when you're done using it.
When you’re filming, it feels natural to hold in your hand.
Pairing it with the included rubber handle grips leads to even better comfort and better
grip when using it for long periods time.
I also found the controls here to be intuitive and easy to use.
My one complaint is with the touch controls on the wheel.
They can be a bit finicky and do take some getting used to but once you get a hang of
the motion, changing settings is pretty straightforward.
Another thing that’s nice about this gimbal is the battery life.
It’s really good.
Insta360 rates the Flow at 12 hours of runtime but it feels longer than that when you’re
using it.
It’s one of those things that feels like it lasts forever.
Every time you need it, you can be confident that it will be powered and ready to go.
This long battery life is as good because, as I mentioned before, the Flow can also double
as an external battery for your phone.
I wouldn’t rely on it over a dedicated external battery but when your in a pinch and need
to charge up your phone a bit, this works really well.
It’s a handy feature to have!
Next lets move on to talking about the Insta360 app and the AI tracking features.
If you own or have used any Insta360 camera before, you're likely already familiar with
this amazing app.
Here you're able to quickly change your recording settings, enable gesture controls and even
edit your footage together.
First, let's dive into the gesture controls and the AI tracking.
Once you enable gesture controls, simply have your subject hold a hand up and within a few
seconds the software will lock onto the subject, start tracking it and recording.
Insta360 uses it's next-gen algorithm called Deep Track 3.0 to track subjects and I was
blown away by how accurate it is.
No matter how quickly or far away I moved from the gimbal, it stayed locked on and kept
me centered and in frame.
It's very impressive!
I tried this by myself with the selfie camera on my iPhone 14 Pro and it worked incredibly
well.
Of course, you're able to do this with the outer cameras as well and track the subjects
that you're filming.
You can also take advantage of these AI tracking features in other apps like FaceTime, Zoom,
etc when you're using the Flow.
What's really cool though is that even if the subject dashes, falls out of frame or
walks behind a short wall or something, the gimbal will recover and automatically jump
back to tracking the subject.
Very impressive stuff.
This AI stuff is a lot more than a gimmick.
Another cool feature in the app are the editing tools.
Again, if you've used an Insta360 camera before then you're going to be familiar with the
tools here.
In the app, you can select all of your footage to put together a shareable video in just
a few taps.
There are also a solid amount of templates and tools built in to trim clips, add filters,
change templates and there's even a decently sized library of royalty-free music.
Most of the time, what the app generates by itself is pretty good but you do have some
flexibility to change things to your liking.
What you're seeing right now is footage from my trip edited together by the Insta360 app.
I didn't make any tweaks or changes to it, this is straight from the app.
I think it looks surprisingly good, like this is a video that I would share on my Twitter
or Instagram.
It's great stuff!
Insta360 never ceases to amaze me with it's software and they did not disappoint with
the Flow here!
At the end of the day, it's safe to say that Insta360 knocked it out of the park with the
Flow.
It’s an impressive debut gimbal from Insta360 that has become my go-to travel gimbal for
a number of reasons, mostly though, because it's super easy to use, has a small footprint
and delivers amazing results.
No matter if you're a beginner or an expert producing videos, the Flow is sure to impress.
It's very similar yet so different than anything else out there.
It’s ultra portable design paired with long battery life, fantastic performance and incredible
software offerings, make it a super easy gimbal for me to recommend to anyone looking to take
their smartphone footage to the next level.
If you shoot a lot of videos with your phone, this thing should be at the top of your list!
So that’s about all I got for this video my friends!
I hope you enjoyed it and found out helpful.
If you did and you liked what you saw, you know the drill, be sure to give it a thumbs
up and hit that subscribe button because it always helps out the channel.
Also, don’t forget to follow @raystrazdas on Twitter and Instagram for much more!
Until the next one, I will catch you guys later.
Peace!