Insta360's new GO Ultra action camera trades tiny form for greater performance

Insta360 has unveiled the GO Ultra, the latest in its series of bite-sized action cameras. While this year's camera is larger and heavier than its predecessor, it also offers a notable boost in performance.

Following 2024's Insta360 GO 3S, the new GO Ultra eschews the previous model's elongated, thumb-sized form factor in favour of a larger, square design. It's also noticeably heavier than the GO 3S, weighing 53 grams as compared to 39 grams. Even so, the GO Ultra still remains small and lightweight enough that this likely won't be a serious deterrent to many action camera users — especially once you factor in the upgrades.

While the GO 3S's highest video resolution is 4K at 30fps, the GO Ultra doubles its frames per second to record 4K footage at 60fps. As always, whether this is of immediate benefit to you will depend upon what you're shooting and whether you have a 4K screen to watch it on, though higher resolutions are always useful for futureproofing. 

The GO Ultra also boasts a larger 1/1.28-inch sensor as compared to the GO 3S' 1/2.3-inch. It seems as though Insta360 took on feedback about the GO 3S' lacklustre low light performance, stating that the GO Ultra's sensor captures 200 percent more light for improved night shots.

Another significant update is the Insta360 GO UItra's much longer battery life. While the GO 3S has a run time of 38 minutes on a single charge, or 140 when placed inside its Action Pod, Insta360 states that the GO Ultra has a more practical 70-minute run time, or 200 minutes with the Action Pod. This extended battery life should significantly reduce users' battery anxiety, allowing them to film for longer. Charging up the GO Ultra is faster as well, the Action Pod taking it to 80 percent in 12 minutes, as opposed to the GO 3S' 23 minutes.

It's worth noting that, unlike the GO 3S, the Insta360 GO Ultra utilises SD cards rather than inbuilt storage. This may be annoying if you were hoping to use your camera straight out of the box, but will be a boon to avid videographers who prefer to swap out SD cards on the fly for lengthy bouts of filming. Users will also have to factor in the cost of buying compatible SD cards if they don't already have some.

Like other cameras in Insta360's GO series, the GO Ultra has a magnetic back that enables it to be directly mounted onto metal surfaces. This can simplify your filming setup by cutting out the mount middle man in some circumstances, meaning fewer accessories to cart around. The GO Ultra also comes packaged with a magnetic clip mount and a magnet pendant to hang it around your neck, for when there aren't any suitable metal surfaces available.

Of course, the Insta360 GO Ultra's magnetic mounting method is best suited to safe, sedentary surfaces such as a fridge door. If you're after cool external shots of your car, for example, you'll need to spring for a mount such as the GO Ultra's Pivot Stand. This stand uses magnets as well as small latches to secure the camera, and has a reusable sticky base that can adhere to smooth surfaces.

The Insta360 GO Ultra launches worldwide on August 21, and will set you back $449.99 for the standard bundle. That's just $20 more than the 128GB GO 3S, albeit without factoring in the cost of an SD card. Considering the performance upgrade it offers, there's little reason not to pay the extra few bucks for the Insta360 GO Ultra, provided SD card considerations aren't an issue for you.