Insta360 X3 Pocket 360 Action Camera

Insta360 X3 Pocket 360 Action Camera: A 360-Degree Action Camera Built for Divers and Adventurers

The Insta360 X3 is a compact 360-degree action camera that shoots in every direction at once, then lets you pick your best angle after the dive.

If you are a recreational diver who wants to document your underwater world without fussing with camera angles mid-dive, this is worth a serious look.

What "360 degrees" actually means for you underwater

A traditional action camera points one way. If the subject moves out of frame, the shot is gone.

The X3 captures everything around it simultaneously at 5.7K resolution. Back on the surface, you use the Insta360 app to "reframe" the footage, essentially choosing where the camera was pointing after the fact.

This matters a lot underwater. You are busy managing buoyancy, watching your depth, and following a reef or a creature. You cannot also be a camera operator. The X3 lets you mount it, forget about framing, and sort out the best angles later.

Waterproofing: what is included and what is not

Out of the box, the X3 is IPX8 waterproof to 33 feet (10 metres). That covers shallow reef dives and snorkeling without any extra housing.

For proper scuba depths, you need the separately available Dive Case, which extends protection to 164 feet (50 metres). The Dive Case is also designed for clean 360 stitching underwater. Stitching is the process of joining the two lenses' footage into a seamless spherical image, and water between the lenses can cause visible seams without the right housing.

If your dives regularly go deeper than 33 feet, budget for the Dive Case. It is not optional at recreational scuba depths.

Single Lens Mode: when you want a straightforward wide-angle shot

Not every clip needs to be 360. The X3 includes a Single Lens Mode that shoots 4K wide-angle video, similar to a conventional action camera. This is useful for topside footage, surface intervals, or any moment where you already know the framing you want and prefer a ready-to-share file without reframing in the app.

Photo capability

For still images, the X3 shoots 72MP 360-degree photos. That resolution gives you a lot of room to crop into a specific part of the scene without losing detail, which is the same principle as the video reframing but applied to stills.

The Invisible Selfie Stick effect

This is one of the X3's more useful practical tricks. When you mount the camera on a selfie stick or pole, the 360 field of view sees the pole itself. The app removes it automatically, making the camera appear to float freely. The result looks like a cinematic drone-style shot rather than an obvious selfie setup.

For divers, this means a simple pole mount can produce footage that looks far more polished than the hardware would suggest.

Audio

The X3 has four microphones with an upgraded audio processing algorithm. Underwater, microphones are irrelevant since sound does not transmit usefully through a sealed housing. Topside, for vlogging or narrating your dive day, the quad-mic setup with wind noise processing is a genuine improvement over cameras with single or dual mics.

Screen and controls

The touchscreen is 2.29 inches with tempered glass, which is large enough to review clips and adjust settings without squinting. Vibration feedback confirms button presses when you cannot look at the screen. Voice Control 2.0 lets you start and stop recording by voice command, useful when the camera is mounted out of easy reach.

Battery

Battery life is rated at 76 minutes. That is enough for a single recreational dive at normal recording lengths, but not for a long dive or back-to-back dives without a spare battery or a charge between sessions. If you plan to dive twice in a day and record both dives fully, a second battery is worth considering.

Connectivity and editing

Wi-Fi transfer to the Insta360 app is described as 50% faster than the previous generation (the X2). The reframing, stitching, and editing all happen inside the app. If you are not comfortable doing basic editing on a phone, factor in a short learning curve. The reframing workflow is not complicated, but it is a step that does not exist with a conventional camera.

Who this is not the right fit for

The X3 is not the right tool if you want footage that is ready to share straight off the camera with no editing step. The 360 format requires at least basic reframing in the app before it looks like a normal video.

It is also not suited for dives below 164 feet even with the Dive Case, so technical or deep recreational divers pushing those limits should note the depth ceiling.

And if your priority is the absolute sharpest conventional wide-angle footage rather than 360 flexibility, a dedicated single-lens action camera will edge it out on that one metric.

The short version

The Insta360 X3 suits a recreational diver who wants to document dives without the distraction of operating a camera underwater. The 360 format is genuinely well suited to diving because it removes the need to frame shots in real time. The 33-foot out-of-box waterproofing covers snorkeling, and the Dive Case brings it to a depth that covers the vast majority of recreational diving. The editing step in the app is real work, but it is not difficult, and the results, particularly the invisible selfie stick effect and the reframed 5.7K footage, are hard to replicate with a conventional action camera.