Looking for a new way to record your rides? Insta360 has announced the launch of wide-angle action cameras called the Ace and AcePro, and with it the brand hopes to join the likes of GoPro on the list of best action cameras for mountain biking. Unlike its smaller creations, the Ace and AcePro look far more like conventional action cams, with flip touchscreens so you can make sure you’re recording the trail and not your knees without having to contort your neck to see. The other big thing to know about these cameras is that they’re powered by artificial intelligence (AI), which Insta360 says means that the camera will de-noise and help to enhance image quality on the go. Overall, it’s a dramatic turn away from the older Insta360 models, like the Insta360 Go 2 action camera we reviewed back in January, which fits inconspicuously underneath a helmet peak.

Insta360 Ace need to know

• Two models, the Insta360 Ace at £359.99 and Insta360 AcePro £429.99
• Insta360 Ace Pro has fast charging with up to 80% charge in 20 minutes
• Also allows for up to 4K 120FPS recording
• 2.4in flip touchscreen
• Integrates stats with Garmin Connect or Apple Watches
• Co-engineered with Leica, and both models use Leica lenses
• Up to 100 minutes of run time
• Waterproof up to 33ft (10m)

With magnetic mounting points the Insta360 Ace Pro can be adapted to suit your filming needs

Artificial intelligence?

Insta360 is calling their new product the “smartest ever action camera”, partially because it’s powered by AI. Essentially this means the new cameras are packed with features that otherwise would be difficult to replicate in real time. This includes things like AI Highlights Assistant, which picks out what it thinks are interesting clips and presents you with a highlights reel so you can quickly decide whether or not to keep the footage. Use a selfie stick to record your rides? We wouldn’t recommend it, but if you do, then you can get that invisible selfie stick effect with the AI Selfie Stick Eraser.

JK Liu, founder of Insta360 said: “With Insta360 Ace and Ace Pro, we’re bringing smarter action capture to thrill seekers around the world. We’re making significant steps in AI, which has allowed us to bring in new features that we think not only make the video creation process easier for users, but unlocks completely new ways to make shots truly stand out.”

There are plenty of ways you can embrace our impending doom with AI, and apparently an action camera is one of them. If it makes life easier for creators or even for recording your commute so you don’t have to trawl through hours of footage, then surely it’s worth exploring. You can also take full advantage of how smart this camera really is with AI editing tools in the Insta360 app.

New features

So besides the neural networks learning to understand the human race and eventually overthrow us all, what else is new with the Ace cameras? Firstly, they’ve made it easier for you to zoom in and out without losing quality – although this is only available on the Pro model. If you’re someone who doesn’t mind throwing shapes in public then you can take advantage of the Gesture Control feature, which allows you to use hand signals to start or stop recording or even take photos.

For those of us who don’t have terabytes of space on our SD cards, then the Cancel Recording feature could be useful – whereby you can cancel the recording and instead of just stopping and storing the video to your SD card, the camera deletes it instantly without you having to faff about on the app or your computer. To further save time on editing and file management, you can now pause and resume a recording as one continuous file rather than several shorter ones.

Finally, if you’re a YouTuber and you’re looking for that ultimate thumbnail picture, then you can take a picture whilst recording in a higher resolution than if you’d screen grabbed the equivalent photo from your video.

The Insta360 Ace action camera is the cheaper of the two models, but still pricey at over £300

The stats

The Ace cameras, or more specifically, the AcePro model, was designed with Leica, a German camera company. Their contribution comes with their 1/1.3″ sensor and an F2.6 aperture. The Pro model can film in 8K at 24FPS or 4K at 120FPS which is a big upgrade from the 2k at 50FPS from the Insta360 Go 2. If you want to compare the stats with other action cameras, we have a guide to the best action cameras for mountain biking which details everything.

In terms of shooting in various conditions, Insta360 has various modes to match the light levels. In low-light levels, say in a forest, then their PureVideo shooting mode uses, as Insta360 says: “a custom-trained AI neural network to de-noise the footage for a clearer image in real time.” During the day, Active HDR (which stands for High Dynamic Range) boosts details in shadows as well as more vibrant shots. 

If you live somewhere that means you’re likely to ride in the wet, then waterproofing is key. The Ace cameras are waterproof up to 33 feet (10 metres) and up to 196 feet (60 metres) in the Dive Case. Hopefully we never find a puddle deep enough to fully test that feature.

The cameras are both equipped with fast charging capabilities, and can charge to 80% in a claimed 22 minutes. A full charge apparently only takes 46 minutes. The run time of these cameras is up to 100 minutes, depending on the shooting mode and quality selected.

The Insta360 Ace range

Insta360 AcePro £429.99

This is the flagship model of the Ace range, and has been “co-engineered” with Leica to develop the quality of the imagery. It feels like Insta360 has focused far more on image quality and user features rather than size with the AcePro, and it will be interesting to see if it stacks up against some of the bigger competitors like GoPro.

The AcePro can film in a maximum of 8K at 24FPS and also has features like slow motion recording and PureVideo. It has a slightly smaller capacity battery (1650mAh) compared to the Ace model (1700mAh), but it has fast charging capabilities. Both cameras also offer integration with Garmin Connect and Apple watches so you can display your ride stats over your footage. The AcePro weighs 179.8g and costs £429.99.

Not just for roadies, the Insta360 Ace can be mounted to flat bars too

Insta360 Ace £359.99

I’m reluctant to say the Ace is the ‘budget’ option, so let’s go with the ‘cheaper’ option, although the word is again, relative. The biggest difference between the two cameras is the lack of 8K recording on the Ace, which has a maximum of 6K at 30FPS. The lens is slightly different, too, with a 1/2″ size sensor and F2.4 aperture. The battery is not fast charging compatible, but most of the other stats look pretty similar. It’s ever so slightly lighter than the AcePro, at 176.8g but whether 3g makes a difference to your riding will be entirely up to you.

Both cameras are available to purchase now from the Insta360 website, Amazon and other retailers.