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Dec 22, 2023

Insta360 Flow AI Smartphone Gimbal Review: DJI Has Some Real Competition

Take your mobile content creation to the next level with the Insta360 Flow—the

Take your mobile content creation to the next level with the Insta360 Flow—the compact gimbal that makes solo filming a breeze.

With its compact folding design, built-in tripod feet, and useful selfie stick, the Insta360 Flow is one of the most convenient choices for mobile content creators. Watch out DJI, there's a new player in town.

As a leader in the 360 camera space, Insta360 is venturing into uncharted territory with the release of the Flow, a mobile gimbal. It's a market saturated with competitors such as DJI and Zhiyun, so Insta360 has a lot to prove. The Flow competes directly with the DJI OM6, which also retails for $159 and has a similar portable folding design, built-in extension rod, and quick launch features.

With the bar set high, does it have what the Flow have what it takes to make a name for itself?

The Insta360 Flow looks nearly identical to the DJI OM 6 until you see its back. The Flow features a translucent back panel on the gimbal arm. While some may find the transparent panel reminiscent of The Nothing Phone 1, Insta360 has taken it a step further by revealing the internal components and showcasing its circuit board and wiring inside. This gives the Flow a distinctly futuristic look and feel, and it's a welcome departure from the sea of bland mobile gimbal designs we've seen for the past few years.

The rest of its body is made with a hard plastic body that comes in either Stone Gray or Summit White. Our review unit came in Summit White, and during our month of testing, we found that the body held up well and can withstand accidental bumps and drops from a few feet up without issue. However, it's worth noting that the lighter color is more prone to smudging and doesn't hide its scratches as well.

Included in its box, you'll find a rubber sleeve that fits over the handle provides extra grip, and helps to prevent accidental drops. The sleeve is a nice addition, but we did notice that it tends to begin sliding off over time, which can cause it to press down on the rear trigger of the gimbal. This results in the gimbal entering lock mode, which can be frustrating when you're trying to move it around. It's a minor issue, but one worth considering when using the Flow for extended periods.

Nearly identical to the DJI OM6, the Insta360 Flow has two joints that unfold to reveal the arm of the gimbal. It might just be me, but I always forget which direction to twist to unfold. It measures 6.4 by 3.1 by 1.4 inches when folded, making it a good amount smaller than the DJI OM 6, which folds to 7.4 by 3.3 by 1.7 inches.

The compactness carries over to when it's opened. The Flow measures 10.6 by 2.9 by 2.8 inches, compared to the OM 6's 10.9 by 4.4 by 3.9 inches. The Flow's folding design and compact size are one of its biggest selling points, as it's noticeably easier to pack in a bag or even stick in your pockets.

Props to Insta360 for adding a flip-open cold shoe point on the Flow where you can mount small accessories you can mount smaller accessories like lights or microphones. This has been one of my biggest gripes with other mobile gimbals. Funny enough, they've hidden this feature so well, that I didn't realize it was there until a few weeks into my review. Thanks to this feature, I can easily attach the newly released Rode Wireless ME receiver and then connect the cable via the lightning port on my iPhone to improve the audio quality of my videos without needing to haphazardly find a way to clip it to the back of my phone like I usually do. Finally, at the bottom of the gimbal, there is a 1/4-inch threaded hole, which allows you to mount the gimbal on a tripod plate. This is useful if you want to stabilize your shots even further or if you need to shoot from a stationary position.

Unlike traditional mobile gimbals which use a built-in clamp to secure your phone to, Insta360 has taken another page out of DJI's book and opted for a removable magnetic clamp design. This design choice offers several advantages. First, you can quickly attach or remove your phone without rebalancing the gimbal each time.

This can be a major time saver when you're trying to capture a shot on the fly. Additionally, the magnetic mount is very secure, so you don't have to worry about your phone slipping out of the clamp during filming.

The magnetic mount adds minimal thickness to your phone, allowing you to keep it on even when you're not using the gimbal. This is a nice feature if you don't want to remove and reattach the clamp to your phone constantly.

However, it's worth noting that if you need access to your phone's wireless charging or MagSafe features, you'll need to remove the clamp. Additionally, while the magnetic attachment to the gimbal arm is strong, dropping or bumping the gimbal against something can cause your phone to fall off.

The Insta360 Flow's built-in selfie stick is a great addition to the device that offers a lot of versatility in capturing different angles and perspectives. An extension of 187.6mm (7.4in) allows you to capture more of your surroundings in your shots, which can be useful in many different scenarios. For example, when shooting a group of people, you can use the selfie stick to fit everyone in the frame without having to step back too far.

Additionally, you can use the extension to capture unique angles and perspectives, such as low-angle shots of yourself walking or high-angle shots from above, similar to a drone's perspective.

The Flow also has built-in tripod feet that fold out from the bottom of the handle. This provides a stable base for the gimbal when you want to set it down for more stationary shots or time-lapses. The tripod feet provide good stability, even on uneven surfaces. This is a helpful feature for when you don't want to carry a separate tripod and want to keep your setup as streamlined as possible.

While it's impressive that they fit these tripod feet into the base, there are a few concerns. The feet feel like they can easily snap off if you apply too much pressure or accidentally set them down aggressively on a surface. Although the rest of the Flow's body is very well made, I foresee this being a point of failure for many users.

Despite this, combining the selfie stick and the tripod feet with Flow's tracking abilities offers a lot of potential for capturing dynamic and cinematic footage.

For instance, you can use the selfie stick to follow a subject or create a smooth and fluid camera movement, while the Flow's tracking technology keeps the subject in focus and centered in the frame. This can create some truly impressive and professional-looking shots that can elevate your content to the next level. As someone who often needs to film himself, especially while reviewing products in the field, the Flow has been indispensable when I want a quick and easy tool to get more dynamic shots while I'm demoing or showing something off.

The Insta360 Flow's clip-on LED light attachment is a bit disappointing compared to other gimbals with built-in fill lights or optional magnetic ones. The design feels like an afterthought, and the clip is finicky and quickly falls off. It uses a short USB-C cable to attach to the gimbal for power and offers only three levels of brightness and three levels of white balance.

This is limited compared to other implementations, and even on its brightest setting, the light can still feel weak. While the light is better than no light, it leaves much to be desired.

Additionally, the controls on the light are small and difficult to toggle, and the light's thin cable adds to its usability issues.

The Insta360 Flow offers several software-assisted shooting modes that can help inspire and guide you toward capturing more interesting clips. These modes are designed to provide you with story ideas and help with your composition and creativity. When activated, the app gives you instructions for capturing video for specific subject types, and then the Insta360 Flow runs through the corresponding movements.

In addition to these modes, the Insta360 Flow also features intelligent AI recognition of subjects for specialized image capture. This feature allows the camera to automatically track certain recognized movements like playing basketball or skating. While these features might seem gimmicky at first, they can be useful tools for beginners or anyone who wants to focus on their activity rather than worrying about how to capture it.

The Insta360 Flow also has an impressive tracking feature, which uses AI recognition technology to identify and track specific subjects in real-time. This feature is particularly useful when you need to focus on a moving subject, like a skateboarder or a dancer, without worrying about keeping them in frame. The tracking is very accurate and responsive, so you can move around freely and the gimbal will keep the subject centered in the shot.

Most of my recent e-bike reviews, including the Velotric Thunder 1 ST, include several clips of me riding by with the Flow set to track me. I was thoroughly impressed with how easy it was to use and the results it produced. As someone who often films themselves while on the move, I appreciated how simple it was to activate the tracking feature - all I had to do was ride into the frame and make a fist towards the camera.

As I rode up and down the pier, the Flow stayed locked onto me and kept me in center frame mostly, even as I rode behind columns or made sporadic movements. I was pleasantly surprised to see that, as long as I returned back in frame a few moments later, it was smart enough to resume tracking me.

It made the filming process much easier, as I didn't have to constantly adjust the camera or worry about staying in frame. Of course, there were a few instances where I either rode by too quickly or the Flow didn't know to lock back on me when I rode behind a column, but for the most part, the tracking exceeded my expectations to the point that I regularly use it now to film all my other reviews.

Beyond this, the app also offers the usual variety of shooting modes, including slow-motion, time-lapse, hyper-lapse, and panorama. You can toggle between filming in full-auto mode or you can dial in manual settings like shutter speed, ISO, and white balance. While the app has some rather nice picture presets, you can't shoot in a flat picture profile.

Just as important, the app cannot currently shoot in HDR or 10-bit. For these reasons, if I don't need active tracking, I usually opt to film with one of my preferred video recording apps like Moment, which offer advanced formats and controls.

For quick publishing, you'll find advanced editing tools that allow you to edit and enhance your footage directly on your smartphone. The app includes color correction, stabilization, slow motion, and more.

The Flow's stabilization is comparable to other mobile gimbals and very similar to the DJI OM6. While it excels in producing smoother pans and tilts, it still struggles to compensate for up-and-down movements when walking or running.

This is a common limitation with mobile gimbals due to their smaller size and limited range of motion compared to larger and heavier professional setups, which often do a better job at minimizing Z-axis bobbing.

That said, users can achieve awe-inspiring results by minimizing their movements and taking a more deliberate, slow approach to walking or by standing completely still and letting the gimbal handle all the movement for even smoother shots.

Portability comes with a cost. Despite its impressively compact design, the Insta360 Flow's folding design has a significant limitation in terms of its tilt and roll angles. The Flow offers a pan range of -230° to 100°, a roll range of -150° to 180°, and a tilt range of -100° to 82°. This can be a significant letdown for users looking to capture certain shots. Its limited tilt range can make it especially challenging to frame shots in certain scenarios, such as capturing a tall building or getting a low-angle shot without cutting out the subject. This limitation may hinder your creativity and force you to compromise on the framing of your shots.

While this may be frustrating for users looking to capture specific shots, it's a tradeoff that comes with the convenience of a folding phone gimbal. Other folding phone gimbals, including the DJI OM6 which we recently reviewed, have similar limitations.

While I often have to work within the constraints of the Flow's limited tilt and roll angles, I appreciate its smaller size and quicker setup. For users looking for a practical and portable phone gimbal, and are willing to sacrifice some movement, the Flow's design tradeoff is worth it.

The Insta360 Flow is priced competitively at $159, similar to its main competitor, the DJI OM6. While it has limitations with its folding design that hinder its tilt range, the Flow is one of the most compact and portable mobile gimbals with a range of handy features.

The selfie stick and built-in tripod feet allow you to capture more unique angles or more easily film yourself without the need for a camera operator, especially when paired with its impressive tracking. We'd love to see improvements with the hinges holding its feet and a better fill-light solution. However, for Insta360's debut model, the Flow gets a lot right.

Paul is a seasoned tech writer with a focus on reviewing camera, audio recording, and smart home products. Since 2016, he has shared his love for practical yet innovative tech through his work, drawing on his experience as a professional videographer to provide a unique perspective on the latest gadgets.