Several test drives using the DJI Osmo 360° camera together with a DJI remote connected via Bluetooth have shown that the GPX data quality achieved with this setup still falls short of current technological standards. It must be acknowledged that DJI itself does not position its GPX Remote as a GPX Tracker, but rather that this accessory is intended as a remote control, and its GPX capabilities are intended for generating stats in videos.
Even mounting the DJI remote on the car roof to improve GPS reception did not result in any significant improvement.The 360° camera itself delivers excellent image quality and shows great promise, but to make it viable for productive Street View applications, a different approach to positioning is required. For this reason, I am pausing the current setup.
Update:
My order for an alternative GPX Bluetooth remote from STARTRC has arrived. This remote is not described as compatible with the DJI OSMO 360. STARTRC GPS Bluetooth Remote Controller for DJI Action 5 Pro/ Action 4 - StartRC Initial tests with my OSMO 360 show promising results regarding the GPX tracks generated. This remote can control the OSMO 360, but it doesn’t indicate an ongoing recording with a flashing red light. A successful recording start can be inferred by the remote’s status indicator changing from standby to active.
Since this GPS remote is also sold in slightly different versions as a third-party alternative for the GoPro and Insta360 ecosystems.
Operating the StarTRC GPX Remote (already paired):
Turn on the system:
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Insert the DJI Osmo 360 battery and press the power button.
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Press and hold the StarTRC power button for three seconds.
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Wait for Bluetooth pairing to complete (this takes a few seconds).
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Now put the camera into readiness mode. To do this, press and hold the red front button on the StarTRC for several seconds. A moon icon will appear on the remote’s display.
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Start recording. Briefly press the front button on the StarTRC.
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Stop recording. Briefly press the front button on the StarTRC; the moon icon will reappear.
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Start next recording. Briefly press the front button on the StarTRC.
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Stop recording. Briefly press the front button on the StarTRC; the moon icon will reappear.
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Leave the system in readiness mode for a longer period. The camera consumes very little power in this mode.
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After a few minutes, the remote’s display goes blank after a few minutes, and the remote enters standby mode.
Reactivate the camera (for example, if you were away for an hour and return to your car).
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Press and hold the StarTRC front button for several seconds. After successful pairing, the remote display will be blank. To obtain a definitive system state, press and hold the front button on the TRC again for several seconds. A moon icon will now reappear on the StarTRC display. (The camera is now in a definitive state for the next recording and is ready for the next recording.)
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Turn off the system by pressing and holding the left On button on the StarTRC for several seconds. Press the DJI Osmo Power button and remove the camera battery. (If the StarTRC was turned off using the TRC Power button, remote reactivation of the camera using the TRC remote is no longer possible.) The camera must first be manually turned on to turn the system back on.
Background: The bidirectional communication between the DJI Osmo 360 and the GPX Remote StarTRC does not transmit the current camera status to the remote. The remote can detect the following status states: readiness (moon symbol), paired, and disconnected (for example, due to a depleted camera battery).
Switching between photo and video modes is possible by briefly pressing the remote’s power button, but the lack of a display indicator can be confusing regarding the camera’s current mode. Therefore, I advise against briefly pressing the remote’s power button.
The remote moon symbol is particularly relevant here, as briefly pressing the red remote’s front button in this state directly switches the camera to recording mode.
Osmo 360 battery extension rod replacement
I’ve been running controlled lab tests on the external charging contacts of the DJI Osmo 360 to understand how they behave electrically and what is actually required to power the camera through them.
These four contacts are intended for the official DJI Battery Extension Tube. The rear‑right pin is the negative terminal, and the front‑left pin is the positive terminal. When applying 5 V across these two pins, the camera draws a small current of about 200 mA. At 6 V, the camera begins to charge, and once recording starts, it no longer uses the internal battery. As the voltage increases, the current draw gradually decreases. At 13 V, the current flow stops abruptly and the camera enters a protective safety mode, which resets once the power source is removed.
Based on these measurements, the magnetic clamp mounts (search term DJI 1/ “6327001336A”), which are supposed to power an Osmo 360 via the waterproof contacts, do not work with a standard USB-C power adapter. For power supply, a USB-C charging cable needs to be slightly modified. A 7.5V 1.5A power adapter connected Example: Amazon.de to the positive (+) and negative (-) wires of a USB-C cable works perfectly. Data lines are not used in this quick-release mount, as it contains no electronics.
This mount has a practical problem: the USB-C connector attached to this magnetic mount protrudes into the 360° field of view, disrupting the “invisible rod” effect and rendering the mount unsuitable for clean mapillary or Street View shots. Therefore, I drilled two 0.3 mm holes on the left and right sides of the mount and connected the positive and negative terminals directly to the internal circuit board. I sealed the USB-C socket with waterproof adhesive and filled the aluminum housing containing the small circuit board, to which the two spring contacts are attached, with leak-proof ball bearing grease. This solution is now waterproof, and the cable no longer obstructs the 360-degree camera’s field of view.
When an OSMO 360 is placed on this magnetic mount, it wobbles slightly. Take a patch pad from a bicycle repair kit, the kind used to vulcanize a puncture in an inner tube. I cut a thin strip from one of these pads and stretched it across the center of the DJI magnetic mount. This now acts as a shock absorber, and the DJI Osmo no longer wobbles on the quick-release mount.
Ever since I solved the Osmo 360’s electrical quirks by routing power through its external housing contacts, life on the road has become noticeably calmer. The USB‑C connector is gone from the power line now — a small victory, but one that feels surprisingly liberating. I’ve already taken the camera through several drives on salt‑soaked winter roads, the kind that leave a thin white crust on everything they touch.
Because of that, I now travel with a water bag in the car. It’s a simple ritual: whenever the Osmo 360 comes back looking like it survived a minor ocean storm, I dip it into the bag and wash the salt film off its shell. Strange as it sounds, the moment has become part of the workflow — a quiet pause between stretches of road.
If you look closely at my recordings, you’ll recently notice an analog multimeter mounted directly in front of the steering wheel. This allows me to monitor the camera’s power consumption in real time. I can see exactly what the camera is doing, whether it’s charging or recording. This works much better than just a flashing red light. I recently experienced an unusual issue where recordings were suddenly interrupted. Thousands of kilometers of trouble-free recordings, and now this. The solution was to perform a one-time reset of the DJI Osmo 360. To detect such problems, including a full memory card, monitoring the camera is very helpful. An analog display showing the power flow from 0 to 1 amp is perfect.
Technically, I solved this by connecting a simple steel spring in series with the 7.5-volt power supply line on the roof of my vehicle. I chose the spring coils so that a current of 1 amp results in a voltage drop of 100 millivolts. I tap into this voltage, and a simple digital multimeter (DV) in the 100-millivolt range displays the instantaneous current flow to the camera on the steering wheel. Here’s what happens: The camera is off, the battery is empty, and therefore charging. The camera then draws almost exactly 1 amp at 7.5 volts. When the battery is fully charged, the current draw drops to zero. If I start a recording while it’s charging, the current draw drops from 100 Millivolt (1A) to approximately 40 millivolts. If the battery is fully charged and I start a recording, the current draw rises from 0 to approximately 40 millivolts. In every operating state, I expect the analog multimeter to read in the 40-millivolt range during a perfectly running recording. That’s perfect.
I’ve reached an interesting point in this project — several separate ideas and experiments have finally merged into one coherent, reliable workflow. And at this stage, it’s fair to say that what I’m doing is far removed from the simple approach Mapillary officially promotes: buy a GoPro Max 2, record a raw 360° video, and upload it untouched. Anyone who follows that path accepts a long list of compromises..
Right now, my M1 MacBook is busy rendering .mp4 files in DJI Studio. It takes its time — and without a PC cooling pad underneath, the machine would probably run hot enough to fry breakfast. At least this setup, along with the entire Mapillary upload workflow, has finally reached a point where everything runs reliably.
DJI Studio itself still feels like early‑stage software when it comes to processing speed. It gets the job done, but you can sense that there’s a lot of untapped potential waiting for future updates.
Update:
I found a promising new mount with charging capability on ebay. I expect it to work mechanically much better than the mount I described. The external USB-C port again poses a risk of damage in the rain, but you could probably seal the connector with silicone to make it waterproof.
https://www.ebay.de/itm/366174382095
https://de.aliexpress.com/item/1005012095609642.html?channel=twinner
FaichaoTech Magnetic Mount with USB-C PD for DJI Osmo 360 – Review
The magnetic mount with USB-C PD support and an additional mechanical thumbscrew, manufactured by FaichaoTech, has arrived. After several weeks of testing, it has proven to be a real game-changer.
Even without using the external charging function, the mount allows for quick and secure attachment of the DJI Osmo 360. Once mounted on a selfie stick or tripod using this solution, the camera holds extremely firmly without placing any mechanical stress on the camera body itself. The pre-set orientation remains consistently stable, eliminating the need for frequent readjustments.
The mount features a USB-C port with full USB-PD support and establishes communication with the Osmo 360 via four special contact pins. Thanks to USB-PD, the voltage drop over longer cables becomes irrelevant — provided the power adapter also supports PD and can deliver up to 12 V. Since the Osmo 360 draws a maximum of approximately 1.2 A, the ability to output higher voltages (above 5 V) effectively compensates for any voltage drop along the cable.
Alternative Power Supply without PD
You can also operate the camera without a PD power supply. In this case, I recommend powering the positive (+) and negative (–) wires of a USB-C cable directly with a 7.5 V DC power supply (the data wires remain unconnected).
For safety, a current limit of 1.5 A and a fuse (for short-circuit protection) are strongly recommended.
Benefits of External Power Supply
Depending on the recording mode, the internal battery of the Osmo 360 only lasts about 75 to 90 minutes. While this may sound sufficient at first, in practice it creates stress during longer motorcycle or car rides. After roughly one hour, you start worrying whether the recording will stop unexpectedly.
With a continuous USB-C power supply, this anxiety disappears completely. You can fully focus on safe driving instead of constantly checking the battery level.
Additionally, there are USB-C cables with integrated amp meters. If you mount one on the dashboard, you always have a clear overview of the camera’s current consumption. A typical reading of 400–800 mA (or approx. 4–8 W at 9–12 V) reliably shows that the recording is running perfectly.
Drawback & Realistic Assessment
However, there is one notable drawback: The manufacturer states that the mount is not intended for use in humid conditions or rain. Moisture can apparently enter through the USB-C port, and the four spring-loaded contact pins are likely not waterproof either.
That said, when viewed in context, this limitation is less severe than it first appears. The alternative for extended power supply would be to use the Osmo 360’s own USB-C port, which is normally protected by a waterproof cover. Opening this port during rain would allow water to enter the camera body directly, putting the entire expensive device at risk.
By contrast, when using the USB-C connection on the magnetic mount, only the mount itself would potentially be damaged. If you additionally seal the critical areas with a suitable waterproofing compound (such as bearing grease or silicone sealant), the financial risk of a weather-resistant continuous power solution for the DJI Osmo 360 is significantly reduced.