Is mapping with Insta360 X4 worth the time and power?

Contributing and equipment 360° cameras
1

This may be outside the forum for Insta360 support or those who search for “Shall I buy it or nah?” so let me say hi.

Hello, you can call me notmyproblem1, or whatever you want.

In December 2024, I received for Christmas an Insta360 X4. The first day was chaotic—I didn’t know if it was permitted by law to record outside the vehicle, to take photos of the ambient, etc. (and I found out it’s legal in Italy). I didn’t know how to set up video + GPS, and almost bought an Insta360 GPS.

Then later, in ??? 2025, I figured out how it works—very good. I started mapping with my Insta360, thinking that if I post the video on Google Street View, I couldn’t upload it here. I asked this forum (Mapillary) this was August 2025!.

In March 2025, I broke my lens. I opened a ticket with Insta360 Support, and T. helped me a lot! I received it back about a month later.

In April 2025, I got my Insta360 X4 back and started recording only for Mapillary, on streets I use every day for Google Maps.

In June 2025, I did my first blur about something/someone because someone asked for it).

In August 2025, I opened the Mapillary forum and asked: “If I upload to Mapillary, the license is CC BY-SA, but if I upload to Google Street View, the license is Copyright… How can I bypass these?” and forgot that I’m the author of the image—I can do whatever I want…

Let’s skip a few months, then we arrive at the real problem…

In November/December 2025, I stopped mapping (I think not November, but about two months before—I don’t remember). The SD card was always getting too full. I compared the imagery of the Insta360 X2 here and my imagery of the X4 here.

AndreaDP’s Insta360 X2 (that’s even an old model!) is better than my Insta360 X4 (which should be better than Andrea’s).

Yesterday, January 22, 2026, I tried with ChatGPT to see the true quality. So I gave him all the info.

I used an ASUS with a GPU GeForce 660 GTX, a CPU Intel i7-4770 @ 3.40 GHz (currently running at 3.80 GHz), and 32.0 GB DDR3 RAM (Crucial). !!! LOOK!!! The bitrate of the video is 32.

Wi-Fi specs:

  • Provider: TIM S.p.A. (aka Telecom Italia, the first provider in Italy, historic provider, like Verizon for you Americans)
  • Modem: H388X (this one)
  • Connection to/from TIM: FTTC (fiber to the cabinet, copper to the house)
  • Connection to/from PC: LAN cable ⇄ Repeater (this one) ⇄ LAN cable ⇄ LAN wall outlet that I think connects to the Modem

Could be the provider, could be FTTC, could be the repeater, could be the LAN cables, could be anything—but for me, it takes…

6 HOURS, 30 MINUTES.

Process for taking that much time:

  • From .insv to .mp4 using Insta360 Studio only (test was made with a 9.5 GB video): 151 minutes (2 hours and 31 minutes)
  • From .mp4 to Mapillary: almost 4 hours and 5 minutes

So, if you’ve got a lot of time and don’t mind paying a lot of kWh when the bill arrives, you’re free to do it.
But if you don’t have time and/or don’t want to pay a lot of kWh when the bill arrives, you can easily avoid mapping with a 360°.

#notadv (also, this would be a bad ad if it were one)

Let me know your opinion or your tricks.

2

In 2025, I uploaded 2.5 million images to Mapillary using my Insta 360 X3. A Risc M Mac was best suited for Insta Studio, and I opted for the superior .mov format. To prevent my MacBook from overheating, it sits on a grill rack with an old PC fan underneath for extra cooling. For uploads, I used a secondhand Ubuntu machine, which doesn’t have a dedicated graphics card and therefore doesn’t require any power. One more thing: I reduced the GPX density generated by Insta Remote by a factor of 10, which was sufficient.

I initially thought I could distribute the upload across multiple instances using four used Ubuntu machines, but that was incorrect. It turns out that the Mapillary Desktop Uploader works best when it has its own dedicated internet connection. For smooth uploads, an upload speed of at least 100 Mbps or better is recommended.

Let’s summarize once more, your problem is definitely Insta Studio on your Microsoft PC, and possibly insufficient upload bandwidth.

3

Yes, the Insta360 workflow is indeed very heavy. An alternative we recommend for most people is the GoPro MAX2 camera. There is no processing at all required, you can drag the video or image files the camera generates directly into the Desktop Uploader (or mapillary_tools) and we take care of the rest.

4

My personal 360-degree camera ranking:
No. 1 GoPro MAX 2
No. 2 Insta360 X5 with InstaRemote :heart:
No. 3 DJI Osmo 360 with StarTRC Remote

360-degree cameras I enjoy using:
No. 1 DJI Osmo 360 with StarTRC Remote, waterproof magnetic mount, 7.5 volt charging
No. 2 Insta360 X5 with InstaRemote
No. 3 GoPro MAX 2

5

Everywhere I go there’s FTTC, my grandma has fttc, my shop has FTTC,

this is the speedtest I did with my computer. LAN

this is the speedtest I did with my phone. WIFI

I do not own anything about Apple and/or iOS

I have a lot of ways to cool down laptops or even fixed computers.

Remove possibly please :rofl:

6

My personal 360-degree camera ranking (p.s.: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THEM, ONLY THE X4):
Insta360 Pro2
GoPro Max 2
Xiaomi/Huawei/Chinese brand that makes phone and this camera 360° (you have only to put it on top of the phone)

360-degree camera that, kinda I enjoy use:
Creator of 360° in app (phone)
Insta360 X4

7

and what shall I do with my x4? throw it? let been rent?