GoPro Max 2 Review: The New Best 360 Degree Action Camera

The GoPro Max 2 is the long awaited sequel to the 360 camera which GoPro launched back in 2019. GoPro, in fact, pioneered consumer 360 cameras with the GoPro Fusion in 2017, but in the intervening years, serious competition has risen up. Insta360 dominates the 360 camera space, and DJI just recently jumped in with their own Osmo 360 camera. The Max 2 is certainly swimming in very different waters in 2025, and it's no longer the undisputed big fish in this pond.

Fortunately, the Max 2 (provided by GoPro for this review) appears as though it may well have what it takes to reestablish itself despite the attractive options from other manufacturers. On paper, the Max 2 is quite impressive, and based on GoPro's claims regarding this camera, I was extremely excited to test it out for myself. This is the company's big launch for 2025, having opted not to refresh their flagship Hero Black lineup, so they really need to hit it out of the park with the Max 2.

Whereas the Insta360 X5 and DJI Osmo 360 fudge the numbers a tad to claim 8K video capture, the GoPro Max 2 delivers true 8K capability. Now, it's worth noting that those other cameras don't suffer noticeably to my eye from their slightly lower resolution, but there's also no denying that the 21% extra resolution of the Max 2 is noticeable in good lighting conditions. It's very detail-rich, and I'm particularly impressed when viewing the 360 footage on a large monitor, a scenario where even 8K 360 can often look kind of soft. Remember that with a 360 camera, you typically are only ever viewing a small slice of that sphere, which is why I consider 8K to be the minimum resolution for filming 360 footage. Every pixel counts in this arena.

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I also particularly appreciated that the Max 2 utilizes GoPro's color science, which really shines here, delivering a much more realistic look compared to the processing of DJI and Insta360's comparable cameras. It looks really good, and avoids some of the aggressive software tricks those brands are using. The Max 2 is refreshingly straightforward as a camera, and the in-depth customization available will appeal to more professional applications. GoPro's log profile also provides excellent post-processing latitude when editing your footage.

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Unfortunately, the Max 2 shares the Hero 13's lack of low light capability, with dusk and night time shots appearing grainy and mushy, and severely underexposed. It also seems to have a tendency to crush blacks in general, but for the most part it delivers excellent image quality in good daylight conditions, which to be fair are the conditions in which most people will be using it. With that said, starlapses still look great when recording the night sky.

Earlier this year, Insta360 made waves by offering users the ability to swap out the lenses of their X5 360 camera should the optics become damaged. The Max 2 has this same user-friendly feature, but GoPro has made it an easy, quick, tool-free procedure. Simply twist the lens off and twist another on, a process which takes mere seconds to accomplish.

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The Max 2 benefits from other clever design elements, such as its enormous heatsink, which covers the entire front of the camera, and should help prevent overheating. Additionally, the Max 2 inherits the incredibly convenient mounting options of the Hero 13 Black, with a ½-20 screw mount, a magnetic mount, and the folding "fingers" of the classic GoPro mount. This all combines to make the Max 2 the most convenient camera to mount in any given scenario.

The Max 2 is of course waterproof and dust proof like most consumer 360 cameras, but what surprised me is how much more durable it seems to be compared to the competition. It certainly feels like this camera could take a beating. Also, the Max 2 is relatively small, which makes it much more convenient to mount like a more traditional compact action camera than other 360 cameras, the disadvantage being that the on-camera display is also smaller, and as a consequence is slightly more difficult to operate.

The GoPro Max 2 features an array of 6 microphones for audio recording, and the results really speak for themselves. The Max 2 delivers very natural sound recordings, like the true-to-life look you get from its video. Testing on a windy day with a lot of background interference, I appreciated how the Max 2 recorded my voice very clearly, while also capturing the general ambiance of the dynamic environment I was in.

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Battery life is also nothing to sneeze at in the Max 2, as I never felt especially limited by it during my time testing it, though I could ask for it to last a bit longer during starlapse recordings. On the framerate and slow motion front, the Max 2 can deliver 4K 100fps spherical video capture, but remember that 4K is very low resolution when you're talking about 360 video. In high-octane circumstances this could be useful, but to me it's what you can do at 8K that's really important, and that's limited to 30fps.

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It's also worth mentioning the lens caps of the Max 2, which are very different from those implemented by other brands. Rather than have a large, rubberized lens cap which covers both lenses, GoPro has opted for two separate hard plastic lens caps which snap on securely to each of the Max 2's lenses. I like that they are highly secure and protective, and that you can leave one on when filming in single lens mode to protect the camera lens which you're not currently using, but these lens caps are also more difficult to remove and replace in a hurry, and are small and easily lost, so there are tradeoffs to utilizing this lens cap design.

When it comes to the in-camera navigation and the companion software of the Max 2, there's some things I love, some things I'm OK with, and some things that are just plain broken. On the positive side, you don't need to register or activate the Max 2 in order to use it. With both DJI and Insta360 requiring this in their cameras, it's refreshing to find I can use the Max 2 out of the box without any fuss. This should be the standard, rather than the exception.

The in-camera situation isn't bad, but it's not great either. You're essentially getting the same interface as the GoPro Hero 13 Black, but on a smaller small screen; add the fact that this interface is being applied to a 360 camera rather than a traditional action camera, and it's a bit janky. I hope GoPro modifies this later on to make touchscreen navigation a little less awkward on the Max 2.

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The Max 2 does benefit from being able to automatically upload footage whenever you charge the camera, along with all the other benefits of GoPro's Quik app and cloud services (unlimited GoPro footage storage, discounts, guaranteed camera replacement, etc.), but only if you have a GoPro subscription. The Quik app is still a decent user experience without the GoPro subscription, but the same cannot be said of the GoPro Player desktop software. Using this software to process my Max 2 footage on my Windows PC was a very frustrating experience, and you have to use it to process your footage prior to importing it into other video editing software. Additionally, I had to spend a dollar to purchase the HEVC codec from Microsoft in order to use the software with the Max 2 footage.

At $499, the GoPro Max 2 is $50 cheaper than the Insta360 X5 and DJI Osmo 360, which considering how well it compares to those cameras overall, makes it a rather more attractive prospect. If you are a GoPro subscriber you can use your annual discount to take $100 off that as well, and with no Hero 14 due out this year, that makes this a really attractive purchase if you are indeed a subscriber.

That subscription will run you $24 for the first year, and then $49 for each year after that. It's worth the cost for sure, particularly if you are a really serious GoPro shooter who regularly captures a lot of footage and frequently upgrades their camera. However, it would be much more appealing if there were a desktop version of the mobile Quik app.

It's also worth noting that the previous GoPro Max camera was refreshed earlier in 2025, and at $249 it's half the price of the Max 2. However, I would absolutely recommend spending more for the Max 2, or on one of the other more modern 360 cameras, as you definitely want a 360 camera that's capable of capturing 8K video, which the original GoPro Max cannot do.

Despite a couple of major caveats, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the GoPro Max 2, and I really enjoy filming with it. It's important to be aware that GoPro hasn't yet fixed its long-running issues with low light video capture, and I would have liked to see higher 8K framerates. The one issue to really keep in mind is that if you want to edit your footage on a desktop PC, then you're going to have to deal with GoPro's Player software, and this isn't a good experience. 

Hopefully GoPro can soon fix this software to be a more acceptable user experience, and update their reframe tool so that you can drop 360 footage directly from the camera into Adobe Premiere and DaVinci Resolve, but unfortunately I can only evaluate the camera and its associated software as it is right now.

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With that out of the way, there's a lot which I absolutely loved about the GoPro Max 2. I cannot emphasize how big of a deal it is that the Max 2 doesn't require you to register or activate the camera before using it. Additionally, so long as you have good light, the Max 2 footage looks fantastic, and you're getting more resolution in your videos than is offered by other action cameras. 

GoPro's color science also continues to give a particular look that many people find highly desirable. I'm also a big fan of the rugged design, easily replaceable lenses, and in particular the built-in "fingers", as well as its relatively small size, which makes it much easier to mount than other 360 cameras. If that all appeals as much to you as it does to me, then the Max 2 is absolutely worth considering.

The GoPro Max 2 is available for $499 from GoPro's online store.