I’ve been using the new GoPro 360 Max 2 to film for a week

• The specs make the Max 2 undeniable
• The Max 2 is still a small camera
• GoPro started the party and showed up late for the sequel

A lot can change in six years, especially when it comes to camera equipment. Resolutions get better, file sizes increase, editing gets made easier, and new releases year after year tend to make us numb to the progress that we’ve actually made. With GoPro and its flagship Max 360-degree camera line, though, progress hasn’t been so swift.

It’s been six years since the release of the original Max, and with companies like Insta360 and DJI on their third or fourth iterations, when GoPro said they would be releasing a new Max, adventure content enthusiasts’ interests were piqued. Could the six-year wait on a new model really be worth it? Truth be told, GoPro has made all the changes it needed to in order for the Max 2 to be more than competitive in the space. I’ve been using it for a week now, and I’m more than satisfied, but here’s the bigger question — is it too late for the Max 2 to make a real splash?

The specs make the Max 2 undeniable

No matter what’s around it, the Max 2 stands out in my camera bag

When you think of action cameras, GoPro is the first brand to come to mind. They’ve been doing it longer than just about anyone else, and that carries with it a reputation of quality and reliability. The Max 2 checks all of those boxes due in large part to what GoPro calls “True 8K” filming capabilities. The benefit of any 360-degree camera is that you never have to worry about missing the shot, as the camera is recording everything around you at all times. GoPro’s True 8K makes sure that every color and every angle is captured in great detail, making editing a breeze.

Speaking of editing, an overhaul to the cloud-based editing service through the GoPro Quik app is my absolute favorite part of this camera. Sure, the quality is great, but it’s not noticeable to most viewers. What is noticeable, though, is how quickly an editor is able to turn around their work, and the Quik app helped me in that regard exponentially. The improvements to Quick allowed me to just shoot away and pick my angles later, as any good 360-degree experience should, but the ability to control all of my editing process from my phone made that work so much smoother. Without a doubt, it’s a step forward for GoPro, but there are still a few issues.

The Max 2 is still a small camera

That means there are some fidgety elements at play

No camera can be perfect, and this applies to the Max 2 just like anything else. My biggest gripe with most newer action cameras — especially those with touch screens — is that the touch screen might as well be pointless. If your hands are larger than those of a small child, you’re going to have to be careful regarding the taps you make when setting up your shot. The Quik app’s remote functions help with this a lot on the Max 2, but I haven’t always had direct access to my phone while using it.

I used the Max 2 to record a lot of racing footage, both from the deck lids of cars and in its POV mode, and that worked very well. However, when the camera went out of range of my phone, the footage got longer and harder to sift through. The battery gate is hard to open, which can be handy in some situations, but annoying in most. And of course, as one could imagine, the 8K video does drain batteries quite fast, so backups are most definitely a must. These are normal small camera issues, though, but I wish that in six years of development, some of those issues would have been curtailed a bit.

GoPro started the party and showed up late for the sequel

You can’t show up late when you invite everyone

When GoPro released the original Max in 2019, it was one of the few great 360-degree options on the market. Since then, other companies have caught on to the buzz, and they all sit around the same price point. It’s been more than half a decade since someone wanting a 360-degree camera could buy a new GoPro, but each year, they’ve been able to grab a fresh Insta360, DJI, or plenty of others. Every option on the market now can do what the Max 2 does in regard to making selfie sticks disappear or offering extremely high-quality footage. Some even offer the same type of cloud-based editing ability.

I don’t see the Max 2 selling as well as the original, simply due to the fact that other companies have released direct competitors in droves since the Max line was originally in the headlines. It’s a great camera, and it does quite literally everything I need a 360-degree camera to do. The only issue is, so do others, and there’s not much to separate the Max 2 from its competitors without getting into some really nitty-gritty specs.