The Insta360 Ace Pro 2 and the GoPro Hero 13 Black are two of the most advanced action cameras you can buy right now. In this article and accompanying video, I’m putting them head to head – comparing their design and handling and testing their video quality in both bright and low-light conditions, battery life, microphone performance and all the other features that can make a real difference when you’re out filming. By the end, hopefully you’ll have a clear idea of which one’s right for you.
So let’s take a closer look!
Design and build
The Hero 13 Black is a little smaller and lighter than the Ace Pro 2 – it weighs 158g (5.57 oz) including its battery and SD card. Its design has barely changed in recent years. It has a 2.27” rear touch screen and a 1.4” non-touch front screen to film yourself. The Ace Pro 2 weighs 180g (6.30 oz) again with battery and SD card and has a larger 2.5” rear touch screen and this screen can flip vertically so you can use this whole screen to film yourself – which is great for vlogging. There’s also a small non-touch front LCD screen, but this just shows settings.
Both cameras are waterproof without any additional accessories. The GoPro to 10m and the Ace Pro 2 to 12m.
Both cameras have removable lens covers. This is an upgrade for the Ace Pro 2 – you couldn’t remove the lens cover on the original Ace Pro.
Neither camera has any built in storage and unless you purchase a bundle you’ll need to purchase a microSD card separately.
The build quality on both cameras is excellent which you’d expect. The flip-out screen on the Ace Pro 2 locks shut and even opened feels robust, but I’d keep it closed for more extreme sports.
Quality and Handling
The Ace Pro 2 has a 1/1.3″ 8K sensor and a f2.6 Leica lens. It also has a dedicated so-called Dual AI chip for advanced image processing. The Hero 13 Black has a smaller 1/1.9” sensor with an f2.5 lens. It’s still using the same GP2 processor introduced on the Hero 10.
I much prefer the screen on the Ace Pro 2 – it’s far more responsive. I often have to tap the GoPro screen a few times.
For all my test footage I’ve ensured the bitrate on both cameras is set to High. The GoPro has a 10-bit colour option which I’ve also enabled. This allows more flexibility for colour grading, especially if you choose the flat GP-Log colour profile – so long as you don’t mind the extra post-processing. It’s not really something I’d recommend for most users. Insta360 do have their I-Log flat profile but with only 8-bit colour you won’t have as much latitude adjusting colours and exposure.
Both cameras have excellent image stabilisation. GoPro with their HyperSmooth and Insta360 with their FlowState. It’s hard to tell them apart – they both look super smooth in bright conditions.
In fact in bright conditions both cameras do an excellent job for action sports like mountain biking, strapped to a chest mount.
The GoPro does have an advantage when it comes to mounting though. I love its integrated standard ¼” tripod mount and folding GoPro fingers.
The Ace Pro 2 has to be used with the included rather bulky magnetic mount which only has fixed GoPro fingers. It doesn’t have a standard tripod mount which is odd considering Insta360’s 360° cameras all only have the ¼” mount. The magnetic mount can be handy though – it’s convenient being able to quickly unclip the camera to adjust settings or review your footage. Insta360 does have a much more useful mount which has foldable fingers and a ¼” tripod mount – but it’s an optional extra.
And GoPro has an optional magnetic mount which is even better – it’s the only magnetic mount I’ve seen for any action camera that can be used either way around.
For general use I prefer the Ace Pro 2 with its flip-out screen. Not just for selfies where it excels, but for low angle shots or tripod mounted it’s very convenient being able to adjust the tilt of the screen as needed.
I also found the screen easier to view in bright conditions compared to the GoPro.
The GoPro does have the front LCD screen. But it’s small and you can’t interact with it like you can on the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro. It is an extra step flipping up the screen for quick selfies – so I would love the next version of the Ace Pro 2 to also have a similar front touch screen, rather than the LCD screen status screen that I don’t really find that useful.
The footage so far has been 4K, but the Ace Pro 2 has an 8K mode and the GoPro has a 5.3K mode. The Ace Pro 2 is limited to 30 fps in 8K so this mode is not intended for action sports.
More usefully you can double tap the screen in 4K mode to zoom in 2x on your footage, even whilst you’re filming. And this works up to 4K 60fps. Insta360 calls this Clarity Zoom.
This is not your typical digital zoom. It takes advantage of the huge 8K sensor and crops in on your recording. The quality is better than a digital zoom, but you need bright conditions for the best results.
The GoPro’s doesn’t have a similar cropping zoom, but you can film at up to 60 fps in 5.3K, and there’s a 8:7 aspect ratio that effectively captures the whole sensor. This gives you a lot more flexibility in post for zooming in slightly, and switching the aspect ratio between landscape and portrait. There is a similar option on the Ace Pro 2 – their FreeFrame mode which also captures the whole sensor but unfortunately not at 8K, only 4K. And you’ll need to process the footage in the smartphone or desktop app to not only choose your final aspect ratio, but also to apply the FlowState image stabilisation.
I’m pleased to see both cameras have decent USB 3.0 transfer speeds. If you capture a lot of footage this is a big deal.
In my tests the GoPro was a little quicker at 84MB/s, compared to 73MB/s for the Ace Pro 2.
I very rarely use photo modes on action cameras but the Ace Pro 2 can capture at up to 50MP.
The GoPro is limited to 27MP although zooming in to 100% I don’t really see much more detail on the 50MP photo.
Low light Performance
In good light both I’m fairly sure most people will be happy with the footage from either camera. But in low light the GoPro with its smaller sensor and few generation old processor falls way behind. The Ace Pro 2 has a dedicated low light mode called PureVideo. The camera even prompts you to switch across to this mode when light levels drop. GoPro still doesn’t have a low light mode and footage very quickly becomes unusable at lower light levels.
In lower light the footage off the Ace Pro 2 can still look a little over-processed, but it’s good enough for social media in most cases. It does struggle if there’s any movement – like the DJI Osmo Action 5 Pro. The low light levels force a lower shutter speed and this results in quite severe motion blur if there’s not enough light and you move too quickly.
Battery life
Both cameras have removable batteries. The Ace Pro 2 has a new 1800mAh battery, but the 1650mAh batteries from the Ace Pro still fit.
The GoPro Hero 13 uses their new 1900mAh Endurance batteries and batteries from previous GoPros won’t fit which is frustrating if you’re upgrading.
The Ace Pro 2 has a new Endurance mode which limits the resolution to 4K 30 fps, but provides up to 180 minutes of battery life. But Insta360 doesn’t mention battery life in standard 4K modes. And GoPro doesn’t mention battery life in 4K at all, only at 1080p. I did my own tests at 4K 50fps, the mode I imagine most people will choose for general use and action sports. I did switch the bit rate on both cameras to standard just for this test which should provide slightly longer battery life.
The Ace Pro 2 ran for 84 minutes before running down the battery completely. The GoPro only ran for 55 minutes before shutting off with an overheating message which is disappointing. This is something that has plagued GoPros for years. There was just over 40% battery remaining when I turned it back on. This was indoors with no airflow – you’ll get better results outdoors doing any kind of action sport.
The Ace Pro 2 supports fast charging via Power Delivery and you can charge an empty battery to 80% in just 18 minutes with a full charge taking 47 minutes according to Insta360.
I again did my own tests and I was able to charge the battery to 80% capacity in just over 20 minutes. It starts off charging at almost 28W! A full charge took a little longer at 62 minutes but it’s still very impressive.
GoPro doesn’t advertise fast charging for the Hero 13 Black and suggests it’ll take 2-3 hours for a full charge. I used a fast charger and the included GoPro cable and it took just over 2 hours for a full charge and took just over an hour to get to 80%, only reaching speeds of less than 9W which is very slow by modern standards. I even tried this test again with a branded GoPro fast charger with the same results.
The Ace Pro 2 also supports reverse charging. If I plug in my iPhone 15 Pro Max for example, I can choose to either charge off my iPhone selecting the Charge option, using the iPhones reverse charging capability, or I can choose Reverse Charging to charge off the Ace Pro 2.
I wasn’t expecting it to work with my iPhone but it does – I got almost 6W – roughly equivalent to the original wall plugs that came with the early iPhones.
It’s not going to charge your phone very quickly but could be useful in an emergency. For me it could also be useful on longer bike rides to charge my Garmin head unit and rear light and my electric pump – 5W is plenty for them.
Microphones
Both cameras have three microphones. The Insta360 has a wind guard over the front microphone which is removable. There’s some foam inside so you should swap this out for the included mic cap if you’re using the camera underwater.
Both cameras also have a voice enhancement mode. You can hear how the built in microphones sound in the various modes in the accompanying video.
Both cameras support connecting external microphones like this DJI Mic 2 or your AirPods Pro. And you’ll get an audio levels indicator which is useful. Only the Ace Pro 2 lets you adjust audio gain on the camera though.
And the Ace Pro 2 has a few more tricks up its sleeve. First off, when you connect a Bluetooth mic, it lets you also enable the built in camera mics for Dual-track audio. You can then edit both tracks separately in post. You could use the built-in mic for backup audio in case the Bluetooth mic has interference. Or you could set the built-in mics to stereo mode to capture ambient sounds close to the camera.
Additionally, their latest firmware also lets you pair a few external mics via USB-C without having to use their USB microphone adapter together with a 3.5mm audio jack. The receivers just plug directly into the USB-C port. You’ll need to remove the cover first by opening it fully and then pulling it off. I tried it with the new DJI Mic Mini and the Hollyland Lark M2. Not only is the quality better over a wired connection, you can also use two mics simultaneously.
The only way to directly wire an external mic on the GoPro is via the optional Media Mod, which is expensive and the whole setup is bulky and cumbersome.
Slow mo
The Ace Pro 2 can record slow motion at up to 4K 120 fps both in standard video mode and in the dedicated Slow Motion mode. The dedicated mode records no audio but slows the video down in-camera. I’m happy to do it in post so I rarely use the Slow Motion mode.
The Hero 13 Black can also record at 4K 120 fps, although you’ll need to switch your camera to NTSC if you’re not in the US. I don’t know why GoPro can’t just show you all the modes without switching regions. You’re going to use slow motion outside most of the time, so light flicker won’t be an issue.
Something you don’t get on the Ace Pro 2 though is a very useful 240 fps 2.7k mode. GoPro also has a Burst Slo-Mo mode which lets you shoot up to 400 fps but only at very low 720p resolution and only in a burst of 5 to 15 seconds depending on the resolution you choose.
Conclusions
If you’re picking up one of these cameras for action sports and using them in bright conditions, I think you’d be more than happy with either camera. The image quality and image stabilisation is excellent on both cameras. Even if you do prefer the colours of one camera over the other, you can tweak both cameras to your tastes.
You don’t have the flip screen on the GoPro, but both cameras have a very capable accompanying smartphone app that you can use to frame your shots if the camera is mounted on your chest, or anywhere else.
The Hero 13 Black does have a few advanced add-ons for the serious enthusiast or professional user. Their HB-Series lenses and ND filters aren’t cheap, but are automatically detected by the camera which is useful – especially when it comes to ND filters which can easily mess up your footage if you don’t know what you’re doing. GoPro also has their GoPro Premium service which amongst other features allows unlimited backup of your GoPro footage which is fantastic. Insta360 did recently introduce their Insta360+ cloud service, but it’s more expensive and for comparatively limited storage. And currently it only supports their 360° cameras but I’m sure that’ll change.
If you want more of an all-round camera, the Ace Pro 2 might be a better option. It’s far better in low light and the flip screen is super useful for selfies, low angle shots and framing on a tripod. The touch interface is also so much more responsive than on the GoPro.
It’s also brimming with features including the microphone options I’ve discussed, some genuinely useful shooting modes like the new Dashcam mode, gesture control and their smartphone app is more capable than GoPro’s, with some impressive AI features that I’ve covered in previous videos I’ll link to below.
Don’t forget to take a look at my YouTube video at the top of the page, and again please subscribe to my YouTube channel where I’m releasing videos every week on the latest technology and how to get the most out of it. If you tap the bell icon when you subscribe you’ll get a notification as soon as I release a video, and there’ll be a link to my site here for the written article. YouTube is also the best place to leave a comment. I read all of them and respond to as many as I can!
Please help support my website and my associated YouTube channel by using my affiliate links below. It doesn’t cost you a penny more – and I’ll keep the link updated with any offers:
Insta360 Ace Pro 2: https://www.insta360.com/sal/ace-pro-2?utm_term=INRT7JX
GoPro Hero 13 Black: https://geni.us/L5ICbuB (Amazon)
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