It feels like spring is very late late! But actually i’ts quite normal that only at the end of March the weather is warm enough and the roads are free from ice and snow. I was able to ride gravel roads yesterday (at least here in the most southern parts of Finland) and it felt so good!! The 90km’s route I made was like this:
And ofcourse I had Insta360 Ace Pro attached to my helmet and I made a video!
I bought myself a new GPS device. The main reason was that my Montana couldn’t get the power anymore from the original motorcycle holder. I already removed the wires and I was thinking that I will charge it only with USB wire but that ofcourse brings more problems. And when I realised that I had the opportunity to buy Garmin Zumo XT2 I decided to take it. I hear the XT2 has same kind of problems with the power connection so now I’m waiting to have the same peoblems soon. Hopefully not in this summer yet!
The winter started very early (last november!) And quite many years lately the spring didn’t come early or not even in the ordinary time (around mid march). But this year maby it’s early? At least I was actually doing a proper motorcycle ride already in 24th of February!
My ride was mostly about testing the Sena Spider ST1 helmet phone as the microphone. But I was also testing the remote controller (GPS Preview Remote) which is very easy to use and it gives also the GPS data to your video if you want to use it. A week later I was riding again!
This morning (06th of March 2024) it was -8° so maybe we still need to wait?!
This is mind blowing! It’s revolutionary. Until now everyone who wanted to talk to the video while riding a motorcycle had to install either a mic with the wire (so called Lavalier microphone) or somekind of wireless microphone inside their helmets. I was using one of the best ones (RØDE wireless Go II) and I did find a place for the microphone inside my helmet but then there was the problem of the reciever and the adapter on the side of the camera.
The sound quality from this RØDE microphone was very good! But because of the rain I did brake 1 mic adapter last summer. Then on december 2023 they released this new Insta360 Ace Pro camera and it has bluetooth connectivity!! I didn’t even realize this when I bought it. But about in the same time when I got this new camera the DJI Osmo Action 4 shared new firmware update that allowed it to be connected to DJI Mic 2. That was the first time when I knew something quite important was about to happen! In DJI’s version you still need to install this microphone inside the helmet. Only few weeks later Insta360 released new firmware that had already more than 5 different helmetphone Brands and models that was supported by Insta360 Ace Pro camera!! I had Sena 30K and it was not on the list…. So I sold my helmetphone and bought the new one! It was Sena Spider ST1 and to pair it with Insta360 Ace Pro you do like this:
I knew that when you are using helmetphone microphone they have this “Advanced Noise Control™” that will block all ambient sounds (sounds from the outside of your helmet). So I started testing how can I easily disconnect the helmetphone from the camera so that camera’s own microphone will record all sounds when I’m not talking to the microphone. It can be done but it’s not very easy.
Finally today (3rd of february) it was so warm weather so I decided I will install the battery to my bike. And because my bike’s engine started like it was not winter at all… I decided to go for a ride! And ofcourse test how this Sena Spider ST1 will work as a microphone in insta360 Ace Pro camera. Here is the video:
As a result I can say that yes, you can here the engine sound on the video. But it’s not too loud. Actually if I will use music on the video it will cover pretty much all engine sound… So I will try to remember to disconnect the helmetphone (microphone) when I don’t want to talk to the video. And when I want to talk again I need to stop recording and connect the helmetphone to the camera again. And start recording again (Sounds little bit complicated here! But it isn’t.)
I have a promo code for you to buy insta360 Ace Pro Action camera! Unfortunately they do not offer any discount but if you use this link it gives some benefits to me – Thank You!
I’ve neen using Insta360 cameras now little bit more than one year. They are as good as DJI cameras especially when they offer also these 360 cameras. Those are definitely an update for everything there was before these interesting cameras. I realized pretty soon that there’s no sense to have two separate 360 cameras so I started to look for a new action camera… And Insta360 had quite perfect timing when they released new Ace Pro camera. I ordered it right away when it was published. When I got the camera I made “UnBoxing” video to youtube (Only in Finnish):
And today I went first to Billnäs to make some video there, Then I visited in Hub Feenix and got some animals also to this video. I had my “old action camera” insta360 One RS with this new insta360 Ace Pro. SO you can compare the picture that these cameras make in low light snowy landscape with 4K 30fps.