Action & 360 cameras
Rent or buy a 360 camera: the threshold in days
A 360 camera costs between €400 and €600 new. A rental costs less than €50 per day. Between the two lies a single useful number: the number of days per year beyond which buying is cheaper. Here it is, calculated with manufacturer prices recorded on August 14, 2026 and our own grid.
Purchase prices, recorded from the manufacturer
On the European Insta360 store, the standard bundle of the X4 is €475.99 and that of the X5 is €589.99. Details matter: bundle X4 includes camera and standard lens protection, without microSD card; the X5 bundle includes the camera and a battery. Nothing else in either case.
Our prices for the same devices
| Duration | Insta360 X4 | Insta360 X5 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 day | €46.60 | €48.68 |
| 2 days | €46.60 | €61.16 |
| 3 days | €54.59 | €74.68 |
| 7 days | €69.08 | €105.04 |
| New purchase | €475.99 | €589.99 |
The 2 days of X4 is not a typo: with us, the second day costs nothing on this device. This is also true of the GoPro HERO 11 Black , at €41.40 for one day or two.
The threshold, in plain language
- Insta360 X4 : it takes approximately seven full weeks of rental, 6.9 to be exact, to reach the €475.99 of new. Counted in three-day weekends, it takes almost nine.
- Insta360 X5 : approximately six full weeks, 5.6 exactly, or eight three-day weekends.
The result is counterintuitive: the X5, although €114 more expensive to purchase, “pays for itself” more quickly, because its rental week is more expensive. In both cases, the rule can be summed up in one sentence: below six weeks of cumulative filming per year, the rental stays ahead.
What the purchase price does not include
This is where the crude comparison lies. Our X5 pack comes with the camera, its battery, a dual charger, a 1 TB microSD card SanDisk , a rigid carrying case, a 25 W fast charger and a 1 m invisible selfie stick 10 — the accessory without which a 360 camera does not do what it promises.
Upon purchase, the memory card, second battery, charger and pole are all added to the ticket, and the X4 bundle is explicitly sold without a memory card. The real price of entry is therefore not that of the sheet, exactly as with drones.
The argument a salesperson will never give you
The purchased box ages, the one you rent does not. As of August 14, 2026, the GoPro France store lists the HERO13 Black, the HERO12 Black, the MAX and MAX2, the LIT HERO and the Mission range: the HERO11 Black no longer appears there.
However, we still rent it, at €41.40 per day, and it films exactly what it filmed on the first day. But someone who bought it new now has a device taken from the manufacturer's catalog, resaleable at a fraction of its price. Renting passes this discount on to someone else. This, with the breakage and theft insurance included in the price, is the real difference between the two options – not the euros of the first day.
When buying wins, and it really wins
To refuse to say so would be dishonest. Beyond six to seven weeks of filming per year, or if you need the camera overnight without being able to warn, purchasing becomes the rational choice. This is the case of a creator who publishes every week, not that of two trips and a wedding.
Divide with your own number of days: purchase price divided by our seven-day rate. It’s the only number that matters, and only you know it.
For drones, the calculation is different and we carried it out separately: rent or buy a drone, the real calculation. And if it's the deductible that makes you hesitate, it is €100 on the X4 and €150 on the X5, full grid here.