Akaso 360 Review: The Budget 360 Camera That Punches Above Its Price

Pros:

• Excellent value for money – one of the most affordable 360 cams available.
• Impressive auto‑stitching of 360 footage and effective video stabilization.
• Decent companion apps on mobile & desktop make editing and reframing easy.

Cons:

• Image quality suffers in low light or cloudy conditions.
• Not waterproof or ruggedized – only “splash-resistant,” so no safe underwater use.
• Touchscreen can be finicky, sometimes not responding to swipes and tap.

Right out of the box, the Akaso 360 feels familiar but fresh. Like buying a new bicycle. The candy-bar design with dual lenses reminds me of the Insta360 X3, but at half the price. The touchscreen is surprisingly responsive (though not perfect), and the included invisible selfie stick makes solo shooting fun instead of awkward.

It doesn’t scream “let's mountain bike down that volcano, dude,” but that’s not really the point. This is a 360 cam designed to be accessible and affordable and do it's job, which it does surprisingly well. 

For a budget 360 camera, the Akaso 360 holds its own in the image department. It captures 5.7K resolution 360° video at 30fps, or 4K at 60fps, using its dual-lens setup. In terms of photos, you get up to 72MP still images (or 18MP in a lower-res mode), with the option to save in JPEG or even DNG RAW for those who want to do extra editing. The images come out sharp, colors are vibrant, sun is shining and everyone's happy. 

But.

Akaso 360's small 1/2-inch image sensors aren't built to work the night shift. The image quality takes a hit in low light: noise creeps in, visual clarity drops, and details get mushy. This can also happen under a thick cloud cover, and it might pass unnoticed until you review the footage on your PC or laptop. 

But.

For that price? I'd buy two and record in 720°. 

All in all, as long as you stick to daylight or well-lit environments, the Akaso 360 produces great 360 videos and photos without any trouble.

This is where the Akaso 360 cooked. They’ve baked in what they call “SuperSmooth 360° Stabilization”, and for once, the marketing isn’t overblown. The camera uses internal gyros and software to automatically stabilize your footage, resulting in smooth videos even when you're moving. Walk-and-talk vlog clips and even skateboarding footage came out stable and watchable, without that nausea-inducing shake. 

Paired with Horizon Lock, the camera keeps everything level, even if you tilt, roll, spin, fall, jump, or do a flip. The software has so much data to work with that it can iron out the bumps AND it cleverly hides the selfie stick from your shots. I appreciate these quality-of-life features, and they all work very well out of the box, meaning beginners don't have to worry about editing and technical hassles. 

And pair all of that with Akaso 360 auto-stitching your 360 videos so well that you don't see the join where the two images meet, and you've got me looking for my wallet already. 

Beyond standard shooting, the Akaso 360 offers a handful of fun shooting modes to get creative. There’s a time-lapse video mode (with intervals from 1s up to 60s), a loop-recording mode for continuous recording, and even an HDR bracketed photo mode for better dynamic range in stills. 

One particularly nifty feature is called TimeFusion, which lets you take a photo of the scene with one lens, then a photo with the other lens, and merge them so it looks like you’re in two places at once. Perfect for party tricks or confusing your Instagram followers with your whereabouts. While these modes aren’t totally unique to Akaso, it’s nice to see them included in such an inexpensive device.

For a sub-$200 camera, these modes are surprisingly versatile. It feels like Akaso is carving out its own lane by making 360° capture approachable and creative.

The Akaso’s design closely follows the “candy bar” style of other 360 cams – slim and vertical, with a lens on each side and a small touchscreen on the front. Despite being Akaso’s first try at a 360 camera, the build quality is pretty solid. The device is lightweight (about 180g) and perfectly pocketable, yet it doesn’t feel cheap or flimsy in the hand. 

In fact, it looks and feels a lot like a slightly smaller version of the Insta360 X5, which is a compliment for a camera at this price. The screen is reasonably bright and clear, and there are a couple of physical buttons for power and shutter, which is helpful when the touchscreen acts up.

Touchscreen

Akaso gave this camera a 2.29-inch touchscreen, and for the most part, it works well. It’s bright enough outdoors and makes it easy to switch modes, frame shots, or swipe through menus without diving into a clunky app.

That said, it’s not as buttery smooth as what you’ll find on an Insta360 or GoPro. Sometimes the touch response lags and can be annoyingly unresponsive at times, especially with wet or gloved hands. Swiping through menus or tapping to change modes occasionally took a few tries. It’s not a constant problem, but when it happens, it can test your patience. 

But. 

The menu system is simple, and you can always use the companion app to control the camera if needed. 

Bottom line: not a deal-breaker.

Durability

Let’s get this out of the way: the Akaso 360 isn’t a tank. It’s "splash-resistant", it’ll survive a splash of rain or some dust, but not waterproof without a case. No dunking underwater! 

It’s not built to be bashed around in hardcore environments either, as the housing isn't shockproof. 

That said, I don’t see that as a dealbreaker. These downsides can easily be overcome with a few accessories. 

Dual-Lens Design

Here’s where things get exciting. The dual 48 MP CMOS lenses allow the Akaso 360 to shoot 5.7K video and up to 72 MP photos. That’s not just “good for the price”, that’s competitive with cameras twice as expensive.

I was honestly surprised at how sharp the footage looks in daylight. The lenses handle movement well, especially when paired with SuperSmooth stabilization and Horizon Lock, so even if you’re jogging or skating, the video stays level.

The lenses protrude a bit from the camera body, which gives us that 360 view, but it also means they’re vulnerable to scratches. The problem here is that the Akaso 360 has no easy way to replace or repair a damaged lens. 

In other words, treat it with care: use the included soft protective pouch when you toss it in a bag, and maybe avoid activities where it could smack into something at high speed. 

Given the low price, it’s understandable that heavy-duty protection isn’t part of the package, but it’s a consideration for users deciding how and where to use it.

Battery Life

The Akaso 360 runs on a 1,350 mAh removable battery, which during my "stress-test" gave around 50 minutes of continuous 5.7K recording. That’s fine for casual clips, but if you’re planning longer sessions, you’ll need spares. Of course, you can always drop to a lower resolution and shoot for longer, but where's the fun in that?

The big W here is that Akaso includes extra batteries if you buy the Creator Combo (and a little charging case too). That turns what would be a weakness into something manageable. Compared to something like the Insta360 X3, which stretches to ~80–90 minutes, it’s slightly behind, but not terrible considering the price.

You can charge the batteries the camera’s USB-C port (just plug it into a charger or power bank). If you opt for the Creator Combo, you’d get a dedicated charging case that juices up multiple batteries at once. Convenient, but not a necessity, but worth mentioning.  

Also, charging from empty to full takes about 90 minutes, which is standard.

But how does it handle heat? 

The Akaso 360 did get noticeably warm during use, but we never encountered an overheating shutdown. Even when recording ~30 minutes straight on a warm summer skateboarding waterfront cruise, the camera got toasty but kept on running without throttling or stopping. This is good news, because some 360 cams (and action cams in general) will auto-shutoff if they overheat. Overall, no issues there.

Audio

Akaso equipped the 360 with dual stereo microphones and wind noise reduction, which is honestly better than I expected at this price point. Voices come through clearly in normal environments, and while it won’t match a dedicated mic or even GoPro’s latest audio tech, it’s perfectly usable for vlogs or casual commentary. 

Outdoors on a breezy day, the noise reduction does its job, but you’ll still hear some rumble if the wind picks up. Think of it as “good enough for casual creators, but not flimmaking-professional-grade.”

One of the Akaso 360’s strongest suits is its simplicity. 

This is a camera designed for chill dudes and beginners, and it shows in how straightforward it is to get started. Basic operation is plug-and-play: pop in a microSD card (up to 512GB is supported, make sure it’s a fast V30/U3 card for that high-res video), power on the camera, and you’re ready to record 360° video or snap photos. 

There’s not an overwhelming maze of settings: the menu is fairly minimal, covering resolution, frame rate, and toggling some modes. You can basically leave on the default 5.7K mode and just hit record.

The camera’s small touchscreen lets you preview your shot (though with a 360 camera you’re capturing everything around you, so framing isn’t as critical as with a normal camera) and adjust settings on the fly. When the touchscreen behaves, navigating the menus is intuitive and the interface is clean. And if you prefer a bigger screen or more precise control, the Akaso 360 companion app (available for mobile, plus a desktop app for PC/Mac) is your friend. 

The app is simple and easy to use.  You can change modes, start/stop recording remotely, and instantly playback your 360 clips on your phone, dragging around to view any angle.

Video Editing

The real fun comes when editing and reframing your 360 footage in the app. 

Akaso provides tools to easily turn that big 360 video into a normal 2D video clip, focusing on the best parts. You can let the app auto-track subjects (it has some AI-assisted tracking to follow a person or object in the scene), or manually set keyframes to pan around the scene yourself. 

I'm no film editor, but I was happy with the trimming and reframing clips I got. 

The desktop app similarly offers a straightforward way to export your 360 videos into shareable formats, and you can do basic image adjustments if needed (exposure, color, etc.). 

File Sizes

One thing to keep in mind is that 360 videos have large file sizes. 

Transferring footage from the camera to your phone or computer can take a while. The Akaso 360 uses a standard Wi-Fi connection to wirelessly transfer files, and I got around 12 MB/s transfer speeds. 

That means a big 5.7K video clip might take several minutes to copy over. 

It’s not a deal-breaker (and you can always pop out the microSD card to transfer via a card reader for speed), but patience is required if you shoot a lot of footage at once. This is fairly normal for 360 cameras, but top-tier models with newer wireless tech (or direct USB transfers) might move files faster.