Category: Video

Any posts that contain videos that I’ve created

This year I finally got a 360 camera – the Insta360 X4.  With the image quality increase of the latest camera from Insta360 it’s not as much of a compromise to include its ~2k footage alongside 4k footage from other cameras. Especially on a sailboat – the action can be in any direction and the horizon is always tipping, so a 360 camera enables me to reframe the shot where the action is and to always have a level horizon. One of the caveats with the 360 camera filming in 8k is the battery life. When I’m on a sailboat I can’t always stop sailing in the middle of a race to change the battery or sometimes I don’t even have a dry place to keep a battery with me, so getting the most out of a battery is really important to me.

According to the specs online – Insta360 rates the battery life at 75 minutes when filming with the highest quality settings that I would most like to use for sailing (8k 30fps). While some of the online reviews sort of confirmed this, there were no comparisons between the insta360 batteries and some of the aftermarket batteries that were coming on the market. So I set up some tests for 17 different batteries from 9 different retailers for 187 tests over 227 hours to answer those questions and I wanted to share my findings.

How Long Does the Insta360 X4 Battery Last?

After running the test on 2 Insta360 batteries and 15 aftermarket batteries the results were pretty clear. The insta360 batteries averaged 78 minutes while the aftermarket batteries averaged around 72 minutes.  The insta360 batteries hit the 75 minute mark in 100% of the tests.  The aftermarket batteries only hit the 75 minute mark in 2% of the tests.

Which Battery Lasted the Longest?

If battery life is of the utmost importance – you’ll want to go with the Insta360 batteries.  If you want to save some money, don’t need as long of a duration or can switch batteries easily and don’t mind dismissing a nag screen then the aftermarket batteries will work fine.

Here’s the average runtime for each of the brands:

And here you can see the individual performance of each of the batteries.  Note the range between the minimum and maximum test along with the average.  The Insta360 batteries minimum performance was at or above the max of most of the other 3rd party batteries.

The Batteries

  1. Insta360 X4 Battery
  2. Addpower X4 Batteries
  3. JHTC 360 X4 Battery
  4. METACUCU 2Pcs Batteries
  5. REYTRIC 2-Pack X4 Batteries for Insta360 X4
  6. Aovee 360 X4 Battery with Fast Battery Charger Hub
  7. YONHUIZI Battery
  8. Rszfnjxry Fast Charge Hub with Batteries
  9. COOLSHOW X4 Battery

How did I test?

Insta360 X4 Battery Test Setup

Using the settings I’d most likely be using for sailing – 8k 30fps. I set the camera up in my living room and while it’s not recommended to run the camera at that resolution indoors, I used a small fan to mimic the airflow the camera would get outdoors and keep it from overheating. I used the same two 2-battery chargers to charge all of the batteries.

One other note about aftermarket batteries – Insta360 has introduced a nag screen about a battery anomaly the first time the camera is started after inserting an aftermarket battery. I’ve always been able to dismiss this and use the camera normally with the aftermarket battery.

To see my videos created with the Insta360 Ace Pro – check out No Quarter Sailing on YouTube.

If you are interested in the battery life of the Insta360 Ace Pro – check out a similar test I did for that camera.

Disclaimers: I purchased the camera and some of the batteries myself. Other batteries were received through the Amazon Vine Voices Program. As an affiliate in Amazon’s program I may receive a commission for product links.

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A foot injury kept me sidelined from racing in the 2024 Stingray Point Regatta, but we did get out for a while on Sunday to capture some pictures of the racing on the east course.

A1 Fleet Sailing downwind in the first race on Sunday.
A1 Fleet Sailing downwind in the first race on Sunday.

MORE PICTURES | EVENT WEBSITE

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Friday

Having seen the forecast for Friday and good conditions for some afternoon practice, I left for the ILCA Atlantic Coast Championship at Brant Beach on Thursday night and drove to Baltimore enabling me to miss DC traffic the next morning. 🙂

Friday morning I had a relatively easy drive to Brant Beach arriving around noon and going for some practice in the afternoon sea breeze.

We were able to jump into some practice races that one of the coaches were running and it was good to get practice around marks and other boats. In the evening there was a beautiful sunset.

Saturday

Saturday started with breakfast in the clubhouse and a postponement until the wind filled. After about two and 1/2 hours the sea breeze looked like it would fill and they sent us out around noon. I managed to be the very last boat to leave the beach, but had plenty of time to sail 1nm to the course and they postponed on the water for another 15 minutes or so as the wind settled and the course was set. After a general recall we got started under I-flag and I had an okay start by the boat. I went middle right and the folks that went hard left and started at the pin made out. I was mid-fleet and picked off a couple boats on the ensuing legs finishing 22nd.

Race 2 was another start under the I-flag. I had a great start pretty close to the boat and I was able to tack out to the right early and get in clear air. I stayed with the leaders and found myself 6th at the top mark. I didn’t play the reach very well and the fast guys went right around me downwind and I continued to drop back to the mid-20s.

For the final race of the day the wind continue to increase and the waves got sloppier. I didn’t have a great start down by the pin and found myself duking it out and just trying to find a good lane to go fast in. The rest of the race was uneventful and I finished 28th.

That evening we had a cookout in the clubhouse while the sun set behind the island just off the club’s waterfront.

Sunday

Sunday started with another postponement on shore as we waited for the sea breeze to build. This time it was a little earlier and a little stronger when it did come and we were racing by 12:30.

The starts today were a lot more competitive and I didn’t have nearly as clear of starts as I did yesterday. That meant I was tacking more and trying to find clear lanes of wind. So for race 4 I finished 29th.

In race 5 the wind increased into the double digits. I started down by the pin and went left and everyone to the right seemed like they were climbing over us so I worked my way back to the right. At the top mark I was mid fleet and I rounded the offset and tried to duck a stern to go downwind; only I mis-judged it and tapped my bow on the back of the rudder and had to do turns putting me further back in the fleet and I finished 30th.

By race 6 the wind was up to 14-16 and hiking conditions upwind. The sloppy waves from yesterday had returned and we started under U-flag. I started in the middle of the line with Eric and Andrew just below me who just flew right by me and I found myself having to tack behind everyone to look for clear air. 2 legs later we were coming into the leeward gate and I had George overlapped and just outside of me. As we hit the 3 length circle he lost control of his boat and rounded up into me. I rounded up to crash tack and avoid him as he ended up tipping on top of the right gate mark and blocking my path from rounding. I ended up in irons outside of the mark and had to go back upwind to get around him and the mark. Another boat just behind us rounded George and the mark and as they turned upwind, the side of their boat glanced across the top of my rudder leaving a gouge in their boat. I would realize later that my rudder pin was bent on the force of the impact. I would go on to finish 25 in this race and ended up 28th overall.

It was good to be back in the boat and get 3 days of sailing. I have definitely gotten out of sailing shape and have a little work to do there. I appreciate all of the people at Brant Beach who made this event possible – it was very well run and they made it easy to attend.

EVENT WEBSITE | RESULTS | PICTURES | VIDEO

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A beautiful 4th of July day greeted nearly 30 boats for the Long Distance Race at Fishing Bay Yacht Club.  I was sailing the ILCA against Melges 15, Flying Scot, San Juan 21 and Wetas in a Portsmouth Handicap race that sailed from Fishing Bay, out of the Piankatank near Stingray Point and back into the river finishing in Fishing Bay.  I also used this as an opportunity to try out some new camera positions with the Insta360 X4 on the mast and the insta360 AcePro on a new stern mount (more on that to come).

Out on the water we had about 8 knots out of the south. Approaching the start – with so many boats much bigger than I was, I wanted to be near the boat so I could tack out and keep my air clear.  There were several other Melges 15s hanging around the boat as well.  In the final minute lead up to the start as I was coming up to the boat, one of the Melges 15s tried to barge in and gybed right in front of me causing me to avoid them. I hailed protest and they sailed away to do turns.  Unfortunately, in dealing with that and not having the space I should have had, I got to the boat too early.  Knowing I was over early, I sheeted in to go around the boat and restart with about 20 seconds to go.  But then I looked back and the new mount for the AcePro on the back of the boat was nowhere to be seen.  I slid back to see that the mount had failed and it was now pointed below the water filming the bottom of the boat.  Thankfully everyone else was over the line early earning us all a general recall and a chance for me to fix the camera and restart with everyone else.

The second start went a lot better. I was able to win the boat and stay in clear air on the first beat. I arrived at the first weather mark with 3-4 Melges 15s ahead of me and a San Jaun 21 and a Weta just behind me.  The second leg was a reach to Piankatank 8 and the boats with asymmetrical spinnakers were able to carry them and cruise by everyone. I did my best despite dropping a couple spots.  At Piankatank 8, we headed downwind to the North towards Stingray Point.  Another Melges 15 and a couple Flying Scots got past me on this leg.

The next leg started the journey back along the same course we came from.  Sailing upwind I favored the right towards Stove Point to stay out of the current.  I’m not sure, but I think there was more wind to the Left and Mark W, who was also in an ILCA was further out and made up some ground on me. From Piankatank 8 to 11 was a close reach, thankfully close enough that the spinnaker boats couldn’t deploy them.  I rounded 11 to head downwind on the final leg to the finish in Fishing Bay.  I was the 12th boat to finish and ended up being 8th on corrected time.

Thanks to Lew and his crew for running the races.  It was a great way to spend a Thursday on the 4th of July.

PICTURES | RESULTS | VIDEO

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We had a small fleet for a summer race to Wolf Trap Light House and back. There were 6 spinnaker boats and the two boats in the PHRF-A fleet were us on the J99 Battle Rhythm and the J109 Afterthought.

We started in the Piankatank just off Gwynns Island and had winds in the low teens out of the SSE and mostly sunny. There was a bit of traffic at the start with all of the boats piling up at the starboard end of the line which happened to be the government mark. We had to dodge a few boats and once we got clear we hung with Afterthought upwind on the way out of the Piankatank.

Once we cleared the river we continued upwind south to Wolf Trap light. With the current going out of the bay it was advantageous to continue on starboard all the way out into the bay. We got to the layline a couple miles from the lighthouse and tacked onto Port.  Afterthought had continued to inch further away from us and was about ½ mile ahead of us by the time we got to the light house.  And the wind out here was around 6-8 knots.

At Wolf Trap we rounded and set the A2 spinnaker and headed downwind. We sailed this spinnaker for a bit hoping the wind would build into its range, but it didn’t come and we decided to do a spinnaker change to the A1. While Kevin, Len and Carrie got the old spinnaker down, I grabbed the tack and halyard and got it hooked to the new spinnaker and after Kevin wrestled the chute into the hatch and Len hooked up the sheet I jumped the halyard on the mast and we had the new spinnaker flying in just over a minute.

Another new trick for this race was having the chart and instruments on the iPad. We also set up some time graphs with one of them being VMG and so after we changed spinnaker we were able to see from the chart that we were getting at least a tenth more VMG.

We continued North to the Piankatank, saw a huge pod of dolphins  and eventually rounded into the river where we went somewhat upwind to the finish off Gywnns Island. On corrected time we would be about 14 minutes behind Afterthought.

All in all it was a good day of racing. Learned a few more tricks on the boat and had fun racing with Kevin, April, Carrie, Todd, Len, and Ann.

RESULTS | PICTURES | VIDEO

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Today I got to join a group from nearby Mathews Yacht Club as they visited Washington DC and the Clipper Round the World Race that had a stopover there. One of their members, Klas, is racing aboard the Quindao boat. He and a few other crew gave us all a tour of the boat and told us what life was like aboard.

It was fascinating to see how these boats were setup and how constrained the space was down below for the 24 people they typically have aboard at a time.

CLIPPER AROUND THE WORLD RACE | PHOTOS | VIDEO

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We had a very light air race for the Cut Channel Race at FBYC. With only 4 of us on the boat – Todd, April, Tony and Jon we managed the boat in the light air without too much difficulty.

At the start, we set the spinnaker for the mostly downwind leg in the bay while the wind switched on us a couple of times. We had some confusion about the course and didn’t end up too far off course, but got behind the rest of the fleet, and stayed to the north and up current. As a result of being behind the wind filled from the north west and carried us past most of the fleet. We reached back and forth in pressure trying not to get ahead of the puff to keep our momentum. We rounded in second right behind Corryvreckan to head mostly upwind for 4 miles into the Rappahannock.

Again we stayed north of Corryvreckan and Afterthought and made some good gains while the wind filled. Once it started to drop as we entered the Rappahannock, it got squirrelly with current and Afterthought and Corryvreckan slipped by us.

After 5 hours of sailing, as we were going by Stingray Point Light and re-entering the Piankatank, the time limit expired despite doing the shorter course. No boats finished the course and all headed back to the dock. It was a fun day of sailing and did pretty well with only 4 us. We learned some things about the boat and had some good stretches of actually sailing our targets where we really got the boat dialed in.

PICTURES | VIDEO

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