360fly Waterproof 360 Action Camera Review

Features
Handling
Performance
Verdict
Specification

The 360fly is a 360 degree action camera that is shockproof and waterproof (up to 35 Meters) when the microphone is locked. It also has a protection rating of IP67 which means it's also dustproof. As for shooting angles, the 360fly offers 360 degrees horizontally and 240 degrees vertically, plus videos can be scaled down to standard 16:9 format or to a still image. The 360fly is available now with an SRP of £429.00 inc VAT.

360fly Features

The 360fly has a multi-part ultra wide-angle fisheye lens with an aperture of f/2.5, and a 360 x 240 degree view. There's also image stabilisation, and a 2.26 megapixel CMOS sensor records a resolution of 1504x1504 pixels. There's a built in microphone, and videos are stored on the camera's 32GB of internal memory - which gives up to 2 hours of recording capacity. The built in battery will last for two hours. 

The camera has built in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity so that you can connect it to a smartphone running Android or iOS. Using the app you can control the camera, as well as download videos and share to social media websites, including 360fly's own website. While watching the videos on a smartphone, the viewing angle can be changed in real time, and you can zoom in or out. You can also experience a whole recording as directly as possible, using a VR-system like Google Cardboard.

The 360fly features a QuickTwist system which means it can be attached almost anywhere (including to selfie sticks) and an actioncam adapter, compatible with GoPRO mountings, is included with each 360fly. You can download the 360fly app for iOS and Android devices and watch other peoples videos to see what the viewing experience is like. 

Things you get in the box: Quick Start guide, Warranty card, USB cable, Power Cradle, Tilt Mount with curved and flat baseplates, Pouch Mic plug + lanyard, Neoprene protective pouch.

Key Features

• 2.26 megapixel sensor
• 0.88mm ultra-wide angle f/2.5 fisheye lens
• 360x240 degree field of view
• Image stabilisation
• Waterproof to 35m / 5ATM with mic plug
• Shockproof up to 1.5m, dustproof (IP6X)
• 1504x1504 video at 27.97fps
• Mono microphone built in
• Accelerometer sensor for orientation
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth built in
• Viration motor
• 32GB built-in

360fly Handling

To switch the camera on you simply hold the one button on the camera. The camera will vibrate to let you know that it's switched on, and the LED will change colour. You can connect the camera to your smartphone and control it from there or alternatively simply press the button on the camera to start and stop video recording. The camera feels very well built and has a good weight to it. With an angular design the camera is easy to grip, and the mounting system is easy to use, simply requiring a twist to lock and unlock the camera from the tilt mount.

The camera comes with a small USB dock that the camera attaches to magnetically. This lets you charge the camera, as well as connect it to your computer. There are no screens or menus on the camera, simply an on/off start/stop button and an LED light. The LED light has a number of different colours, that give you the status of the camera, with the blue light signifying the camera is ready, and red for recording. For more details information on the LED status, 360fly has provided a detailed guide. 

Smartphone 360fly App

Available for download for free from the iOS and Android app stores, you need to setup the camera the first time you run the app:

Setting up the connection is quite straightforward, and it's recommended you switch on bluetooth on your phone. 

If there is a newer version of firmware available for the 360fly then the app will automate the update process for you. The the first explore screen on the app lets you view other 360fly videos on-line. The next tab lets you see videos you've downloaded to your phone, and the third screen if where you can view your profile and edit account settings.

Using the top right button, you can connect to the camera and view the live view, or videos that are stored on your camera. From here you can download the videos. You can also edit and view the camera settings. Once you've downloaded the videos to your smartphone you can upload them to social media sites.

In the live view mode you can adjust brightness, ISO, exposure, contrast, and saturation. You can also take still photos from the video on the mobile app, and the 360fly website is full of helpful guides on how to use the 360fly and the apps.

360fly Director Desktop App

360fly Director Desktop App	360fly Director Desktop App
360fly Director Desktop App	360fly Director Desktop App

The 360fly Director Desktop software is a 93mb download from the 360fly website. This has four main views including the camera, library view (videos on your computer), merge, and settings. Settings is where you can setup your connections to your Facebook, YouTube and 360fly accounts. You can then export video to Facebook, Youtube and 360fly. To upload the video to youtube or facebook the 360fly Director app has to process the video, which can take some time depending on how long your video is. 

If you try and play the videos on your computer without using the app, then you see a square video. Using the desktop app for playback, as well as the mobile app you can zoom in and out of the video. 

Battery life - Battery life is said to last over 2 hours, which is pretty good, although you do need to use the dock to charge the camera. 

Speed - The 360fly takes roughly 30 seconds to switch on before you can start recording video with it. Although once it's on, it's quick to respond to you press the record button, using either the smartphone app or the button on the camera. 

360fly Performance

The performance section is where we look at the image quality performance of the camera. Additional sample photos and product shots are available in the Equipment Database, where you can add your own review, photos and product ratings.

360fly Black Sample Photos

You can export photos from video, and the easiest way to do this is using the app on your smartphone, as this gives you a number of different output options, including 360 View, Square, 16:9 and Panorama. You can also apply a filter to the photos if you want. The photos shown above have been taken from this video.

Video - The camera records square videos with mono sound, at a resolution of 1504 x 1504. When playing back you can zoom into an area for 16:9 aspect ratio video. Results are reasonably good, and stabilisation does a decent job of keeping the video steady even when driving on a road that isn't very smooth. As there is so much in the frame, due to the ultra wide-angle fisheye lens, the camera struggles to capture the full dynamic range of the scene, which is to be expected especially if you have both the sun and a shadowy area in view. The more you zoom into the image, the softer the image looks.

YouTube and Facebook both support 360 video uploads, although at the moment you can't zoom in and out, which is a shame as being able to control the zoom when playing back videos definitely adds to the enjoyment of the video. Supports uploading 500MB video to 360fly (roughly 9 minutes from the Desktop app), or longer to other sites such as Facebook and Youtube. Individual video length is limited to 9minutes 59seconds, you can record longer with the 360fly, it's just that it will automatically split the files into 9m59s.

Once you've uploaded your video to the 360fly website, you have the option to embed the video into other websites, as well as sharing the link via Facebook, Twitter, and Break. We've uploaded additional videos to 360fly's website, including one recorded simultaneously on the 360fly, as well as a Kodak SP360. Chromatic aberrations are visible, although the camera did seem reasonably resistant to flare. Sound quality is average, and is recorded in mono.

Value For Money

The 360fly is available for £429, with 32GB built in, and as one of the only cameras that are waterproof on its own, it is quite good value for money. The nearest competitors would be the Kodak SP360 (around £299) or Kodak SP360 4K (Price TBC). Other alternative action cameras are listed below, we've also listed the 360fly so you can see how it compares at a glance: 

360fly, 360 x 240 degrees, f/2.5, image stabilisation, waterproof without additional case

Kodak SP360, 360 x 214 degrees, f/2.8, electronic IS, splashproof, shockproof, £299 
Kodak SP360 4K, 360 x 235 degrees, f/2.8, electronic IS, 4K video, also sold in a double pack (price TBC)
Nikon KeyMission 360 - 4K, 2 lenses, not available yet, (price TBC)
Ricoh Theta S - FullHD video resolution, 2 lenses, £299

There are other 360 cameras available, however the following take stills only, but no video:

Ricoh Theta - Stills - 2 lenses, no video
Panono - Stills - no video

Other action cameras are available, but they don't do 360 video or photos.

360fly Verdict

The 360fly is a stylish 360 action camera that is very easy to use and as it's waterproof straight out of the box, it would make a great purchase for anyone travelling. Results are good, although there will be those that wish it was higher resolution, and it would be nice if sound quality was improved. For ease of use, and good results straight away, the 360fly does an excellent job, being much easier to use than multi-camera solutions or more complicated cameras, and sharing to 360fly's website, YouTube or Facebook is straightforward. Battery life is very good, and the camera has a generous amount of built-in memory to allow over 2 hours of video.

360fly Pros

Very easy to use
Waterproof, shockproof, dustproof
f/2.5 lens, image stabilisation 
360 x 240-degree view
Compatible with GoPro accessories
2 hours of battery life
32GB memory built in 

360fly Cons

Video resolution is 1504 x 1504 @ 27.97fps
Does not feature a tripod socket or adapter in the box (optional)
You can't charge the camera directly, without using the dock

FEATURES
HANDLING
PERFORMANCE
VALUE FOR MONEY
VERDICT

360fly Black Specifications

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