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Insta360 is best known for their 360-degree cameras and action cams, but the firm also makes (more sedate) webcams using its optics and software expertise. The Link 2 Pro is one such example, a £239/$249 gimballed 4K unit that can physically track your movement, whether that's in your chair or around the room - while not taking up much more space than a standard webcam. The sensor hardware here is also competitive, despite the high price point, with a chunky 1/1.3-inch CMOS sensor that delivers excellent image quality, even in dusky conditions.
I've been testing the Link 2 Pro for the last two months in meetings, streams and recordings, and it's a potent piece of kit - though rivals Elgato have a bit of an edge when it comes to producing software that is geared specifically towards streaming, and their Facecam 4K and Facecam Pro options at a similar price also include uncompressed 4K 60fps video, versus just 4K 30fps or 1080p 60fps on the Link 2 Pro.
Despite that restriction, the hardware used here is impressive for the money. As well as a large diameter 1/1.3-inch back-illuminated CMOS sensor that matches the size of the (much larger) Hollyland VenusLiv Air streaming camera we reviewed earlier, the lens has a f/1.9 aperture that exceeds even the $300 Facecam Pro's f/2.0. This translates into impressive low-light performance, with plenty of detail evident even by monitor-light at dusk.
In better light, whether natural or artificial, the differences between different webcams narrows somewhat, but I'd say that the output here is good enough for professional use - albeit not for full-screen video, where a larger mirrorless camera (or indeed the VenusLiv Air) would be a better choice.
The webcam also includes a coloured ring, which lets you know when it's turned on or when a gesture (covered later) is recognised. You can also reach out to turn the webcam off temporarily, like covering a bird cage with a cloth to trick a bird into sleeping in the day. The top of the Link 2 Pro includes a dual microphone which works perfectly well for meetings, but even with AI assistance it doesn't sound as clear or detailed as a decent headset mic or, best of all, a dedicated USB or XLR microphone.
The only other hardware details are a USB-C port, which means you can replace the cable if you need something longer or terminating in a different connector, and the mounting solution. There's the option of a standard screw mount here, or a monitor clip that works well even on the trendy OLED displays which tend to be exceedingly slim at their peak.
The software solution is also robust, with the Insta360 Link Controller being well-organised, with a good English translation and the most critical controls coming front and centre. The AI tracking feature was particularly good, doing a good job framing me and providing the option to focus on my head, half body or full body. Similarly, the green screen effects are decent at cutting out quite a complicated background, and come with sane defaults, as do the various (terrifying) beauty filters.
The only thing that I found a bit unreliable was the gesture control, which understood my gestures but seemed to act on them very haltingly. I found it faster to just launch the app and move a slider instead. The live view here is also limited to 30fps, which is a bit of a shame, but you can just use something like OBS instead.
There's also a teleprompter feature, which is useful but necessarily limited versus something hardware-specific like the Elgato Prompter. The default scroll speed here was ludicrously fast - around a sentence every second - but with this set to a more sane level it works well enough. It would have been nice to see it better integrated into the rest of the software, eg by listening for you to read it out using the webcam's microphone.
Overall, the benefit here is that you're getting a camera suitable for quickly flitting between different people or positions with enough raw optical strength and modern processing to deliver a consistently good result, even in low light. For basic video calls of a single person in a well-lit environment, a much cheaper webcam is sufficient, but for more challenging conditions, then spending more does deliver an uptick in quality.
The question is whether the Link Pro 2 is the ideal pick. While I like the Insta360 software quite a bit, Elgato's Facecam offering is more streamer focused and integrates with a lot of other kit that streamers might already have or want to acquire - lights, control pads, microphones, teleprompters etc. (To be absolutely fair, the Link 2 Pro does come with Stream Deck integration, which is a nice touch). Additionally, the top-end Facecam cameras, the Pro and the 4K, both offer 4K 60fps outputs, which is a better fit with 60fps+ gameplay, while still being nice plug-and-play solutions.
However, none of these cameras have the flexibility of the Link Pro 2 when it comes to positioning, which could make the Link Pro 2 a stronger option for those that want to record their mouse and keyboard inputs, for example, or better deal with streams that feature multiple participants, or the movement you might expect from room-scale VR. These are definitely niches, but for anyone that falls within them, the Link Pro 2 is well worth considering at £239/$249.