YI has made a name for itself by offering more value for your dollar than competitors. Its 360 VR Camera ($399) continues that tradition—it's the least expensive 360 camera we've seen with greater than 4K resolution. Video quality is solid, but you need to be a Windows user to take full advantage of high-resolution capture. If you use a Mac or are a devoted smartphone user, you're limited to working with 4K. We like it, but if you're going to work in 4K resolution you can save some money and get our Editors' Choice, the Samsung Gear 360, instead.

Design

The YI 360 ($159.00 at Amazon) boasts an understated industrial design with a candy bar form factor. There's a wide-angle lens on the front and rear. They each capture an ultra-wide field of view, recording everything surrounding the camera.

It measures 4.0 by 2.1 by 1.2 inches (HWD) and weighs about 6 ounces. It's got a standard tripod socket on the bottom, which is something you don't get with the competing GoPro Fusion, which requires an adapter to mount on a standard tripod.

Like the Fusion, the YI 360 can sit by itself on a flat surface, so you don't have to use a tripod to set it down and record. There's a monochrome top display that shows battery life, recording status, and memory card capacity. Two control buttons activate a menu system, so you can configure the camera without having to use the smartphone app.

Of course, app control is an option. The 360 VR has Bluetooth and Wi-Fi for connection to Android and iOS devices. You can control all camera settings via the app, including changing the shooting mode between video, still, burst, and time-lapse capture. You get a live feed from the lenses (you can swipe through and change the view with your finger, or change to a flat projection to see the entire frame).

The app also lets you copy files over to your phone. But it can't handle anything higher quality than 4K, and it downsamples video to a mere 2K (1,920 by 960) resolution. If you want the best quality from the camera, you need to use desktop editing tools.

The microSD memory card slot and removable battery are protected by a soft rubber flap. The YI 360 isn't a waterproof camera—if that's a feature you want, you'll need to spend more money on the GoPro Fusion. It features a USB-C port for charging and wired data transfer, as well as a micro HDMI video output.

The YI netted about 45 minutes of 5.7K recording in our battery test, and an hour of life at 4K. Heat is an issue. The camera turned itself off and stopped recording 30 minutes into the 5.7K battery test. I had to remove the battery and give it some cooling time before the camera would turn back on. If you record in 4K the news is better—I was able to fully discharge the battery without overheating rearing its ugly head.

Video and Image Quality

The promises of 360-degree video capture have been hampered by resolution. When you're shooting at 4K (3,840 by 1,920) and stretching all of your pixels across a virtual sphere, video looks softer than what you get from 1080p. And that's the case with the 4K footage captured by the YI 360. Close-up subjects looks pretty good, but anything in the distance is fuzzy and pixelated.

But you can push the video to 5.7K (5,760 by 2,880)—that means each frame is 16.6MP. The extra resolution makes video look much better, both for close-up and distant subjects. Extra pixels means that you can crop down the video to a 16:9 frame, but you'll need to resort to third-party tools to do so. YI doesn't provide the same type of OverCapture software support as you get from cameras like the Fusion or Insta360 One natively.

In-camera stitching above 4K isn't supported, so you'll need to use YI's Windows desktop software to turn the raw video footage into something you can edit and share. The software does what it's supposed to do—stitching is high quality, without overly visible seams. But the lack of macOS support leaves many video editors out in the cold. Remember that the low-cost Samsung Gear 360 tops out at 4K and requires that you stitch video using a desktop system or a smartphone. In-camera stitching at resolutions greater than 4K is currently unheard of.

We do see some shakiness in our tractor-mounted test video, which is something you don't get with the GoPro Fusion's software-based video stabilization option. Of course, the GoPro is a lot more expensive, and the vibrations introduced by a diesel engine are an extreme case for any stabilization system.

When shooting at 4K or higher resolution the frame rate is locked in at 30fps. There's no 24fps option. This isn't uncommon for 360-degree cameras, as smoother frame rates are desirable for headset viewing. But it is a downer if you want to incorporate footage from the YI in a project where a cinematic 24fps frame rate is preferred. You can push to 60 or 120fps by dropping to 2.5K or 2K resolution.

A flat color profile is available if you want to take the time to grade footage when editing. We used the standard profile when testing, and found that colors are natural, even on gray days, without any adjustments. But editors who want more control over how video looks will appreciate the flat option.

Images are captured in JPG format at 16.6MP resolution—each photo is essentially a frame grab from a 5.7K video frame. There's no Raw capture option.

Conclusions

The YI 360 VR Camera is a solid entry in the 360-degree market as long as you are willing to put the time and effort into stitching and editing 5.7K video on a desktop computer. When you shoot at 4K you don't get a quality advantage over the less expensive Samsung Gear 360, although you do enjoy the convenience of in-camera stitching at 4K with the YI.

To get the most out of the camera you'll need to set the resolution to 5.7K. Desktop stitching software is only available for Windows, while the pricier GoPro Fusion offers cross-platform support, better stabilization, and native tools to crop, pan, and zoom 360-degree footage. Overall, we like the YI as a more budget-friendly option, but lower its rating due to overheating issues and a lack of robust software support.

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