If You Want to be the sharpest-looking person on your Friday morning Teams call, you might want to consider investing in the brilliant Insta360 Link 2 motorized webcam. This second-generation ultrahigh-resolution 4K webcam is capable of doing brilliant things to the quality of your video calls.
For starters, the follow-up to 2022’s superb Insta360 Link (8/10 WIRED Recommends) remedies the only major complaint WIRED had with the original: its cost. While the Link was $300 on launch, the asking price for the Link 2 is a much more palatable $200, without a significant drop in performance and with a fair few improvements, too.
Same Great Video Quality
Video quality remains almost identical to the original Insta360, and if you own a Link already, it’s not enough to warrant an upgrade. Both webcams use a half-inch image sensor supporting video capture up to 4K/30p or 1080/60p, and in my side-by-side comparisons I found very little difference between them. The original Link’s autofocus is slightly more responsive and there are some tiny white balance differences, but overall both offer excellent detail, exposure, and color, producing clear and punchy results in all but the worst lighting conditions. If you want a sharper streaming camera than this, you’re going to have to spend big on a mirrorless camera or similar.
So where are the main improvements over the Link? The noise canceling capabilities of the Link 2 are markedly more effective at reducing background sounds, which will be good news for anyone who works in a bustling office or has a home working setup within earshot of a busy road. It’s particularly effective at isolating voices while dampening down droning noises such as fans, vacuum cleaners, or traffic. If you don’t have the space or budget for a separate USB or XLR microphone in your home studio, the Link 2’s built-in mic does a very capable job.
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-SOURCE-Insta-360.jpg "The Insta360 Link 2 Is a Great-Value Motorized Webcam 3")
Follow My Face
The AI-assisted tracking and framing, which keeps the gimbal-mounted camera pointed at human shapes while they move around, is smarter on the Link 2. It now supports tracking for groups rather than just individuals, and as with the older camera, its more than capable of keeping tricky moving subjects in frame or even zooming in to highlight them (depending on your preferred settings).
You can set the camera to track and frame your face, head and shoulders, or full body, and it generally does a great job. If, however, you move out of its field of vision and then return, it struggles to reacquire you automatically. In this case, you can tap the button (circled by a green LED that lights to indicate whether tracking is on or off) to restart tracking, or use the Link 2’s gesture controls to do so from afar. A raised hand, palm facing the camera, toggles tracking on and off. You can also arrange your thumb and forefinger in an upward-pointing L shape, raising or lowering your hand to zoom in and out of the framed image. But, in reality, I found this to be frustratingly spotty and often ignored it entirely.
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In one area, things have regressed a little. The Link was mounted on a three-axis gimbal, allowing it to tilt, pan, and rotate, and capture both 16:9 and 9:16 content without requiring user intervention. The Link 2’s gimbal moves on just two axes, so if you want to film 9:16 video (for TikTok or YouTube Shorts, say), you’ll need to physically rotate the mount 90 degrees—something that requires a special mini tripod or similar. It’s something to consider if you’re likely to want to record a lot of 9:16 footage, but for most people it probably won’t be an issue.
Mounting Concerns
Like its predecessor, the Link 2 is quick and simple to set up. It comes with a detachable, adjustable mount allowing it to perch securely on top of your laptop or desktop PC monitor, which it connects to via a supplied USB-C to USB-C cable (a USB-A adapter is also provided). The camera and the mount are joined via a secure magnet, enabling the user to remove the camera easily at any time, and the mount has a standard tripod thread on its base should you want to set it up separately from the computer (or record 9:16 footage, as outlined above).
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The Insta360 Link 2 is a plug-and-play device that will work seamlessly with the majority of standard video calling and streaming apps. I tested it with FaceTime, Teams, OBS, Discord, and more, all without encountering any issues. But it’s worth installing the Insta360 Link Controller companion desktop app too as it allows you to delve into the Link 2’s options, from adjusting frame rate, resolution, camera orientation, and image and audio settings to engaging software-based features such as AI tracking, background bokeh (blurring), and even live virtual make-up application. If you want to look like a goth in Zoom meetings, this thing has you covered.
In addition to person-tracking, Link 2 also features the same Whiteboard and Overhead modes as its predecessor. The former spots whiteboards or similar rectangular objects in the camera’s field of view and frames them perfectly, allowing you to share your notes and diagrams with colleagues. Overhead mode points the Link 2 directly down from its perch toward your desk, for the purpose of sharing documents or objects there.
A Cam That’s a Cut Above
I think Insta360 has done a solid job with the Link 2, retaining almost all of the appeal of the original model while reducing the price and making small improvements here and there. And as such, I have no hesitation adding it to WIRED’s Best Webcams guide. There’s no spectacular leap forward here—just a reassured step in the right direction—and I don’t think there’s much point in upgrading to the newer model if you already own the original.
But anyone hunting for a highly capable, easy-to-use webcam for work meetings or streaming will get more than their money’s worth here. Its video and audio quality is excellent, it slots seamlessly into all the most popular apps and services, and it offers useful features like tracking and noise cancellation. It’s hard to think of a better webcam at the price.
NB: While I haven’t yet tested it myself, Insta360 has launched another webcam alongside the Link 2. The Insta360 Link 2C is almost identical in terms of specs and features, but removes the gimbal completely, resulting in a slightly less mobile but more compact webcam that’s a little cheaper in price (around $149).
