Very Disappointed in Image Quality of the X3

I bought the Insta360 X3 a couple of weeks ago. I was super excited to have my own 360 camera, especially one that was supposed to rival the three-year-old GoPro Max. 

Positives: 

1.) The app & editing 360 videos is so easy! Love the app.

2.) Camera & invisible selfie stick look & feel like good quality.

3.) Connecting the camera to app is easy.

4.) Downloading videos to my iPhone is quick and painless.

5.) Videos uploaded to Instagram look good enough for most.

Negatives:

1.) The image quality even in bright sunlight is questionable. We have a GoPro Max, so I was able to compare the image quality of the two cameras easily. The GoPro wins by miles!!! The screen grabs and video have much better detail, better color, less noise, etc. I played with the Insta360 X3 settings for hours, trying to squeeze the most out of it, but so far no luck getting anything in the ball park of GoPro’s image quality.

2.) The post-processing image adjustments are just plain bad. Adding more than one point of contrast turns the image too dark in places, let alone anything beyond that. The  “LUT”, “Clarity” & “ColorPlus” settings are unusable.

3.) The PC/computer editing software is too limited and hasn’t produced anything more impressive than the phone app, as far as IQ is concerned.

As much as I want to love it, I don’t think I’ll be using this camera very often. I’m seriously thinking about returning it and getting a refund. It’s a camera, so while the app is important to me, the image quality is more so.