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I always buy my own gifts. At least, my own Christmas and birthday gifts, when I know exactly what I want.

There's no room for error, no way that I'm given something that's similar but not exactly the same thing. Coming from DW, the money's coming from our joint account, so the gift is being funded from the same source.

And I don't need to wait for the exact date, be it December 25 or the first week in March.

If I want it, I get it, and attribute the gift to that special occasion.

I've wanted this device since it first came out, late last summer. I was thinking that it would have been nice to take with us to Portugal, but I couldn't justify the cost on top of the price for our vacation, so I decided to wait. If there was a sale price at Christmas, it would be the gift to myself.

It didn't go on sale. Not for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, nor Boxing Day.

I really wanted to have it for our trip to Mexico, but again, I couldn't justify the full price. Come my birthday, I said, I'll get it, no matter if it's on sale or not. Because I received no gifts for Christmas, save a book from Kid 1, I could say that it would be a combination of Christmas and birthday gift, to myself.

The last time I ordered a video camera from Insta360, it took nearly two weeks. I wanted to have it in time for my birthday, so I ordered the Insta360 X3 camera last Friday.

On Sunday, I received a notification that the camera had shipped, and that I would receive it on February 23 (yesterday). Only six days. Excellent.

But on Tuesday, I received another notification that the camera was out for delivery and would arrive that day. I was excited, and looked out the window to my home office every time I heard a vehicle roll down our street. I was like a kid, on Christmas Eve, waiting by the fireplace, waiting for Santa to come down the chimney.

It arrived just over an hour after my delivery notification.

I know: I have two Insta360 cameras already. I received my first camera, the One X, just before DW and I left for Mexico, in 2019, to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. And I took it with me to South Korea in May of that same year.

In the summer of 2020, Insta360 came out with the One R, a modular camera that allowed you to change the lenses from a 360-degree module to a single, 4K lens, to a lens with a one-inch sensor. I continued to use my One X for underwater video and as a backup, and I used the One R for most of my kayaking videos.

(I'm actually on my second One R, having pooched my first one in an underwater mishap while kayaking.)

In 2021, when the X2 came out, it was touted as the successor to the One X. It had a touch screen (though small) and could go underwater without the dive case that the One X required. At first, it attracted me as an upgrade to my first camera, but after watching a couple of reviews on YouTube, I learned that the video quality was not much of an upgrade and it didn't have any features that I didn't already have with my One R.

If I had the One R, said one reliable YouTuber that I follow, it wasn't worth putting out the money for the X2.

And so I waited.

Insta360 came out with three new cameras in 2022: the one-inch One R edition, the One RS, which was a slight upgrade to the One R, and the X3. The one-inch One R was slightly attractive but it was much more expensive than my budget would allow. The One RS was only slightly better than the One R, but the X3 was much improved from the One X.

Better resolution, more features, could go underwater, up to 10 metres, without a case, and had a large touch screen that is only slightly smaller than my first smartphone. I wanted it but would have to wait.

The waiting is over.

My One X still captures decent video, including underwater, and so I'm going to continue to use it with its dive case when I go snorkelling. It's a good backup camera.

I'll continue to use my One R, as the interchangeable lenses make it quite versatile. On our recent trip to Mexico, I used the One R with the 4K module for all of the underwater footage that I captured in Akumal Bay.

But the X3 is now my main video camera and I can't wait to attach it to the deck of my kayak or clamp it onto my bicycle. For the next few months, while we still have snow, I'll be putting it through its paces, getting to know it.

It's also supposed to be good as a digital camera, capturing images at 72 megapixels.

I've promised myself that this will be the last 360 camera I buy until it wears out. With my three video cameras, I don't think I could justify owning a fourth while any of these three are still going strong.

That's the plan, anyway. Stay tuned.