We've owned our Osmo Mobile for about 2 years and it's a handy little device for getting discreet, steady shots on iPhone. The phone and the pan motor usually warm up from basic use, but when the outdoor temperature exceeds 85 to 90 degrees farenheit (or in high humidity) and I use it for extended periods of time (2-3 hours) the phone and pan motor become very hot. Once I saw the DJI GO app drop a lot frames from video recording and playback because it was in direct sunlight for over an hour. Powering it off and letting the device cool down is the only thing that restores it to normal framerate and a cooler surface. In the field I can't afford the downtime because it's documentary-style filming. We operate locally here in Texas but also in tropical climates like Hispanola and Jamaica, so the black finish attracts even more heat. I've done a lot of reading about this so I'm aware of the balancing the phone correctly—which I do—but I didn't see anything about safe operating temperatures like the Phantom and others. I've toyed with the idea of using chemical instant cold packs to speed up the cooldown when not in use, but is that necessary or even safe?

TL;DR – my Osmo Mobile gradually overheats and I want to know if instant cold packs are safe to use to reduce the temperature for quicker continued use, instead of just powering down and waiting 30 minutes or moving it into air-conditioned indoors. It's a gradual heat, not a fast one.

Hi, thank you for bringing your query here, we may need to clarify this scenario to our engineers to check if there will be an official method regarding with this scenario.

It is not recommended to use the instant cold packs to cool down the Omso Mobile.
You are right, the gimbal must be balanced well just in case one gimbal is overloaded which may cause it heat up.
But based on balancing well, if only one motor gets extremely hotter shortly than other motors, this is not normal, the device will need to be sent in for further evaluation.