Antigravity A1 drone review

The Antigravity A1 is expensive because it uses FPV goggles for the camera view, but it captures 360-degree photos and videos incredibly well while providing an immersive flight experience.

Pros

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Easy to use

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Fantastic design and features

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Great quality for a 360-degree device

Cons

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It costs more than other sub-250 g drones

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FPV goggles mean you need a spotter

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The motion controller is better suited to FPV drones

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Key specs

Camera: Dual 1/1.28-inch sensors with f/2.2 lenses

Video resolution: Up to 8K

Frame rates: 8K up to 30 FPS / 5.2K up to 60 FPS / 4K & 1080p up to 30 FPS/ 4K & 1080p slow motion at 100 FPS

Battery: 3500 mAh LiPo / up to 40 minutes flight

Charger type: USB-C cable/battery charging hub

Modes: Cinematic, Normal, Sport

Video transmission range: Up to 6.2 miles / 10km (Tested in FCC environments)

Dimensions: 5.56 x 3.79 x 3.20-inches / 141.3 x 96.2 x 81.4 mm folded / 12.15 x 15.05 x 3.51-inches / 308.6 x 382.3 x 89.2 mm unfolded (propellers extended)

Weight: 8.78 oz / 249 g (10.26 oz / 291 g with the high-capacity flight battery)

The Antigravity A1 is the first true 360-degree drone with dual cameras that can capture up to 8K video without capturing itself; the A1 remains invisible in the photos and videos you capture. It’s also a sub-250 g model, so it’s compact and lightweight, and even includes advanced features such as collision avoidance. This is extremely useful because of the way the A1 is controlled.

This is a camera drone, not an FPV drone, but the camera view, all 360 degrees of it, is viewed in a pair of high-quality FPV goggles where you can look in all directions. There’s also head tracking for changing direction, while the majority of control is provided by the motion controller. Basically, it’s just like the DJI Avata 2 in terms of control, but it isn’t an FPV drone in design or performance.

[Antigravity A1 drone unfolded]

The Antigravity A1 is a sub-250 g model. (Image credit: James Abbott)

The A1 is arguably one of the best camera drones and the best drones because it’s the only 360-degree drone currently available, but it produces imagery on par with 360-degree action cameras and offers some impressive features. It works on a principle of capture first and reframe later, which means you capture photos and videos in 360 degrees, then choose the 2D camera view later, or export 360-degree photos and videos.

You can also make the drone appear to roll, flip and dive, like an FPV drone, but without the advanced piloting skills required for this type of flight, thanks to easy software reframing. Then there are Sky Genie automated flight patterns that are like Quickshots on other drones, and these allow you to set the drone to fly around a selected subject in interesting ways not possible with the motion controller.

Antigravity A1: Design

• Folding sub-250 g design
• Vision goggles for a 360-degree camera view
• Motion controller

The A1 features a folding design that reduces its size for storage and transportation, like most camera drones these days. It comes with a case that keeps the two cameras safe, although it is possible to change the lenses yourself if they get scratched. The drone is white, rather than the usual gray of most drones, which has no effect on performance.

The drone has top and bottom-mounted cameras. These are mounted on the dampened front section of the drone. Image stabilization is software-based rather than provided by a mechanical gimbal. This front section of the drone also houses two forward-facing binocular vision sensors that look like cameras.

To keep the bottom camera off the ground during take-off and landing, there’s retractable landing gear where two legs extend when the drone is switched on and when it’s landing, while they retract when it has taken off. It’s one of those small features that’s incredibly simple but still manages to impress because it’s a never-before-seen feature.

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The A1 features a folding design.(Image credit: James Abbott)

The battery charging hub has an information screen on the front.(Image credit: James Abbott)

The charging hub can charge three batteries.(Image credit: James Abbott)

The drone case protects the cameras when the drone isn't in use.(Image credit: James Abbott)

The shoulder bag carries the whole kit.(Image credit: James Abbott)

As previously mentioned, the A1 is a camera drone rather than an FPV drone, so it’s a new direction for a camera drone to use FPV goggles and a motion controller. The Vision Goggles provide the camera view on dual 1.03-inch Micro-OLED screens, each with a 2560 x 2560 pixel resolution, creating a square in-goggle image. The battery for the goggles can be attached to an included lanyard that you can conveniently wear around your neck, so it’s not dangling on its cable.

Other Google features include diopters with a range of -5.0 D to +2.0 D, which is great if you wear glasses. Then there’s 30GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot for capturing goggle footage if you wish. There’s also a screen on the front left of the googles, so people can see the forward-facing camera view while you fly, and this is used to display information during firmware updates.

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The goggles have a screen on the front that shows a front-facing camera view during flights.(Image credit: James Abbott)

The goggle battery comes with a comfortable and handy lanyard.(Image credit: James Abbott)

The motion controller has many controls but is easy to use.(Image credit: James Abbott)

The motion controller is comfortable to use.(Image credit: James Abbott)

The A1 offers two battery options, but there is a caveat in that the larger capacity option takes the drone over the magic 250 g threshold. The 2360 mAh battery provides up to 24 minutes of flight time, while the higher-capacity 4345 mAh battery provides up to 39 minutes of flight time. The standard batteries were used during testing, and these typically provided around 16 minutes of flight time before Return to Home was automatically initiated.

Antigravity A1: Functionality

• Great flight performance
• Automated flight modes
• Subject tracking

The A1 flies incredibly well with Cinematic, Normal and Sport flight modes. Sport, like most drones with collision avoidance, is the one mode where the feature is deactivated. Despite the name Sport, the flight doesn’t feel particularly fast, which may be because I’m more used to using FPV goggles when flying faster FPV drones.

Flight is fun and immersive, but it’s certainly not as thrilling as flying FPV drones. This does, of course, make flight with the A1 much more accessible. You can, however, take advantage of the fly first, frame later approach, where you reframe photos and videos in Antigravity Studio and can increase speed and make the drone appear to dive, flip and roll similar to FPV drones, but it's not quite the same either.

Control is provided by the Vision Goggles through head tracking alongside the motion controller, where you point to where you want to fly. There’s also a dial on the motion controller that can be used for turning instead of using head tracking in the goggles. The two work well together for flying in FreeMotion Mode, while in FPV Mode, things are a little different.

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