Antigravity A1 Review: The First 360-Degree Drone Is Changing Everything

For years, drones have been filming utilizing the identical precept: you level the digicam, fly, and hope you seize the second. The Antigravity A1 utterly turns this idea on its head. The world’s first 360-degree client drone, developed by Insta360 beneath the brand new Antigravity model, merely captures all the area round it. And you resolve solely after the flight the place the digicam ought to have been pointing. The result’s distinctive in its personal method, but it surely’s not excellent both. Find out in our in-depth evaluation whether or not the A1 lives as much as its promise in on a regular basis use, what this tiny 249-gram gadget is able to technically, and for whom the hefty price ticket is price it.

Technical Specifications of the Antigravity A1

Product	A1
Camera System	360-degree dual-lens, two 1/1.28-inch sensors (high/backside), f/2.2
Video Resolution	8K at 30 fps, 5.6K at 60 fps, 4K at 100 fps
Photo decision	as much as 120 megapixels
Weight	249 g (EU Class C0, beneath 250 g)
Landing gear	Motorized retractable
Lenses	Interchangeable (crash safety)
Flight time	as much as 24 min. (commonplace battery), as much as 39 min. (high-capacity battery)
Range	Approx. 300 m beneath check situations
Obstacle detection	Omnidirectional, with bypass mode
Control	Grip-Motion Controller (one-handed)
Display system	Vision Goggles, twin micro-OLED (2560 × 2560 px per eye), head monitoring
Software	Antigravity App + Insta360 Studio
Price (MSRP)	Price not available *

Design & Build Quality: Lightweight and Clever

Weighing in at 249 grams, the Antigravity A1 intentionally stays under the magic 250-gram threshold. This is not any coincidence—it’s by design: In the EU, this locations the drone within the beginner-friendly C0 class, which is topic to considerably much less restrictive rules. You don’t want an EU pilot’s license for the upper ranges, and you’ll take off extra simply in lots of on a regular basis conditions. This is an actual benefit for journey and spontaneous photographs.

The A1 feels pleasantly compact in your hand; its measurement is roughly paying homage to DJI’s Mini collection or the Neo 2 (our evaluation). It’s actually top-of-the-line entry-level drones of 2026. A specific spotlight is the motorized retractable touchdown gear. After takeoff, the legs retract, clearing the view downward. This is what makes seamless 360-degree recording potential with none distracting struts within the body. A intelligent resolution.

The bundle leaves nothing to be desired, although. It consists of the drone, controller, goggles, all crucial cables, a charging station, and two extra batteries—all the pieces you might want to get began. The bundle is available in a useful shoulder bag with room for the drone and all its equipment.

We have been much less impressed with the selection of supplies. The physique is made solely of plastic and, when put next on to heavier fashions, doesn’t really feel fairly as high-quality or strong. With a 250-gram drone, that is bodily nearly unavoidable, however you need to nonetheless fly it with applicable care. At least Antigravity has thought this by way of: the 2 fisheye lenses are interchangeable. So a scratch on the lens doesn’t routinely imply the top of all the digicam. This is a wise safeguard, particularly for a drone that’s certain to make contact with the bottom every so often.

However, as a result of Antigravity A1’s design, it isn’t fairly as handy to make use of as you may be used to with different drones. The drone, controller, and Vision Goggles—plus additional batteries—take up fairly a little bit of area, so you actually need to make a aware determination to deliver the drone (or somewhat, all the bundle) with you. For some rivals, the barrier to entry is just a lot decrease.

Especially because the setup course of—regardless that it’s pretty intuitive and guided by a well-designed tutorial within the app—takes fairly a little bit of time. The preliminary firmware replace, for instance, took three makes an attempt in my check earlier than it put in with out errors. That’s a bit irritating, particularly for learners who simply need to “go for a quick flight.”

Image and Video Quality: 8K All Around, With One Catch

Let’s get to the guts of the matter. The Antigravity A1 information in true 8K at 30 frames per second, or optionally in 5.6K at a easy 60 fps, or in 4K at as much as 100 fps for gradual movement. It captures pictures at as much as 120 megapixels. Two 1/1.28-inch sensors report concurrently, and their photographs are mixed to kind the entire spherical picture.

In apply, the A1 delivers spectacular, extremely detailed footage in good lighting situations. The actual enchantment lies in post-processing: From a single flight, you’ll be able to later extract a number of utterly totally different digicam angles, pan freely, and even select between side ratios like 16:9, 9:16, and 1:1. One flight, many clips. For content material creators who produce for Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok concurrently, that is price its weight in gold.

But right here’s the catch: Because a standard 16:9 video is at all times only a part of the 360-degree sphere, the complete 8K decision by no means makes it into the completed clip. The extra you zoom in or choose a slim body, the extra noticeable the lack of sharpness turns into. And in low mild, the A1 exhibits noticeable weaknesses: The small sensors begin producing noise before on drones with a basic, bigger single digicam. If you intend to make use of the A1 primarily throughout the blue hour or at night time, you need to mood your expectations a bit.

Especially because the 360-degree movies require fairly a little bit of post-processing. That’s since you get particular Antigravity codecs for pictures and movies. These can’t be used with out post-processing. Using both the Antigravity app for iOS and Android or the PC/Mac different, Antigravity Studio, the 360-degree movies should first be cropped earlier than they’re actually prepared for social media. Fortunately, this course of is extraordinarily intuitive, but it surely does require a bit of additional effort.

Controls, Grip Controller & Vision Goggles

The controls are simply as modern because the digicam idea itself. Instead of a standard distant management joystick, you management the A1 with the Grip Controller—a one-handed movement controller with haptic suggestions. You transfer your hand intuitively, and the drone follows. In our check, this proved to be surprisingly accessible, particularly for learners. Two flight modes (a less complicated movement mode and a extra direct FPV mode) cater to each learners and extra bold pilots.

The second key part is the Vision Goggles. These video goggles, which make you appear to be an ant, function two 1-inch micro-OLED shows, every with a decision of 2560 × 2560 pixels, and head monitoring: When you flip your head, you progress dwell by way of the 360-degree view. It’s simply as in case you have been floating within the air your self. It’s a fairly immersive expertise and a whole lot of enjoyable. Handy: You can share the dwell feed with bystanders through the surface of the goggles, so others can observe alongside from the drone’s perspective.

When used with the joystick and goggles, the drone flies wherever you look. If you search for and pull the throttle set off, the A1 flies upward. If you flip round, the drone turns with you. This is by far essentially the most intuitive management system I’ve seen to this point, and after a brief studying curve, it’s a breeze to make use of.

However, there’s an essential authorized level to think about right here. When flying with video goggles, you not have direct visible contact with the drone. In Germany and the EU, you want a spotter who retains the drone in sight always. So, flying by yourself utilizing solely the goggles isn’t permitted. Another vital level to notice is that the radio connection degrades noticeably sooner when encountering obstacles or in city environments than is typical with established techniques.

Another level that shouldn’t be ignored is movement illness. Personally, I’m not often very susceptible to it, and I don’t have any issues with VR headsets or 3D glasses. But whereas testing the Antigravity A1, I began to really feel fairly queasy in my abdomen after just some minutes. So in case you’re susceptible to this, you need to suppose twice earlier than shopping for—or not less than attempt a check flight if potential. After all, the A1 affords two flight modes, the primary of which is designed for these with delicate stomachs.

App, Editing & Smart Flight Modes

After the flight, the software program takes over. Using the Antigravity app and the acquainted Insta360 Studio desktop software program, you’ll be able to body, edit, and export your footage. Anyone who has ever labored with an Insta360 digicam will discover their method round instantly—the reframing workflow is among the many greatest the market presently has to supply.

The A1 has no scarcity of sensible modes. Deep Track routinely tracks a topic, AI-powered enhancing modes can flip your uncooked footage into completed clips on demand, and there’s additionally Sky Path for deliberate flight routes, time-lapse, and even voice management. The omnidirectional impediment detection system, full with bypass mode, retains the drone from colliding with obstacles when wanted.

However, not all the pieces runs utterly easily. Subject monitoring works extra reliably throughout post-processing than in actual time and nonetheless struggles with quick, close-range actions. And as a result of Antigravity continues to develop the A1 with frequent firmware updates, you completely want an web connection to replace it—with out an replace, sure options could stay disabled. That’s the standard trade-off with a first-generation product. That stated, the impediment detection system is considerably extra cautious than DJI’s: While I might fly a DJI drone by way of a cornfield or up a tower with none issues, the Antigravity A1 stops properly earlier than reaching such obstacles to keep away from a possible collision.

Battery & Flight Time

Regarding battery life, Antigravity claims as much as 24 minutes with the usual battery and as much as 39 minutes with the optionally available high-capacity battery. As is nearly at all times the case with drones, these are lab figures. In apply—with wind, cooler temperatures, and lively flying—we averaged round 19 minutes per commonplace battery.

That’s sufficient for a couple of photographs, however in case you’re planning a full day of filming, you need to undoubtedly go for the Explorer or Infinity bundle, which incorporates a number of batteries. There’s additionally one draw back: The 360-degree footage generates massive quantities of information, so the microSD reminiscence card fills up shortly.

On high of that, the vary can be considerably restricted. In my check, connection drops occurred after nearly one kilometer in open terrain. A DJI Neo 2 or Lito X1 flies considerably farther, particularly since Antigravity specifies a spread of 6 km. However, I couldn’t even come near reaching that.

Who is the Antigravity A1 for?

The Antigravity A1 isn’t a drone for everybody—and it doesn’t purpose to be. It’s clearly geared toward content material creators, motion sports activities filmmakers, and adventurous creatives who’re in search of a novel, immersive look and aren’t afraid of a bit post-production. Those prepared to take a position time in enhancing shall be rewarded with views which might be not possible to realize with any conventional drone.

On the opposite hand, the A1 is much less appropriate for anybody who needs fast, ready-to-use outcomes straight from the digicam, expects most picture high quality in any lighting situations, or needs to carry out basic, aggressive FPV racing maneuvers. For them, specialised drones are nonetheless the higher selection.

Antigravity A1 Review: Conclusion

The Antigravity A1 is without doubt one of the most fun new drones to return out in a very long time. Insta360 combines FPV flying and 360-degree recording into a totally new expertise—and it’s surprisingly properly thought out. The “fly first, frame later” precept takes the stress off flying, the invisible drone impact seems spectacular, and management through the grip controller and imaginative and prescient goggles is extra intuitive than you’d anticipate—particularly for learners.

However, it’s clear that the A1 is a first-generation product. The plastic housing feels much less strong, the wi-fi vary drops off too shortly when encountering obstacles, the picture will get noisy in low mild, and as a result of efficient cropped decision and the obligatory post-processing, it requires some persistence and know-how. Added to this are the excessive value and the requirement for a spotter when flying with the goggles within the EU. The problem of movement illness shouldn’t be ignored both, nor ought to the comparatively in depth (and completely crucial) post-processing.

But truthfully: In return, the Antigravity A1 rewards you with a novel flying expertise that’s presently unmatched on this kind. The backside line is that the Antigravity A1 isn’t a alternative for a basic (and complex) images drone, however somewhat a standalone, artistic instrument. Those who perceive what it’s designed for will discover an enchanting drone that opens up new cinematic prospects. Everyone else would possibly need to watch for the second era.