Our review of the world’s first 360-degree drone, the Antigravity A1 drone

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.

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.

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.

In FPV mode, you simply pull the trigger to fly forward and tilt the controller left and right to turn. FPV mode allows for smooth and sweeping drone movements and is a great flight mode when you get used to it. It’s certainly a flight mode that you need to understand because if not, the drone can feel like it’s flying away. Furthermore, it’s not really an FPV mode; that’s just a name.

(Image credit: James Abbott)

With motion controllers, you are limited in the ways you can control drones compared to a traditional stick-based controller. So, for flying around a pre-selected subject, Sky Genie provides six automated flight patterns that enable you to capture video with ease using sometimes complex movements. Sky Genie modes include Orbit, Spiral Ascend, Comet, Antigravity Line, Fly Away and Ascend.

Then there’s Sky Path, which is like waypoints, where you can pre-program flight paths so you can revisit locations multiple times and replicate flights, or allow other people to wear the goggles and enjoy a 360-degree view without flying the A1. There’s also a subject tracking mode that works incredibly well and requires you to select the subject to be tracked. Subject tracking takes advantage of Insta360’s impressive Deep Track technology.

There’s also Virtual Cockpit in FPV mode, which provides an augmented reality overlay in the goggles and at the time of writing, you can fly with a dragon. It’s a bit of a gimmick, but some people will no doubt enjoy it, and more skins will be added in the future. Finally, when you use the Antigravity landing mat, it provides a precise Return to Home point and works surprisingly well, making landing incredibly easy.

The A1 has two cameras – one mounted on the top and the other on the bottom of the drone. (Image credit: James Abbott)

The image quality produced by the A1 is excellent, but this must be considered in context. It’s excellent for a 360-degree camera. Antigravity was incubated by Insta360, so it has a fine pedigree behind it when it comes to 360-degree photo and video capture. It’s not, however, as good as the image quality of a standard camera drone.

For example, the A1 captures 360-degree video in 8K, while most camera drones capture a single view in 4K to 6K, depending on the model. This is far higher-resolution, ultimately, than the A1. But let’s not be negative here because the A1 does capture great image quality for the type of cameras it uses.

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Tiny planet photo created in Antigravity Studio.(Image credit: James Abbott)A top-down photo of an allotment.(Image credit: James Abbott)You can capture ultra-wide-angle views.(Image credit: James Abbott)The Auto shooting mode is excellent.(Image credit: James Abbott)Photos often need little adjustment.(Image credit: James Abbott)

During testing, the camera was set to Auto when capturing both photos and videos, and the A1 captured photos and videos with balanced exposures. You can also shoot in manual, so it’s up to you whether you take the easy option or go for the more consistent yet involved manual option.

The dual cameras both include a 1/1.28-inch sensor and an f/2.2 aperture. These create a 360-degree view where the drone is invisible, which is great. Photos can be captured in INSP and DNG formats at a resolution of 14MP (5248 x 2624) and 55MP (10486 x 5248). Shooting modes include Normal, HDR, Burst, AEB and Interval. You can reframe photos in several different formats and even create animated photos. These are fun and interesting and are exported as short videos.

Please note the footage below was shot in 8K, but our video player only plays in HD.

Video can be captured in 8K at up to 30 FPS, 5.2K up to 60FPS, 4K & 1080p up to 30FPS and 4K and 1080p slow motion at 100FPS. The maximum bitrate is 170 mbps, and video can be encoded in H.264 or H.265. Photo and video editing can take place in the Antigravity smartphone app or the Antigravity Studio Desktop app. Both offer templates for quick and easy edits, but there are more available on the phone app.

Antigravity Studio is basically a reskinned version of Insta360 Studio, which is easy to use and will be familiar to many people. The software allows you to choose camera angles, add camera movements and even speed up drone flight to mimic FPV drones. The editing part of the image-making process is incredibly important and is where you can add flips, rolls and dives to your videos.

The Antigravity A1 was launched on December 4, 2025. It’s also more expensive than other sub-250 g drones, including the DJI Mini 5 Pro, simply because of the FPV goggles that are part of the three kits that are available. It’s an innovative and, indeed, exciting drone, but its cost and reliance on goggles could be a dealbreaker for some drone pilots.

There are three kits available: the Standard Bundle, the Explorer Bundle and the Infinity Bundle. The Standard Bundle includes the drone, motion controller, FPV goggles, one battery and accessories. The Explorer Bundle includes all this plus three batteries in total, a battery charging hub, a shoulder bag and spare propellers.

The Infinity Bundle is the same as the Explorer Bundle, but it includes higher-capacity batteries for longer flight times. The Standard Bundle costs $1599 / £1299, the Explorer Bundle costs $1899 / £1399 and the Infinity Bundle costs $1999 / £1499.

If you would like a 360-degree drone capable of capturing 55MP 360-degree photos and 8K 360-degree video, then you should absolutely buy the Antigravity A1. It’s also the only 360-degree drone currently available, so it enjoys a monopoly, for now at least.

The reliance on FPV goggles does raise the price of the drone and means that you need a spotter to keep an eye on the drone while you fly. This might be a hassle you’re not willing to endure. It’s a shame that Antigravity didn’t also offer a standard stick controller option that can be used with a smartphone as a budget option.

The drone is exceptionally well-made and offers some fantastic features that make it stand out. The Sky Genie automated flight patterns are also great for focusing on subjects, while subject tracking works incredibly well. Flight speeds aren’t the quickest, but the capture first, reframe later approach means you can speed things up in the Antigravity Studio software.

Antigravity A1 8K 360: Price Comparison