8 Reasons to Get the AntiGravity A1 Over a Normal Drone

These are the top eight reasons why I think you should consider the AntiGravity A1 over a normal GPS drone. And I’d like to say thank you to AntiGravity for sponsoring this video.

The Most Immersive Flight Experience of Any Drone

One of the reasons I think you should pick the AntiGravity A1 over other normal drones is the fact that you get the most immersive flight experience out of any drone. That’s partly because of the headset, but also because as you’re flying this thing, you can look around and it just feels like you are literally floating through space — flying through space and experiencing flight unlike any other drone and goggle combination I’ve ever found.

The Goggles Are in a Class of Their Own

Closely related to that is reason number two: the goggles. These goggles are like no other goggles I’ve flown drones with. I fly FPV with FPV goggles. I’ve flown with goggles with my Mavic, my Air 3, Mini 4, and other drones. But the experience of using these goggles is a whole different level. They are much more like wearing something like an Oculus Quest or even the Apple Vision Pro. It’s much more like wearing a set of AR or VR goggles — and it goes way beyond that.

Not only can you add AR elements to your flight, but you also get the opportunity to fly a simulator using these goggles where you don’t have to worry about damaging your drone. It’s a very good simulator — very realistic to how the A1 flies. And one of the coolest things is that you can replay flights in 360 and allow people to look around as the drone is flying.

The Only Drone That Can Film Immersive 360 VR Content

One of the biggest advantages the A1 has over any other drone on the market right now — at least at the time I recorded this video — is the fact that it is the only drone that can film immersive 360 VR content. If you use an Oculus, an Apple headset, or any of the other VR headsets out there, this drone creates native 360 files that you can put out there as a 360 video.

I’m filming here at the foot of a 27-mile-long glacier, in the middle of these huge chunks of blue ice. Very few people in the world get to experience a place like this. I’ve got a link in the description to the actual 360 video — if you want to put a VR headset on and experience it for yourself, that’s really the best way to do it. You can also watch it on a device where you can click and move around with a mouse, or move your phone around, but the experience really comes when you’re watching it with VR goggles.

A quick note: you should never do something like this unless you’re with an experienced guide. In my case, I’ve been mountaineering for close to 30 years, so I know what to look for — and especially what to listen for — when working in environments like this.

You’ll Never Miss a Shot Again

One big reason to consider the AntiGravity A1 is the fact that you will never miss a shot. As long as you’re recording, you are capturing everything around the drone in a 360-degree sphere that you can then reframe later in post — knowing you captured everything around the drone.

Case in point: I was hovering the Mini 5 Pro over an iceberg when it decided to flip and fall apart. I captured as much of it as I could, but because it happened so fast, I missed a huge portion of it — which is super disappointing. If I’d been flying the A1, I definitely would have captured it, because the A1 is capturing everything all around the drone. I wouldn’t have missed the best parts of that shot. The A1 hadn’t been released when I filmed that video, but man, I wish I’d had it out there.

A Huge Variety of Shots From a Single Recording

Another reason to consider the A1 is the fact that you can get a huge variety of different types of shots out of the same recording. Because you’re recording in a 360-degree sphere — capturing everything all around the drone — you can reframe all of that footage in post to get multiple different types of shots, including FPV shots, tiny planet shots, or just some weird, mind-bending shots for the heck of it. You have a lot of flexibility in post.

In addition to that, the A1 does have tracking capability and some quick shots, so you can still get somewhat more classic drone shots if you want. If you want it to follow you, you can absolutely do that — and it does a really good job. It follows well. And even in tracking mode, you could always go back and reframe that footage. If you were tracking a subject and something happened off to the left or right, you still have access to that footage because of the 360-degree field of view.

True 360 Spherical Photos in HDR

Another thing the A1 can do that’s very difficult to do with other drones is capture 360 photos in HDR. You can do HDR with other drones, but you never get a real, true 360 — they’re always kind of making up a piece in the middle of the sky. The A1 can take a full 360 spherical photo. It’s hard to show these on YouTube since it’s a two-dimensional platform, but I’ve got a link in the description to my Facebook page where you can see some of the 360 photos and scroll around to see what it was actually like to stand in a place like this.

Surprisingly Easy to Fly

These last two reasons might seem trivial, but they’re actually kind of important. The first is how easy the AntiGravity A1 is to fly. This is your controller — and it really is as simple as taking the drone off and pointing this in the direction you want it to go. Pull the trigger and the drone goes that way. While it’s going that way — because the drone will only fly forward and has obstacle avoidance — you can look around and just enjoy the flight if you want.

You can also put it into FPV mode, which gives you a bit of a different flight experience where you’re more directly steering the drone left, right, up, and down. That gives you even more options for framing. It took me a bit to get used to this controller since I came from flying normal drones for a very long time. But now that I’ve gotten used to it, it really is simple and intuitive — and it gives you a fantastic experience. I’ve actually taken to enjoying flying this drone a lot more than I expected, just because it’s easy and the experience is genuinely great.

Replaceable Lenses Make It Easy to Maintain

The last reason might seem trivial, but it’s not. Because the A1 is a 360 drone with lenses on the bottom and on the top — and these little legs come down for landing — it is super important that those lenses are replaceable. And they are. It’s very inexpensive and very easy to do yourself. You can replace the lenses if they get scratched, if you have a hard landing, or anything like that. You don’t have to send the drone in for repairs, which is fantastic.

So there you have it — my eight reasons why I think you should consider the AntiGravity A1 over a normal drone. I’d love to hear from you: did I miss anything, or are there other things I’m not thinking about? Let me know in the comments below.

This article is based on a video by Jake Sloan on his YouTube channel. You can find more of Jake’s content on his DroneXL author page.