Today, we’re comparing two of the most interesting drone releases in the past few years. On one side, we have the DJI Avata 360, DJI’s first ever panoramic drone designed to combine FPV flying with full 360-degree capture. And on the other side, we have the Antigravity A1, the first mainstream 8K 360 drone that basically created this entire category. Both of these drones can capture amazing 8K 360 video. Both also promise incredible creative freedom and both claim to make cinematic shots easier than ever, but they do it in a very different way. So, today we’re going to answer the question: which one is the better 360 drone? I tested them across nine important categories and at the end of each category, I gave a point to the winner. Let’s see who actually takes the win.

Design and build

Starting out with the Antigravity A1, we have a very traditional look — a foldable camera drone that just unfolds and weighs just under 250 grams, meaning that it’s a lot easier and a lot more legal to fly this in many areas of the world. We have a camera on the top and a camera on the bottom with the landing gear extending right underneath the drone to protect the lenses.

On the other hand, we have the Avata 360, which looks like a traditional cinewhoop with propeller guards, with an integrated camera that rotates, allowing you to film in single lens mode and also 360 mode. The whole design of the drone is a very safe type of design, allowing you to fly close to obstacles, close to people, giving you a little bit more precision when flying to be able to capture a lot more dynamic and aggressive type of shots.

This immediately tells you something. The design of the Avata 360 is more like a traditional FPV drone, whereas the design of the Antigravity A1 resembles more the design of a traditional camera drone. That difference really changes the way you fly these drones. Because of that extra flexibility of the design that allows you to create more aggressive, more precise shots, I gave the point to the Avata 360.

However, one big asterisk is the design of the Antigravity A1 — not only of the drone, but also the remote controller and the goggles. They deserve a point as well because let’s be honest, those accessories and the drone itself are some of the most beautiful pieces of products that I’ve seen in the past couple of years. Not often we get the chance to have a product that is so different from everything else we’ve seen on the market. The design language, the user interface, the way the animations flow, and the way the whole experience has been created on the Antigravity system deserves an additional point because I’m just a huge fan. Not only of the goggles, but the design of the remote controller with this fighter jet inspired design. I’m just a big fan of the overall experience while flying the Antigravity A1 and the freshness that it brings to the whole table.

Image quality

Now, we’re getting into one of the most important categories, and that’s image quality. Because with 8K 360 drones, image quality is one of the biggest strengths these drones have to offer.

We have 8K 60 frames per second 10-bit D-Log M footage on the Avata 360 coming out of two 1/1.1-inch sensors with an aperture of f/1.9 and a built-in storage of 42 GB. On the other side, we have the Antigravity A1, which again has two image sensors. Each of them is 1/1.28-inch. We have 8K 30 frames per second video on the Antigravity A1, 8-bit color, aperture of f/2.2, and finally the Antigravity A1 comes with just a normal color profile — you don’t have any flat color profile available on the A1.

As you can see, we have a large difference between the two drones when it comes to maximum frame rate — 60 frames per second as opposed to 30 frames per second. The aperture on both of these lenses is also very different: f/1.9 against f/2.2. We have 10-bit D-Log M footage as opposed to 8-bit normal color profile footage, which is again a massive difference.

If you want to color grade your footage, you can use D-Log M with 10-bit color. That gives you so much more control and so many more colors that result in less banding and a more professional look out of the Avata 360. Whereas with the A1, you’re kind of left with what you have captured. You don’t have much control over color grading your footage because you’re going to break it as it’s only 8 bits. So that does not allow you a lot of creative freedom in terms of color control and really customizing the look of your footage.

The faster aperture of the Avata 360 also means that in low light situations, you will have a lot better looking footage combined with the bigger sensor size, as opposed to what you’re able to get on the Antigravity A1. If you’re someone who shoots a lot around dusk or sunset or even at nighttime, you will have a much better experience with the Avata 360.

When it comes to stabilizing your footage, both of these drones rely on electronic image stabilization, meaning that you don’t have a physical gimbal. Because of that, there might be some vibrations, some problems with stabilizing your footage, especially if you are flying in strong wind. That is the case sometimes when you’re flying with the Avata 360 — you have those little wobbles and shakes that are a little bit annoying. You don’t really see that as much on the Antigravity A1 because of the design of the drone. However, both drones are quite stable, I would say, and produce great results. In terms of stabilization, they’re neck and neck.

But when we combine everything, I gave the point to the Avata 360 because of that bigger flexibility, more customization in terms of color grading, and ways of capturing different footage because of the larger sensor and faster aperture, allowing you to fly even in situations where you wouldn’t be able to get great footage out of the A1.

Flight performance and battery life

The A1 can reach speeds up to 16 meters per second with up to 39 minutes of flight time when using the larger battery. The drone has two options for battery sizes, and the heavier one gives you more flight time but also makes the total weight more than 250 grams. So, it’s up to you to decide whether you want to have a very lightweight drone or a little bit more durable drone that gives you more flight time.

On the Avata 360, we only have one type of battery which promises up to 23 minutes of maximum flight time, which in real life is more about 18 to 20 minutes, which is still fine. But on battery, definitely the A1 is the winner here.

In terms of overall performance, both of these drones perform great and fly super well. There is however a big difference once again because the Avata 360 can fly as an FPV drone. The drone kind of combines FPV-style flight characteristics with cinematic stabilization, meaning you can fly like a normal drone but produce FPV-like results. It also flies a little bit quicker up to 18 m/s and in general feels a little bit more fast-paced, more dynamic, and more aggressive. It will probably give you a lot more pleasure to fly. So, the winner in terms of flight performance is the Avata 360.

Transmission system and range

This one is huge for drones since that’s the main way to really enjoy the flight. If you don’t have good range, you’re not going to enjoy the flight. Here we have a massive difference again in favor of the Avata 360 because it uses the O4 Plus transmission system which DJI has been working on for so long. Ever since DJI started making FPV drones, they have been improving their range. And the O4 Plus is the cherry on top that gives you that incredible flight feeling. You don’t have that stuttery, laggy image anymore as it was a couple of years ago. Now the range is just fantastic. I’ve never had any issues with the range of the Avata 360.

Unfortunately, that’s not something that I can say about the Antigravity A1. If you have seen my first impressions video of this drone, you will see that I was struggling with the range and the signal strength even just flying around 100 to 200 meters away from myself. That kind of fixed itself a little bit while I was browsing through different settings, experimenting with some different settings on the A1, but still I’m never getting the same amount of signal strength as I’m getting on the Avata 360.

Also, something very important is the fact that you get 30 frames per second feed in your goggles when flying the A1, whereas you get 60 frames per second feed in your goggles while flying the Avata 360. That makes the whole experience a lot smoother in the goggles. What you’re seeing is actually so much more fluid and smooth, and especially after flying one and then flying the other one, it’s just a breath of fresh air after switching from A1 to Avata 360. It’s so much smoother. So I gave the point to the Avata 360 once again for transmission and range.

Compatibility and ecosystem

Again, you will see where things are going very quickly because there are so many different ways and so many different accessories that you can use to control the Avata 360. Let’s start with the RC Motion Controller 3. This is one of the devices that you can use if you want to fly FPV with your Avata 360. If you still want to fly FPV but want more control, you have the FPV Remote Controller 3. Then we have the option to use the RC 2, which makes this drone fly a lot more like a traditional drone. It still records 360 video, but you can use the screen instead of the goggles.

If you don’t want to use goggles, you can use the RC 2. If you don’t want that, you can use the RCN3. Or if you have an RCN2, which is the older version, you can also use that and put your phone on top of that as a screen. You can also use the RC Pro 2 — you will be able to use it down the line. It’s not supported yet, but in a few weeks or months, it will be included as well. So, we have maybe five or six different ways to control the drone.

Whereas with the Antigravity A1, since it’s a brand new product with a brand new ecosystem, it doesn’t have any accessories besides the motion controller. That’s the only way to fly and control the drone — with the goggles and this remote controller. No more precise controller than this. You don’t have a full controller like the FPV Remote Controller 3 available, and that’s something many people have been requesting. For now, that’s the only controller available, and the goggles are the only way to fly the Antigravity A1. So for that, obviously the point goes to Avata 360.

Safety features

Here is where the drones really start to separate from each other. First off, both of these drones have their replaceable lens kits available. You don’t have to send the drones back to the factory or to a repair shop if you want to change one of those lenses if you happen to scratch them. With 360 drones, that’s quite a large possibility. So, having a replaceable lens kit available at your disposal is a massive thing. I’m really happy to see that both of these drones support that.

But the Antigravity A1 comes with forward and downward obstacle sensing, whereas the Avata 360 comes with omnidirectional obstacle sensing, meaning that from all directions you will be able to detect those obstacles. You will be notified and you’ll be able to avoid them. On top of that, we also have LIDAR on the front. When flying in darker areas, darker environments where you cannot see well from the camera, the drone will be able to detect those obstacles with the LIDAR on the front. Combine that with the propeller guard and that makes this drone a whole lot safer than the Antigravity A1. So, the winner here again is the Avata 360.

Ease of use and editing

This is a big thing because obviously as you will be capturing 360 footage, you will need to edit that footage afterwards. This is huge for Antigravity as they come out with their own app and their own studio app for computers. So you have two options straight away that you will be able to use. And since Antigravity is kind of like Insta360 but with a different name, they have already had a lot of experience when creating those apps, when dealing with bugs, when dealing with user experience, with ways to make everything smoother. So the editing aspect of the 360 footage captured from the Antigravity A1 is very user-intuitive and very smooth.

Now that’s not exactly the case for the DJI drone as it’s still kind of new in this category, this niche of 360. Even with their Osmo 360, they haven’t really developed their app to such an extent to really compete with what Antigravity has. So, the user experience, the way that you are able to quickly edit on the go is definitely far more enjoyable on the Antigravity drone.

If you will be editing a lot, the experience with the Antigravity A1 will be better than what we currently have with the Avata 360, as currently we don’t even have a phone app that we can use to edit our footage. The only way to edit the 360 footage captured on the Avata 360 is with the DJI Studio app. That’s a big limitation for now. I’m sure they will be enabling another way via a phone app to let you edit your 360 footage as soon as possible, but for now, we don’t have that and it’s kind of annoying and a little bit cumbersome editing all of your 360 footage from the desktop application.

When it comes to ease of use and the ways to capture different types of shots, we have a lot of flexibility from both drones with smart features and intelligent flight modes. So, for this category, I gave two points to the Antigravity A1 in terms of ease of use because it has a lot of built-in modes that let you capture creative types of footage with some tracking, some waypoints, and stuff like that. And also because of the easy editing that their apps allow you to have. Whereas the Avata 360 has a lot of flexible creative modes available, but the editing part is not that good. So, a point for the creative modes, but two points for the A1 for the creative options and the editing.

Flight feel

The Avata 360 feels exactly as what you would expect from a DJI drone. It feels stable, predictable, and very confidence-inspiring. Even when flying a little bit more aggressively, the drone feels just composed and very easy to control. All the movements are smooth. The inputs translate clearly into motion and the drone just feels nice. It doesn’t feel nervous or unpredictable at any point of the flight. This makes the drone feel very approachable for people who are still new to flying and want to experience the rush of flying with goggles.

Moving on to the A1, I would say that it has a slightly different personality. It feels a little bit more aggressive, which some pilots might actually prefer. Also, the drone feels very responsive while switching directions and changing the flight path, but it’s slightly less forgiving, meaning that for me at least, it feels a little bit less fluid and smooth compared to the Avata 360.

I gave a point to both drones because they fly very differently from each other, but it’s really a matter of personal taste and how you prefer flying. Some people prefer more aggressive and responsive drones. Others prefer a little bit more smoothness in their flight. So, because of that, both drones take a point in this category.

Pricing

When it comes to pricing, the difference here is honestly brutal. The Antigravity A1 officially starts around €1,400, but with current discounts, you can realistically find it closer to €1,200 for the base bundle and up to €1,600 plus for higher kits.

Now, compare that to the Avata 360. You’re looking at just €459 for the drone, €719 with a controller, and under €1,000 for a full Fly More combo. So, purely on value, the Avata 360 absolutely destroys the A1 in terms of accessibility and price to performance.

Final verdict

I think the Antigravity A1 deserves massive respect. It basically invented this whole category with 8K 360 drones, giving you such a unique type of shots that are otherwise impossible to get. But I think the DJI Avata 360 is the better drone out of the two. Again, it comes down to personal preference, ways of flying, and different characteristics that you would appreciate more or less. It’s really up to you to decide which one is going to give you better results.

I’m very curious to hear your thoughts on these 360 drones. Let me know what you think about the Antigravity A1 and the Avata 360. Which one do you prefer? And do you agree or disagree with the points that I gave to both of these drones? Let me know down in the comments section below.

You can watch the full comparison video on the Drone Supremacy YouTube channel. Read more articles by Mike on DroneXL.