DJI Avata 360 Review: Game-Changer or Overhyped Gimmick? My Honest Take After Testing It

Today we are reviewing the DJI Avata 360. There has been a lot of hype and excitement around this drone, with the promise of capturing 360-degree footage at 8K and choosing how to frame it later. There is probably a good reason for it. Comments range from “this could be the future of FPV” to “it’s the most overhyped drone of the year.”

So, is it truly a game-changer, or is it just a gimmick? After testing it ourselves, we have a lot to say. In this video, we are going to give you a complete picture: pricing, specs, the flight experience, what it does well, what still needs to be worked on, and who actually should be buying this drone. So let’s get to it.

Let’s go ahead and talk about the biggest feature of this drone, which is what the hype is all about and probably the reason why you are here watching this video: 8K 360-degree drone footage. We saw Antigravity come out with this tech first, and now DJI is giving it their own version.

What Is the Avata 360, Really?

So, how does it work? The Avata 360 has two lenses that work together to capture an entire sphere of video around the drone. In every direction at once, it is taking two videos and stitching them together into one. That stitch happens to be right in the middle of the frame. A little bit more on that later.

Here is the key part. You are not watching a 360 video at the end. You are reframing a standard flat video. In post-production, you are going to choose where the virtual camera is pointing, what the field of view looks like, and also how it moves. You can create some FPV-style movements, some zoom, some cinematic shots, or a vertical social media clip if you want to, all from a single flight and from one piece of footage. That is the “fly once, create many” idea. And it really changes the meaning of the phrase, “let’s fix it in post.”

I know we have loved to say this around here, and our editors love to say this as well. But here is something the Avata 360 does a little bit differently. You are kind of getting two different drones in one body. The camera gimbal can actually rotate. That means it can switch from a full 360-degree capture with two different lenses to a regular single-lens FPV mode, where you shoot up to 4K at 60 frames per second, just like a standard cinewhoop. But there are some limitations. More on that in a little bit. So, what kind of quality are you actually getting? Let’s start with the cameras themselves.

Camera & Image Quality

Both lenses have a 1/1.1-inch sensor. That is a CMOS sensor. In 360 mode, you are going to film at either 6K or 8K, from 24 to 60 frames per second. And for still images, you are looking at a 120-megapixel spherical photo that is going to let you pick and choose whatever you want to frame later. Now, why does 8K matter for a 360-degree drone? Because you are not delivering 8K. You are cropping into it.

When you reframe your shot in post at a standard 16×9 aspect ratio, you are pulling a smaller frame out of that giant sphere of data that you captured. The more resolution you start with, the cleaner the final export is going to be. So 8K at 60 frames per second is actually not overkill here. The more you crop in and adjust, the higher the resolution you want at the beginning. The Avata 360 also shoots in D-Log M and in full 10-bit color, and that is actually a big deal.

A lot of 360 cameras are locked in at 8-bit color profiles. That means when you go to color grade your footage, if that is what you want to do, you have less information to work with. You can get banding in the sky, for example, which is not a good thing, or you can lose some of the detail in the shadows. The dynamic range in that case is not as good. 10-bit D-Log M is going to give you what we have come to expect from DJI’s flagship drones. When you apply a LUT or do a full grade, the footage is going to hold up.

Now, what about that stitch line we mentioned earlier? This is the thing everyone asks about with 360-degree cameras, and it deserves an honest answer. In the live preview, you are going to see the seam. It is visible. But in final exported footage, most of your clips should come out clean. In our testing, we had a few clips that still showed a slight ripple every once in a while, but it was actually pretty rare. We are going to cover the editing workflow at the end of this video, but there are a few choices you can make under stitching optimization that can refine your results. We fully expect a firmware update from DJI to improve this even more as time goes by.

For low light, the 360 actually handles a lot better than we expected. It features an aperture of f/1.9, and with the 1/1.1-inch sensor, you are actually getting a lot of good light. If you are filming in D-Log M, the maximum ISO is 12,800, which is very respectable. But if you shoot in a normal color mode, ISO is going to increase to 25,600 at certain frame rates. Keep in mind, there are no ND filters for this drone. This can be a bit of an issue, so you are going to need to rely on adjusting your shutter speed a lot more.

I usually like to shoot in pro mode with full control over everything, but the 360 on auto actually does really well. On single-lens drones, if you shift your focus between dark shadows and bright sky, you can see a bit of a shift. The Avata 360, on the other hand, is using the entire image of everything it sees around itself in order to set the exposure and the balance. That can actually give you very nice dynamic range when you have a high-contrast scene. One tip we cannot emphasize enough: make sure you wipe your lenses before every single flight. Dust, water droplets, whatever you name it, are much more visible on a 360-degree camera than on a standard drone lens.

That is something you don’t want to have to fix in post, because it is everywhere. Having that microfiber cloth available in your bag and wiping that lens should be a big part of your pre-flight. Now let’s talk about some limitations. This is not an Air 3S. This is not a Mavic 4 Pro, so there are some limitations. Wide landscape shots, for example, are going to look a little bit softer in the distance. The reason is we have an ultra-wide fisheye lens in here.

That means the closer you fly to your subject, the better the image quality is going to get. That has always been the case with 360-degree cameras, so make sure you fly close. That gives you a reason to use that FPV frame for what it is good for. If you are filming in 360-degree mode, you have 360-degree obstacle avoidance with forward-facing LiDAR. This has become kind of a standard since the Mini 4 Pro. But when you switch to that single-lens mode we mentioned before, you only have forward-facing obstacle avoidance.

This means it will not detect any obstacles on the side or behind you. And as usual, if you switch to sport mode, which we recommend if you want to have a lot of fun, just keep in mind that obstacle avoidance is going to go away. Just because the drone has prop guards does not mean it is safe to crash, especially when you have lenses all over the place on this thing, and especially when you are doing it at high speed. Let’s talk about options. This is where things get really interesting.

Flight Experience & Controller Options

The Avata 360 gives you more controller options than any previous Avata, which is a good thing, because you guys always ask about controller compatibility. Each of these is going to create a different flying experience. Option one: you get the RC Motion 3. You pair that with the Goggles 3 or the Goggles N3. This is the most immersive setup you can have. You tilt your wrist in order to steer. You can look around the 360 view in real time from the goggles, which is really cool.

Flying over a mountain range or through a forest while seeing a full 360 world around you is really unlike anything else right now. But it is not really for everyone. I put the goggles on. I use goggles a lot, by the way. I have Apple Vision Pros that I use for work all the time, but there was something about this with a little bit too much movement, and it just made me not sick, but I didn’t feel too good after a full battery. Your experience will probably be different. It depends on how you handle this kind of setup. Typically, if you have other goggles you have tried before, you’ll know what I’m talking about.

Option two: the RC 2 controller. This is the standard DJI controller with the full built-in screen. If you have a Mini, a Mavic, or an Air series drone, then there is a good chance you already have one of these. So flying the Avata 360 with the RC 2 is going to feel like just flying any other cinematic DJI drone. The color display is actually going to assist you here. So if you are using D-Log M, for example, you can have it graded already as a preview on the screen, which is really neat. Now, if you fly with the RC 2, you are not flying using the goggles, which takes away a little bit of the whole FPV experience, but it also means you don’t need to have a visual observer for every single flight you do. So the option to have it is really nice.

The last option, option number three, is the DJI FPV Remote Controller 3. This is the stick controller for FPV-style flying. Sport mode in this case is going to feel extremely close to flying the Avata 2. This is a setup that clicks with FPV pilots who usually have some stick time. But there is a big catch here, and this is a bit of a bummer. There is no full manual mode, where you can fly the drone like you flew the other FPV drones DJI has made. So as of filming this, it is not available. I’m not saying it’s not going to get added in the future. We don’t know that. But given the drone size and the use case, I don’t know, it may not be something they do anytime soon.

Vision Assist is also worth mentioning. On previous DJI drones, Vision Assist was a low-resolution, kind of black-and-white feed. On the 360, because the 360-degree cameras feed directly into it, it is going to deliver a full-color, high-resolution video. You also know exactly what is behind you or beside you at all times. As far as speed in sport mode, the 360 hits 18 meters per second. That is 40 miles an hour. We have tested it, and it actually feels pretty fast. DJI rates this for level 5 wind resistance. That means it can handle up to 24 miles per hour, or 38 kilometers per hour, of wind. For reference, the Neo 2 and the Mini are rated the same. I would expect it to do a little bit better than the Neo.

Tracking & Creative Flight Modes

Use caution on windy days regardless. We have gotten some strong wind warnings with gusts over 20, and it did seem to struggle a little bit. Something new here: the 360 brings FocusTrack to the Avata lineup for the first time. That includes ActiveTrack, Point of Interest, and also Spotlight.

Spotlight is exactly what it sounds like. You lock in on a subject, and then you fly freely while using the virtual camera to stay centered on that subject. For anyone who struggles to fly manually and track an object while watching their altitude and trying to avoid obstacles, Spotlight is going to be a big help. But the big feature here is called Spotlight Free.

This one is new to the Avata 360. It gives you two views while you track. A secondary preview window is going to appear on the bottom left of the screen. One window is going to show where you are flying, and the other is going to show you the locked cinematic framing on your subject. You can see both of them at the same time. But what I really like about it is that you can concentrate on flying ahead, avoiding obstacles, and still know that your framing is good.

ActiveTrack is also here. It works pretty well for tracking people and vehicles. In our testing, locking onto a person or vehicle usually worked pretty well, but just like ActiveTrack on other drones, it is not always perfect. So just be careful. Always be ready to manually fly the drone, and if it struggles, I would try reselecting the subject.

Easy ACRO also deserves a mention, because the camera is capturing a sphere. The drone does not actually have to physically flip or roll in order to create those movements in the final video. The camera can actually simulate them in post. This can open up some FPV-looking shots for pilots who may have never flown in manual mode before and just want to get that cool look. Another feature here that is pretty cool is the field of view.

You have a few quick-select options right here from the main screen. You can select from 272 degrees, 134 degrees, or 104 degrees to get the look you want. But if you hold down on the screen, you can manually adjust these and really dial in whatever you want. I played with this the first time I flew. I think I landed on the last option, 104. That felt more natural to me. And just like your angle and your framing, the field of view can actually be adjusted when you edit, because it is just a preview, either in the goggles or on the screen. You will have a lot of options in the edit, but you still need to be very selective with your shots and think about how you are going to use them. Now let’s talk about the editing itself. And I’m going to be honest with you, this is the part where the Avata 360 either wins you over or loses you completely. 360 editing has a reputation of being pretty slow and pretty frustrating.

The 360 Editing Workflow

Six or seven years ago, maybe that was true, but it has gotten a lot better. Okay, it is not perfect. But it has gotten a lot better. So today we have two main options. Option one: do nothing. When you fly the Avata 360, whatever field of view and framing you used is going to be saved as metadata and go along with your footage. When you import that into the DJI app, whether the Fly app or the Studio app, it is going to look exactly like you filmed it. You can export it directly. No reframing required. And if you want to fly and get a usable clip without having to do a whole lot of post-production, that can actually work. But where’s the fun in that?

Option number two: you can reframe in post. This is what this drone is all about. It is going to give you the ability to get that shot you normally can’t get. And you can really be creative here. I’m going to let our editors talk about their experience with this footage. So let’s get to them.

Hey, it’s Ben. I’m the head of production here at Pilot Institute. For a little context, I usually edit in Final Cut Pro, but I’ve also used Premiere, After Effects, and DaVinci. So here’s my experience with 360 footage. I’ve never edited with DJI Studio before, but I love that it’s free. First of all, that’s a huge plus.

As far as the learning curve, I’d say after about an hour of playing around, I was able to make some basic edits. After another hour or two of editing multiple clips, I really felt comfortable making some pretty cool choices. So at the basic level, you can export a clip without editing anything, which locks onto the original camera view. Super simple, very quick, and easy to do. But if that’s all you want, just my opinion here, a regular drone is probably a better choice for you. The Avata 360 was designed to edit in post, I think.

If you want to spend a little more time in post editing, there are some very cool options. First, the ability to track a subject in post. You can think of it as kind of like the Spotlight feature or ActiveTrack feature. But no matter your original flight path, you can select a subject and lock the camera to it for the duration of the flight. So here’s a clip of the original flight following a police car. And now here’s that same clip, but automatically tracked so the camera stays locked onto the car. This is still pretty quick and simple to do. It’s literally like two clicks.

But here’s where you can really dive deep into an edit, which is what I personally love. If I take that same clip and manually track, I can add a lot more flare to the edit. This does require adding keyframes and adjusting, which does take more time. But as an example, in about 7 minutes, I was able to roughly shift the framing to make that same footage a little more dynamic. And to me, that’s where this drone really excels.

Now, that was pretty quick, but I will spend another 30 minutes having fun with this edit, because it’s like a Dungeon Crawler Carl book. I just can’t put it down. I love doing this. There are a few areas I wish were better. First, I’m usually using paid software like Final Cut Pro or Adobe with a few more nuanced features, like copying and pasting attributes easily to individual clips, for one. Also, no histogram to reference luma values, which is appalling. There are ways to edit footage directly in Adobe through a plug-in, or in Final Cut Pro after a panoramic export, which may be worth checking out if you’re into it, but I actually prefer to do the editing in DJI Studio, with one exception: the speed ramping.

The Studio’s controls are great and easy to use, but the results just seemed a little bit choppy for me. So personally, I found that if I did the edit in DJI Studio, exported, and ran the speed ramp in Final Cut Pro, I got smoother results, or at least results I was used to. The other thing I’ll point out is the stitching adjustments. So footage holds up pretty well in post with default settings, but every once in a while you’ll see a little warp in the clip. You’ll definitely notice this if you’re using the RC 2 or the live view in the goggles, for instance.

Now, you have a couple of options to correct this, like optical flow stitching, high-precision stitching, and stitching correction. What I found is that if you need to adjust a clip, you kind of have to do a little bit of trial and error with each of these, using a combination to see which works best for different clips. High precision is the default, and you may want to export different versions to see what the final version is actually going to look like.

Overall, what I love is that you get to choose how much time you want to spend in the edit. With a small amount of time, you can do some basic things and be pretty happy. And if you want to spend a lot more time to be really creative, this gives you a sandbox with a ton of fun possibilities. The beauty is that it’s all up to your preference. So I think it really has a good range for different users. If you’d like to see a more in-depth walkthrough of the editing process, leave us a comment and we’ll make a video to show you some more tips.

The Honest Take on Workflow

If you enjoy post editing, this drone is going to become extremely powerful. If your goal is to fly, get the shot, and be done, a standard FPV setup is probably going to be a better call. The 360 here can require a lot of extra edits. It’s going to be up to you how much style you want to give it. There are some very simple edits you can do that don’t take a whole lot of time, but you can also go really crazy into some very complex shots that are going to require a lot more.

Now, a few things every Part 107 pilot needs to know here, because it’s going to affect how you fly, and that’s before you buy. The Avata 360 weighs 455 grams. Number one, that’s over 0.55 pounds. That means everyone has to register this drone, whether you’re recreational or operating under Part 107, and it’s over the 249-gram limit that will allow you to get an operations-over-people waiver more easily with the FAA.

Specs, Weight & Regulation

It also means that if you apply for that waiver, you are going to need to have a parachute, which is non-existent at this point. So in short, this is not a drone you’re going to be using to fly over people. Now, not only is it heavier than the Avata 2, but it is also a little bit bigger. The drone also does not fold, which means it’s going to take up more pack space than the Mini 5 Pro, for example, or even an Air 3S. So you might want to think about how you are going to pack this thing.

Flight time is rated at 23 minutes, but if you are recording at 8K 60 frames per second and you’re really zipping around, expect 16 to 20 minutes. That was our experience, although we do fly at higher elevation. The 42 gigabytes of internal storage is useful as a backup, but 8K footage is going to fill up quickly. 42 gigs is not going to be enough for three batteries’ worth of footage. So make sure you bring a fast SD card. If you get the Fly More Combo, you’re going to get three batteries along with the hub. And this charging hub can actually charge all three batteries at once, which is really nice.

It also supports power consolidation, which we’ve seen in other models, meaning it can combine partial battery charges into one full battery, giving you some extra flight time when you have a depleted set on one side. Transmission is O4+, which is rated at 12.4 miles, a lot further than you’re ever going to fly. Return to Home is also using Advanced RTH now, which is borrowed from the Air 3S and the Mavic 4 Pro, meaning it can actually navigate around obstacles on the way back to your landing pad.

And the LiDAR sensors are going to allow this to work in low-light conditions. In our testing, this works pretty well, but I would always be ready to take over for the landing yourself, and that’s what I prefer to do. Anyway, one design detail here that I’m really happy they included: the lenses are actually user-replaceable. You can unscrew a damaged lens and replace it with another one in about one minute. Our package came with a replacement set.

We haven’t had to use it yet, so knock on wood, but it’s a nice thing to have for a drone that’s going to take off and land on a surface that is not always clean. This actually really matters. Previous 360 setups required sending the camera in for repair. That’s no longer the case, which is really cool. And these replacement lenses are really cheap, about $21 in the United States. Now, when you land, be careful here. The gimbal is going to rotate so that the lenses are not pointing straight to the ground, which is really cool, but you should still be using a landing pad like this one right here. Link is available in the description.

Something else to note here: when you are holding the drone right here, the gimbal can actually become unlocked, and when it does, you can have the lens facing the ground, and if you put it down, you could potentially scratch it. So be careful with that.

Pricing & Packages

As far as pricing and combos, you have a lot of different options. Current pricing for the Avata 360, the drone only, is $519. That’s actually not bad at all. The drone with the RC 2 controller and one battery is $719. The Fly More Combo with the RC Motion 3 controller and the Goggles N3 is $979. The Fly More Combo with the RC 2 is also $979.

Any additional batteries are $99 each. And the replacement lenses, as I mentioned, are $21. If you already own an RC 2 or the FPV goggles from a previous DJI drone, then the drone-only option at $519 is a pretty strong value. Quite frankly, you’re basically stepping into a 360 FPV without having to buy a whole new kit, which is nice.

Who Is This Drone For?

You may be wondering, who is this drone for? Let me be direct about that. The Avata 360 is built mostly for content creators who want to have that extra layer of creativity. If you want to fly once and pull multiple angles from that footage in post, that’s definitely the drone for you. It’s also a very strong choice, I think, for somebody who already has a DJI drone and wants to have 360 footage available without having to buy a whole brand-new kit. The drone-only pricing, like we mentioned, and the controller options make this transition very easy.

Now, if you really, really, really enjoy the post-production process, this drone is going to be a great investment. And if you’re looking for crisp cinematic footage without having to do the whole editing hassle, this is not the best option for you. And here’s a list of people who should definitely, more than likely, probably look somewhere else: freestyle FPV pilots who want full manual mode and full control of the drone. That’s not for you.

Pilots who need a sub-250-gram compliant drone for regulatory purposes or for portability reasons. Also, people who want a primary drone camera for traditional aerial photography. And anyone who wants to fly, export, and post their stuff without touching it up in editing software, that’s not going to be for you either. And keep in mind, the 360 is not a drone that just has a 360-degree camera strapped on it. It’s a completely different tool with a creative workflow. And if that fits how you create, it is one of the best drones available at that price.

Now, the DJI Avata 360 does something no cinewhoop has done before. It gives you the full FPV flight experience and a 360-degree capture system in one airframe, with enough controller options to fit how you actually want to fly. And no matter which drone you fly, if you want to get more out of every flight, make sure you check out our free cinematic drone footage course. We have tips in there to help you get the best footage before you edit. The link is in the description. Thanks for watching, and we’ll see you in the next one.

This article is based on a video from Pilot Institute. You can find more from Greg and the team on the Pilot Institute YouTube channel and on his DroneXL author page.