The DJI Avata 360 is the company’s first 360° FPV drone, combining the Avata 2’s airframe with the camera setup of the Osmo 360.
The Avata 360 delivers smooth 360° footage, meaning you frame the shot in the edit rather than live, and at $719 it’s well priced for what it offers.
After two months of flying and editing with it, here’s how it holds up.
Design and Build
At 455g, the Avata 360 is heavier than the Avata 2 and well above the 250g regulatory threshold. The prop guards fully enclose the rotors like the Avata 2’s, and they’re solid enough for indoor use and close-proximity flying.
Add omnidirectional obstacle sensing that works in low light, and it’s a drone you can fly confidently in tight spaces.
The 360° camera mounts at the front and rotates automatically on takeoff and landing, switching between flight mode and a protected position to keep the lenses off the ground. It works well, with one catch.
Because the gimbal doubles as the front point of contact with the ground, it’s easy to forget its orientation and put the drone down with a lens facing the ground. DJI sells a replacement lens separately for good reason.
Camera Quality: 360° at 8K
The Avata 360 uses two identical 1/1.1-inch CMOS sensors, 64MP each. DJI describes the effective imaging area as 1-inch equivalent in 360° mode.
The sensors are smaller than what you’d find on a dedicated camera drone at this price, and low-light footage reflects that. This is not the drone to buy if low-light cinematography is the priority.
For social media in good lighting, it’s more than adequate. The 8K is spread across the full sphere, so reframed crops are softer than dedicated single-lens 4K. Fine for most platforms, noticeable if you’re pixel-peeping.
Dynamic range reaches 13.5 stops. D-Log M is available for post color work.
In 360° mode, the lenses point up and down, each covering roughly 200 degrees, with the two views stitched together in-camera. Stitching is clean in most situations. The seam becomes visible when you come to an abrupt stop at speed, but that tends to happen between usable shots.
Because the Avata 360 records the full sphere, it captures landscape and vertical content at the same time. One flight gets you a 16:9 cinematic cut and a 9:16 vertical for social. For creators working across multiple formats, that’s a genuine time-saver.
Single lens mode rotates the camera forward for a conventional 4K/60fps look at 28mm equivalent. Not a wide FPV lens, but clean and usable. Stills top out at 120MP in 360° mode.
Editing in DJI Studio
Reframing in DJI Studio is quick and intuitive. You move a virtual camera through the 360° sphere, lock your angle, and export. It took less than 15 minutes to feel natural.
DJI has included one-click LUTs built for the Avata 360 and DJI’s other drones and cameras. For D-Log M they’re a solid starting point. Basic color adjustments are in the app too. For more complex work, there’s an Adobe Premiere Pro plugin that handles spherical footage natively.
Fly First, Frame Later
The idea is simple: capture everything, decide the shot later. Because the drone records the full sphere at all times, framing moves entirely to post. You fly the line you want, focus on the aircraft, and pull the shot when you’re back on the ground.
In DJI Studio you move a virtual camera through the footage, choosing direction, tilt, pan, and field of view after the fact. GyroFrame stabilization and a virtual gimbal let you apply smooth motion in post, including FPV-style roll effects. You can construct the shot in editing rather than hoping you nailed it in the air.
ActiveTrack 360 tracks subjects within the full sphere, not just what’s in front of the drone.
Flight Performance
Sport mode tops out at around 40 mph. Normal mode is more conservative. Both are self-leveling, and there’s no manual or Acro mode in the firmware at launch. That’s a real limitation for experienced FPV pilots.
FPV with the Goggles N3 and RC Motion 3 uses head tracking in 360° mode. Your view responds to where you’re looking, independently of the drone’s direction. It’s a different experience from standard FPV, closer to being inside the scene than piloting a vehicle.
FPV mode is also where you get the best chase shots. The natural bank through turns and fluid movement of FPV-style flight gives footage a feel that a hovering camera drone can’t match. Pair that with 360° capture and you’re pulling the angles in post rather than trying to frame the shot while keeping pace with a subject.
For conventional flying, the RC 2 is the better option if you’re used to standard DJI drones. The Motion Controller works fine, but the RC 2 gives more precise input. The goggles are excellent for immersion. The RC 2 is the pick for control.
ActiveTrack 360 held subject lock reliably throughout testing. For action sports, keeping the drone roughly on target while riding, driving, or on the water, it does the job. For more exploratory flights, I preferred turning it off and flying freely.
Regulations require maintaining visual line of sight and remaining in control at all times. ActiveTrack doesn’t change that.
The drone is ready in under three minutes from cold, regardless of which controller you’re using.
Battery capacity is 38.7Wh, 26% larger than the Avata 2’s cells. Rated flight time is 24 minutes. Real-world, with variable throttle and sport mode, expect around 18 minutes. The Fly More Combo ships with three batteries and a charger that handles all three in about 100 minutes.
Internal storage is 42GB, enough for around 30 minutes of 8K without a card. Offload after every flight. Fill it mid-session without a card inserted and you’re done shooting.
Propeller noise is noticeably lower than on other drones I’ve flown. No issues with birds or other animals reacting during outdoor sessions. Good to know if you’re flying around livestock or wildlife. Wind performance was fine in normal outdoor conditions, and it handles a moderate breeze without drama.
DJI Avata 360 vs DJI Mini 4 Pro
For pilots not specifically after FPV or 360°, the Mini 4 Pro is the obvious alternative. Both are easy to fly, both have obstacle sensing, both produce good social media footage.
The Mini 4 Pro has a better single-lens camera. Its 1/1.3-inch sensor is smaller on paper than the Avata 360’s 1/1.1-inch pair, but the f/1.7 aperture, dedicated single-lens 4K, sharper resolution, and better low-light performance more than make up for it. It also weighs under 249g, so no registration required in most markets. It starts at $959.
The Avata 360 comes in cheaper at $719 with the RC 2. The trade is image quality for creative flexibility. You can’t pull a vertical reframe from Mini 4 Pro footage in post. You can’t recover a missed angle. With the Avata 360 you can, and the FPV capability adds shots the Mini simply can’t produce.
For image quality first, get the Mini 4 Pro. For creative flexibility, action sports, and FPV, get the Avata 360.
DroneXL’s Take: Who Should Buy the Avata 360?
The Avata 360 gets a lot right. Prop guards, dual shooting modes, flexible controller options, and DJI’s tracking and transmission infrastructure give it clear practical advantages.
The trade-offs are real. At 455g it’s above the 250g threshold in most markets, which means registration and additional operational requirements. There’s no manual mode at launch. And 360° footage won’t match a dedicated camera drone for fine detail or low-light capability.
It’s not for everyone. If image quality is the priority, a Mini 4 Pro or Air series drone is the better pick. If you’re just getting into drones and want something simple and affordable, the DJI Neo 2 is a great entry point. Easy to fly, set and forget, and well below the Avata 360 in price. A Mini on sale covers similar ground.
The Avata 360 sits above those. It’s for pilots who want creative flexibility a standard camera drone can’t offer, the ability to capture every angle, reframe in post, cover action sports without thinking about framing, and get FPV-style chase shots all in the same session.
The Fly More Combo with the RC 2 at $979 is the version to get. Three batteries, the built-in screen controller, and everything you need out of the box.
