Antigravity A1: A New Take on Drones!

[00:00] This video is sponsored by Anti-Gravity. So this here is called the Anti-Gravity A1.

[00:13] It is a drone, but it looks a bit different than what we've come to expect from drones. Now, I'll be the first to admit, while I've made two or three drone videos in the past, I'm an expert. To me, drones are really, really good tools, and so they're very expensive,

[00:25] but they're really useful for someone who has a specific type of shot, a type of footage that they're trying to get. But this A1, this is a little different from any of the other popular drones that I've seen or tried, and it's the reason I want to showcase it because after using it,

[00:37] it's not just a tool to get aerial footage, but it's also just fun. It's just a straight up fun experience to just go out and fly it. So this is a genuinely new, interesting take on something that was already pretty awesome.

[00:50] So I was intrigued. Also a reminder, they're sponsoring this video, so I'll be going over my experience and even some feedback for them by the end, too. So A1 doesn't have a normal camera gimbal, like you might expect from a drone. Instead, it has these two lenses,

[01:03] one at the top, one at the bottom, and that's because instead of having to control a singular camera while flying, the anti-gravity A1 is essentially a 360 camera that's capturing all angles all the time that happens to be able to fly.

[01:15] We've had 360 cameras, stuff like this for years, and the whole point of these is their super versatile. So they're always recording everything around them in 360 all the time, and all you have to do is just kind of get the camera into position,

[01:27] and then you don't have to worry about framing. You just kind of do your thing, live that experience, and then later you can go back and frame it exactly how you want. So in these started getting really good, that's when people started getting really tricky with them,

[01:39] doing stuff like spinning them around on a string, or throwing them, or putting them up on these huge selfie sticks. So now the big unlock is it can fly. So because of all that, you can now just grab this A1,

[01:51] grab these goggles, and this joystick, which I'll talk about in a minute, and just start flying. And as long as the subject you want to capture is generally nearby, you just worry about getting creative with the flying, and then you can do all the framing and post when you get home.

[02:04] And then just like the 360 cameras have that like invisible selfie stick feature, these sensors and lenses are actually the same as the Insta360 X5. So through stitching, it makes the drone itself, and the propellers, completely invisible in your final footage.

[02:17] And then they've got a bunch of other great features like Sky Genie that can automatically orbit a subject that you selecting your goggles, and my favorite deep track, since I think really drones and car shoots go hand in hand, basically you can fly in a straight line,

[02:30] and then all you have to do is try and match the speed of the car as best you can, and deep track will pick up the car and frame your subject without having to do any key framing. And in the sense that the 360 camera, there's also some more creative ways

[02:42] to use the video you're capturing that work better on social media platforms like these floating orb shots. Would you find a ton of use for this? No, probably not, but it's still a cool idea to see some weird perspectives like this.

[02:54] So as a tool for a video creator, it already feels like a game changer that you don't have to get the exact shot perfect in the moment. You can just focus on getting creative with the positioning. That is pretty sweet. The orb of recording 360 is 8K,

[03:08] at 30 FPS, the correct frame rate. And so you can't take like an 8K screenshot, but you can get pretty creative and have a good amount of flexibility with where you want to frame stuff up. The A1 is 249 grams,

[03:20] which have you been into drones long enough before you've heard that number, and that's exactly where it has to be to be regulatory compliant almost everywhere. And it has obstacle avoidance, it has navigation assistance, auto landing gear, payload detection,

[03:32] and auto return to home, which I've used quite a few times because you might get a little overconfident and how far away you can fly. The lenses are replaceable, so if you do get in an accident, that's much easier to fix than a whole gimbal. And there's also anti-gravity care,

[03:45] so it'll cover things like flyaways or water damage or anything else like that. Now the weak spot for almost all drones in my opinion has been battery. You know, you get up there, you try to frame out and get like the perfect shot and then 15 minutes later you're landing it

[03:58] because you didn't quite get it, but you're gonna get it on the next battery. The A1 comes with a 24-minute battery standard, which is about part for the course, but that's on top of the fact that you don't feel as much pressure

[04:10] to nail the exact right camera shot in the air because you're framing it after the fact. So the battery anxiety definitely feels like it's less. But if you're still worried, it also has a 39-minute extended version.

[04:22] So when there's 20 gigs of internal storage too, so the SD card slot is easily accessible, but if you ever forget a card, you're still covered, I am definitely in the camp that every camera should have internal storage. But anyway, back to the main point, it's just fun.

[04:35] This is the original reason why I was so into this drone, which is because the fun factor is so high, you could even honestly just go out and fly it around for fun, not even trying to get any specific shot, just having fun with it. You get a feed straight from the A1

[04:48] to these FPV goggles that you wear, and then it's not like a normal FPV drone where you're always only looking forward as you fly with the Omni-Link transmission. You can fly in one direction, but freely move your head around and look around

[05:00] wherever you want to experience everything around you. It's kind of like you're a bird flying through the park and looking around or like a mini jet or something. It's just incredibly immersive. The goggles have a 90 degree field of view,

[05:13] which is the widest in any flying FPV goggles, 2560 by 2560 per eye, one tap defogging, and a pass-through feature, just in case someone comes up to you while you're flying, but what's really neat, and I haven't seen this before,

[05:25] is it has this customizable exterior screen so that others can see what you're looking at on the outside of the goggles. So if you're with someone, they can kind of get a sense of what you're seeing while you're flying. I also like that you can use it as a status screen

[05:37] for firmware updates too. By the way, you've probably noticed I'm not using a typical two-stick controller. This is a joystick, and this is another one of those things that at first I was a little skeptical of because there's a reason everyone uses

[05:49] those two sticks. It's just the muscle memory is baked in already. I already know exactly how to get that smooth sliding parallax shot we've all seen. But the joystick makes sense for this drone because again,

[06:01] you don't have to do the camera moves as you're flying. You're just positioning the camera in space. So it feels closer to just flying a plane and getting into the spot you want and then you're moving your head around freely to look around.

[06:13] So I'm in on this joystick. There's an icon on the screen that shows where the front of the drone is pointing. And then all you do is just press the trigger and you're flying in that direction. And if you look away from the flight path, you get this little picture and picture window

[06:25] so you can still see what's in front of the drone. So it ends up feeling super intuitive. I gave this to Andrew at the studio for a day. This is his first shot he took with the A1 in normal flight mode at like 10 in the morning.

[06:37] And so then here's the last shot he got by early afternoon. The same day using sport mode and the FPV controls which let you turn your wrist for tighter turns. And it's way more dynamic. It's pretty fire. I really now think anyone who's never used anything like this

[06:50] can pick this up and learn the controls and be super confident like I was within like an hour. I was like, I have a screenshot here of my first time trying FPV mode ever. And look how quick I tried some stuff.

[07:15] No problem, no worries. So what about someone who's not as technically savvy but still wants to have some fun with the drone like this? Then it has those extra features. So one called SkyPath I think is really cool. So basically I fly a path that I think is really neat

[07:30] and record it. And then I give someone else the goggles. They put the goggles on and the drone will fly the same path in real time and then they can look around with the goggles in 360 and experience it live, which is I think really fun.

[07:43] They don't need any experience to see that. And it's pretty trippy just floating around. I will say pro tip, the first time you have someone try this, have them do it sitting down. Just because they're gonna look down and they're gonna see themselves hundreds of feet off the ground

[07:55] and just to be safe. Now look, I know this is a sponsored video but I also asked them if I could throw in a couple small things I noticed because I think people are gonna be thinking about buying this after watching this video and it's not perfect. So first off, the stitching to hide the drone is impressive.

[08:09] But to the train die there is this ever so slight smudge on the horizon of your footage. And that's basically where it's stitching together to two lenses. And for the most part, you don't really ever notice it but there is a chance it can get in your shot if you're doing a lot of recording of things

[08:22] like right on the horizon line. So that's something to keep in mind. And then number two, if you're gonna shoot in a public area because you have the goggles on and the screen is lighting up, just be ready to explain that to people because they can look kinda crazy.

[08:36] I was told they're also in the process of working on some goggles flights with a ring remote and gesture controls which sounds pretty awesome. I haven't seen that in action yet but I appreciate that they're still trying to find more ways to let people get creative with this drone.

[08:48] But speaking of these goggles, I do wish they had an extra strap like up at the top. It's kinda similar to any other like heavy thing. There's obviously displays up here. So if you have an extra strap at the top it distributes the weight more evenly. It's more comfortable with let you fly

[09:01] for multiple batteries without getting uncomfortable. But other than that, yeah, I've had a really good time. Just messing with, having fun with the anti-gravity A1. This is not a review but I'm sure there will be a bunch of other really good video reviews

[09:13] around the same time this drop. So I'll link those below when I see them. This is one of the most interesting hardware products I've seen in a while. Anti-gravity's biggest sale of the year is here. So you can save up to 25% off anti-gravity A1,

[09:27] which saves you like $480. And you can save up to 20% off accessories as well during Amazon Prime Day. And the first 25 people who use my link will get a free flight battery and double lens replacement kit with purchase of the A1.

[09:41] So there it is. Thank you guys for watching. Catch you guys the next one. Peace. Also, if you want to see how we shot that intro with the robot, here's the drone's perspective.