Antigravity A1 Drone Review — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:00] This video sponsored by Anti-Gravity.

[00:09] So, this here is called the Anti-Gravity

[00:11] A1. It is a drone, but it looks a bit

[00:14] different than what we've come to expect

[00:16] from drones. Now, I'll be the first to

[00:17] admit, while I've made two or three

[00:18] drone videos in the past, I'm not an

[00:19] expert. To me, drones are really, really

[00:22] good tools. And so, they're very

[00:24] expensive, but they're they're really

[00:25] useful for someone who has a specific

[00:27] type of shot, a type of footage that

[00:29] they're trying to get. But, this A1,

[00:31] this is a little different from any of

[00:32] the other popular drones that I've seen

[00:33] or tried, and it's the reason I want to

[00:35] showcase it, because after using it,

[00:37] it's not just a tool to get aerial

[00:39] footage, but it's also just

[00:41] fun. Like, it's just a straight-up like

[00:42] fun experience to just go out and fly

[00:44] it. So, this is a genuinely new,

[00:46] interesting take on something that was

[00:48] already pretty awesome. So, I was

[00:49] intrigued. Also, a reminder, they're

[00:51] sponsoring this video, so I'll be going

[00:52] over my experience and even some

[00:54] feedback for them by the end, too. So,

[00:56] A1 doesn't have a normal camera [snorts]

[00:59] gimbal, like you might expect from a

[01:00] drone. Instead, it has these two lenses,

[01:02] one at the top, one at the bottom. And

[01:04] that's because instead of having to

[01:05] control a singular camera while flying,

[01:07] the Anti-Gravity A1 is essentially a 360

[01:10] camera that's capturing all angles, all

[01:12] the time, that happens to be able to

[01:14] fly. We've had 360 cameras, stuff like

[01:17] this, uh for years. And the whole point

[01:19] of these is they're super versatile. So,

[01:21] they're always recording everything

[01:22] around them in 360 all the time, and all

[01:24] you have to do is just kind of get the

[01:25] camera into position, and then you don't

[01:27] have to worry about framing, you just

[01:28] kind of do your thing, live that

[01:30] experience, and then later you can go

[01:32] back and frame it exactly how you want.

[01:34] So, when these started getting really

[01:35] good, that's when people started getting

[01:37] really tricky with them, doing stuff

[01:39] like spinning them around on a string,

[01:41] or throwing them, or putting them up on

[01:43] these huge selfie sticks. So, now the

[01:45] big unlock is

[01:47] it can fly. So, because of all that, you

[01:49] can now just grab this A1, grab these

[01:51] goggles, and this joystick, which I'll

[01:53] talk about in a minute, and just start

[01:54] flying. And as long as the subject you

[01:56] want to capture is generally nearby, you

[01:58] just worry about getting creative with

[02:00] the flying, and then you can do all the

[02:02] framing in post when you get home. And

[02:03] then just like the 360 cameras have that

[02:05] like invisible selfie stick feature,

[02:07] these sensors and lenses are actually

[02:09] the same as the Insta360 X5. So, through

[02:11] stitching, it makes the drone itself and

[02:14] the propellers completely invisible in

[02:16] your final footage. And then they've got

[02:17] a bunch of other great features like Sky

[02:19] Genie that can automatically orbit a

[02:21] subject that you select in your goggles.

[02:23] And my favorite, Deep Track, since I

[02:25] think really drones and car shoots go

[02:27] hand in hand. Basically, you can fly in

[02:29] a straight line, and then all you have

[02:30] to do is try and match the speed of the

[02:32] car as best you can, and Deep Track will

[02:35] pick up the car and frame your subject

[02:37] without having to do any keyframing.

[02:39] And then since it's a 360 camera,

[02:40] there's also some more creative ways to

[02:42] use the video you're capturing that work

[02:44] better on social media platforms like

[02:45] these floating orb shots. Would you find

[02:48] a ton of use for this? No, probably not,

[02:50] but it's still a cool idea to see some

[02:52] weird perspectives like this. So, as a

[02:54] tool for a video creator, it already

[02:56] feels like a game-changer that you don't

[02:57] have to get the exact shot perfect in

[02:59] the moment. You can just focus on

[03:00] getting creative with the positioning.

[03:02] That is pretty sweet. Uh the orb of

[03:05] recording 360 is 8K at 30 FPS, the

[03:09] correct frame rate.

[03:10] And so, you can't take like a 8K

[03:12] screenshot, but you can get pretty

[03:13] creative and have a good amount of

[03:15] flexibility with where you want to frame

[03:16] stuff up. The A1 is 249 g, which if

[03:19] you've been into drones long enough

[03:21] before, you've heard that number, and

[03:22] that's exactly where it has to be to be

[03:24] regulatory compliant almost everywhere.

[03:26] And it has obstacle avoidance, it has

[03:28] navigation assistance, auto landing

[03:30] gear, payload detection, and auto return

[03:33] to home, which I've used quite a few

[03:34] times cuz you might get a little

[03:35] overconfident in how far away you can

[03:37] fly. The lenses are replaceable, so if

[03:39] you do get in an accident, that's much

[03:41] easier to fix than a whole gimbal. Uh

[03:43] and there's also anti-gravity care, so

[03:44] it'll cover things like flyaways or

[03:46] water damage or anything else like that.

[03:48] Now, the weak spot for almost all drones

[03:50] in my opinion has been battery. You

[03:52] know, you you get up there, you try to

[03:53] frame out and get like the perfect shot

[03:56] and then 15 minutes later you're landing

[03:57] it cuz you didn't quite get it, but

[03:59] you're going to get it on the next

[04:00] battery. The A1 comes with a 24-minute

[04:03] battery standard, uh which is about par

[04:05] for the course.

[04:07] But, that's on top of the fact that you

[04:08] don't feel as much pressure to nail the

[04:10] exact right camera shot in the air cuz

[04:14] you're framing it after the fact. So,

[04:15] the battery anxiety definitely feels

[04:17] like it's less. But, if you're still

[04:18] worried, it also has a 39-minute

[04:21] extended version. Oh, and there's 20

[04:22] gigs of internal storage, too. So, the

[04:24] SD card slot is easily accessible, but

[04:26] if you ever forget a card, you're still

[04:27] covered. I am definitely in the camp

[04:29] that every camera should have internal

[04:31] storage. But, anyway, back to the main

[04:32] point,

[04:34] it's just fun. This is the original

[04:35] reason why I was so into this drone,

[04:37] which is because the fun factor is so

[04:38] high. You could even honestly just go

[04:40] out and fly it around for fun, not even

[04:43] trying to get any specific shot, just

[04:45] having fun with it. You get a feed

[04:46] straight from the A1 to these FPV

[04:48] goggles that you wear. And then, it's

[04:50] not like a normal FPV drone where you're

[04:51] always only looking forward as you fly.

[04:54] With the Omnilink transmission, you can

[04:56] fly in one direction, but freely move

[04:58] your head around and look around

[05:00] wherever you want to experience

[05:01] everything around you. It's kind of like

[05:03] you're a bird flying through the park

[05:05] and looking around, or like a mini jet

[05:08] or something. It's just incredibly

[05:10] immersive.

[05:11] The goggles have a 90-degree field of

[05:12] view, which is the widest in any flying

[05:14] FPV goggles, 2560 by 2560 per eye,

[05:17] one-tap defogging, and a pass-through

[05:20] feature just in case someone comes up to

[05:22] you while you're flying. But, what's

[05:23] really neat, and I haven't seen this

[05:24] before, is it has this customizable

[05:26] exterior screen so that others can see

[05:29] what you're looking at on the outside of

[05:30] the goggles. So, if you're with someone,

[05:32] they can kind of get a sense of what

[05:33] you're seeing while you're flying. I

[05:35] also like that you can use it as a

[05:36] status screen for firmware updates, too.

[05:38] And by the way, you've probably noticed

[05:39] I'm not using a typical two-stick

[05:42] controller.

[05:43] This is a joystick. And this is another

[05:45] one of those things that at first I was

[05:46] a little skeptical of cuz there's a

[05:48] reason everyone uses those two sticks.

[05:50] It's just the muscle memory is baked in

[05:51] already. I already know exactly how to

[05:53] get that smooth sliding parallax shot

[05:56] we've all seen.

[05:57] But the joystick makes sense for this

[05:59] drone because again, you don't have to

[06:01] do the camera moves as you're flying.

[06:03] You're just positioning the camera in

[06:05] space. So it feels closer to just flying

[06:07] a plane and getting into the spot you

[06:09] want and then you're moving your head

[06:10] around freely to look around. So I'm in

[06:13] on this joystick. There's an icon on the

[06:15] screen that shows where the front of the

[06:17] drone is pointing and then all you do is

[06:19] just press the trigger and you're flying

[06:20] in that direction. And if you look away

[06:22] from the flight path, you get this

[06:23] little picture-in-picture window so you

[06:25] can still see what's in front of the

[06:27] drone. So it ends up feeling super

[06:28] intuitive. Uh I gave this to Andrew at

[06:30] the studio for a day. This is his first

[06:32] shot he took with the A1 in normal

[06:34] flight mode at like 10:00 in the

[06:36] morning. And so then here's the last

[06:37] shot he got by early afternoon the same

[06:39] day using sport mode and the FPV

[06:41] controls which let you turn your wrist

[06:43] for tighter turns. And it's way more

[06:46] dynamic. It's pretty fire. I really now

[06:48] think anyone who's never used anything

[06:49] like this can pick this up and learn the

[06:51] controls and be super confident like I

[06:53] was within like an hour. I was like I

[06:56] have a screenshot here of my first time

[06:58] trying FPV mode ever and look how quick

[07:01] I tried some stuff.

[07:14] No prob. No worries.

[07:16] Uh so what about someone who's not as

[07:18] technically savvy but still wants to

[07:20] have some fun with a drone like this?

[07:22] Then it has those extra features. So one

[07:24] called SkyPath I think is really cool.

[07:26] So basically I fly a path that I think

[07:28] is really neat and record it. And then I

[07:31] give someone else the goggles, they put

[07:33] the goggles on and the drone will fly

[07:35] the same path in real time and then they

[07:37] can look around with the goggles in 360

[07:39] and experience it live which is I think

[07:42] really fun. They don't need any

[07:43] experience to see that. And it's pretty

[07:44] trippy, just floating around. I will say

[07:46] pro tip, the first time you have someone

[07:47] try this, uh have them do it sitting

[07:49] down. Just because they're going to look

[07:52] down and they're going to see themselves

[07:53] hundreds of feet off the ground and just

[07:56] just to be safe. Now, look, I know this

[07:57] is a sponsored video, but I also asked

[07:59] them if I could throw in a couple small

[08:00] things I noticed because I think people

[08:02] are going to be thinking about buying

[08:03] this after watching this video, and it's

[08:05] not perfect. So, first off, the

[08:06] stitching to hide the drone is

[08:08] impressive. But to the trained eye,

[08:09] there is this ever so slight smudge on

[08:11] the horizon of your footage. And that's

[08:13] basically where it's stitching together

[08:15] the two lenses. And for the most part,

[08:17] you don't really ever notice it, but

[08:18] there is a chance it can get in your

[08:19] shot if you're doing a lot of recording

[08:21] of things like right on the horizon

[08:22] line. So, that's something to keep in

[08:23] mind. And then number two, if you're if

[08:24] you're if you're going to shoot in a

[08:26] public area,

[08:28] because you have the goggles on and the

[08:29] screen is lighting up, just be ready to

[08:31] explain that to people. Because they can

[08:33] look kind of crazy. I was told they're

[08:36] also in the process of working on some

[08:38] goggle-less flights with a ring remote

[08:40] and gesture controls, which sounds

[08:42] pretty awesome. I haven't seen that in

[08:43] action yet, but I appreciate that

[08:44] they're still trying to find more ways

[08:45] to let people get creative with this

[08:47] drone. But speaking of these goggles, I

[08:48] do wish they had an extra strap like up

[08:50] at the top. It's kind of similar to any

[08:52] other like heavy thing. There's

[08:53] obviously displays up here. So, if you

[08:56] have an extra strap at the top, it

[08:57] distributes the weight more evenly, it's

[08:59] more comfortable, would let you fly for

[09:01] multiple batteries without getting

[09:03] uncomfortable. But other than that,

[09:04] yeah, I've had a really good time just

[09:06] messing with having fun with the

[09:08] Anti-Gravity A1. This is not a review,

[09:10] but I'm sure there will be a bunch of

[09:12] other really good video reviews around

[09:13] the same time this drops, so I'll link

[09:15] those below when I see them.

[09:17] Um this is one of the most interesting

[09:18] hardware products I've seen in a while.

[09:20] Anti-Gravity's biggest sale of the year

[09:22] is here, so you can save up to 25% off

[09:25] Anti-Gravity A1, which saves you like

[09:27] $480,

[09:29] and you can save up to 20% off

[09:30] accessories as well during Amazon Prime

[09:32] Day. And the first 25 people who use my

[09:34] link will get a free flight battery and

[09:37] double lens replacement kit with

[09:38] purchase of the A1.

[09:40] So, there it is. Thank you guys for

[09:42] watching.

[09:43] Catch you guys in the next one.

[09:44] Peace.

[09:46] Also, if you want to see how we shot

[09:47] that intro with the robot, here's the

[09:49] drone's perspective.