- Rumored Mini 5 Pro is latest model in DJI’s long-running ultra-light range
- Antigravity A1 is the world’s first all-in-one 360 video drone
- Both drones should be out by early 2026
Camera drone fans like me are really getting spoiled at the moment (well, perhaps not those that live in the US, but that’s for another time). Not only has newcomer Antigravity entered the market with its A1, an entirely new type of drone, but online leaks and rumors strongly suggest that DJI is close to launching the Mini 5 Pro.
As someone who reviews drones for a living, you’d probably assume, of these two, I’d be more excited about the Antigravity A1. After all, this is the world’s first 360 drone, and takes a completely different approach to video and photo creation.
Plus, it’s piloted in a completely different way to most drones, utilizing the VR-style Goggles headset and one-handed motion-sensitive Grip to bring FPV-ish flight to a wide audience. (Sure, DJI already did something similar with the Avata, but that’s a specialist drone – the A1 is being pitched very much at the masses.)
On the other hand, the rumored DJI Mini 5 Pro is merely the latest iteration in a series of small folding drones that goes back to the DJI Mavic Mini, launched back in 2019.
We get a new Mini drone most years, and there’s nothing particularly surprising in any of the Mini 5 Pro’s purported specs or features. All of them seem like exactly the sort of logical progressions I’d expect DJI to make in the Mini series’ next model.
So why am I a lot more excited about the prospect of the Mini 5 Pro’s arrival than that of the A1’s? Surely, for a slightly jaded drone reviewer, the box-fresh allure of the brand-new should trump the reassuring dependability of yet another DJI release?
The thing is – assuming the leaks are accurate, of course – the DJI Mini 5 Pro just seems like the perfect drone for most people, while the Antigravity A1 is an unknown quantity with a great deal to prove.
Mini drone, maxi anticipation
The Mini 5 Pro has so much going for it. There’s the hardware and software pedigree of DJI, honed over more than a decade of producing affordable, consumer-friendly camera drones.
If the leaks are correct, the Mini 5 Pro will be the first sub-250g drone to come with a 1-inch camera sensor – something that would have been considered nigh-on impossible just a couple of years ago.
To put it in perspective, the current lightest drone to possess a 1-inch sensor is the DJI Air 2S, which weighs 595g. The Mini 5 Pro is rumored to weigh less than half that, which puts it in a category of drone that’s subject to far fewer restrictions – especially in my home country of the UK.
Unless they have undertaken specialist training, UK-based pilots can’t fly a drone weighing over 250g above uninvolved people, horizontally closer than 50m to uninvolved people, or closer than 150m to residential, recreational, commercial or industrial sites. In a place as densely populated and built-up as Southeast England, where I live, that rules out almost everywhere you might want to fly.
Weight for it…
With a sub-250g drone, however, the above rules don’t apply. You can fly over people (except when they’re in crowds), and fly your drone in all of the areas mentioned above. So, for hobbyists and occasional flyers (in other words, most drone users) it only makes sense to buy a drone of 249g or less.
That used to mean compromising on camera quality and features, but with the specs outlined in the Mini 5 Pro leaks, such as 4K 120fps video, I don’t think there’s a great deal of compromise going to be required there. And that’s not even mentioning the improved battery life and safety features, including LiDAR for night-time navigation, mentioned in the leaks.
Put simply, the DJI Mini 5 Pro is shaping up to be the drone that most drone UK users have been waiting for. It’s one I know I’ve been waiting for for a long time.
Speaking of rules and regulations, one thing about the Antigravity A1 that many may not realize is that its goggles-based controls system requires pilots to bring along a second person as a ‘spotter'[ when flying.
In most countries, you must keep your drone in visual line-of-sight at all times, except when using goggles – when you must have someone else with you to keep both eyes on your drone. As someone who usually flies solo, that creates something of a problem for me.
I should also say that none of what I’ve said above means I’m anything less than gleefully looking forward to testing out the Antigravity A1. I’ve long been a fan of what Insta360 has achieved with its 360-degree action cameras, such as the Insta360 X5, so the prospect of flying a drone equipped with the same panoramic video capture and post-production reframing capabilities is a really, really compelling one.
As I said earlier, us camera drone fans have got a lot to look forward to at the moment. But for me, the DJI Mini 5 Pro has the edge for its sheer practicality and sounds like the drone I’m more likely to buy.
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