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Potensic ATOM 3-Axis Gimbal 4K GPS Drone: A Comprehensive Review
The Potensic ATOM 3-Axis Gimbal 4K GPS Drone is a lightweight, feature-packed drone designed for both beginners and experienced flyers. Weighing under 249g, it’s FAA-compliant and doesn’t require registration, making it a hassle-free choice for aerial photography and videography. With a 4K/30fps camera, 3-axis gimbal stabilization, and up to 96 minutes of flight time (thanks to three included batteries), this drone is a standout in its price range.
The Fly More Combo adds even more value, including a 64GB micro SD card, a portable handbag, and a fast-charging hub. Whether you’re capturing cinematic shots or learning the ropes of drone flying, the Potensic ATOM promises a seamless and enjoyable experience.
Pros and Cons: What Customers Are Saying
Quality and Build
The Potensic ATOM has received praise for its solid build quality. Many users noted that it doesn’t feel cheap, with one reviewer stating, “Nothing feels cheap at all. The whole package feels extremely high quality.” The controller, in particular, stands out as a well-made component, with a design reminiscent of higher-end brands.
However, some users pointed out that the build quality is slightly below that of DJI drones. One reviewer mentioned, “For all intents and purposes, this appears to be a DJI knockoff, just with slightly lower quality build and packaging.” While it’s not a dealbreaker, it’s worth noting for those comparing it to premium models.
Usability and Features
The Potensic ATOM shines in terms of usability, especially for beginners. Many first-time drone users found it easy to set up and fly. One reviewer shared, “This is the first drone I’ve ever flown, and I’m completely impressed! The controls are easy to pick up, and the 3-axis camera is super steady.”
The drone’s advanced features, such as Visual Tracking and QuickShots (Pull-Away, Rocket, Circle, Spiral, and Boomerang), add a layer of creativity to your footage. The GPS capabilities, auto-return, and return-to-home features also make it a safe and reliable option for new pilots.
That said, some users reported issues with range and signal interference. One reviewer noted, “In a suburban area, I managed less than 2000 feet before video signal breakup and RTH (Return to Home).” While this might not be an issue in rural settings, it’s something to consider if you plan to fly in areas with high interference.
Camera Performance
The 4K/30fps camera, powered by a Sony CMOS sensor, delivers impressive footage for a drone in this price range. Users praised the stability of the 3-axis gimbal, even in windy conditions. One reviewer said, “The camera takes very high-quality video and pictures and is perfectly stabilized.”
However, some users noted that the camera struggles with high-contrast scenes, blowing out highlights in certain conditions. As one reviewer pointed out, “In auto mode, it can really blow out highlights if there’s a lot of contrast, like green trees and white sidewalks.” While manual settings can help mitigate this, it’s a limitation worth considering.
Battery Life and Charging
The inclusion of three batteries in the Fly More Combo is a major plus, offering up to 96 minutes of flight time. The fast-charging hub, which can charge all three batteries simultaneously, was another highlight. One user raved, “The charger is amazing! It even has an extra USB port to charge the controller.”
However, some users reported that the drone can overheat in warm temperatures, especially when hovering. One reviewer mentioned, “During setup, I couldn’t calibrate because the camera was overheating. After a cool-down period, the issue resolved.” While this isn’t a common complaint, it’s something to keep in mind if you’re flying in hot weather.
Durability and Longevity
The Potensic ATOM’s durability is a bit of a mixed bag. While many users were impressed with its stability and performance, some expressed concerns about its long-term reliability. One reviewer noted, “The build quality is decent, but it’s slightly under DJI. Long-term durability is still an unknown factor.”
That said, the drone’s lightweight design and portability make it a great option for travel and casual use.
Conclusion: Is the Potensic ATOM Worth It?
The Potensic ATOM 3-Axis Gimbal 4K GPS Drone is an excellent choice for beginners and casual flyers looking for a feature-packed drone at an affordable price. Its 4K camera, 3-axis gimbal, and long flight time make it a standout in its category.
Pros:
- Lightweight and portable, perfect for travel.
- High-quality 4K camera with excellent stabilization.
- Long flight time with three included batteries.
- Easy to use, even for beginners.
- Advanced features like Visual Tracking and QuickShots.
Cons:
- Slightly lower build quality compared to premium brands.
- Limited range in areas with high interference.
- Camera struggles with high-contrast scenes.
- Potential overheating in warm temperatures.
Final Verdict: If you’re looking for a budget-friendly drone that delivers professional-grade footage and is easy to fly, the Potensic ATOM is a fantastic option. While it may not match the build quality of higher-end models, its features and performance make it a great value for the price. For beginners and casual users, this drone is a solid investment.
Specification Potensic ATOM 3-Axis Gimbal 4K GPS Drone, Under 249g, 96 Mins Flight, Max 6KM Transmission, Visual Tracking, 4K/30FPS QuickShots, Lightweight for Adults and Beginners, Fly More Combo:
Comments from Amazon:
Amazing drone for the money. Quality is great. Very comparable to the DJI mini 4K. Footage looks good, pictures are not bad. Very stable and lots of features. I bought the fly more package and I think the only thing missing from the packed is an extra set of knows for the controller in case you lose them but they are cheap to purchase. The extra batteries are great and the charger is amazing! They all charge simultaneously and they charge in about 75 minutes. Something that no review on YouTube has is that the charger has an extra USB port to charge the controller as well. So you can charge the 3 batteries and the controller or 4 batteries all at the same time.
LOVE This little guy, he's got attitude, it's fast, nimble, and confident. A little wind does not bother him at all. He just gets louder & yells at it. Wild little thing!! Amazing Mini-Drone. This drone has features found in many way more expensive drones. Love that it doesn't require calibrating every time it takes off or lands AND the batteries support hot-swapping from the drone to the parallel charger. It's deadly accurate on RTH, never misses the landing pad. The camera is awesome! Flying this in sport mode, with the camera in FPV mode, is a truly immersive experience All in All, this is an everyday go to camera drone that you can trust. The customer support is excellent as well. I had an issue with the gimbal & they went out of thier way to solve it.
This is the first drone that I have ever flown. I am completely impressed! There is a little setup learning curve but once you have that figured out it is not only simple, but it is fun and easy to fly. The 3 axis camera is super steady and has an incredible picture for a drone at this price point. If you can afford the extra $100 for the fly more kit, I would recommend it as you will get the carry bag and an extra battery along with a few other accessories. I would buy this again in a heartbeat!
For all intense purpose, to me this appears a DJI knock off of a earlier DJI mini, just lower quality build and packaging. The video is even very similar if you had a older DJI mini. You'll recognize it. In some you tube reviews it manages decent range. In one notable other a reviewer hardly makes it out of a park before losing signal. My experience is somewhere in between closer to the latter. It did not achieve great range. Couple thousand feet or less. . This could and likely is caused by interference and obstruction. Staying under the FAA 400 ft limit in a suburban area I managed less than 2000 feet before video signal break up and rth. The video was lagging and banding before that. You would likely have better luck in a more rural setting, plains or desert. Some place with less interference and better elevation and decent line of sight. Or if you exceeded the 400 ft FAA limit (,I don't advise you do this). Some drones have done better in range tests at this same location. Even less expensive drones. The potensic seems especially sensitive to interference. In flying it is a fun flyer. Handles well. Stable. Almost no deviation holds it's spot well. Impressive. The only exception being wind. I noted it jumped around quite a bit in mild wind especially during ascent and decent. Enough it showed in the video despite the gimble. This is not entirely unexpected for such a small lite drone. During set up there was a moment I couldn't calibrate. Said the camera was over heated. No fan in this unit but normally shouldn't be a problem the air movement cools it off. After giving it a little cool down (and yes left the video off) the over heat message did disappear and I was able to calibrate. Not uncommon drones with fans often have fans kick on when left still and turned on. This just doesn't have a fan (and really doesnt need one). Take note of this because in hovering in warm temperatures overheating may be a possibility. For some reason the drone has not updated it's firmware. It may or may not later it was just something I noticed as drones I've set up often have a immediate update in firmware. Neither the drone or the controller has updated. (Yet). The drone build quality while decent appears slightly under DJI, as the packaging. Long term this is a unknown Factor far as longevity. It could last a while. Or not. The charging hub works. It's reasonably well made.. You'll see this throughout the drone package. A recurrent theme. With the exception perhaps of the controller. It's actually a fairly well made controller. Controller made better than the rest of package. And if you notice it looks really similar to another brand controller they came out with a few years ago. Almost identical in fact. So we know where the controller design (and build) likely came from. About the only thing not seemingly a DJI cheaper copy. The drone itself comes well packed and reminds me heavily of DJI. Just everything slightly lower quality except the charging hub. Can I recommend this drone? For the $300 -$400 price range yes. Everything works. Made slightly lower perhaps too achieve a price point. It's a stable (if not in wind) very fun flyer. The application, the drone, charging hub all consumer friendly (some drones are in Chinese still). The charging hub and controller the best points in this package. I do like the controller quality. The drone isn't geo locked unlike some other brands. If that matters to you. It leaves the person flying it at their own choice but does come up with warnings to let the user know they may be in violation of federal or local laws. So it's informative while not overly restrictive. The camera quality is definitely not pro but usable. Fair at this price point. This drone does not have obstacle avoidance. Which at this price point you wouldn't want anyway because if it had obstacle avoidance it probably wouldn't work right. With the pretty well made controller and the charging hub is a convenient user friendly package. User friendly and cheaper seems drones theme. It even comes with a charging brick unlike dji (way to go DJI on the air 3 here I go again) which makes you buy the charging brick separate (grr). Alternatives:? Any of the Rukos, sjrc, and Ruko copy models especially if you want something better in wind and are willing to exceed the 250 grams and take the TRUST quiz do the $5 drone registration. It's not hard. And the drones are heavier and more sturdy. They unfortunately often have lower quality controllers and no battery hub. Though the drones themselves appear sturdier. F22s is over 250g (requiring reg) about the same price point and higher wind resistance with at least frontal obstacle avoidance. Or a older model DJI mini can be had in this price range or less. Which is kind of what this appears anyway. The newer faith mini is in this league. Worth a look. There is alternatives, especially if you shop other than Amazon, but for the $300- $400 mini drone segment this is one of the better buys. Better closer to the $300 mark. Just remember if you are spending less than half 1/2 the price of the DJI it won't match up to DJI quality in camera or build. Other than perhaps the controller. Which again, the highest quality part of this package seems to be the controller. Looking real similar to another brand. The price is inching up toward the $400 mark on this now. Still fair. But If it keeps going up I'd suggest you consider alternatives. There is decent quality alternatives. If the price goes to $500 minus a star from this review. If you want affordable fun this could be for you. It's good for the average consumer. If you want quality move up into the autel DJI, skydio, other higher model brands. Just remember there is a cost. Potensic offers a decent product for this consumer friendly mini drone price point. Potensic declined to send me one for testing. So I bought this with my own money. This review is not paid or sponsored. It is of my opinion only. In messages potensic customer service said they made their own sensor. I inquired of various sensors in their drones. The listing says this has a Sony sensor. Potensic in communication says they made their own. Contradictory. I'm left to think there is a communication issue, or potensic customer service doesn't know their own products. This could be a factor in attaining quality customer support..
I am really impressed with this little thing. It is really easy to setup and start flying for a noob like me, and the controls are easy to pickup and get used to. The video quality on this here is pretty impressive too, especially considering the price. The footage is really stable, even when in `sport mode` and going pretty fast (like 20mph in winds) - and the gimbal is easy to control and get the shots that I want without thinking about it too hard. One thing I noticed is that in `auto` mode while filming, it can really blow out highlights if there is a lot of contrast, say with green trees and white sidewalk. Fortunately you can modify the the ISO and shutter speed to help combat this, but it isn't always ideal since you only have so many flight minutes per battery. I'm hoping later firmware updates will help here, but I'm not holding my breath - and it isn't really a big deal. Battery life is really respectable, I am impressed with how long this thing flies. In my tests its like 20 minutes before I land, but I tend to land with some battery left in case I see something else I want to film or fly over - so I don't doubt the advertised 30 minute flight time (assuming the right conditions) The GPS is pretty good, and I quite like the autoreturn and autoland features, but I've gotten more comfortable doing both manually (its kind of fun) so I don't use that as much now. But it works, and works pretty good. I don't have any complaints, I really like this thing and look forward to flying it when ever I see a nice day out. It checked all my boxes too: - be a good price - have good and stable footage - have at least 20 minutes of flight time per charge I didn't try any of the intelligent flight modes, and I'm not really super interested in them - but if I do try them I'll update this review with additional information on what I think about them. But overall: this is a great drone, I love it and would buy another in a heartbeat.
Great value, takes fantastic pics and videos. My first drone and it's easy to fly, great stability. Charges the 3 batteries simultaneously unlike my sons DJI which charges one at a time. The app is great, follow me works well. I love the quick shots function. Controller is solid and great to use, everything is laid out really well. Recommended
This is my first drone and Im glad I went with this instead of something bigger and more expensive. This is the perfect platform to learn on and it is very easy to fly. Anything more powerful and I would probably get myself into trouble because Im new to drones. For 350 bucks this is a crazy good deal. 90 minutes of flight time is a lot and the whole package just feels extremely high quality. Nothing feels cheap at all. The camera takes very high quality video and pictures and is perfectly stabilized. Im definitely going to get my license because Im hooked and I want to use the footage for my videos and my business. I would hands down recommend this drone. I looked at every option in this price and category and this is the best deal.