Potensic Atom 4k

REVIEW: Potensic ATOM 3-Axis Gimbal 4K GPS Drone

Potensic ATOM 3-Axis Gimbal 4K GPS Drone

Welcome drone enthusiasts and newcomers alike!  Thanks for clicking this review.  I hope you find this helpful and informative, as I have had many adventures and misadventures with four of these “under 249 gram” drones now!   This little craft do not require a license to fly.  Let me run you through my backstory with three previous drones, which you can click for more information.

The Ruko’s superior camera was a marked improvement in my drone video quality, no matter how hard they were to fly.  I thought about upgrading my Potensic.  Why not?  You only live once.

One thing about the old ATOM SE’s camera was that it didn’t have a fancy 3-axis gimbal.  What’s that mean?  It means that it couldn’t keep a level picture, with the horizon always…horizontal.  When the drone was flying in wind, it needed to tilt to compensate and stay stationary.  Most of my old ATOM videos have a visibly crooked horizon.  But that’s just the obvious difference.  The 3-axis gimbal gives it an unprecedented smoothness.  All my old videos had jerky movements.  Not anymore.  This camera is like an aerial steady-cam.

It wasn’t all smooth flying.  I had some issues out of the box.  I think one was caused by an uncalibrated controller.  It was veering off to the right upon takeoff, much like the Ruko used to do.  A calibration of the joysticks seemed to fix this.  It also defaulted to a “beginner mode” that I failed to notice and caused some confusion at first.

My second issue happened after a windy flight in Tiverton, Ontario.  I decided to bring the drone down after a few seconds, as the wind was unusually strong.  After a drive home, I was not able to re-connect the drone to the controller.  The drone was acting up, and wouldn’t power down without removing its battery.  I spent days trying to get the two devices to pair.  After a desperate email to Potensic, the problem revealed itself.  They advised me to try a number of things including re-pairing the devices without a memory card inserted.

The drone came with a 64 gig micro CD card (a surprise in itself!) but I decided to use a Gigastone 128 gig card instead.  It was actually my second Gigastone.  The first one failed right out of the box and wouldn’t format.  It turns out, the second Gigastone also failed sometime in the car between Tiverton and Lorne Beach.  Upon removal, the drone and controller paired immediately without issue.  Who knew that the memory card, which is used to store images and videos, was critical to the proper operation?  I mean, you can fly without one.  But throw a bad one in there by mistake, and you will stay grounded.  So there’s a tip for you:  if you’re having issues with your drone, take out the memory card as a first step.  Two Gigastones failed one after another!  Another tip is not to buy a Gigastone 128 gig card.

Once we got all these little details ironed out, the Potensic flew steady and true, just as my original did.  I’ve started to discover new features.  The camera has a zoom!  Pinch and zoom; it’s that simple.  This is going to improve my video making abilities over Lake Huron.

I ordered the option with three batteries.  No matter which version you choose, you will get the equipment you need (minus the micro SD card which only came with the three battery option).  In addition to the controller and all the cables, this version comes with the three batteries (32 minutes life each), and a charging block to simultaneously charge all three batteries and your controller at once!  It all comes in a handy carrying case, with handle.

There are lots of features for me to play with that I haven’t touched yet:  6km transmission distance, visual tracking, pull-away shots, boomerang shots…lots to try out, though I always prefer manual controls.

Check out the videos below and be sure to check back as more are added.  The new Potensic drone is going to drastically improve my video making abilities in 2026.

5/5 stars

 


Calibrating: “SMC” by Def Leppard


Sunrise Test Flight: “Mighty Morris Ten” by Episode Six


High Wind Test Flight: “Next Summer” by Arkells


Final Test Flight & All Bugs Worked Out: “Michigan Left” by Arkells

#1243: Checking Things Off the List: Creative Works in Early 2026

RECORD STORE TALES #1243: Checking Things Off the List: Creative Works in Early 2026

I have been relatively silent in Spring 2026. Like many of us in these uncertain times, I have been paralyzed when trying to think of the future. This is rare for me. In the past, when I have found myself unable or unwilling to create, I tended to throw the towel in and cry “I quit”! Then more sober minds gently remind me that talking about music is something I’m pretty good at. They tell me it’s OK to take a break without nuking everything. So, this time I haven’t freaked out. I’ve just created at my own pace, and focused what juice I do have on videos. Videos are a different creative process and it feels more immediate to me at the moment.

Every year, twice a year, I try to do something “new” creatively. This could be writing, cooking, or video making.  I can rarely plan ahead or field creative suggestions.  Something new always comes along.  It just happens organically every summer.  Some future summer, I swear, I will take up meat smoking at the cottage, but not this year. This year, a new investment has been made and new equipment acquired in another direction.

Drones came into my life in 2024 when I accumulated enough Amazon points through my work to buy one. I chose the Potensic Atom SE, a great drone for beginners but not with the 4k 3-axis camera that a better drone carries. It was not until I tried both that I appreciated what the better camera can do. In 2025, I had a misadventure with the Ruko company and not one but two of their drones.  While I loved their 4k camera with brushless 3-axis gimble, I didn’t enjoy that their drones are prone to crashing.  My more primitive Potensic didn’t seem to have that weakness.  If only it took better pictures, I mused.

Welcome to 2026, my new Potensic 4k drone with brushless 3-axis gimble.  I upgraded.  My parents enjoy my photos and want to see what I can do with a better camera.  They made it happen.  You can really see the difference.  You’ll see how the horizon is always perfectly level.  That’s the 3-axis gimble.  Thank you mom and dad!

New thing #1 in 2026:  New improved drone.  Check ✔


Music: “SMC” by Def Leppard


Music: “Mighty Morris Ten” by Episode Six, featuring Ian Gillan and Roger Glover of Deep Purple

My summer creative goals are usually cottage goals.  The drones are a perfect example.  You could not ask for a better camera in the most perfect setting.  I’m all about “set” and “setting”, as they say in psychology.  Mindset, and physical setting.  The cottage is the setting that gives me the best conduit to my creative side.  I used to do a lot of animation videos from the lake, and I’d like to return to that.  Since those days, live streaming from the lake is a creative highpoint.   I started in 2020 using a primitive phone and Facebook Live, and they got better year after year, with 2026 being hopefully one of the best.

Because I love the night up at the cottage, and also because strange things have been seen and heard there, I have always wanted to live stream from the spooky dark.  The ideal topic would be UFOs and the paranormal, I reasoned.  I put the idea on the shelf as one that I hadn’t fully formed.  Something to do someday, sometime, if the right circumstances came to be.

In 2025, while in a hospital emergency ward waiting to be seen for a rib injury, I spent my idle time reading the dystopian science fiction of Australian author Violeta M. Bagia.  I remember complimenting the book and comparing it positively to Firefly in tone.  Since that time I’ve learned that Bagia is not only a Blaze Bayley & Wolfsbane fan, but a UFO and paranormal enthusiast.  Due to her location in Australia, her best time happened to fall at 6 AM EST, while the cottage in the woods is just waking up from the pitch black dark.  It became obvious that I had my special guest and my setting for the UFOs and Paranormal episode.  Please welcome to Grab A Stack of Rock on Friday May 22 at 6:00 AM EST:  Violeta M. Bagia!

New thing #2 in 2026:  Finally doing the UFO and Paranormal episode from the cottage.  Check ✔

Coming May 22: Sci-fi, UFOs and the Paranormal with author Violeta M Bagia

But that’s not all.  Harrison and I still have 50 Years of Iron Maiden to wrap up, and we’re so close!  We are ready to cover The Book of Souls: Live Chapter, and as usual we do live albums as live episodes.  Not wanting to delay 50 Years of Iron Maiden another week, I decided to do two shows in one day, at two extremes of the day:  sunrise and sunset!   This isn’t a goal I knew I had, but I’m excited to do it.

New thing #3 in 2026:  Sunrise and Sunset Hour Shows in One Day.  Check ✔

Two Live Show Announcement for May 22 2026

I have a long long weekend coming.  Feeling the strain, we’ll be taking some extra time at the lake that weekend which will give me plenty of time to prepare and do two really good shows.  That always makes me happy.

It’s already late May.  That is rather late in the year for my creative side to start percolating, but start it has.