genuinely asking because ive seen a lot of people swear by them and i keep almost buying one then talking myself out of it. i fly mostly in fields and parks, occasionally beaches. my concern is mostly grass getting sucked up into things and sand obviously but i dunno if a pad really solves that or if its more of a grass-is-always-greener situation (no pun intended). the foldable ones look convenient but some of them look really flimsy in the reviews

also does it matter much for smaller drones? i have an air 2s not like a heavy lift rig

honestly for the air 2s i'd say yeah get one, they're like 15 bucks for the foldable helipads and they fold down to nothing. the main thing for me isnt even about the motors its more about dusty or wet takeoffs messing with the sensors on the bottom. had a false obstacle warning once on a gravelly surface that i'm pretty sure was just debris reflection. threw a pad down and never had that issue again. beach use is where they really shine tho, sand in a gimbal is a nightmare

i was skeptical for the longest time and then i had a situation where i was filming at a park and the ground was still wet from rain and the grass clippings were all over everything. drone came back down and it was just covered in wet bits. got a pad after that, not because it's some magic solution but just reduces the grossness factor honestly. the cheap ones are fine, dont let anyone upsell you on some 40 dollar version with led lights unless you're doing night ops or something