my friend keeps telling me i need a landing pad and i keep telling him grass is free lol. but i did have a situation last week where i was trying to land in some pretty tall weeds and the drone kind of tipped sideways on touchdown which was scary. luckily the props were already slowing down so nothing got chewed up but it got me thinking.

are the rollup neoprene ones any good or do they blow around too much in wind. i've seen people stake them down which seems like a whole extra thing to carry. also do they actually protect from dust ingestion or is that more of a desert flying thing. i mostly fly in the UK so it's usually just mud and wet grass lol

yeah the rollup ones blow around if there's any real wind, the stakes help but then you're fussing with it every time. i switched to one of the foldable rigid ones that has a weighted edge and it's much better. stays put in moderate wind no problem. for wet grass honestly a landing pad is genuinely useful, keeps the motors from sucking up moisture and debris on takeoff which is a real thing not just paranoia.

mine packs down to roughly the size of a frisbee so its not a big deal to throw in my bag. think i paid like 15 quid for it off amazon, nothing fancy but does the job.

I've been flying for 3 years without one and never had a serious issue but I also tend to scout my landing spot before I ever take off which probably helps more than any pad would. That said after watching a friend nearly lose a motor to a rock he couldn't see in long grass I started carrying one. The peace of mind is worth the tiny bit of extra weight honestly.