been flying for about a year now and i keep seeing people show up to spots with those foldable landing pads and im starting to wonder if i should just get one. mostly i fly at parks and fields, occasionally beaches. right now i just find a flat patch of grass or sometimes launch off my car hood which i know is probably not ideal.

the thing is i dont totally understand what problem it solves? like the drone lands fine without it. is it mainly for dusty or sandy environments to protect the motors or is there something else going on. genuine question, not trying to be annoying about it. also do the really cheap ones on amazon actually stay flat or do they curl up and blow away because that would be way more annoying than just using the ground

honestly for grass and parks you probably dont need one, its more of a nice-to-have. but beaches are a different story, sand getting sucked into the motors is a real thing and ive had to clean mine out after beach sessions more than once. the landing pad doesnt eliminate it but it definitely helps, especially on takeoff when the props are spinning up and creating a ton of downwash.

the cheap ones do curl up if its windy, not gonna lie. i use the hoodman one and it has stakes but even then in a stiff breeze its a bit of a circus. the heavier padded ones stay flatter but then theyre kind of bulky to carry. honestly any landing pad is better than no landing pad if youre at the beach though

i got a random one off amazon for like 12 bucks and it works fine for what it is. yeah it flaps a bit but you just put it in a sheltered spot. the orange color is actually useful for spotting your landing zone if your doing anything more than like 100 feet up. wouldnt overthink it, just grab a cheap one and see if you even use it before spending real money on a nicer version