okay so my usual flying spots are like grassy fields and gravel parking lots and i keep reading that i should be using a landing pad but honestly every time i look at them they seem kind of unnecessary? like i hand catch most of the time anyway and when i dont i just find a flat-ish spot

the main thing i keep seeing is that it protects the sensors from debris getting kicked up on landing, which okay i get that, but is it really that big of a deal on grass. also some of the pads i see are huge and i dont really want to carry another thing in my bag

or is this one of those things where you feel dumb for not having one until the day something goes wrong

tbh i thought the same thing for like a year and then had a small rock get sucked up into the bottom sensors on a gravel landing and scratch the housing. nothing broken but it was annoying and completely avoidable. got a 30cm foldable pad after that and it stuffs into a side pocket no problem, genuinely dont notice the weight. on grass its probably less critical but the visual reference for landing is actually kind of nice especially in low light

i mean for grass i think youre probably fine without one, the real use case imo is dusty or sandy conditions where all that stuff gets blasted around during takeoff and landing. i fly near the beach sometimes and the pad is 100% worth it there, without it you'd be cleaning sand out of everything constantly. for a regular park or field though, hand catching honestly works just as well if you're comfortable with it

the bright orange ones are also pretty useful as a home point visual if you're flying further out, kind of a nice bonus