I’m mostly talking about camera drones rather than FPV ones.
Every time I take mine out of the bag, people gather around with the same questions: how high does it go, how far does it go, was it expensive, have you ever crashed, etc. - as if they’ve never seen a drone before.
It seems like every single YouTuber and amateur photographer has one these days. They’re easy to fly and relatively cheap too. You’d think they’d be everywhere, but I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve actually seen someone flying one. Granted, I don’t leave the house much and when I do I usually head into the woods, so that probably plays a role. Still, I’m curious if this is just me or if other people have had the same experience.
They are great for exploration and photography/videography which I’d count as rather useful. More “useless” things are flying it for fun and getting better at controlling it. There is stunt flying and tricks you can do, there is a whole community of enthusiasts who modify (and build) drones and contests you can compete in. “Useless” like any other hobby I guess.
Yeah, EDC aerial reconnaissance is the other usecase besides photography. Nice to have something you can send to scout ahead before commiting to bushwhacking.
Doing stunts and tricks requires a different kind of drone though.