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.
My inlaws do a big 4th of July fireworks show, for many years a drone would come hover 100ft above us, recording it. We never found out who it was. Fairly creepy actually.
I have a drone and played with it a fair amount, drove it around my neighborhood, well beyond the “line of sight” requirement. I managed to hit trees several times because it doesn’t have fancy avoidance features. Hard to tell from the single camera when you’re rising up or backing into a tree branch.
Eventually I got bored tho. I did learn how to file flight plans, do all the things right. I live near an air force base, so there are entire sections of the city including parks where I cannot fly it.
Eventually it gets a little boring. I can’t wait for my toddler to get a bit older and then he will think it’s fun. For a week, and then he’ll get bored.
the creepy part is sorta funny. I can’t think of a more come here and look at me activity than firing off fireworks.