Drone enthusiasm?

[robert e rigters]

Remember back around 2015 or 2016 such much enthusiasm for Drones (cheap ones or expensive ones), is it just me but I see a lack of interest in Drones
with the exception of those who use it for a purpose ex. commercial or anything similar. I live in Florida near a huge park and I recall how many people would come with their drones
and fly them and its a ghost town.....my question is....What Happened?

 

[BrianP]

Remember back around 2015 or 2016 such much enthusiasm for Drones (cheap ones or expensive ones), is it just me but I see a lack of interest in Drones
with the exception of those who use it for a purpose ex. commercial or anything similar. I live in Florida near a huge park and I recall how many people would come with their drones
and fly them and its a ghost town.....my question is....What Happened?

flyaways ?

 

[Pat9377]

Too many constraints, too many restrictions, it killed our hobby

 

[hiflyer]

Possibly people are flying off by themselves more. I have a friend who likes to head out and fly together but I do it only to hang out. It's just not my thing to be looking for "traffic"

 

[twickers14]

The only reason we don’t (can’) fly here is the weather. It has been awful for virtually 6 weeks. I can’t always get out when it’s nice and of course the dreaded virus hasn’t helped. Living in an urban area I have to be very aware of people and of course many of them are working from home meaning they’re out and about during the day more. Just a view!

 

[hiflyer]

The only reason we don’t (can’) fly here is the weather

Twickers, If your people would have left jolly old..when mine did you wouldn't have that orible accent and you might be flying in sunshine....hope you know I'm joking

Too many constraints, too many restrictions, it killed our hobby

Pat! Welcome to the forum from sunny california..it took you long enough to post something..you joined way back in 2019??
Not dead.. just wounded a little..

 

[twickers14]

I know but one had to “branch out” a touch in those days! ‘Course I knew you were joking!

 

[JonU]

The NFZ stuff grounded me for a while. I'm nowhere near all the fires that were out here in SoCal, but the NFZs covered huge areas.
NFZ for my home was finally lifted a month after the last local fire.
All the forced regulations sure take the fun out of it.

 

[netfolks2000]

Remember back around 2015 or 2016 such much enthusiasm for Drones (cheap ones or expensive ones), is it just me but I see a lack of interest in Drones
with the exception of those who use it for a purpose ex. commercial or anything similar. I live in Florida near a huge park and I recall how many people would come with their drones
and fly them and its a ghost town.....my question is....What Happened?

I'm not so sure there is less enthusiasm as features keep getting better and better for less cost. Remember, we have the pandemic which has all kinds of effects, including manufacturing. When you look at YouTube videos about the drones it seems they have huge followings, subscribers, so I guess drone sales records would be the only true indication of less enthusiasm.

 

[AirCam]

A couple of years ago they sold Sparks and Mavics in Wal-Mart. Not now. In a way it feels a little bit like "reaching the end of the internet." Litchi gave it a bit of new life, but I wanted more. I have flown over everything I wanted to see and have half a terabyte of video on my computer and a dozen YouTubes to show for it. I have 91 ICE panoramas. How many more do I need? I am grateful to Brett8883 for giving us SuperPatcher to put some excitement back in my drones, but none of the newer DJI drones work with Litchi and SuperPatcher. For me, DJI has developed themselves totally out of my market. As much as I liked it, before; it is pretty much a hobby that I USED to do.

 

[netfolks2000]

The Mini 2 has reinvigorated my enthusiasm with its range, features & portability.