Is drone a bad word?

Mazz · Jan 14, 2015

Whenever I am flying or talking about any of my quads I refer to them as just that. "Quad", "quadcopter", and rarely but sometimes "UAV."
I am out in public a lot with my quads and as with most of us, I field a lot of questions. I always feel like when people say or think "drone" they think anti privacy or military or government... I have been referring to them as I mentioned above since I can remember. Am I alone with this?

Edited for spelling

Noël · Jan 14, 2015

Tell them that a drone is a male bee..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_(bee)

Morgon · Jan 14, 2015

I always use 'quad' for the same reason. I think the community is trying to 'take back' the word, but I'm still much more comfortable differentiating them in this way.

GizaDog · Jan 15, 2015

I get the same responses and educate them. Unarmed RC Quadcopter.

turbodronepilot · Jan 16, 2015

I call them droids sometime, but most can relate when you call them drones. .if you say uav or quadcopter they're like huh?? Drone ?? Oh ya...
Unfortunately the word drone is linked to military or government use and in my opinion people don't want that type of machine flying over their property. .

jrs · Jan 16, 2015

Its a flying camera

2014fc40 · Jan 16, 2015

Yes DRONE is a bad word. The overly dramatic liberal media has worked very hard to make it one.
People who know nothing about the sport immediately associate the word drone with "bad".

Drone=bad

And thats exactly what the knee jerk inducing media wants.

Quad or quadcopters are what they are. Since when are they drones? They aren't drones any more than they are robots.

Paul K · Jan 16, 2015

I created my own name for it and refer to it as CFP " computerized flying platform".

Sapstar · Jan 18, 2015

mine is called my willie

fizzviic · Jan 18, 2015

I refer to it as an APP as in I have an APP (A-erial P-hotographic P-latform) for that, LOL

edited for spelling

crashburn · Jan 19, 2015

Anti-drone Drone?
http://www.popsci.com/rapere-anti-drone-interceptor

Sent from my Dev Note 4

DjiQuadzilla · Jan 19, 2015

Yeah I was talking to Carnival cruise line yesterday asking if there would be any issue bringing my quadcopter on the ship so when we dock I can go take video off the ship and he said your what? I tried to avoid saying drone and out of no where he was like ohhhhhh you mean a DRONE! So I repied yes a small one lol. Then he actually said there should be no issues with me bringing it as long as I do not fly it on the ship.

The Editor · Jan 19, 2015

Noël said:
Tell them that a drone is a male bee..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drone_(bee)

To which people will say.... "Oh yeah.... it sound like a swarm of them"

Bad word or not.... we are stuck with it and that's what people refer to them as

GizaDog · Jan 20, 2015

Don't let the fearful news outlets scare people with the word Drone. The governments own killer drones. These are just flying cameras without weapons!

DaBone · Jan 20, 2015

2014fc40 said:
Yes DRONE is a bad word. The overly dramatic liberal media has worked very hard to make it one.
People who know nothing about the sport immediately associate the word drone with "bad".

Drone=bad

And thats exactly what the knee jerk inducing media wants.

Quad or quadcopters are what they are. Since when are they drones? They aren't drones any more than they are robots.

I see it as the word "drone" is a collection name for quad-, hexa- and octocopter.

kgarrison · Jan 21, 2015

Flying Camera is not accurate as many do not carry cameras
Quadcopter applies to some, but not all of them
UAS and UAV sound like military acronyms
Drone is a remotely piloted vehicle - this applies quite well
Multicopter is accurate but sometimes confusing to some people
Drone is what is in the news, its recognizable, and it starts the conversation. I have no problem telling people I own a drone store. People walk into our store and say "oh...these are those drone things....how cool!" We have never once had a negative conversation with anyone in our area around the word drone. It seems the only people bothered by the word are some of the people that fly them.

turbodronepilot · Jan 21, 2015

Call it what you want it's all rock n roll to me...

crashburn · Jan 22, 2015

kgarrison said:
Flying Camera is not accurate as many do not carry cameras
Quadcopter applies to some, but not all of them
UAS and UAV sound like military acronyms
Drone is a remotely piloted vehicle - this applies quite well
Multicopter is accurate but sometimes confusing to some people
Drone is what is in the news, its recognizable, and it starts the conversation. I have no problem telling people I own a drone store. People walk into our store and say "oh...these are those drone things....how cool!" We have never once had a negative conversation with anyone in our area around the word drone. It seems the only people bothered by the word are some of the people that fly them.

Sometimes the payload is drugs, not a camera..

https://news.vice.com/article/drone...crashes-in-tijuana?utm_source=vicenewstwitter

Sent from my Dev Note 4

Mazz · Jan 22, 2015

kgarrison said:
It seems the only people bothered by the word are some of the people that fly them.

Ya I guess everyone here must be wrong about everyone they talk to and you are he only one here with experience talking to people. We all have different experiences with the public and I can assure you there are a LOT of people who hear "drone" and think military or autonomous flying robot. They are incorrect by definition but uniformed just the same. It is up to us to show and explain how non-invasive most of us want to be and that we are not all like the people you hear about in the news. Unfortunately in America most of the news is bad news.

kgarrison · Jan 22, 2015

Mazz said:
Ya I guess everyone here must be wrong about everyone they talk to and you are he only one here with experience talking to people. We all have different experiences with the public and I can assure you there are a LOT of people who hear "drone" and think military or autonomous flying robot. They are incorrect by definition but uniformed just the same. It is up to us to show and explain how non-invasive most of us want to be and that we are not all like the people you hear about in the news. Unfortunately in America most of the news is bad news.

I can only relay MY personal experience. We own a dedicated multicopter retail store in our downtown shopping district. Nobody has ever complained, nobody here thinks of drones as bad. We fly them at major events here and the people come in like mad to learn more. Maybe its the Colorado mindset, maybe its that we are VERY public and active in our community, maybe its that we share lots of videos with our community about the beauty of our state. Whatever it is, we work hard to promote a positive message and it has worked extremely well in our favor.