We wish there was a better name for drones. There isn't.

“Drone”. At best, the word evokes a mindless, machinistic parody of life. At worst, it recalls horrific images of totalitarian surveillance and death from above. Nobody agrees more than drone enthusiasts that there should really be a different name for their innocent hobby. That’s why they’ve tried to come up with one.

And failed. “Quadcopter” doesn’t cover it, because some drones have more than four rotors. “Multicopter” is just awkward and weird. Acronyms like “UAV” and “UAS” are never going to roll off the tongue, and sound just as military as “drone” anyway. So “drone” it is. It’s not fair, but we’re stuck with it.

So when the drone discussion in our forum got so overwhelming that we decided to try giving it its own site, we just went ahead and called it drone.horse. (Yes, that’s the URL. Duh. Websites don’t all have to be .com anymore, Gramps.) As you can see, it’s already buzzing (ha ha) with drone-obsessives sharing gear recommendations, drone-cam videos, piloting tips, that kind of thing. But one question, so far, has not been asked or answered:

What, exactly, is a drone?

Something like the DJI Phantom obviously qualifies. A paper airplane, even though you could kind of say it “flies autonomously”, obviously doesn’t.

Today’s Odyssey Sky Flyer Quadcopter presents a more ambiguous case. On the “yea” side, it can execute the usual repertoire of rolls and flips you’d expect from any other quadcopter drone, with full 360-degree omnidirectional flight.

But on the “nay” side, you can’t mount a camera to it. It doesn’t have any sort of GPS homing capability that can bring it home under its own power. It certainly can’t launch assaults against ISIS camps or deliver your Amazon packages.

So is it a drone? We tried a drone-oriented modification of the Voight-Kampff Test, but all of its answers were just buzzing sounds. We guess it all comes down to how you define the essential elements of what makes a drone, and what can be optional. Our judgment is that the Odyssey SkyFlyer Quadcopter falls short of full dronehood.

Which might make it the perfect not-quite-drone for someone who wants to fly a quadcopter but is scared off by the word “drone”. Alas, if it were a drone, you could go over to drone.horse and brag about your exploits, and show off your videos of it flying around and doing cool tricks and stuff. But it’s not a drone. So you can’t. Too bad.