I've found it very useful for showing curious people (especially kids) that there's a whole universe up there mostly unseen; you can whip it out and a minute or two later they can see the Milky Way in at least a little of its splendor. For those who show interest, I follow up with our 6" backyard telescope to see the Moon's mountains, Jupiter's moons, Saturn's rings, and Mars's ice caps.

There's something different about experiencing it in person, even if the photos from a professional or a space telescope are empirically better.