iPad Mini4 vs bigger or wait for a the mini 5

[gsxrpilot]

The Apple Pencil is easy to mount right on the panel. I don't know if the Logi would be as easy to mount because of the shape.

[smccray]

I flew with a Mini 5 yesterday.  iPad was at 81% at full brightness and connected via bluetooth when I took off.  It was a 81% an hour later when I landed while plugged into a 2.4 amp charger.  Perfect.

[Marauder]

The Apple Pencil is easy to mount right on the panel. I don't know if the Logi would be as easy to mount because of the shape.

Good to find someone else that lost their magnetic Apple Pencil cap.


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[HRM]

4 hours ago, kortopates said:

Curious, Is there an advantage or feature to the Logitech pen besides a bit cheaper that drew you to picking it over the Apple pen?

Aside from everything below, the cap over the charge port is attached.

On 3/30/2019 at 12:58 PM, HRM said:

I got the crayon. Cheaper than the pencil, lightning charger integrated, works instantly with the mini (see photo).

The pencil is for artists and other frou-frou users (pressure sensitive tip). The crayon was made for kids, my wife is a retired middle-school teacher and it fits well with her contention that I have the maturity of a 12 year old.

 

Should add that the crayon is orange on each end (easy to find) and is rectangular, so it won't roll off into who the F knows where when I drop it in the cockpit.

 

[HRM]

8 minutes ago, Marauder said:

Good to find someone else that lost their magnetic Apple Pencil cap.

Not to beat this to death, but the Crayon’s charge port cap is attached to it. You know how middle-schoolers are.

[HRM]

9 hours ago, peevee said:

ah yes, yet another ipad iteration that forces me to spend $200 more to get a built in gps and unwanted cellular capability.

The iPad Mini 5 will pull GPS from your iPhone automatically. You can also tether it to the phone when you want cellular data. No need for the cellular+GPS option unless you have refused the Apple-flavored Kool-Aid 

[RLCarter]

3 hours ago, HRM said:

The iPad Mini 5 will pull GPS from your iPhone automatically. You can also tether it to the phone when you want cellular data. No need for the cellular+GPS option unless you have refused the Apple-flavored Kool-Aid 

I run WingX on both the iPad mini and iPhone (back up for the mini), using the phones GPS drains the battery should you need it

[HRM]

7 hours ago, RLCarter said:

using the phones GPS drains the battery should you need it

I have one of those dual USB charging ports in the cigar lighter--I just keep the phone and pad plugged in all the time.

[RLCarter]

I keep a dual charger plugged into the cig-port and the cord in a side pocket, I don't ever charge the iPad until it gets below 20% or so... Even on my 4+ year old mini I can get about 6 hrs of use before charging, but I keep power consumption pretty low

[peevee]

8 hours ago, RLCarter said:

I run WingX on both the iPad mini and iPhone (back up for the mini), using the phones GPS drains the battery should you need it

I'm just going to switch to wingx on an android tablet I think.

[Bryan]

12 hours ago, HRM said:

The iPad Mini 5 will pull GPS from your iPhone automatically. You can also tether it to the phone when you want cellular data. No need for the cellular+GPS option unless you have refused the Apple-flavored Kool-Aid 

I don't believe this.  Yes, I have seen the picture of FlyQ where the GPS icon is lit up during the conenction but that just mean "Location Services" is working to assimulate your location from cellular triangulation.  Not a single WiFi only iPad (yet) has been able to do this directly from the iPhone GPS, just Location Services.  My older iPads do this, nothing special about the 5.  The key to compatiblity would be in the iPhone tethering code.

Want to test it?  Pull out your sim card or disable Cellular and try it out. There have been attempts to make special apps that need to be running on the phone that will gather and re-broadcast your GPS but nothing native.

[gsxrpilot]

The difference in cost between a wifi only iPad and a wifi+cellular w/GPS iPad is $130. That is a one-time cost as you don't have to have the cellular enabled for the GPS to work. So if you don't want a SIM card and the monthly cost, then just don't buy a plan with a sim. I can't believe that in this hobby, $130 warrants a second thought. The benefits of GPS on your iPad, are numerous and well known. Just do it and move on to worrying about something else. 

Just my $0.02 ($130) on the subject.

[larryb]

The GPS/cellular option is 26 gallons of AvGas. Or the cost for 1 nice dinner out for 2. Insignificant in the cost of aviation.

[Davidv]

Agreed, I hated to purchase the cellular version as well but at the additional cost for another source of GPS (without having to worry about my phone feeding a signal and always being charged) it seemed like a no brainer.

[ArtVandelay]

I have an iPhone and iPad, the iPhone is always with me, so if I need either GPS or cell data, I can just enable the hotspot feature on my cell phone.
No use paying for something you don’t need.


Tom

[gsxrpilot]

Think of it as purchasing the GPS version... and getting the Cellular capability for free.

Of course I'm guilty of paying for lots of shit I don't need. It goes from the Mooney its self and continues all the way to that beer I drank last night. But if we're talking about "nice to have", I feel much better about the Mooney, the beer, and the built in GPS on my iPad. 

[HRM]

4 hours ago, Bryan said:

I don't believe this.  Yes, I have seen the picture of FlyQ where the GPS icon is lit up during the conenction but that just mean "Location Services" is working to assimulate your location from cellular triangulation.  Not a single WiFi only iPad (yet) has been able to do this directly from the iPhone GPS, just Location Services.  My older iPads do this, nothing special about the 5.  The key to compatiblity would be in the iPhone tethering code.

You are correct. I just did a test on a four hour drive and sure enough, the iPad cannot get GPS from the iPhone. Had me fooled. In fact, a significant amount of discussion about this on the web.

One (aviation) site said to just get a plug-in or BT GPS source. Less power and more accurate--that was my original plan anyway.

Apparently there are some apps that pass phone GPS out to iPads, I will probably fool around with that path just for fun and as a back-up. There is a good chance that patent/licensing restrictions preclude Apple from just setting the phone up as a GPS source. <sigh>

[Bryan]

In the past, I have always gone with the WiFi only iPad and it has worked fine.   In a normal enviornment, my panel provides Flight Plan, GPS, and ADS-B info to my iPad.  I always thought to myself, why would I need the GPS/Cellular version of the iPad in the cockpit. 

Then, this past summer my backup alternator broke at Oshkosh... no biggie, it was the backup anyway.  I flew it back home and setup a time with my maintenance shop once I got back.  On the day I took my plane into maintenance, I noticed on climb-out that my primary Alternator was now annunicating and I was in-fact on battery power.  Primary Alternator had failed in the climb.  I chose to continue the flight as it was a perfect VFR day and I was already at cruise altitude enroute when I had diagnosed the issue.  I pulled the battery breaker to save battery power because I would be flying into a Delta Airspace (towered) airport.  I pulled out my portable handheld radio and monitored Center.

My WiFi only iPad was of no use for GPS execpt for digital cached maps (dead-reckoning) and Charts - no Location/GPS even though I was tethered to my phone.  I pulled out my phone and had full GPS signal but no Cellular... I was at 12,500ft.  I was able to power the plane back up on battery before entering the TSRA and Class Delta to get my clearance to land, flaps, and gear with plenty to spare.  I used the phone for cross-checking my route but decided to use my early PPL training (VFR maps, compass, and clock) to finish the flight as primary source of navigation.

From that moment on, I decided the extra ($130) money was nothing to have another device with a GPS in the cockpit with me at all times. I did, however, wait until the latest (iPad 5 Mini) came out for the full version.

[carusoam]

+1 for getting an answer to passing GPS signals from phone to iPad...

Ipads are so cheap... the low cost gps add on, nearly doubled the cost of the purchase... so being a long time CB, I skipped the option.

So... I don’t usually use the internal GPS with my iPad... I have a waas source in the plane for that...

 

Not being in the plane... in the car.... I couldn’t get a gps signal passed to the iPad....  that came as a bit of a surprise...

So... if you have an answer to this one... post away! 

Best regards,

-a-

[SkyTrekker]

I've always chosen the Wifi-only iPad models, and use a Stratus for GPS in the cockpit.  But for the backup GPS reasons discussed here and elsewhere, when I replaced my iPad Mini 3 with a Mini 5 a couple of weeks ago (my fourth iPad Mini), I went with the cellular option.

The 5 is so much more responsive than the 3, especially with various map layers turned on in Foreflight. Big difference!

Now I guess it is time to shop for the best pencil/stylus option for use the cockpit with Foreflight.

[ilovecornfields]

Mini 5 with Apple Pencil works awesome. Now accepting bids for my Mini 4...

[Oscar Avalle]

I just got the new mini. It is much faster and the larger storage allows me to save my iTunes library on it and the play it through the audiopanel. It did fit into my yoke mount, so I am a happy camper...


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[johncuyle]

On ‎4‎/‎4‎/‎2019 at 12:51 PM, carusoam said:

+1 for getting an answer to passing GPS signals from phone to iPad...

Ipads are so cheap... the low cost gps add on, nearly doubled the cost of the purchase... so being a long time CB, I skipped the option.

So... I don’t usually use the internal GPS with my iPad... I have a waas source in the plane for that...

 

Not being in the plane... in the car.... I couldn’t get a gps signal passed to the iPad....  that came as a bit of a surprise...

So... if you have an answer to this one... post away! 

Best regards,

-a-

I carry two iPads (CFI:  Your iPad has suddenly failed for some reason, what are you going to do!  Me:  <pulls out spare> Odds of two failing are about zero so I'm just going to turn this one on.) and I have a FlightStream.  What I saved on integrated GPS for the both of them (and when I don't buy it again when I buy a 5) is enough to cover the lightly used Stratus 3 I bought, which feeds me GPS and ADS-B.

[Marauder]

You guys are making me ill. I wasn’t going to buy a 5 until my LESS THAN 1 YEAR OLD 4 got a little older. I will need to see for myself how much faster it is.


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[ilovecornfields]

2 hours ago, johncuyle said:

I carry two iPads (CFI:  Your iPad has suddenly failed for some reason, what are you going to do!  Me:  <pulls out spare> Odds of two failing are about zero so I'm just going to turn this one on.) and I have a FlightStream.  What I saved on integrated GPS for the both of them (and when I don't buy it again when I buy a 5) is enough to cover the lightly used Stratus 3 I bought, which feeds me GPS and ADS-B.

Sounds like a Mini 4 would make a great backup!

Question: Who has two thumbs and is selling his Mini 4?

 

Just to clarify, I’m the one selling the mini 4. Not the gentleman pictured above.