Why a Dedicated Aviation Handheld and not just an iPad?

[toto]

Just now, donkaye said:

Personally, I think it's best to have both, each serving its different purposes with intersecting uses at appropriated times.

Completely agree. 

[Lance Link]

I may be wrong, but I seem to think the Aera 760 is something of a poor man's G3X, at least half of one.  I intend to use it in part to display charts and plates in a way that will make them readily available and visible, in addition to the GPS.  Not to mention the many other things it can do in conjunction with the GDL 52R already in the plane, like weather and SVT.  The iPad is great, until the sun hits it or it shuts off due to heat.  I hate that.  

[donkaye]

Today I broke down and bought the Jepps for half the Country for the 760.  The cost for half was about ¼ the cost for the whole country.  They loaded perfectly.

[gsxrpilot]

There is certainly a trade off between an iPad and a 760 (or any dedicated aviation tablet). The iPad will do all the aviation things and a million other things. The Aera 760 will do the aviation stuff great, but isn't much good outside the cockpit.

Along with that comes a difference in management effort. 

I make my living in technology and have become very comfortable with iPads, iPhones, Mac's, and all tech things Apple. I use them for work and at home 100% of the time. Therefore I'm very comfortable using Apple products, specifically the iPad, in the cockpit. I've never once, in 1000 hours with iPads in the cockpit, had a problem. But then I know how to use them, manage them, maintain them, etc. It all comes naturally to me. 

So the idea of spending money on an Aera 760 seems ridiculous. It does one thing, and even that one thing not as well as the iPad. It might be bullet proof, but then I'm not worried about bullets. I know how to manage my iPad, keep it updated, managed, running, cool, etc. It's not a problem as I do this anyway.

I truly wish I spent as much time in the cockpit as @donkaye and didn't have to spend time in my day job in technology. If that was the case, I'd probably also have an Aera 760.

[donkaye]

55 minutes ago, gsxrpilot said:

I truly wish I spent as much time in the cockpit as @donkaye and didn't have to spend time in my day job in technology. If that was the case, I'd probably also have an Aera 760.

As a flight instructor I get 33% off of Foreflight, so I subscribe to the top level for that.  I'm not a major user, but I like the 3D aspect of checking out airports I haven't been to before.  My main iPad program is Garmin Pilot, and I have Jeppesen Charts tied into it.  I, also, use the Jeppesen iPad program JeppFD.  I use the Garmin Onepak for all my in panel avionics.  Although I've recently spent a lot of time talking about the 760, it is just the "normalizer" of the variety of avionics in student's airplanes.  In my airplane I use it for approach charts, and through the FS 210/510 and hardwire, get backup traffic and weather and XM radio.  Inotherwords I use everything that is available to pilots in conducting safer flight.

For some all of this is not financially possible.  So, take whatever comments I give for some of this hardware and buy whatever you can afford to make your flying safer.  I'm fortunate at being able to be the guinea pig in testing out all of this stuff.

[gsxrpilot]

47 minutes ago, donkaye said:

As a flight instructor I get 33% off of Foreflight, so I subscribe to the top level for that.  I'm not a major user, but I like the 3D aspect of checking out airports I haven't been to before.  My main iPad program is Garmin Pilot, and I have Jeppesen Charts tied into it.  I, also, use the Jeppesen iPad program JeppFD.  I use the Garmin Onepak for all my in panel avionics.  Although I've recently spent a lot of time talking about the 760, it is just the "normalizer" of the variety of avionics in student's airplanes.  In my airplane I use it for approach charts, and through the FS 210/510 and hardwire, get backup traffic and weather and XM radio.  Inotherwords I use everything that is available to pilots in conducting safer flight.

For some all of this is not financially possible.  So, take whatever comments I give for some of this hardware and buy whatever you can afford to make your flying safer.  I'm fortunate at being able to be the guinea pig in testing out all of this stuff.

#Goals

[Lance Link]

I have had iPads shut down several times due to heat, and if the sun is at a bad angle I can’t see the thing.  I’ve never had any of these problems with portables.