New iPad Mini announced today 9/14/21

[carusoam]

AAPL updates their designs annually…

They don’t stick to a standard of shape or connector…

Even if they did… buttons would be in a different place…

 

A few versions ago… the Mini was thought to be going extinct.  It fell off the update schedule of the other iPads…. Similar to what the iPad Pro may be doing…

Unfortunately, AAPL never publishes their release dates, or what will be included, until the have to… About a week before going on sale…

 

Ipads tend to lose their stability over the years… as apps grow and memory gets used up….  Making it difficult to use every day around the house and be a device to use in the cockpit…. Simple reset kind of works, but can be down a couple of minutes while it resets…

 

As far as brightness goes…. That is automatically set in most cases… based on the lighting of the room… find the slider, turn it up….  Know that high brightness uses a lot of power, and generates a lot of heat…

 

I still like my full sized iPad…. It is pretty good with survivability…

use caution when packing it loosely in a soft bag… it may get bent…. Other people won’t know it’s in there…

Don’t hide it away to keep it from being stolen in a rental car… the chance of it being forgotten is far greater than the chances of being stolen…

Fun ipad ideas for the day…

-a-

[Marauder]

For me, the 760 is overpriced and the software is missing something I use all the time on my Garmin Pilot ---- CHECKLISTS!

[donkaye]

10 minutes ago, Marauder said:

For me, the 760 is overpriced and the software is missing something I use all the time on my Garmin Pilot ---- CHECKLISTS!

All I can say to use an old saying is, "You can lead a horse to water, but can't make it drink."  I guess each person has their own special in-flight requirements.  The pluses for me of a dedicated in-flight handheld GPS like the 760 in the way I use it far outweigh any negatives of which, for me, I can't think of any.

The 760 is the most advanced of the previous series of handhelds.  To get the full benefit of using it does require a commitment to study the manual and physically go through all of the menus.  Most people won't do that, so the unit is of marginal benefit to them.

[ilovecornfields]

Yeah. I called Garmin about this “feature” and they told me I can just make PDFs out of my checklists and use the document viewer. They didn’t seem excited about adding the checklists backs. The built-In AHRS is also kind of lame (returned the 1st, 2nd is just as bad).  The screen is nice, though and I still have checklists on my GTN 750.

[carusoam]

When it comes to portables and their AHRS….  Check the data rate that they can display…. Sometimes it is coded as frequency…
 

My 20yr old portable Garmin was WAAS capable, but only displayed a data point every two seconds or so… not enough to control the airplane in most conditions…

Somewhere about 10 points per second, without any delays… would be more usable…

Lots of memory, lots of processor speed, lots of dollars to get a new one….

Same challenges with the panel mounted equipment… except they don’t have power limitations like the portables do….

PP thoughts only, not a hardware guy…

Best regards,

-a-

[Oscar Avalle]

On 9/15/2021 at 11:12 AM, donkaye said:

The issues you seem concerned about have nothing to do with the actual in flight use of the 760.  I, too, use Jeppesen Charts and just download the updates to the mini SD Card.  I plug it in and it just works.  Jeppesen support works 24/7.  I've had no problem reaching them when one of my downloads failed.  Call the main number at any time.   After they say they are closed, another option will be presented to speak with support.  They answer immediately and have provided excellent support.  They just give me another download and I'm off and running.  Monthly, the updates download via WiFi.  The Maps take awhile to download and install.  While I use GP, at least for my older iPad Air, it is slow and clunky in flight and bombs out frequently just when it would be useful.  Foreflight does not.  I have both.  Even with my soon to buy new iPad, it will be a backup to the  760.

Interesting... I guess it is just how used you are to each unit,  I will also have my new ipad, but in my case on long flights i will have the 760 backing up my ipad.

On jeppesen's customer support, my experience has not been as good as yours. I had to spend long waiting times on the phone and the agent's were in some cases really subpar. 

[Oscar Avalle]

On 9/15/2021 at 9:42 AM, donkaye said:

Have you used the Aera 760 extensively?  I have.  I'm an Apple Computer user since its beginning and I will finally be upgrading from an Android phone to an Apple Pro 13 and also an iPad Pro (I'd been waiting to see if a new Pro would be coming out. It didn't), but when it comes to the flexibility, brightness, and speed of inflight use, it's the special use Aera 760 all the way.

I recently flew with a student who had just purchased an Acclaim ultra with the G1000 NXi.  We were doing transition training.  We flew from Fredricksburg (T82) to San Jose (KSJC) where we did the training.  Prior to the flight he asked me about purchasing the 760.  I said let's talk about it after the flight where he could see how I used it.  While I can't tell you all the different ways it was used, by the end of the flight he was a believer.

Yes, I did. I actually was among the early adopters of the Aera 760. I really wanted to take advantage of the screen and have a dedicated unit for my plane.

I tried out each of the menu options, I played with it for several hours and the  I flew with it on several long cross countries, but I just did not get used to it. 

[donkaye]

3 hours ago, Oscar Avalle said:

Yes, I did. I actually was among the early adopters of the Aera 760. I really wanted to take advantage of the screen and have a dedicated unit for my plane.

I tried out each of the menu options, I played with it for several hours and the  I flew with it on several long cross countries, but I just did not get used to it. 

It's like progressive lenses; it takes awhile to get used to them, then you appreciate how valuable they are.

[Oscar Avalle]

14 hours ago, donkaye said:

It's like progressive lenses; it takes awhile to get used to them, then you appreciate how valuable they are.

You make me laugh!!! Indeed... it is like progressive lenses... it shows our age.

Oscar