Ipad 2 and foreflight help

[philipneeper]

Merry xmas, i got an ipad 2 yesterday. The non celluar one. For thise that fly with ipads, do you have an external gps? Im currently gettig nothing for signal on my foreflight. And when i use my iphone 4 with wifi linked to the ipad im getting no fix or 165m. Help!! Thanks

[HopePilot]

I use a SkyRadar which has a gps that is rock solid and provides ADS-B. I used to use a GNS 5870 which was mostly reliable, much cheaper, but without ADS-B weather.

[mooneyflyer]

But I think only Status does ADS-B with Foreflight.

[philipneeper]

What is ads-b

[danb35]

A non-cellular iPad does not have a GPS built-in, so you will naturally get no GPS signal with Foreflight (or any other app). If you want to see your location on the charts, you will need an external GPS. The (relatively) inexpensive option is a bluetooth GPS for ~$100 (Bad Elf and Dual are two I know of). The more expensive, but also more capable, option is an ADS-B receiver, which also incorporates a GPS. Those run $600-800, but will give you in-flight weather with no recurring costs. For more information, google ADS-B--Garmin and AOPA, among others, have lots of information posted on the subject.

[pilot716]

The Dual XGPS 170 only works with WingX pro and the i1000 EFB, for now, we are expecting it to be approved by Foreflight in the near future ( I sell them)... If you are only looking to add GPS to your wifi only iPad I recommend the Dual XGPS 150A, it has a free App you can download and monitor power used and satelites. Or the GNS 1000. IF you want free weather on the iPad then go with the Stratus unit, it provides ADS-B weather once your at 800'-1000' AGL and it has GPS all via wifi to your iPad. if you have any questions you can feel free to email me.

Mark

[Marauder]

Merry xmas, i got an ipad 2 yesterday. The non celluar one. For thise that fly with ipads, do you have an external gps? Im currently gettig nothing for signal on my foreflight. And when i use my iphone 4 with wifi linked to the ipad im getting no fix or 165m. Help!! Thanks

Philip -- you will need either to buy and external GPS or an ADS-B portable receiver (Stratus only at this point) for the ForeFlight to receive a location on an iPad 2 that is non cellular. I have both the ForeFlight and Garmin Pilot app loaded on my non cellular iPad 2. If you intend or want to receive weather in flight, you will need an ADS-B receiver. I would not buy the standalone GPS receiver (like the Bad Elf or GPS150) as both will not receive weather, only provide GPS signal for location.

An interesting note on the Garmin Pilot. When I am using it on a WiFi system it will provide both horizontal and vertical accuracy as well as show my position on the map. It is using the WiFi location to show my position. The ForeFlight shows no location on WiFi.

Before you commit fully to ForeFlight or any other app for in flight usage, I would suggest you to try them out before you buy an ADS-B antennae. At this point the antennae (for the most part) are unique to the app. Ex. A Stratus antennae will not work on the Garmin Pilot App. Nor will the GDL-39 Garmin ADS-B antennae work on the ForeFlight. At $799 per antennae, you will paint yourself into an app corner if you buy one and not like the app.

If you do not need or care about inflight weather, any of the external GPS seem to work well. I have the GPS150 and a friend the Bad Elf. All work as advertised. Hope this helps.

[philipneeper]

I use foreflight on my iphone 4 and love it. Thank you for the help, imma do some research and see if its to late for another xmas present ;-)

[Hector]

I use foreflight on my iphone 4 and love it. Thank you for the help, imma do some research and see if its to late for another xmas present ;-)

Since you have an iPhone and now an iPad as well, if you want to drive both simultaneously with a single external Bluetooth GPS then you may want to consider the Bad Elf GPS Pro (see picture

below). It can pair via bluetooth with up to 5 devices at the same time. It also has very long battery life (over 16 hours) and if everything lease fails the built in display will show you status, speed, heading, and altitude.

[gjkirsch]

I have a spare bad elf GPS for the iPad, email me privately if you want it. I paid about 100 and will sell it for $50

[Lionudakis]

It sounds like you were trying to tether with the phone, but the gps from the phone won't transfer to the ipad with the data. Get an external gps, well worth it ! Merry Christmas all !!

[Dano098]

I'm right there replacing an iPad 2 that "went missing." I have a sky radar adsb that provides gps via the same wifi connection that gives adsb in wx (my primary interest - sporadic traffic a nice plus) On a recent xc the sky radar unit reset itself (three times 11 hr flt) and for a period I was back to round dial for nav. I was flying IFR and recall thinking this would not be nice IMC. Does anyone know if an external Bluetooth gps might have avoided this problem? Can the non gps iPad accept a gps input from BOTH a wifi gps (SkyRadar) and an external BT gps? Ref HopePilot earlier, in my case SkyRadar isn't "rock solid" enough for me. That said, do you all have thoughts on iPad 3 vs iPad 4 and with or without the apple internal gps/cellular $130 penalty. Hilton Software (Wingx) suggested avoiding iPad 3 due to heat generation / temp shutdown issue. Lots of variables; thanks for any insights Dan

[danb35]

On a recent xc the sky radar unit reset itself (three times 11 hr flt) and for a period I was back to round dial for nav.

I hope you weren't using your iPad as your primary means of navigation under IFR, which is what this sounds like.  However, they iPad is able to connect to both a Bluetooth GPS and the Skyradar, since Skyradar uses WiFi for its connection.  Whether the software (WingX or whatever) will recognize the second unit and use it as a backup is a second question.

[Dano098]

Not to worry. I don't think "that's what it sounds like" btw. Anyone have anything more useful? Comments on iPad 3 vs iPad 4 would be particularly appreciated. If I hear from Hilton Software I will report back. Thanks. "dryly spoken" Dan

[Jeff_S]

I have an iPad 3 and I have been unenthused by the heat and battery life issues. When I have it turned on in the cockpit using the built-in GPS it seems to suck down 15% per hour, sometimes even more. My old iPad 1 could go 10 hours on a single charge. I haven't heard whether the iPad 4 does any better in this regard but it's way too soon to think of upgrading to that one. I do now use the Stratus ADS-B device with my iPad and since it is providing the GPS, I find I can just turn the iPad off and when I turn it back on it immediately reads the GPS from the Stratus so there's no delay in getting positioning again.

[Dano098]

I've decided to go with iPad4 with data/internal GPS, or possibly iPad mini, (but I think that's better to wait on the retina screen when ipad mini2 comes out) and WingX / SkyRadar ADSb receiver. I wish I could have Anywhere Map with split screen ala WingX AND Western Hemisphere charts.. Oh well. Happy New Year to ALL. Dan

[Greg_D]

I'd give the iPad mini a hard look.  It's size is almost perfect for the cockpit.  It works well on your lap and the size allows it to be mounted on the yoke.  I wouldn't wait on the retina display on the mini and I wouldn't pay extra for it on the larger models either, especially if ForeFlight is what you are buying it for.

[Hector]

I'd give the iPad mini a hard look. It's size is almost perfect for the cockpit. It works well on your lap and the size allows it to be mounted on the yoke. I wouldn't wait on the retina display on the mini and I wouldn't pay extra for it on the larger models either, especially if ForeFlight is what you are buying it for.

Concur!! I replaced my iPad 3 with a yoke mounted mini and i love it! It really is the perfect size for me and it works great with ForeFlight.

[OR75]

what is the ipad 4 anyway ?

[Jeff_S]

It's the latest full-sized iPad with Retina display and the newer, smaller dock connector.

[Dano098]

ipad 4 twice as fast as ipad 3

m.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/tablets/ipad-4-more-than-twice-as-fast-as-ipad-3-benchmarks-reveal-1108743

[Dano098]

I am putting the ipad 4 in landscape on the copilot yoke. In due course, an ipad mini (I hypothisize ipad mini 2 with retina screen within 6 months) on my yoke, replacing the iphone there now.

WingX with SkyRadar on both iDevices. Maximum SA.

Dan