Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
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By Ridders
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1699221
Cub wrote:
Paul_Sengupta wrote:Ah, well, not entirely. Moving map GPSs have been around since the mid-'90s, you didn't have to enter the coordinates yourself!


AWARE was absolutely brilliant for £139

Image

The lesser spotted Awaredemon. :D

Personally I use an iPad Mini (A1455 model) that’s given stirling service running skydemon for a good number of years! :thumright:
Tall_Guy_In_a_PA28, Cub liked this
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1699250
My iPad Mini 4 has been giving sterling service for a number of years with no problems ever since I took the advice of the well known Forum Oracle that is Stevelup :thumright:

With barely 30 hours per year flown now it seemed pointless having any kind of tablet tied up exclusively for aviation so I bought max capacity and it houses all my family photos/videos, all my music ( which I bluetooth to players in all the main rooms) and a fair number of my grand daughter's games, available for use for the other 8730 hours per year.

And its still only one third full.

Good buy I'd say.

Peter :wink:
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By dangerous pete
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1699257
Whatever you buy, make sure you can upgrade it to show any electronic conspicuity device that you will probably need to upgrade to in the future. So it needs to be able to run Sky Demon, Easy Vfr etc. and you will at some point in the future add Skyecho2 or Pilot Aware. Skyecho2 has it's own GPS so the tablet doesnt need one if you go this route. Dont know about Pilot Aware.
The other factor for me is screen visibility in sunlight. Our aerial carriage has a glass roof, (not actual glass) so it is a big factor. . The Nexus 1 was not readable in sunlight. I now have an elderly Ipad mini, which works pretty well. Possibly later versions have brighter screens.
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1699258
A propos of sunlight visibility, the Brodit mount has a friction ball joint to allow not only one-handed swivel from portrait to landscape but also up to 30 deg tilt in all directions to reduce the effect of sunilght.

Peter
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By stevelup
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1699259
The more recent iPad Minis have outstanding displays - best in class.

The touch screen is bonded directly to the LCD panel with no air gap, and there's a high quality anti-reflective coating. Also, it's bright too.

If you see an iPad Mini 4 or 5 next to any other tablet in bright sunlight, the difference is really noticeable.
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By Jenny
#1699300
I have been completely happy using a Tesco Hudl 2 for the last 5 years or so, but it is can't handle the recent updates and when connecting a pilotaware and now keeps 'stalling'. I've just bought a second-hand iPad mini 4 for not very much and it seems to be working brilliantly.
Jenny
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By mo0g
#1699465
PeteSpencer wrote:Why do people always go cheap?
Push the boat out and get a iPad mini 5 with integral GPS (or even the previous 4)
Mount it on the yoke if you have one with a Garmin mount attached to a Brodit cradle and the jobs a good 'un. (if not use a RAM suction mount with DIN drilled backplate)


What on earth is the point in buying Apple and not being able to see the apple logo on the back? ;)

With the money saved you could buy yourself a PAW or even possibly a SkyEcho2.
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1699466
Bought a PAW on advice of group member a coupla years ago:

Never seen such a rag tag jumble of wires and aerials.

I think its still in its box at the back of the hangar.

Oh and I have a self-adhesive Apple logo from the box when I bought the iPad: I stick it to my forehead every time I fly so everyone knows.......
Last edited by PeteSpencer on Tue Jun 11, 2019 6:47 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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By mo0g
#1699467
PeteSpencer wrote:Bought a PAW on advice of group member a coupla years ago:

Never seen such a rag tag jumble of wires and aerials.

I think its still in its box at the back of the hangar.

Peter


What's the EC functionality like from back there? They have a new version with no external wires apart from the usb power, but I believe you can use an external battery pack if required.

But we digress, you could buy a massive apple sign to put in your house window instead with the money saved? :)
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By mo0g
#1699468
stevelup wrote:The more recent iPad Minis have outstanding displays - best in class.

The touch screen is bonded directly to the LCD panel with no air gap, and there's a high quality anti-reflective coating. Also, it's bright too.

If you see an iPad Mini 4 or 5 next to any other tablet in bright sunlight, the difference is really noticeable.


That sounds like a write off if you damage the screen then?
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1699471
mo0g wrote:
What's the EC functionality like from back there? They have a new version with no external wires apart from the usb power, but I believe you can use an external battery pack if required.



You're joking of course: It was a struggle to get the group to agree to buying the first iteration: They sure as hell wouldn't buy another.

I'm not spending another sou on EC till I can buy something which doesn't mean disabling another conspicuity feature first.

Peter :wink:
By Ancien
#1699493
PeteSpencer wrote:
Bought a PAW on advice of group member a coupla years ago:

Never seen such a rag tag jumble of wires and aerials.

I think its still in its box at the back of the hangar.


Did you ever use it to see its potential?
With a very small amount of thought you could have made a tidy installation.
It is not difficult but obviously too much for you.
This is not G****n kit that will cost you thousands, it's a brilliant sideways look at what can be done for the vast majority of us who could not justify the cost of monopoly companies' products.
There are a lot of very satisfied users out there [all looking forward to the next developments] so why don't you dust it off and take a serious look at what it does?
You never know we might be spared your knocking.
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1699495
Ancien wrote:Did you ever use it to see its potential?
With a very small amount of thought you could have made a tidy installation.

There are a lot of very satisfied users out there [all looking forward to the next developments] so why don't you dust it off and take a serious look at what it does?
You never know we might be spared your knocking.


Of course I tried it: I'm not completely daft.

I spent ages trying to get the (vertical) aerial to bend so it didn't touch the screen and to stick the wire aerial on the 'window-sill' on RHS. (Piper Arrow/raked screen)

And velcro and parcel tape to keep the two boxes together on the coaming and not to drop off in turns.
It worked after a fashion but the iPad mini screen got so cluttered up with EZYs at FL 350 that I co-opted my iPad as well on the RHS.

That kept slithering about all over the place and intermittently shutting down, necessitating a super-abundance of 'heads-in' sessions and re-setting every time to eliminate the EZYs at FL Nosebleed.

I tried zip ties to corral all the loose cables leading to a sodding great battery in the R footwell pocket.

Oh and the two versions of SD automatically shut down my iPhone back up, but that's another story.....

Oh yes, I tried it and feel qualified to knock it. But that shouldn't offend the converted.

I think we were being used as beta -testers

.Not that that's necessarily a bad thing: I was a beta tester for Avbrief and still use it as my first port of call for weather.

Peter :roll:
Edit sp.
Last edited by PeteSpencer on Wed Jun 12, 2019 8:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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By Dave W
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1699497
PeteSpencer wrote:.... the iPad mini screen got so cluttered up with EZYs at FL 350....

The PAW (online setup) and SD instructions did deal with that from the beginning. They still do.
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