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Which Electronic tablet

rwarre

Well Known Member
I would like to use an electronic tablet for approach charts and weather. I don't need GPS and all the other stuff the ipad is capable of doing. Does the kindle, Sony reader, or a tablet from a different manufacturer have the same speed, readability, battery life, etc. as the ipad.
 
Tablets

I have a small kindle that I thought I would use for plates. Yes you can load them, but navigation / finding what you want to see is difficult. You can orient it horizontal, but the normal vertical makes the text too small to read.

I went out and got a 32gig ipad2 with 3G. I was concerened about readability in the RV7A. I did get a glare filter for it, and a foreflight subscription. The forflight app is free and the data subscription is $75/yr that includes all of the vfr sectionals, all of the low altitude charts, all of the plate! Getting the 3g version gets you the gps which geo references the vfr and ifr charts but not the approach plates. You can get a $175 foreflight subscription which geo references the plates.

If you don't want to get a data plan, you can download the data by wi fi.

The readbility is a non issue, the navigation is very easy, and when you are on the ground you get weather for the route you choose.

I am very impressed with both the ipad and foreflight, highly recommended.
 
I don't need GPS and all the other stuff the ipad is capable of doing.

You are right, you dont need it, but it is really nice to have the chart open up to the correct location, and to have your position displayed.
 
motion

I used a motion LS800 running Control Visions Anywhere products for several years in my BD4. It was an expensive piece of junk. Unreliable is an understatement..easily overheats, would reboot for no reason and always while FAF inbound in IMC using it for approach plates (good thing I had paper charts). Would get really slow after about 2 hours of use even in cold weather.

hated it!
 
The Ipad 3 is going to be very interesting for aviation. If apple is serious about the market they will give it a brighter display. The reason for the dim display in the past was to insure the long battery life. Perhaps they will offer a override to get a brighter screen. I can't see my Ipad at all with sunglasses on in bright sun and its marginal without the glasses. The Garmin 696 is however perfect! Just to expensive to keep updated.

George
 
I'm a recent apple convert, much like i just became a vans/expermential in general convert!

the ipad is the most life changing thing that has happened to me as a daily flyer ever.

i didn't think i needed a gps but its amazing to have, i have an ipad 1 i bought after the 2 came out (which can be had for around $400) the 3g version has gps and doesn't even need a data plan to work.

i use foreflight, which i love, but wing x now offers synthetic vision which is quite amazing as well.

i also use the ipad to basically replace my computer for most things, it's amazing and well worth the extra couple hundred bucks. i wrote a couple articles on my blog about it and feel free to ask me and questions, i've been using foreflight daily for half a year now.
 
Tablet size?

I'm researching tablet options. I really want an iPad, but I worry that it will be a little bit too large to be convenient in the cockpit. So, I'm also looking at Android tablets in the 7" range.

I'm just wondering if others have had the same concern about size, if iPad owners could comment on whether size is an issue for them?

Thanks
 
For anyone trying to figure out cockpit management, space utilization, and mounting option, I suggest getting a piece of wood (plastic or even cardboard) that matches the device dimensions.

I love my iPad but it is too big for my RV-8. I just can't find available space without blocking critical panel instruments and/or interfering with me and the controls.

Here is a short write-up I did along with a picture of what I did ...

http://thesalmonfarm.org/blog/p/2842

photo2-320x422.jpg
 
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I'm researching tablet options. I really want an iPad, but I worry that it will be a little bit too large to be convenient in the cockpit. So, I'm also looking at Android tablets in the 7" range.

I'm just wondering if others have had the same concern about size, if iPad owners could comment on whether size is an issue for them?

Thanks

Simple: Get two iTouch screens! Redundancy :p
 
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