Bad Elf... any intel?

I have a wifi only iPad. Did some recon at Osh. Like the Bad Elf GPS unit that plugs into the iPad. Recently signed up for Foreflight now that they have Canadian charts (yay! finally!).

Frustrating part is that I'm running an iPad mini, with the new Lightening connector, and Bad Elf is only selling their old unit with the 30 pin connector. At Osh, the vendor had the new model (saw it... know it exists), and said it was ready to go... just awaiting Apple approval so they could market it. But alas, still not available to buy.

I don't want to buy the old connector and run it through Apple's adapter (though I know that works).

I don't want to buy the bluetooth model. Don't want another thing to manage batteries for and have no need for the LCD display.

So two questions for the VAF brain trust... any insight on the release of the new Bad Elf, and/or is there another option that hooks up with the new Apple connection?

Why not use one of the Bluetooth GPS units? They work great. I have an original Bad Elf (i.e non-Bluetooth), but I found that its GPS was very slow to acquire a position, and it sucked battery life from the iPad or iPod Touch. You could plug in the supplied USB cable into the Bad Elf, but that didn't look very robust to me, as it would be easy to catch the cable and put a lot of force on the various connectors.

I'm now using a Bluetooth Bad Elf GPS Pro, and it works perfectly. It is very fast to acquire a GPS position, it has never lost GPS position, it sends position to up to five devices at once (so my wife can follow along on her iPad from the back seat), and it logs GPS position so I can geotag my photos later. I'm not sure what the battery life is yet. I think they claim 16 hours, and mine looks like it might go longer than that.

Bad Elf

I believe the stand alone, Bluetooth version already works. Been wrong before, but I thought I saw something to that effect. They've been selling it for some time ....

Kevin Horton said:

Why not use one of the Bluetooth GPS units? They work great. I have an original Bad Elf (i.e non-Bluetooth), but I found that its GPS was very slow to acquire a position, and it sucked battery life from the iPad or iPod Touch. You could plug in the supplied USB cable into the Bad Elf, but that didn't look very robust to me, as it would be easy to catch the cable and put a lot of force on the various connectors.

I'm now using a Bluetooth Bad Elf GPS Pro, and it works perfectly. It is very fast to acquire a GPS position, it has never lost GPS position, it sends position to up to five devices at once (so my wife can follow along on her iPad from the back seat), and it logs GPS position so I can geotag my photos later. I'm not sure what the battery life is yet. I think they claim 16 hours, and mine looks like it might go longer than that.

Click to expand...

What Kevin said about pro.
It battery life will outlast the minis .
Pushed it to 14 hours and had to charge mini running foreflight.
Bluetooth is way to go.
Foreflight also put in satellite view and works great.

1 more option

Have you considered the older 30 pin bad elf but connecting it via a 30 pin to lightning extension cable?

I use a direct connect 30 pin bad elf and think having the gps off the ipad would be a good option.

Why haven't I bought a cable? I am migrating to a WiFi GPS/ADSB box in the yet to be completed RV-7, so put the cost of the cable towards the new unit.

No complaints about bad elf performance, except it will drain the ipads battery fairly quickly IF you don't supply external power (ships power or external battery pack) to the bad elf. I generally fly with the bad elf plugged into ships power via a cigar lighter to USB plug.

My personal experience with Bad Elf was not good.

The first one never did work. Sent it back and they sent me a new one. It worked twice. Then, it developed the same problem as the first.

The 30 pin connector was hinky (IMHO). The connection just wasn't very positive; not like an OEM connector.

I bought a Dual universal GPS with Bluetooth. It works great. And the cost is comparable to the Bad Elf.

Bad elf Pro

I use the bad elf pro with an iPad mini and fore flight. It works great. The GPS reception is amazing. I turn it on, check the connection on the mini, then throw it back in my flight bag and forget it about it. Much better then my old garmin handheld 96C. It is also fun to take biking or running. There are apps for pulling in the GPS track and plotting your ride/run.

Have you considered Dual Electronics?

I was going back and forth between the Bad Elf and Dual and I went with the Dual XGPS160. I use it with my ipad 1 and have found it useful for CloudAhoy and FlightAware. I believe they are of similar price.

Bluetooth WiFi

My Dual -a good piece of kit, just doesn't assist with ADS weather -will be excess in a week or so; shoot me a PM

Ipad

Just sell the wifi ipad and buy the 3G with the GPS chip. Problem solved...

Lots of good suggestions. In response to some of them...

I mentioned I didn't want to run the 30 pin connector through apples adapter. I guess I was thinking I'm fine with the small dongle hanging off the iPad, but through the adapter it would get to be somewhat less than small and risk getting caught on things. Plus, I know that their new lightening connector dongle can have power plugged into it, so that the ipad is charging while in use. I have a cigar lighter positioned well for this (and hence, why I'm not concerned about the dongle drawing ipad power). Not sure, but I don't think I can have the ipad on ships power running the 30 pin through an adapter.

I also mentioned I didn't want the bluetooth version. If I have the ipad mounted in the cockpit with power through the dongle, I never have to worry about batteries. If I have a bluetooth receiver, I need to worry about making sure I turn it off, and even if it lasts 14 hours the batteries will die sooner or later. Apart from the 50% cost premium, I just don't want to have to worry about batteries.

That all said, I'm taking to heart some of your points about the bluetooth working so well, and the dongle sometimes not.

Decisions, decisions...

java said:

I also mentioned I didn't want the bluetooth version. If I have the ipad mounted in the cockpit with power through the dongle, I never have to worry about batteries. If I have a bluetooth receiver, I need to worry about making sure I turn it off, and even if it lasts 14 hours the batteries will die sooner or later. Apart from the 50% cost premium, I just don't want to have to worry about batteries.

Click to expand...

The Bad Elf Pro Bluetooth GPS can be charged in flight using a USB cable, just as your iPad can be. So, if you have cockpit power available, you don't have to worry about the Bluetooth GPS battery running low any more than you need to worry about the iPad battery running low.

I know several people who do track auto racing/training with the Bad Elf Pro...and I've heard good things from that group.

i use the bad elf pro also. I love it because not only can I use it for flying I use it with my jet ski. I just turn on the data logger and throw it in the storage area. the battery life is never a question. when i get home i can down load it to the ipad. I also use it on my bike rides, and hikes.

bob burns
rv-4 N82RB