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New iPad Mini 6 announced

Airborne_Again wrote:

What can it do for a pilot that the previous iPad Mini 5 can’t?

It’s even more trendy!

I have my Mini 4 cockpit mounted, just about where and how @Silvaire mentions, and find it a perfect spot for it. As it is a fix mount you can display some backup AI if you like, which would be useless on a yoke mount. At the same time I use an iPad pro loosely, you could say as a kneeboard, but I stow it away every now and then. I typically run my navigation software on both devices, where the Mini shows the map all the time and with the pro in the hand I look up things like approach plates or frequencies, or just swipe around to see what I’m actually seeing down there.

I never had heat issues with the Mini 4. It is mounted in the stream of the cool air vent, just perfect. Not so with the pro when I put it on the left seat and the sun shining onto, it will shut down.

I like the big one for doing all the planning and the small one in the panel. But in the end, the small one would be enough. Speed is still o.k., although using Skydemon you do note that the pro is a lot quicker. However, I’ll stay with my 4 until it would be lacking something..

Germany

I’ve been using a mini 4 for a long time, with Foreflight in the US and now with SDVFR in France. I think I’ve seen one thermal shutdown, in very hot weather in CA. I find the size perfect – I can keep a whole approach plate on the screen, but it fits nicely over the yoke. In other planes I strap it to my right nknee and that works well too.

I had a full-size iPad before, but it was too big to be practical and did have serious thermal problems.

That said, I always print the plates for where I expect to be going – I’ve yet to have a piece of paper do a thermal shutdown or have a flat battery.

LFMD, France

I’ve had an full size iPad 3 in the past. It would shut down when in hot sunny climates. Some cold air on the back while keeping it out of sunlight seemed to short it in a few minutes. Wasn’t usually a problem in Ireland!

I never found the full size to be an issue. In fact I loved it. It allowed me to see plenty of the map around my present location (probably more important for a VFR pilot who needs to be constantly aware of the airsapce around and constantly thinking about alternatives if airspace entry is denied), but also allowed me to have the flight log open for estimates requested by ATC etc without hiding the map.

I replaced it two years ago with a full size samsung tab s6 (10.1 Inch) and am very happy with it. Couldn’t fault it in any way, but it costs just as much as an iPad. But there isn’t a lot of choice in high end Android tablets. Most of the Android tablets are at the low end of the market.

EIWT Weston, Ireland

Using iPad Mini since ever, currently iPad Mini 5. Never had any problems with overheating on a lot of different plane types, from piston to jet. I have a RAM mount with suction cup which holds it very nicely.

USB-C is nice, I also like the apple pencil, because the pencil 1 was a pain. Now I can just snap it and probably will try to make notes about clearances right on the ipad. Other stuff like faster processor etc. is not required now (FF on mini5 runs just fine), but might be needed in the future.

I found it interesting that they especially mentioned Foreflight in the keynote.

Germany

I think I might need to succomb to the Apple world after all with that mini ipad (or an older one which does the job).

I am and Android guy ever since but I have failed so far to find an android 7 or 8 " device which fits my steering wheel in the Mooney. I don’t like to have them on my lap and actually would prefer to put a holder somewhere on the dash, but having used the GPS695 and it’s predecessor on the yoke I like that option best.

For now I can do with EVFR but V4 does not work with any of my deviced safe my phone (Samsung Note8). And I need to find a solution which works like a full EFB, planner and chart display in one and possibly a variant to feed flightstream if I ever get it.

So far I only know of Apple OS solutions such as Foreflight which do that.

LSZH(work) LSZF (GA base), Switzerland

I am an Andriod fan, but having used SD on both an android tablet and an Ipad mini 4, there is no contest for me.
The Ipad mini 4 just seems slicker. More like it was made that way out of the box (ipad for skydemon)
I now run 2x mini 4, one with SD one with Garmin Pilot for panel integration.
Both yoke mounted both have been in 35dec in France and Spain without shutting down. However I deliberately never charge them if it is hot weather. I’m happy to run them down and charge later.
Garmin pilot uses more than twice the battery of SD.

United Kingdom

GA_Pete wrote:

I am an Andriod fan, but having used SD on both an android tablet and an Ipad mini 4, there is no contest for me.
The Ipad mini 4 just seems slicker.

I think this is because the Android manufacturers basically decided to abandon the tablet market, except at the very bottom end. So almost all the Android tablets are low powered devices, but much cheaper than Apple devices.

The only exception that I found was the most expensive Samsung tablet which was a good match for the iPad. However the price is almost the same and Android has fewer apps designed for a tablet sized devices, with leaves you needing a good reason to go Android instead of iPad. So almost everyone paying for a high performance tablet will go with iPad, and those happy with a low performance budget device can opt for Android. But obviously then performance differs a lot.

EIWT Weston, Ireland

There are basically no 7-8 inch Android tablets left. Not if you want the newest Android, no added extra UI, 4/5g etc. Better to get a big phone and use that as a tablet.

But succumb to the Apple nonsense. Never

The elephant is the circulation
ENVA ENOP ENMO, Norway

As I said previously, I moved to full paperless (except for the backup paper charts) with the iPad Pro 11 mounted on a kneeboard, that works well also to copy clearances using the Apple Pencil (I attached a pen holder to the kneeboard as the magnetic snap is not that strong and the pencil falls on the floor too many times).
I tried to mount it on a suction cup holder in the past but it falls after a while, I think the pro is too heavy for that. That’s why I switched to the kneeboard and I started also to use it as a notepad.
The new mini has a bigger screen than the old mini and is intriguing me as an option to downsize from the 11 without going too small.
It’s smaller and lighter than the 11, so it can fit in the cockpit of a Diamond on the kneeboard, and it’s also small enough to fit the yoke of the PA28 (the Pro 11 is simply too big) and probably doesn’t fall if mounted on a suction cup holder. So more flexibility than the pro, which is good only on the kneeboard.
And the design is as cool as the Pro 11, which for me is a very nice to have 😃

On the other hand, mounting the mini on the yoke or on the panel makes it probably impossible to use it to take notes of the clearances, requiring the use of the old fashioned kneeboard with paper and pen…
Dilemmas….

EHLE LIMB, Netherlands

On the other hand, mounting the mini on the yoke or on the panel makes it probably impossible to use it to take notes of the clearances, requiring the use of the old fashioned kneeboard with paper and pen…

In the Diamond you don’t have that choice, but you can take notes on an iPad Mini which is mounted on a yoke with a decent mount.

EBST, Belgium
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