iPad advice

[Krvelasco]

Good afternoon everyone. I've been flying my mavic 2 Pro and my phantom 4 Pro commercially with an iPad mini 2. It's obviously an older iPad mini but it seems to work very well. But we are now starting to get into some more advanced missions involving some mapping and some inspection work. We're looking to upgrade to a new iPad I've looked at the new iPad minis but I'm having thoughts about going to a full-size iPad. Please give recommendations for the best iPad to use. Trying not to spend a ton of money. LOL thank you

 

[R Martin]

Good afternoon everyone. I've been flying my mavic 2 Pro and my phantom 4 Pro commercially with an iPad mini 2. It's obviously an older iPad mini but it seems to work very well. But we are now starting to get into some more advanced missions involving some mapping and some inspection work. We're looking to upgrade to a new iPad I've looked at the new iPad minis but I'm having thoughts about going to a full-size iPad. Please give recommendations for the best iPad to use. Trying not to spend a ton of money. LOL thank you

Check the product dimensions before you make a decision. Not all iPads will work with your particular setup due to their size. My Inspire will barely accept a full size iPad and that you nearly have to force into the cradle.

 

[Fred Garvin]

I use an iPad Air....first generation....with my Mavic Air. It does need a cradle mount of course. It works very well with the DJI Go software.

Problem is, even with a hood and turned full bright, I cannot see it outside in full sun. If I can find a deeply shaded spot, that helps but then I get into issues losing sight of the drone. Pretty frustrating.

Good thing the MA is just a “personal selfie fun drone”....for commercial use it’d be a show stopper. I use Typhoon H’s for work, and the ST16S controllers have built in monitors that don’t present the brightness issue. If I were using DJI aircraft, I’d most likely look at the Crystal Sky Ultra Brights. That old iPad Air is relegated to drone duty as I bought a new 12.9 iPad Pro 512Gb.....and I haven’t tried it yet as a controller screen. It’s my mobile platform instead of a laptop, and Lightroom CC is linked up to my Creative Cloud Lightroom/Photoshop solution for quick turnaround field solutions.

 

[Florida Drone Supply]

The mini 4 barely performs in some of the apps and definitely has a heat issue in FL in the sun. I would compare screen brightness between the models. As mentioned above, the ability to see the screen is going to be more helpful than the size of the screen many times. Same argument existed between a small Crystal Sky and a large iPad when CS first started shipping. How complicated is your mapping and what app do you generally run while mapping?

 

[R Martin]

I use an iPad Air....first generation....with my Mavic Air. It does need a cradle mount of course. It works very well with the DJI Go software.

Problem is, even with a hood and turned full bright, I cannot see it outside in full sun. If I can find a deeply shaded spot, that helps but then I get into issues losing sight of the drone. Pretty frustrating.

Good thing the MA is just a “personal selfie fun drone”....for commercial use it’d be a show stopper. I use Typhoon H’s for work, and the ST16S controllers have built in monitors that don’t present the brightness issue. If I were using DJI aircraft, I’d most likely look at the Crystal Sky Ultra Brights. That old iPad Air is relegated to drone duty as I bought a new 12.9 iPad Pro 512Gb.....and I haven’t tried it yet as a controller screen. It’s my mobile platform instead of a laptop, and Lightroom CC is linked up to my Creative Cloud Lightroom/Photoshop solution for quick turnaround field solutions.

Fred,

We have heat problems in the summer constantly. I made a cradle that will accept a cool pack for summer ops but ultimately, we are in the process of replacing DJI with a more capable aircraft that runs off a laptop instead of an app.

 

[Fred Garvin]

I’m in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.....I too am plagued by summer heat issues.....but mine are more my ability to handle the heat rather than the aircraft/ground station capability.

 

[Krvelasco]

The mini 4 barely performs in some of the apps and definitely has a heat issue in FL in the sun. I would compare screen brightness between the models. As mentioned above, the ability to see the screen is going to be more helpful than the size of the screen many times. Same argument existed between a small Crystal Sky and a large iPad when CS first started shipping. How complicated is your mapping and what app do you generally run while mapping?

We just started mapping the first of the year. most of our projects have been very simple. we have been using drone deploy its simple and inexpensive.