iPad Mini

[genav8r]

I have already subscribed! MIA & JAX starting in Feb every six months!!! My biggest problem with sectionals is the size of the print and with the tablet you can enlarge it....

Again, thank you for your input. I appreciate your expertise and wisdom.

[Auburntsts]

You can order paper chart sectionals from Sportys and others, and batteries never run down on a chart. Charts are easier to read in turbulence, and glare than I pad.
Gps is nice to have with charts also.

To each his own. The whole battery argument is a joke IMO. In over 5 years of using a tablet it's never been a problem for me. But as I have a backup it's really a non issue. Price is where it gets absurd. Using GarminPilot Standard (or any of popular EFB apps) I get all US Sectionals, TACs, TPPs, Low IFR (and High IFR if I had a use for them) and A/FDs for the entire year for $75 on 2 separate devices. The one-time equivalent in paper would cost $745 (even more for a subscription) and fill multiple chart bags. If you fly x/c or IFR much it's no contest.

[genav8r]

Dumfries! My old stomping grounds; got my SEL ticket at Quantico and I'm trying to talk my daughter and cuz into putting in a grass strip on our farm in Culpeper, but that's another story... for the time being I intend to use charts as I move to the tablet. It's what i know and while I will have a Tablet tomorrow when I fly I will also have a sectional with my pencil lines to the various waypoints. I have not decided on what software but I am doing the due diligence now. I trust Garmin, it was the first GPS in my 172R in 1998 and now that I'm getting back into the cockpit i want to see all of the options. But the Garmin Pilot looks like a very nice program and one I will try if they have a trial!

[Floatsflyer]

I want to provide some information to you but I can't right now. At the moment I'm watching the swearing in of the 45th and final president of the United States.

[Floatsflyer]

My biggest problem with sectionals is the size of the print and with the tablet you can enlarge it.

I'm a dyed in the wool map reader, going back 43 years of flying. I still keep the sectionals in my flightbag as backup and do still refer to them on the ground and on the kitchen table in addition to my use of a full size IPad(no phone capability)attached to a dedicated bracket bolted to the yoke.

If you were going to go with IPad I would strongly recommend the full size Air as opposed to the Mini. The print on the Mini is too small to read within the cockpit confines of a small aircraft. It also produces glare. No glare issues with the full size.

I do not require corrected vision of any kind in my daily life. My eyesight is 20/15(that's damn good)but I do need reading glasses for small print. I use magnifyer reading glasses, bought cheaply at any drug store, for reading sectionals, the IPad as well as the G1000 info in my aircraft(IMHO the G1000 is the most complex, unfun, unnecessary piece of avionics ever devised for small aircraft but I do digress). There are different magnifying strengths available so take a sectional with you to find the most suitable pair. You can also get bifocal magnifyer reading glasses that allow you to read a tablet/sectional as well as look outside at the same time without any distortion. I don't use bifocals as I somehow found the perfect strength magnifiers that allow me do both very effectively.

I use Foreflight with a Bad Elf GPS receiver to link to it. It's a terrific system with all kinds of goodies and features. The yearly subscription is reasonable and about the same cost as a cheeseburger, fries and a drink at Oshkosh. I didn't consider any other flight planning/flight information software other than Foreflight because I live in Toronto and Foreflight was the first(4 years ago)and is STILL the only one that has all Canadian charts, the Canadian Flight Supplement and Canadian Waterdromes. I like it a lot but I obviously never did any comparison analysis. Sometimes no choice is a great thing, a brain and time saver.

No need to worry or not worry about battery life of your tablet. Not if you install 2 built-in panel USB ports. Inexpensive and the best simple solution. All the best to you genav8r in getting back into the cockpit. Fly fun and fly safe.

[Bill Greenwood]

The whole idea of getting every chart for vfr and fir or the whole U S for $75 is a good sales pitch , but slanted. Todd when is the last time you used Ifr chart for S. Dakota? And what is the price for the device that displays that chart? It isn't included in $75!
A real chart, sectional is bout $10, can be left in the plane permanently , doesn't need batteries, which are not free for the $75, can be read in sunlight or bumps, and a year later most features will be the same. Osh has not moved in 30 years. And for $75 does the device update itself or have to be imputed?
Gps is great to use, but so is a chart, and not going to be programmed wrong.

[Floatsflyer]

And for $75 does the device update itself or have to be imputed?.

For Foreflight, the updates are very frequent. You do have to go to the dedicated update page(set like a home page) and press "download". That's all, easy peasy.

[DaleB]

That's what's so great about living in a free country with the choices we have. Bill, you can buy and use your paper charts for as long as they're available and fly without anything else in the cockpit if that's what makes you happy. I'll use my tablet to have everything I need available at no additional cost. And no, it wasn't free, but I would own it whether I used it for flying or not so it may as well have been for me. And I'll never have to buy a paper chart again.

My next airplane will be open cockpit and probably have only bare minimum instruments... airspeed, altimeter, compass and a couple of engine instruments. Electrical system? Maybe, maybe not. But I can tell you for sure, if I'm going far enough away from the home 'drome that I won't know the way back my heart, the little Samsung will be right there with me in case I need it. And I won't even worry how that will play with the leather helmet, goggles and silk scarf.

[Auburntsts]

The whole idea of getting every chart for vfr and fir or the whole U S for $75 is a good sales pitch , but slanted. Todd when is the last time you used Ifr chart for S. Dakota? And what is the price for the device that displays that chart? It isn't included in $75!
A real chart, sectional is bout $10, can be left in the plane permanently , doesn't need batteries, which are not free for the $75, can be read in sunlight or bumps, and a year later most features will be the same. Osh has not moved in 30 years. And for $75 does the device update itself or have to be imputed?
Gps is great to use, but so is a chart, and not going to be programmed wrong.

The past July when I flew to Omaha which is covered by L12 (Nebraska and South Dakota). My point is even if you use fraction of the available charts and pubs they are all available for the same price and updates only take a few minutes to download--Way faster than the database updates I have to perform on my EFIS. But to give you a more real-world example, I fly to Ft Meyers, FL and New Orleans from VA at random, 3-4 times a year each. Here’s the approximate cost breakdown if I were to start from scratch without adding in the moving map, flight planning, weather, and other EFB (like ADS-B in and traffic if so equipped) and inherent Tab features that aren’t relevant to analog charts:

Year 1:

New Samsung Galaxy Tab 16GB - $200
EFB app $75 (Includes all CONUS VFR Sectionals, IFR Low, TPPs, A/FD (now Chart Supplements), fuel and AOPA data)
Total: $275

Paper equivalent subscription from MyPilotStore:
7 Sectionals -$108
5 IFR Low – $282
5 TPP books-$225
4 A/FDs - $114
Total: $729

Paper equivalent 2 one-time buys (no subscription) from MyPilotStore:
7 Sectionals -$108
5 IFR Low – $47
5 TPP books-$75
4 A/FDs - $38
Total: $269

Year 2:

Tablet - $0
EFB App - $75
Total - $75

Paper equivalent subscription from MyPilotStore:
7 Sectionals -$108
5 IFR Low – $282
5 TPP books-$225
4 A/FDs - $114
Total: $729

Paper equivalent 2 one-time buys (no subscription) from MyPilotStore:
7 Sectionals -$108
5 IFR Low – $47
5 TPP books-$75
4 A/FDs - $38
Total: $269

I have no issues if you prefer paper to electronic. However, for me the economics and capability afforded by my EFB outweigh any downsides by a huge margin. I will not willingly return to paper charts. YMMV…..

[Mike M]

Thanks for the input - I've stil not decided - I went to a FAAST seminar and they all flew iPad's! ny hanger neighbor flys the iPad... but another guy I know uses the Samsung. I have a 7" Samsung; 8GB so I will upgrade no matter what but the Galaxy Tablets are a little thin on the market now...

Because you have a Samsung 7" tablet already, stop wasting time. Get on google play, download free Avare now, use it to learn while you try to find some superdeluxepensive alternatives on which to piddle away money chasing the latest and greatest. Your mileage may vary.