ShadowAviator wrote:.....The bottom line is that the tablet and smart phones SO FAR are not reliable enough. Its fine to use a tablet, but make sure its NOT your primary. ...

My primary VFR navigation system is the heads-up display seen through the windshield.
Tablet, GPS, VOR, etc is secondary.
That said, I've adopted a tablet with a GPS app for a nav aid, but I still have my old Garmin 196 mounted in the airplane. Haven't turned it on in a long while though.

I see this became an IPAD vs no IPAD thread.
My thought is that the installed avionics should be the minimum necessary to safely fly the mission. VFR that means the FAA mandated list, Oil temp, airspeed, etc. One could argue that an AOA indicator would be better than airspeed but that is for another thread.
IFR today should be GPS based, driving a simple indicator, and for added safety, maybe an autopilot. OK if you already have a VOR, leave it in for now.
Then in both cases, make room for whatever non-installed SA helper comes along.
Practice your missions with the basics and then use the fancy IPAD to make the whole thing easier while not spending a fortune continually upgrading the installed stuff.

I wish may car could be done the same way.

I have yet to have my iPan Mini (original version with cellphone & GPS) fail--no overheating, no glitching in the air. I have had it glitch a couple of times on the ground, but I had gotten into the habit of adding this or that app that struck my fancy. So I pulled off most of the non-nav stuff, and the glitches have gone away entirely. What's left is enough to do a little web surfing and emailing, and Foreflight. I use it for my charts and approach plates, and I have FF in my iPhone 5s as a backup, although I've yet to have to resort to it.

But at this stage of "NextGen", I would not recommend to anyone that GPS be the sole source of electronic navigation. The DoD is still regularly doing its testing, and that means that during the testing, the GPS can go off line at worst or provide inaccurate information at best. The map functions of FF and the iPad will still work, just not the GPS driven functions.

So although I like my 430W and use it a lot, I'm not about to give up my navcom or my ADF. Even in solid IMC, I could still easily get close to my destination without the GPS side of the 430W, shoot an ILS or VOR approach, or even an NDB approach if still available.

And if the clouds aren't in the way, I can still use pilotage and ded reckoning to get there. Not sure I want to learn how to use a sextant, but I'm still pretty good with a stopwatch, compass, and chart.

Cary

My ipad 2 has performed flawlessly for 5 years of extensive use. My ipad 1 for a year before that. I keep waiting for it to die so I can upgrade to a new one. It doesn't, so I haven't yet. But i will.

soyAnarchisto wrote:My ipad 2 has performed flawlessly for 5 years of extensive use. My ipad 1 for a year before that. I keep waiting for it to die so I can upgrade to a new one. It doesn't, so I haven't yet. But i will.

I'm in the same boat with a first gen ipad2. It runs slower now but still runs good!

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