A1Skinner wrote:How are the Ipads for 3/4G reception?

My 3G iPad only loses things for 5-15 minutes at a time in the Rockies when there are paved roads in sight.

I hardly ever lose GPS lock in my 182 on my knee board (maybe 10 seconds every now and then).

I fly with an iPad Mini with Foreflight as my primary source of navigation.

I chose one with 32 GB and Wi‑Fi + Cellular. My carrier is AT&T.

I like the built in Cellular so I can use the (slightly delayed) "Radar" and "Satellite" overlays while flying, plus get winds aloft in the "Altitude Advisor" if I'm getting my butt kicked by headwinds or turbulence. This works generally 3,000 feet AGL or less. Occasionally higher. I've flown all over the west, from Texas to California to Canada to Idaho, and a good portion of the time on those flights I've had cell reception. Of course it also allows me to use the iPad Mini on the ground for flight planning, emails, etc when a Wi-Fi connection isn't available. I also chose the built in Cellular because that is the only way to get the built in GPS.

When I had a Stratus 1 I would only turn it on when I was around weather, and then only when too high or remote to receive a cell signal. I had the Stratus 1 when a big part of the West didn't have the ADS-B towers up yet so that also dictated when it was on.

Now that I have the Stratus 2 I fly with it on nearly all the time, unless I'm flying low. I do so primarily because of the ADS-B traffic display, bonus is the WAAS GPS. Downside of having it turned on is I loose the Cellular connection to Foreflight which means I loose the "Satellite" overlay and the "Winds aloft" information.

I have my iPhone with me so I can use it for the "Satellite" overlay and "Winds aloft", as long as I'm within cell signal range - it's loaded with Foreflight as well.

I've occasionally seen the number of bars differ between the iPhone and iPad, but never paid close enough attention to draw any conclusions.

So to make it a bit cheaper, they (Crapple) have refurbished unit available. I assume by the way that they say the following they are probably up to snuff, anyone have one, or used a refurb?

Each Apple Certified Refurbished Product:
-is fully tested (including full burn-in testing).
-is refurbished with replacement parts for any defective modules identified in testing.
-is put through a thorough cleaning process and inspection.
-is repackaged (including appropriate manuals, cables, new boxes, etc.).
-includes the operating software originally shipped with the unit and the custom software offered with that system. See each products "Learn More" for more details.
-is given a new refurbished part number and serial number.
-is placed into a Final QA inspection prior to being added to sellable refurbished stock.

Refurbishment procedures follow the same basic technical guidelines as Apple's Finished Goods testing procedures.

A1Skinner wrote:How are the Ipads for 3/4G reception? I know where I live, my Samsung Galaxy gets at least one more bar of service then the Iphones. Would I be correct in assuming that the Ipad would be similar to the IPhone?

I'm pretty much an apple fanboy, so comments in this thread along the lines of "I don't like apple, but their products are head and shoulders above the rest" kind of crack me up...

Ok, so Apple's antennas and reception are among the best in the business. They will get a consistently better signal that pretty much anything out there.

Unless...

You are looking at Samsung. I honestly don't know if the samsung service bars are calibrated differently (that's the nice way of questioning if they are cheating or not, right?), but I've observed the exact same thing. I've never had a situation where a galaxy could do a clear call while an iphone couldn't, but you are absolutely right that their on screen indicator is consistently better than the iphone.

The Xoom has a GREAT 12+ channel GPS internal . The GPS is so good that it can pick me out in the house by the room ,while on Google Maps.I also have a blue tooth GPS that I have used in airplane .

rw2 wrote:

A1Skinner wrote:How are the Ipads for 3/4G reception? I know where I live, my Samsung Galaxy gets at least one more bar of service then the Iphones. Would I be correct in assuming that the Ipad would be similar to the IPhone?

I'm pretty much an apple fanboy, so comments in this thread along the lines of "I don't like apple, but their products are head and shoulders above the rest" kind of crack me up...

Ok, so Apple's antennas and reception are among the best in the business. They will get a consistently better signal that pretty much anything out there.

Unless...

You are looking at Samsung. I honestly don't know if the samsung service bars are calibrated differently (that's the nice way of questioning if they are cheating or not, right?), but I've observed the exact same thing. I've never had a situation where a galaxy could do a clear call while an iphone couldn't, but you are absolutely right that their on screen indicator is consistently better than the iphone.

Honestly, everyone around where I live/work has terrible service with iPhones. Blackberries and samsungs seem good. The iPhones are always dropping calls and most people are switching to something else.
As far as apple products being head and shoulders above everything else, I have failed to see it. Sure some apps (foreflight) may be better, but its their loss for not marketing an android version. Until apple proves how great it apparently is, I'm trying to stay away.
David

ohadI wrote: I assume by the way that they say the following they are probably up to snuff, anyone have one, or used a refurb?

Mine is a refurb.

You can't tell it from new. Same warranty. I don't know why one would buy a new one, actually, if the same one is available as a refurb.

Nobody wants to be an "Apple" person. Haha!

I've long been a Unix/Linux snob, turning my nose up at the giant Microsoft, but around 2005 I went Mac and haven't looked back. This was about 2 years prior to the iOS boom. I've always called it "the most polished Unix distro you can buy," which is kind of a joke since most unix/Linux distributions are open source and free.

Apple is the new Microsoft, raking in the bucks, maintaining a stranglehold on both the code, the user experience, and the usage rights of media. I do miss the openness of the OS and doing simple things like accessing my file system directly. There's a reason though that people rarely have problems with their iPad/iPhone operating system.

That said, the iPad is still the winner for me for EFB. My Android tablet feels clunky by comparison.

The main problem with Apple products: They work as advertised. I've completely converted now.

Very much unlike Droid and Microsoft which are twitchy, problematic and buggy at best.

I agree with rw2, stick with the leaders: iPad and ForeFlight. IMHO, the rest cannot compare. I have found that the biggest critics of Apple products, among my friends, are those that have never really tried them or given them a chance. If you try iPad and ForeFlight, you won't regret it.

I dont think that it is about apple and not trying it. Im not sure of how a tablet is different than a desktop, but I had to work with one for about 6 months. It was horrible. Im a PC guy. It was such a different system than what i was used to, I couldnt just "get" it, and that was very frustrating. One thing that made me the most pissed about the apple system. I was working on a huge excel file, I musn't have set up autosave. I went to minimize it and blammo, gone, all changes wiped. It was my own Fn fault for not saving it, but if the damn buttons were in the right place......

So i have a little trepidation towards apple for that one reason and the frustration of trying to figure it out. I know they are good solid systems, but Im not at all familiar with it at all. I guess I might just buck up and try it out. If I can figure out how to fly in clouds IFR or figure out the newest version of Primavera P6 v7, I can figure out a small piece of electronics for crap sakes. It cant be that hard.

Word.

Also, I have just went back and marked a vote for each post. Apple 18, Droid 7.

Im ALMOST sold. Refurb shopping page here I come....

Big difference between a Apple desktop and their handheld devices. I used a Mac extensively in college and hated every minute of it. Not because of button placement or user error type things but because they were slow and constantly crashing. The only reason I used them is because they were always available in the computer labs. The iPhone and iPads are awesome and IMO you can't go wrong with one.

Same here, at BSU when I was in engineering school in the Computer lab, every time I went, all PCs were being used so I had to use the Macs. I hated every minute of it as well. PITA. It was because of the system they used that were not Windows based. It was a dreadful task to save something, print it and such. Excel was mostly as frustrating, with trying to enter formulas and the actual execution of it on a Mac. Trying to find files if and after you had saved them was dreadful.

So, I think that now that you say that Tablets are not as PITA as desktops. I might go for it.

So now that Im ALMOST sold on iPad, whats the difference and funcionality between ForeFlight and ForeFlgiht Pro?

$$$ of course. And geosyncronized approach plates and enroute charts.

Gump

HAHA, perhaps it was that the IT guys at BSU didn't know what they were doing The second floor computer lab in the ET building was always full of CS nerds playing Warcraft so yeah the Macs were all that was available. I didn't have any problem with excel once I figured out the key strokes but printing, saving, and the silly things freezing up and shutting down all the time was quite frustrating. Like I said the apple handheld stuff is great and extremely user friendly. The only time I have had one freeze up is after I screwed up on a jailbreak, totally my fault.

My company is 99% OSX save for a few Windows machines that are necessary for some accounting functions. We're IT professionals and software developers who've used everything under the sun, and broken most of it too during security audits.

It's hard to be unbiased about anything technology oriented due to your past experiences. Being forced to use Windows for years and then having to adapt to a different system with a different user interface can be difficult for people, and vice versa. The swap from mouse driven screens to touchscreens though has been almost the opposite, with more intuitive and easy to use interfaces being the biggest objective among tablet devices.

I'd suggest making this less about Apple vs whatever and just make decisions based on actual hands-on usage and the software available for EFB. Most of these devices can be fondled if you have a Best Buy near you.

You are correct sir. I think Im going to go for it, learn a diff system and use it wisely. Thanks for the support.

Well Folks, i gotta say. I ordered a Refurb iPad Mini 32 GB WiFi + Verizon last week right after the last post.

So I got it by FedEx yesterday, spent the night playing with it and setting it up.

Uploaded Foreflight, played with it and created some fake but training type IFR flight plans. I.E. Didnt file. Just to try to get used to filing plans, looking for plates, maps, gps, etc. while flying, getting used to the program. Seems pretty easy to use, but so does the G430 until I figured out how much it actually does.

As of now I only have Free Foreflight for 30 days. I think it is the standard issue. So, as Gump stated, Id like to know more about Pro v Standard. He said it was just money and Geo Ref charts and app plates. Hmmm. Standard is $75 and Pro is $150. Is the additional $75 really worth the benefits from Standard to Pro?

Also, the ipad is easy to use, seems like its awesome. But here are my issues.

1. Touch screen seems to be a bit less reactive. i think it is because of the TechArmor screen protector I put on it. Or its maybe cause I have Fat Finger Syndrome. Im not sure, Any Ideas?

2. Tunes, i need some tunes, anyone know how to get my MP3s that are not in iTunes onto the iPad?

3. GPS, I havent flown with it yet. With Verizon, does the internal GPS work worth a shit or should I get a BadElf type external receiver?

4. Any good apps, beside FF that Ill need or will be awesome. Ill look on the thread somewhere, i think i saw a good list earlier.

5. So far, no complaints, Refurb looks new, no scracthces or dings or the like. Works awesome, fast, with my WiFi and Vzn

Thanks to all that contributed to the conversation. iPAd learner here I am.

Word!