cellular ipad v non cellular ipad

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Hi guys,

Contemplating swapping my ipad mini 2 for a cellular one so that I can get GPS on it.

Is there much point? Would be good to get the maps with having to cache?

Does anyone know whether you can get pay as you go with it? - I will only be using it for the drone only, and thus wondering that the best package is to get.

Many thanks
 
Hi guys,

Contemplating swapping my ipad mini 2 for a cellular one so that I can get GPS on it.

Is there much point? Would be good to get the maps with having to cache?

Does anyone know whether you can get pay as you go with it? - I will only be using it for the drone only, and thus wondering that the best package is to get.

Many thanks

I just went for wifi and thought that if I wanted maps for an area whilst out and about I would just use my phone as a hot spot. Not tried it so not sure how it will work in practice. Some people are saying that when/if they enable a dynamic home point feature you may need cellular as the controller does not have gps built in like the inspire 1.

There are lots of sim only deals out there but I have no idea how much data you are likely to use per flight. I'm in the UK and am running with Giffgaff for my GPS tracker.
 
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I just went for wifi and thought that if I wanted maps for an area whilst out and about I would just use my phone as a hot spot. Not tried it so not sure how it will work in practice. Some people are saying that when/if they enable a dynamic home point feature you may need cellular as the controller does not have gps built in like the inspire 1.

There are lots of sim only deals out there but I have no idea how much data you are likely to use per flight. I'm in the UK and am running with Giffgaff for my GPS tracker.

Problem I have is I have a crappy old iphone that doesn't work as a hotspot... im thinking its just best for me to pop to the mall, swap the ipad to a cellular one and then be done with it.
 
I have a mini 2 with wifi only. Got a refurbished from apple for 249. I cache my locations while at home by zooming close to the ground in the map and moving it till all blurriness sharpens. I've done this for my home neighborhood. My moms house and city and my deer lease. So, last night, I turned off wifi and it functioned normally. I could see on the map where I was and images were crisp. So far, flying from my front yard, I get around 1800 feet before video drops and it returns. That's because of obstruction and trees. Won't take long to zoom that radius in the map.

So, do you need gps? No. But you will when dynamic home is available. But you can assign a different home while in flight, so this really only matters if you are on a boat or some place you don't want your bird to land while in the process of moving quickly.
 
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I remeber discussions of iPad with and without GPRS, somewhere I read that an iPad tethered to an iPhone (via wifi) would use the iPhone's position data.
If so, there would eb no need to upgrade..

Check macrumors or apple discussions pages.
 
I remeber discussions of iPad with and without GPRS, somewhere I read that an iPad tethered to an iPhone (via wifi) would use the iPhone's position data.
If so, there would eb no need to upgrade..

Check macrumors or apple discussions pages.
can anyone confirm if the iphone will pass position data to the ipad if using the iphone as a hotspot?
 
I think it just caches the map..when connected to the Internet. It may be assisted GPS ?
 
I have a iPhone 5 so its not supported by the pilot app but the Ipad 3 mini is.. so I use the iphone's internet connection and enabled my hotspot on the phone and then paired the ipad3 to the phone via wifi and yep it works..

tried it in several locations now and it bring up the map where the phone and ipad are.........Result!!
 
I have a iPhone 5 so its not supported by the pilot app but the Ipad 3 mini is.. so I use the iphone's internet connection and enabled my hotspot on the phone and then paired the ipad3 to the phone via wifi and yep it works..

tried it in several locations now and it bring up the map where the phone and ipad are.........Result!!

Do you keep the Internet connection throughout the flight on?
Or just load the maps
 
Do you keep the Internet connection throughout the flight on?
Or just load the maps

I just leave connection on all the time and its password protected to my phone so no need to turn it of and soon as Ipad is turned on it has a internet connection.. where ever
 
I just leave connection on all the time and its password protected to my phone so no need to turn it of and soon as Ipad is turned on it has a internet connection.. where ever


Must eat battery lol. I'll give it a go when it's less windy
 
Hi guys,

Contemplating swapping my ipad mini 2 for a cellular one so that I can get GPS on it.

Is there much point? Would be good to get the maps with having to cache?

Does anyone know whether you can get pay as you go with it? - I will only be using it for the drone only, and thus wondering that the best package is to get.

Many thanks


hello, i bought an ipad mini 3 with cellular, and my best solution is to take my sim card from my phone and put it in my ipad (and yes it works) just buy a sim tray remover tool for $1 on ebay
 
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Don't need an ipad with gps. Just get a blutooth gps like the dual and garmin have one that also works with ipad

The beauty of an external gps is its much better quality and more accurate and more stable than any of the internal ones.

You only need gps for follow me, so got the wifi only ipad and a blutooth gps.

I get much better gps and as tech changes you can get better gps units rather than being stuck with the inbuilt ones

You can get blutooth ones which include GLONASS which you don't get with your phone.

Even my non GLONASS gps I still get slightly more satelittles, and works with follow me with ease.
 
Don't need an ipad with gps. Just get a blutooth gps like the dual and garmin have one that also works with ipad

The beauty of an external gps is its much better quality and more accurate and more stable than any of the internal ones.

You only need gps for follow me, so got the wifi only ipad and a blutooth gps.

I get much better gps and as tech changes you can get better gps units rather than being stuck with the inbuilt ones

You can get blutooth ones which include GLONASS which you don't get with your phone.

Even my non GLONASS gps I still get slightly more satelittles, and works with follow me with ease.
So I think I got this now, I DON'T need cellular, just a wifi tab and the bluetooth GPS? Ok, so where do I plug that bluetooth thing in on my tab? I bought a Mini 3 with cellular just because of GPS, but it's too small, I just got my lady an Air 2 wifi only, so will that work?
 
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So I think I got this now, I DON'T need cellular, just a wifi tab and the bluetooth GPS? Ok, so where do I plug that bluetooth thing in on my tab? I bought a Mini 3 with cellular just because of GPS, but it's too small, I just got my lady an Air 2 wifi only, so will that work?
Umm ... it's Blluetooth. It doesn't plug in to the device. It connects via ... wait for it ... Bluetooth. :) Sorry, had to mess with ya.
 
Umm ... it's Blluetooth. It doesn't plug in to the device. It connects via ... wait for it ... Bluetooth. :) Sorry, had to mess with ya.
Well if you're unaware of it, there are bluetooth devices that plug into either a USB or Lightning port (I just found that out) THAT'S why I was asking lol. Hey I'm old, but not too old to ask for help
 
Take a look at this high level overview of different options. Forgive me if you have seen it before since I have posted it to the forum numerous times and you may have seen it before in your research. Please let me know if I have inadvertently misrepresented or omitted something.

Wifi only iPad (no internet access in the field)
* Can fly with maps if the maps are cached in advance
* No access to new maps in the field
* No LIVE STREAMING
* No Follow Me
* No Dynamic Home Point

Wifi only iPad (tethered for internet)
* No Follow Me
* No Dynamic Home Point
* Can access new maps in the field
* Can use LIVE STREAMING, but likely not well.

Wifi only iPad with an external GPS
* Can fly with maps if the maps are cached in advance
* No access to new maps in the field
* No LIVE STREAMING
* Can use Follow Me
* Can use Dynamic Home Point
* External GPS is more accurate
* Cell version not needed every time you upgrade to new iPad
* One more thing to charge and carry

Cellular iPad with no data plan
* Can fly with maps if the maps are cached in advance
* No access to new maps in the field
* No LIVE STREAMING
* Can use Follow Me
* Can use Dynamic Home Point

Cellular iPad (no data plan, tethered for internet)
* Can access new maps in the field
* Can use LIVE STREAMING, but likely not well.
* Can use Follow Me
* Can use Dynamic Home Point

Cellular iPad (with data plan)
* Can access new maps in the field
* Can use LIVE STREAMING
* Can use Follow Me
* Can use Dynamic Home Point

Tethering your phone to a wifi only iPad does not share the phone's GPS. If you want to use the functions that require GPS at or near the RC, you might consider an external (bluetooth) GPS with a wifi only tablet. There are many threads on the topic. It seems that the most talked about here on the forum are Bad Elf, Dual and the Garmin GLO. Just search and you will see plenty to read for research if you want to look into that option.

One thing to watch for: iOS 8.3 broke the ability for an external GPS to transfer data. It was fixed with iOS 8.4 and later, and still works in iOS 8.2 and earlier. It is only iOS 8.3 with the issue.

Also, Android tablets almost always have built in GPS so they are another option to consider. I use an Air 2 as you can see in my signature below.

*Note: the term 'Dynamic Home Point' is used here since that is a common way to refer to that function. Remember that the home point is not actually dynamically changing. You must manually change the static home point to a new static home point.
 
Thank you, no I hadn't seen it. Well I just now sent the Mini 3 wifi/cell back to Amazon and ordered the Air 2 wifi only hahaha I can't win :confused:
 

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