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.