Thread: I Pad Mini which one?

Hi Martin,
I installed an ipad mini in my D3, make sure you get the cellular version as the wifi only doesn't have gps and relies on wifi hot spots or teathering to a mobile to update position. as far as maps I only have sygic which is for normal road nav and works well. Glenn (newbe)

Do a search on when the next models are coming out. Rumours are the next ipad minin with retina display or better and the ipad 5 could, only could come out in March but more likely October. I've been thinking the same and am prepared to wait for the next version. They reckon the ipad 5 will be around the same dimensions as the actual display on the ipad 4 with the screen display extending right to the edges of the machine which will make it half way between current ipad and ipad mini in size. Also rumours about a totally new type of display being developed by Sharp which is, if you can believe it, even better than retina ( which I haven't really noticed is any better than the display on my 17" Macbook Pro (which apparently is supposed to be a cut above all the other Macbook laptops ( perhaps it is retina; anyone know??)

Samsung Galaxy, apple is for pie . Nah seriously , if you want decent gps reception you have to have an external antenna which a tablet wont have. Maybe a hema navigator or similar would be better.

Thanks for comments guys, I was considering Ipad as it is much more than just GPS. hoping there is someone out there already running off road mapping on one that can advise what to go for or not to gor for if you know what I mean. Also is ther a particular type of GPS antenna I should be looking for?

GPS works fine without an external antenna on all of the current apple devices providing it is a 3G/4G model. The only reason you need an external is if its a wifi only.

Ipads have good gps reception even out in the sticks. Iphones reception in the sticks can be dodgy. I think the ipad has a bigger antenna so can receive the satellite signal better. Going on that, I wonder what a mini's reception is like, somewhere in between maybe? We need feedback from people who have gone remote with them. If they are in a mobile area then you can't tell if they are using the satelites or the mobile towers because they will use both if available.

The issue is more to do with time to get a lock on satellite signals rather than being "dodgy". I've found that the iPhone GPS will lock quickly if you have it running whenever you are moving because it store the last known satellite positions to speed up acquisition. Where the AGPS has issues is if you move a significant distance with the phone switched off. In such cases the iPhone GPS can take a while to get a fix on the satellites. I think the worst I've seen on my 3GS iPhone is about 10 minutes before it gets a lock. Later iPhones/iPads apparently have a better gps chip.


For mapping software - Memory Map or Hema would be my choice. The Hema app is essentially Memory Map bundled with complete Hema digital mapping.

It's also worth having a look at Avenza PDFMap as there are a couple of smaller map makers selling via their map store that have products that aren't available from Memory Map//Hema.

cheers
Paul

Is it a true GPS or 3G/4G reliant, if so once you lose reception you lose your GPS. Can you use a bluetooth GPS with antenna ?