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My old iPad is about to go and has a cracked screen so I need a new one. I will be using this in the new DA62 I should have come November so it makes sense to get one now. Not having the actual plane I'm asking for help in selecting the best model. I will be mounting this on the tablet mount.

I think the sensible choices are between the iPad 8th-gen (10.2" screen), the iPad Air (10.9" screen) or iPad Pro (11" screen). The big daddy (12.9" screen) IPad Pro seems unnecessary large and might even block certain view angles and the Mini, from past experience, doesn't work for me.

You can get 128gb with the standard iPad. Does anyone know if this is adequate for Foreflight and all downloads, Garmin Pilot and some PDFs (manuals, FAR/AIM, etc)?

With the Air you can double that storage; pretty sure that's all that would ever be needed. Higher resolution and faster processor on the Air too. Foreflight does sometimes lag but that's on a prior generation. Is the A14 chip really needed? The other advantages of the Air seem to be related to content creation and I don't think I will use the thing that way.

The entry level Pro is interesting. Not really much larger but comes with a much memory as you could ever want the and new M1 chip all the cool kids are raving about. But, would have to wait a bit longer.

Anyone have any real world advice about what works in a DA62?

As a lifelong technology consumer who spent 40yrs in the industry, including 8 at Apple, buy up. You're basically buying longevity. Buy for the unanticipated applications and needs that you will have over the next five years. Moore's law is still more or less ticking along, not quite literally in terms of transistors, but definitely in terms of compute power for the dollar. So doubling every 18 months means three cycles or two cubed which means five years from now you'll get eight times the processing power, screen, memory, etc. than today for the same inflation adjusted dollars. Five years is a good purchase horizon.

I would buy the latest 11' Pro, M1, cellular, and 256GB. Or buy a lesser iPad and plan to replace in three years.

I made the iPad Pro 11 work in my DA40, but it took several iterations. There's a general sense among the literati that even if there is a mini 6 it could be the last mini. See the interminable thread in the Diamond Gadgets and Extras forum.

FWIW, for the 11 US contiguous Western States + BC for VFR/VNC, approaches, SID, etc. and all the overflow (chart and state/province boundaries do not line up) FF and its data currently occupy about 12 GB on my iPad. This has increased in recent months from about 10GB. All my music takes up 30 GB.

Rich wrote: ↑Thu Apr 29, 2021 11:47 pm I made the iPad Pro 11 work in my DA40, but it took several iterations. There's a general sense among the literati that even if there is a mini 6 it could be the last mini. See the interminable thread in the Diamond Gadgets and Extras forum.

Thanks for the pointer on checking in the other forum.

nworthin wrote: ↑Fri Apr 30, 2021 12:55 am

Rich wrote: ↑Thu Apr 29, 2021 11:47 pm I made the iPad Pro 11 work in my DA40, but it took several iterations. There's a general sense among the literati that even if there is a mini 6 it could be the last mini. See the interminable thread in the Diamond Gadgets and Extras forum.

Thanks for the pointer on checking in the other forum.

That other thread may be of limited help. It's been going on a long time, has some obsolete information, and some may not be particularly relevant to a DA62.

I second BoatGuy's recommendation for an 11" iPad Pro for a DA62, for all the reasons he stated.

I have a 3 year old 10.5" iPad Pro with similar dimensions to the newer 11" Pro model, and it's just the right size for mounting on the A-pillars (via RAM mounts) of the DA62.

My 10.5" iPad Pro still has a TouchID button that's missing on newer iPads with FaceID. I'm guessing you can turn off the facial recognition of a new iPad so it's not needed to wake it up while being used in the cockpit, e.g., if your co-pilot needs to wake it up to check an approach chart.

CFIDave wrote: ↑Fri Apr 30, 2021 3:46 pm My 10.5" iPad Pro still has a TouchID button that's missing on newer iPads with FaceID. I'm guessing you can turn off the facial recognition of a new iPad so it's not needed to wake it up while being used in the cockpit, e.g., if your co-pilot needs to wake it up to check an approach chart.

Yes, you can turn it off and on for this purpose. I leave mine on, and you can always enter the pass-code in lieu of face id.

Dissenting opinion here - Get the latest version of the Mini, and mount it on the left side using a ball mount and the latest version of the RAM EZ-Roll'r Cradle for Apple iPad mini: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B019L ... UTF8&psc=1.

Use a RAM mount articulating arm https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009S ... UTF8&psc=1 to move it down from the factory mount, and to the left into the window space, and you lose absolutely no visibility either downward through the windows, or to the panel switches, nor do you lose any significant space for cockpit entry while standing, then sitting in the pilot seat.

A more minor convenience point is that I typically strip my Mini from its case and cover, and put it in my shorts pocket hopping in the airplane, and do the same getting out. The massive iPad Pro my employer requires me to fly with in my work truck demands its own carry bag.

You gain nearly no functionality with a larger tablet, but lose either visibility and entry clearance on the left side, or reachability on the right (with no advantage to the larger screen, since it is farther away).

ultraturtle wrote: ↑Sat May 01, 2021 9:41 pmYou gain nearly no functionality with a larger tablet, but lose either visibility and entry clearance on the left side, or reachability on the right (with no advantage to the larger screen, since it is farther away).

My full-size iPad is located on the right side A-pillar where I'm often sitting (as I've mentioned before, when we fly together my pilot wife always gets left seat -- the secret to marital harmony. ) If I were mounting an iPad on the DA62 left side A-pillar, I agree that a Mini would fit better.

I find it easier to type on a larger iPad, and full-size iPads usually offer better value and performance than the Mini. I use my iPad a lot outside of the aircraft.