ipad mini 5

[Drone on]

Hello,

Has anyone used the new ipad mini 5 with their drones?

What has been your experience?
Has there been less lag with the new processor?
Has the 10+% increase in brightness made any noticeable difference?

 

[MavicMikeK]

I was going to get the new Mini 5 but instead decided to get a Mini 4 cellular because the price point for the Mini 4 was 1/3rd of the Mini 5 model. I tried it for the first time yesterday and the DJI Go 4 app kept crashing. I read peoples comments about the cache causing the problem and I had it enabled in my app so I disabled the video cache and it seems to have fixed the problem. Does this happen on your Mini 5? My OS is 12.2 the latest version. Before this I was using an ipad pro 10.5 model with the big bracket that holds it above the RC but didn't like the fact that it hides the controls and buttons. I didn't have any problems with the app crashing on the big ipad but not sure if I had the video cached during those flights. Need to do more research into this problem...

 

[pross]

I have a mini 5.
No app crashes, no lag. Zero issues.

 

[MavicMikeK]

I have a mini 5.
No app crashes, no lag. Zero issues.

Did you have your video caches enabled in the app? With mine both enabled it crashed after about 1 minute from starting the app and caused the ipad to reboot also..

 

[pross]

Did you have your video caches enabled in the app?

Yes, I have that enabled.

 

[MavicMikeK]

Yes, I have that enabled.

Maybe it is the fact that my mini 4 is only 16gb and doesn't have enough memory? What size is your mini 5 memory? I looked and I only have about 7gb free.

 

[pross]

The mini 4 has 2G memory, the mini 5 has 3G memory.

If you mean storage space, mine has 64G and I have 55G free.

 

[MavicMikeK]

The mini 4 has 2G memory, the mini 5 has 3G memory.

If you mean storage space, mine has 64G and I have 55G free.

Yeah I was saying 16gb of overall ipad storage memory. I think my video cache was set to 2gb but I will have to double check again. I stopped using it when it crashed multiple times in a row and my battery was getting low. More in-depth analysis of the issue today with everything charged up.

 

[hactick]

I use my ipad mini 4 for all of my flights. I can't stream to the controller in 1080p for more than a few minutes before the ipads gpu gets overloaded and I get a black screen. Turning off this option gives me no problems.

 

[MavicMikeK]

I use my ipad mini 4 for all of my flights. I can't stream to the controller in 1080p for more than a few minutes before the ipads gpu gets overloaded and I get a black screen. Turning off this option gives me no problems.

Thanks, I will check the 1080p option but as I recall I had that setting set to "normal" and not 1080p.

 

[Drone on]

I have a mini 5.
No app crashes, no lag. Zero issues.

How about the brightness?
Is it noticeably brighter than the mini 4, assuming you previously used the 4?

 

[pross]

assuming you previously used the 4?

Previously used a phone but it seems bright enough

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

Hmmmm... IPad mini 4, 128 gig, video cache on at 4 gig, no problems, no dropped screen, no Go 4 crashes.

 

[Drone on]

Hmmmm... IPad mini 4, 128 gig, video cache on at 4 gig, no problems, no dropped screen, no Go 4 crashes.

How is your device lag? I have the mini 4, I do experience slight lag at times. I've not ever had a dropped screen, or app crash.
I'm hesitant to invest in the 5, but I suspect it's performance will be even better than the 4 with a stronger processor, an additional gig of RAM, longer battery life and an 11% increase in brightness. I think it will fire up both itself and the DJI GO 4 app more quickly.

I don't think the 128 gig metric matters as that is storage.

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

How is your device lag? I have the mini 4, I do experience slight lag at times. I've not ever had a dropped screen, or app crash.
I'm hesitant to invest in the 5, but I suspect it's performance will be even better than the 4 with a stronger processor, an additional gig of RAM, longer battery life and an 11% increase in brightness. I think it will fire up both itself and the DJI GO 4 app more quickly.

I don't think the 128 gig metric matters as that is storage.

At longer distances when my video signal strength is weak (one or two bars), I do experience a blurred image and “tracing” as the image is displayed. But when flying local, the only thing I experience is a brief hesitation. Again, I figured it is due to image transmission rather than iPad processing. But I could be wrong. [emoji848]

I’ve been reading various posts (like this one) regarding the mini 5. I don’t have any serious issues with the mini 4, but maybe the 5 will brighten things up. I’m also considering whether I should move up to a 5 with cellular. Or I could just use a hot spot with my phone.

I guess I’m waiting and watching for an iPad mini 4 user to move to a mini 5, and then tell us about it! Then I’ll throw a pile of money at Apple.

 

[dixter]

you guys are scaring me... I was thinking it time to update my ipad to the new ipad 5.... I still use an ipad mini 3 that has never once given me any issues... I guess I'll stay with it...

 

[paul050079]

I had a mini 4 16 gig
I had issues as you experience
I now have iPad mini 5 64 gig cellular
You don’t need cellular works fine without
I use 4 gig of cache
I use litchi only
The screen is bright and you can easily see images
The screen is also less reflective and more fingerpfoof than previous issues
Never had a problem and I fly a lot of pre loaded missions, I
It’s amazing

 

[MavProPlat1968]

I have been using the iPad mini 5 for about a week now, silky smooth. And like Paul said, screen is brighter than previous ipad mini versions. For what people want for a used mini 4, I'm glad I paid the extra and got a new mini 5.

 

[RadioFlyerMan]

Thanks to you guys with sharing the mini 5 experience.

With this discussion in mind, I was paying closer attention to how the mini 4 was responding during today’s flights. I’m rethinking that some of the screen hesitation is not necessarily due to signal quality.

So all I gotta do is sell a few more antique Zenith radios on eBay to fund a new iPad mini 5

Ok... where’s my wallet?

 

[paul050079]

All the best, hope you get one, you’ll find it’s worth it