Android user strongly considering iPad mini 4...have one question!

[dke1955]

Hello forum!
Mavic Pro arrived last night! This is all new to me so please forgive as I get to my question. I am Android user, currently have Samsung s8. Phone hooked up great, no issues as far as fitment but it was immediately apparent I wanted/needed a bigger screen. This fact coupled with the drone is optimized for Apple products has me ready to head to Best Buy for a mini 4. BUT I know nothing of Apple products.
Questions:
1. BIG question is I read or watched something mentioning GPS on the pad...do I have to get a pad with Cellular on it but not activate??...what is that all about? If the pad does not have Cellular what is the issue then?
2. If I understand the GO4 app will record video on the pad....if I have Windows computer can I transfer video from apple product to Windows product?...
3. Anything else I need to know before I spend the $$$?
4. anyone know a good a/c repair man?....lost ac last night....104 projected today....my new drone is going to melt!!!....
Thanks everyone...loving it!
Fly Safe
see ya

 

[Bunny Too]

Hello forum!
Mavic Pro arrived last night! This is all new to me so please forgive as I get to my question. I am Android user, currently have Samsung s8. Phone hooked up great, no issues as far as fitment but it was immediately apparent I wanted/needed a bigger screen. This fact coupled with the drone is optimized for Apple products has me ready to head to Best Buy for a mini 4. BUT I know nothing of Apple products.
Questions:
1. BIG question is I read or watched something mentioning GPS on the pad...do I have to get a pad with Cellular on it but not activate??...what is that all about? If the pad does not have Cellular what is the issue then?
2. If I understand the GO4 app will record video on the pad....if I have Windows computer can I transfer video from apple product to Windows product?...
3. Anything else I need to know before I spend the $$$?
4. anyone know a good a/c repair man?....lost ac last night....104 projected today....my new drone is going to melt!!!....
Thanks everyone...loving it!
Fly Safe
see ya

The cellular version has the antenna for the GPS chip to allow it to work, the non cellular version does not have a GPS antenna so it will not get GPS. You do not have to activate the cellular features to get GPS.

 

[msinger]

If I understand the GO4 app will record video on the pad

Video will only be recorded on your mobile device if you have the DJI GO setting enabled to cache the video. When enabled, it copies a low quality version of the video to you mobile device (which could cause your mobile device to lag). The best quality video is always saved to the removable memory card in the Mavic Pro.

if I have Windows computer can I transfer video from apple product to Windows product?

Yes, you can transfer and play the cached video on any kind of computer.

Anything else I need to know before I spend the $$$?

You only need a mobile device with a GPS receiver if you want to be able to use the Follow Me flight mode or be able to manually reset the home point to your current location after taking off (handy when flying from a moving vehicle).

 

[dke1955]

Thank you Bunny & MavicHelp! Just the answers I needed. As soon as the a/c guy (hoping he doesn't say "Dave your a/c is toast!!...just 7 grand and your back in business"!!) is done I'm off to BestBuy...!

 

[msinger]

Good luck on the A/C. I cannot help you with that one... I only know how to fix drones

 

[JoostGT3]

Dave, happy flying, mate!
I consider myself an Android guy as well. After some stuff with an iPod and iTunes a couple of years ago, I had sworn never to use an iDevice anymore.
Then I bought the mavic pro, and had all kinds of app crashes with all my android devices, so I bought an iPad mini4. It worls flawlessly with my Mavic, never had any issues except once an overheating when I was standing in the scorching sun. I still find iOS an absolute POS operating system with lots of hidden or badly visible features which leave me infuriated every now and then, but the hardware is top notch. I even bought an iPhone when my Nexus 5x died, because I wanted to be able to use my phone for flying as well... can you imagine!

Long story short; go for it! It is a joy to fly the mavic in combination with the iPad mini.

 

[RDZMavPilot]

Work well when using Litchi to or just DJIGo?

 

[Prismatic]

... You only need a mobile device with a GPS receiver if you want to be able to use the Follow Me flight mode or be able to manually reset the home point to your current location after taking off (handy when flying from a moving vehicle).

For me, the advantage of activating a data-plan cellular service on the iPad is that you get on-the-fly maps & satellite imagery. You must, of course, be within cell range, but the data download, even if you pull satellite imagery, is only a few MB per site. For me, it's totally worth it.

As it happens, though, I often fly where there is no cell service at all. That means no maps, let alone satellite imagery. (Yes, you can cache one location in DJI Go 4; big whoop, I'm flying a half-dozen sites in one day, dozens of miles apart, without once having cell service.)

If only I could cache detailed maps--with satellite imagery--so that they'd be available in remote places! Now, I'm talking big chunks of real estate here, like, say, all of Utah east of I-25 and south of I-70 (think "all of England") at high resolution. But I'd happily consume huge amounts of storage for the purpose, partitioned as necessary. But this situation does not seem to be sufficiently common to make full-bore location caching (map+satellite) worthwhile for DJI Go 4 to include. (I would bet that few engineers at DJI have ever been outside cell service!)

Does any other app that controls DJI drones--the Mavic Air in particular--offer that kind of location data-caching, to support wholly-disconnected pilots like me? Does Litchi?

 

[Nathan Hoover]

I did the same thing finally and recommend looking on eBay for a used iPad Mini 4. Probably cheaper than a store and more convenient. I got a Ipad Mini 4 cellular (no sim card) 128GB for $325 back then and you can probably do better now.

I made the switch last Sept and it is working great still. Ipad is on the latest iOS 11.4.1, Go 4 is updated to the latest version in the app store and the Mavic (on old FW) flies perfectly.

 

[Red Baron]

WALMART $299 128GB

 

[vega]

WALMART $299 128GB

Where? For a Mini4? You mean 399.00?

 

[LeafPeeper]

For me, the advantage of activating a data-plan cellular service on the iPad is that you get on-the-fly maps & satellite imagery. You must, of course, be within cell range, but the data download, even if you pull satellite imagery, is only a few MB per site. For me, it's totally worth it.

As it happens, though, I often fly where there is no cell service at all. That means no maps, let alone satellite imagery. (Yes, you can cache one location in DJI Go 4; big whoop, I'm flying a half-dozen sites in one day, dozens of miles apart, without once having cell service.)

If only I could cache detailed maps--with satellite imagery--so that they'd be available in remote places! Now, I'm talking big chunks of real estate here, like, say, all of Utah east of I-25 and south of I-70 (think "all of England") at high resolution. But I'd happily consume huge amounts of storage for the purpose, partitioned as necessary. But this situation does not seem to be sufficiently common to make full-bore location caching (map+satellite) worthwhile for DJI Go 4 to include. (I would bet that few engineers at DJI have ever been outside cell service!)

Does any other app that controls DJI drones--the Mavic Air in particular--offer that kind of location data-caching, to support wholly-disconnected pilots like me? Does Litchi?

Well looky here. Does the Android version of DJI Go actually have one advantage over the iOS version? I am able to do exactly as you suggest. I cache multiple 'regions' WITH satellite imagery, and then go fly. There is a limit to the size of each region - maybe 10 x 10 miles, but you can grab multiple regions and name them whatever you want. Sorry, couldn't resist with all the iOS love around here. LOL.

LP

 

[dbyantis]

Thank you Bunny & MavicHelp! Just the answers I needed. As soon as the a/c guy (hoping he doesn't say "Dave your a/c is toast!!...just 7 grand and your back in business"!!) is done I'm off to BestBuy...!

I am a diehard droid dude, but I also pulled the trigger for iPad mini 4, never regretted it, S9+ phone can be my backup.

 

[vega]

Well looky here. Does the Android version of DJI Go actually have one advantage over the iOS version? I am able to do exactly as you suggest. I cache multiple 'regions' WITH satellite imagery, and then go fly. There is a limit to the size of each region - maybe 10 x 10 miles, but you can grab multiple regions and name them whatever you want. Sorry, couldn't resist with all the iOS love around here. LOL.

LP

I use a Mini 2 and 4. I have a bluetooth Garmin GLO I use to provide GPS to my mini. I am 90 percent out of cell range when I fly. Maps? I download from Google and cache them to the mini. It all works seamlessly. Oh, forgot, the GLO is a fantastic GPS device and gets Glonass also. Many times I have 18 or more sats.

 

[Prismatic]

I use a Mini 2 and 4. I have a bluetooth Garmin GLO I use to provide GPS to my mini. I am 90 percent out of cell range when I fly. Maps? I download from Google and cache them to the mini. It all works seamlessly. Oh, forgot, the GLO is a fantastic GPS device and gets Glonass also. Many times I have 18 or more sats.

I would dearly love to know how to do that! It's exactly what I want, providing you're caching the satellite imagery along with the road map. Can you clarify that?

I'm asking if it is possible (on an iPad Mini 4) to:
A) download complete, detailed location data for (multiple?) remote site(s)--road maps, sure, but most importantly: satellite imagery--from Google (Earth? Maps?) online (and do whatever preparatory work is needed), and then
B) travel to the remote site(s), where there is no internet connectivity whatsoever, and then
C) open DJI Go 4, connect with your drone, and see the 'cached' map data--satellite imagery in particular--for that site integrated into the map view, without further user actions (again, beyond the preparatory work included in step A).

If so, can you point me to a source that explains the procedure? Or give a quick summary yourself? I would pull a tooth for that information!

Again, if the satellite imagery is not part of the data set, then I'm just not interested. I can get a blank 'roadmap' view with no trouble at all.

 

[phantomi]

I think best bang for the $ is the Mini 4 16gb w/o gps.

 

[vega]

I would dearly love to know how to do that! It's exactly what I want, providing you're caching the satellite imagery along with the road map. Can you clarify that?

I'm asking if it is possible (on an iPad Mini 4) to:
A) download complete, detailed location data for (multiple?) remote site(s)--road maps, sure, but most importantly: satellite imagery--from Google (Earth? Maps?) online (and do whatever preparatory work is needed), and then
B) travel to the remote site(s), where there is no internet connectivity whatsoever, and then
C) open DJI Go 4, connect with your drone, and see the 'cached' map data--satellite imagery in particular--for that site integrated into the map view, without further user actions (again, beyond the preparatory work included in step A).

If so, can you point me to a source that explains the procedure? Or give a quick summary yourself? I would pull a tooth for that information!

Again, if the satellite imagery is not part of the data set, then I'm just not interested. I can get a blank 'roadmap' view with no trouble at all.

I download from Google maps and it allows for sat image. I don't have a procedure for you, but before I go to my chosen site, I go to google maps and download an entire area. I think you can only download around 30 square miles ( If i remember correctly) but its detailed enough. You do need to have GPS on the ipad. Mine is a wifi only so I download when connected. Once in the field, I activate the external Garmin GLO and it connects to my ipad via bluetooth. I turn on go4 app and it works. I have never tried downloading multiple areas at once since 30 miles is good enough. Once time I needed maps for a new area and I was on the road so I hotspotted wifi from my phone. Can't tell you much more but can tell you that there is really no reasonable alternative to areas without cell coverage
.

 

[JMF]

iPad 4 Mini 128 gb with cellular here too, it's a perfect marriage for the Mavic and DJI Go

 

[Jack Daw]

I wouldn't bother with the cellular version. If your phone has a hotspot feature, as iPhones do, you can use that to beam out a cellular signal via Wifi. For the few times you might use it -- to download maps or whatever -- that's all you really need.

 

[Red Baron]

Where? For a Mini4? You mean 399.00?

No $299 128gb no cellular mini 4 new at WALMART
Got one works perfect with my air