Best tablet under $500 for flying a drone?

[thesotman]

Try the Feelworld FW279 Monitor added to your Smart Controller. 2200 Nits, just over $200, Works great,can see well with on half power, but will go super bright when needed. You still use the SC for control, but you use the monitor to view the camera screen. Excellent Monitor! There are newer versions with higher res, but not needed unless you want the added features.

View attachment 134699

Sorry, don't have a Smart Controller.

 

[marine9]

I use a $100 Kindle Fire (10 inch) that does a great job.

 

[Remote Pilots Australia]

I’ve been flying commercially since 2017 and I’ve tried a lot of devices. Despite being a dedicated android guy since android 2.1 I soon gave up on them due to the varying levels of compatibility. Those of you who’ve been there know what I mean, some android devices are brilliant, some can be flakey and some don’t work at all. Of course that’s down mostly to the various skins and mods that the different manufacturers load to make their devices stand out not the android itself, the closer to stock vanilla andoid you get the better it works but none the less, having to mess around for 20 minutes in front of a client is not a good look.

I bought a smart controller and found that while it was a brilliant form factor and ran vanilla android and worked fine with the standard DJI apps it’s lack lustre cpu and bare minimum of ram made it somewhat marginal when I started loading third party packages that I needed in commercial operations assuming I could load them at all so I sold it.

After trying a few apple devices like Rchawks I settled on a top model iPad Mini 5 with a hoodman and have been using that with great results for a couple of years. The screen wasn’t as bright as I liked especially in the bright Aussie sun or flying at sea but that’s what the hoodman was for and as far as performance and reliability went it is flawless.

Then a month or so ago I took a recurring job until the end of the year for a geo consultancy group who required that I use Pix4dcapture to match the flights of the previous pilot. Sadly IOS support for Pix4dcapture is not a primary concern for the developer who concentrate on android and in particular it lacks the ability to import polygon area maps in .kml format in the IOS version so I was back looking for android device.

Enter the Tripltek Pro. There’s only one dealer in Australia and at $1049 Australian it’s not cheap but I bit the bullet and I have to say that so far having used it with DJI Go4, DJI Fly, Litchi, Drone Deploy, Pix4d and the Chasing app it’s 100% rock solid. You do need to load the fly app from a link on the Tripltek support page, I’m not quite sure why as it is a 64bit device but it’s painless and works first time. It has a huge battery at 10000mah, the screen is adequate in size, very bright and if I ever have to use it somewhere extreme like at sea the hoodman from my iPad Mini fits it perfectly. It has a whole heap of positive points which I’ll leave to the reviews and only one negative I’ve found which is the anaemic 10w charger which the manufacturer insists you use claiming that after market fast chargers cause issues with cell balancing due to the large battery *shrug* “on to every sunny day a little rain must fall”.

Since I’ve had it the iPad Mini has not had an outing.

Regards
Ari

 

[pnovotny]

Try the Feelworld FW279 Monitor added to your Smart Controller. 2200 Nits, just over $200, Works great,can see well with on half power, but will go super bright when needed. You still use the SC for control, but you use the monitor to view the camera screen. Excellent Monitor! There are newer versions with higher res, but not needed unless you want the added features.

View attachment 134699

Very interesting! What is that stand you are using?

 

[AnzacJack]

Tripletek will not disappoint. Prob the best tablet ive used on any drone not using a smart controller

 

[Spikemixture]

It must be my eyes!
IMO if u want to see any screen in daylight - Stand in the shade !
I have an SC and I struggle to see it standing in the sun.

 

[Remote Pilots Australia]

It must be my eyes!
IMO if u want to see any screen in daylight - Stand in the shade !
I have an SC and I struggle to see it standing in the sun.

It’s not you. People generally have an uneducated understanding of measurements of brightness. Human perceptions are logarithmic where as measurement units are (generally) linear at least when speaking in terms of brightness.

To put it simply, you need to increase the brightness of a screen by a factor or 4 for it to double in apparent brightness to the human eye so 1000 nits is twice as bright as 250 nits.

Obviously brighter *is* better but like you, when I had my smart controller it was good but still lacked in certain circumstances. When I flew at sea in particular I still struggled with it. The Tripltek is noticeably brighter than the Smart Controller but it’s not startlingly so, you have to look analytically to see it and I’m sure I’ll still use the Hoodman in some situations.

I’d guess you’d need 2500 nits or better to be guaranteed of being able to see in the brightest sunlight but that said, I’ll take 1200 nits over 500 nits every time.

Regards

Ari

 

[Drone4]

I like the ipad mini and use the full 360 shroud around it to keep the sun out. works really good for me.

 

[skycam509]

I now use a Mini 5. I previously used a Mini 4 but with the more demanding DJI Fly updates over the last year, it put such a strain on the processor (A8 vs the 5's A12), that the Mini 4 CPU and chip architecture no longer had the processing power to host the controller app adequately. Also, the Mini 5 has a small increase in NITs, improving screen brightness somewhat. Other than the initial price of ownership, the Mini 5 works without issues. In all fairness, there are other competitive tablets with better screen brightness. But I am so far down the rabbit hole with Apple products, I cannot reasonably change to an Android tablet.

I've been down the same exact path. +1 for the Ipad Mini 5. It works great with my Mini 2 and Air 2s controllers - has a really nice balance. I use this adapter, and it works great! I bought one for each drone so I wouldn't forget to switch it between cases.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088NWT5V6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[earlbalentine]

I now use a Mini 5. I previously used a Mini 4 but with the more demanding DJI Fly updates over the last year, it put such a strain on the processor (A8 vs the 5's A12), that the Mini 4 CPU and chip architecture no longer had the processing power to host the controller app adequately. Also, the Mini 5 has a small increase in NITs, improving screen brightness somewhat. Other than the initial price of ownership, the Mini 5 works without issues. In all fairness, there are other competitive tablets with better screen brightness. But I am so far down the rabbit hole with Apple products, I cannot reasonably change to an Android tablet.

I have a iPad mini 4 now, but find the Arizona sun to bright even when I use the hoody sun shade around the display. I'm like you all apple products, tv, watch, laptops, phones etc. Does anyone know which iPad has the brightest screen? I heard the iPad Pro 12.9" screen is very bright even brighter than the Tripltek 8".
I want to upgrade my mini 4 that has a 7.9" screen doing so I would like to get a bigger screen but which iPad has the brightest screen? want to stay under $500 or my wife will tell me to sleep in my Drone : )

 

[Steelgtr]

Anyone using the Mini 5 with the Air 2S? My mini 4 isn't cutting it.

bob

 

[daboatguy]

I about fainted when I first saw the cost of a TripleTek tablet. So I went with a DJI Smart Controller in a combo kit (saves $300). But after owning a bright 1000 nit display for a while, I can say in direct sun it still isn't enough. And, the small screen is still a small screen. So the idea of moving to some other option is creeping into my mind. Value is relative, and for the utility of a larger screen, $600 is no longer breath taking. But, it is only 1200 nits, a little better than the DJI SC.

I just bought a tablet with over 2500 nits of brightness and a matte screen that works amazingly well. The batteries well over 7000 mAh It's rugged and IP68 7 in has every input output and runs DJI fly amazingly well for under 450. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be outside in the brightest sunlight and have no issue seeing where my drone is. It's about time someone came out with a product that's designed for drones and doesn't break your **** bank open.

 

[daboatguy]

I’ve been flying commercially since 2017 and I’ve tried a lot of devices. Despite being a dedicated android guy since android 2.1 I soon gave up on them due to the varying levels of compatibility. Those of you who’ve been there know what I mean, some android devices are brilliant, some can be flakey and some don’t work at all. Of course that’s down mostly to the various skins and mods that the different manufacturers load to make their devices stand out not the android itself, the closer to stock vanilla andoid you get the better it works but none the less, having to mess around for 20 minutes in front of a client is not a good look.

I bought a smart controller and found that while it was a brilliant form factor and ran vanilla android and worked fine with the standard DJI apps it’s lack lustre cpu and bare minimum of ram made it somewhat marginal when I started loading third party packages that I needed in commercial operations assuming I could load them at all so I sold it.

After trying a few apple devices like Rchawks I settled on a top model iPad Mini 5 with a hoodman and have been using that with great results for a couple of years. The screen wasn’t as bright as I liked especially in the bright Aussie sun or flying at sea but that’s what the hoodman was for and as far as performance and reliability went it is flawless.

Then a month or so ago I took a recurring job until the end of the year for a geo consultancy group who required that I use Pix4dcapture to match the flights of the previous pilot. Sadly IOS support for Pix4dcapture is not a primary concern for the developer who concentrate on android and in particular it lacks the ability to import polygon area maps in .kml format in the IOS version so I was back looking for android device.

Enter the Tripltek Pro. There’s only one dealer in Australia and at $1049 Australian it’s not cheap but I bit the bullet and I have to say that so far having used it with DJI Go4, DJI Fly, Litchi, Drone Deploy, Pix4d and the Chasing app it’s 100% rock solid. You do need to load the fly app from a link on the Tripltek support page, I’m not quite sure why as it is a 64bit device but it’s painless and works first time. It has a huge battery at 10000mah, the screen is adequate in size, very bright and if I ever have to use it somewhere extreme like at sea the hoodman from my iPad Mini fits it perfectly. It has a whole heap of positive points which I’ll leave to the reviews and only one negative I’ve found which is the anaemic 10w charger which the manufacturer insists you use claiming that after market fast chargers cause issues with cell balancing due to the large battery *shrug* “on to every sunny day a little rain must fall”.

Since I’ve had it the iPad Mini has not had an outing.

Regards
Ari

I just bought a tablet with over 2500 nits of brightness and a matte screen that works amazingly well. The batteries well over 7000 mAh It's rugged and IP68 7 in has every input output and runs DJI fly amazingly well for under 450. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be outside in the brightest sunlight and have no issue seeing where my drone is. It's about time someone came out with a product that's designed for drones and doesn't break your darn bank open.

 

[daboatguy]

Hi,
I'm looking to buy a tablet with a bright display that is under $500.
8" screen size or above.
Android preferably.

Thanks.

I just bought a tablet with over 2500 nits of brightness and a matte screen that works amazingly well. The batteries well over 7000 mAh It's rugged and IP68 7 in has every input output and runs DJI fly amazingly well for under 450. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to be outside in the brightest sunlight and have no issue seeing where my drone is. It's about time someone came out with a product that's designed for drones and doesn't break your darn bank open.