How many GB do you need?

tbate54 · Feb 17, 2017

Hi all,

I'm just looking to buy an iPad mini to fly my soon-to-arrive Mavic Pro with and was wondering if there's any need to get more than 16GB worth of storage? I am thinking that I will save everything to the memory card and I don't think I'll need to save many pics or video to the actual iPad itself.

If you're flying with a 16GB iPad, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Do you find yourself using the iPad storage at all or is the 16GB fine to work with?

Thanks for your help!

Squamer · Feb 17, 2017

Curious do you have another one you use for day to day stuff? If not I would get the next size up and just use it around the house as a normal IPad too. Love mine but always find I never have enough storage for movies etc. But just to fly 16gb is enough

msinger · Feb 17, 2017

16GB is plenty if you're just going to use it for flying and will not be caching the video on the iPad Mini.

MavicMo · Feb 17, 2017

16gb is enough... Just make sure you buy something other than the Ipad Mini 1 (first gen) as it is no longer supported by DJI.... The Go4 app won't download...

tbate54 said:
Hi all,

I'm just looking to buy an iPad mini to fly my soon-to-arrive Mavic Pro with and was wondering if there's any need to get more than 16GB worth of storage? I am thinking that I will save everything to the memory card and I don't think I'll need to save many pics or video to the actual iPad itself.

If you're flying with a 16GB iPad, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Do you find yourself using the iPad storage at all or is the 16GB fine to work with?

Thanks for your help!

AlanTheBeast · Feb 17, 2017

tbate54 said:
Hi all,

I'm just looking to buy an iPad mini to fly my soon-to-arrive Mavic Pro with and was wondering if there's any need to get more than 16GB worth of storage? I am thinking that I will save everything to the memory card and I don't think I'll need to save many pics or video to the actual iPad itself.

If you're flying with a 16GB iPad, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Do you find yourself using the iPad storage at all or is the 16GB fine to work with?

Thanks for your help!

It depends on your usage. The 16 GB card will get you going to be sure. I bought a 128 GB SD to replace it. You may want to consider a 32 .. 128 GB card down the line. They're not that expensive (Amazon, etc.)

In GO (on your iPad) you have a "cache" for video that is default (IIRC) to 2 GB. That cache is handy (via iTunes) to get your latest adventure out for a quick review. Video quality is good when the drone was not too far away. (The best quality is that on the SD card of course). I've set my video cache to 4 GB. (My iPhone has 128 GB of flash). Given the 16 GB of your iPad, you may find you need to reduce the video cache size.

Anthony Viscomi · Feb 17, 2017

I'm using an iPad Mini 4 16gig, but its solely dedicated for use with my DJI drones. I have no un-needed apps installed on it.

tbate54 · Feb 17, 2017

Squamer said:
Curious do you have another one you use for day to day stuff? If not I would get the next size up and just use it around the house as a normal IPad too. Love mine but always find I never have enough storage for movies etc. But just to fly 16gb is enough

Good point - I didn't plan on using it around the house...it was going to be dedicated to the drone. But for that little bit extra, I guess I could use it for more than just the drone. Thanks for the message!

MavicMo · Feb 17, 2017

I would also add, if you can afford it, go for the latest version of the Mini, which is currently the 4. I've got an Ipad Air which is the processing equivalent of the Mini 2, it did have some very minor "glitches". Nothing serious but sometimes, I'd get a little lag, or the screen would momentarily flicker or freeze, or every now and then on screen refresh, it would occasionally draw in half the screen in green. But it would refresh correctly seconds later. Never crashed or never so bad as to cause me concern. Just a bit annoying at times.

My Mini 4, has been flawless. No such issues at all...