Best tablet for Garmin Pilot

TimRF79

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Tim
I have a Galaxy S3 running Garmin Pilot, but get frequent crashes.
Anyone here can report on best tablet for Garmin Pilot?

I really dislike Apple products, but even my wife is urging me to get an iPad, however on paper it is not nearly as good as the Galaxy S3.
 
I used the google nexus 7 for years and now using Samsung galaxy tab a, no complaints about either with GP.
 
I used the google nexus 7 for years and now using Samsung galaxy tab a, no complaints about either with GP.

I've been running it on Samsung Tab A8. Its a bit slow to start up, and sometime sluggish, but no crashes (yet).
 
The Galaxy Tab S3 is amazingly fast, and runs my EFB (Droid EFB) well. I'm committed to the Android Ecosystem and GSuite, for a variety of reasons, and have no interest in the iPad. The Google Pixel C was nice, but no GPS and no longer supported. The Tab A is cheaper, but capable, and lower resolution screen. Good Android tablets with current OSes and high resolution screens are getting increasingly hard to find, however. The 7-8 inch category is almost dead, except for Huawei. The M5 8 looks interesting, although it has some minor flaws.
 
I like my iPads and iPhone with Garmin Pilot. Don't care what other people don't like. Why is it so important for them to tell us?
 
I've been running it on Samsung Tab A8. Its a bit slow to start up, and sometime sluggish, but no crashes (yet).

yeah, definitely not the fastest tablet out there. one thing to consider is if you have 'auto-udpate' enabled on the tablet, every time you start it up it'll download and install any pending updates for all your apps. that bogs it down quite a bit. downside to turning that off is you have to manually update your apps.
 
I like my iPads and iPhone with Garmin Pilot. Don't care what other people don't like. Why is it so important for them to tell us?

Maybe it's not so much an emotional thing as some of us are locked into the Google ecosystem by their employers, so having a non-G-centric OS is clumsy. Regardless of motivation, the OP is looking for an Android solution.

You are free not to like Android or any other OS for any reason. It won't bother me at all. Different needs for different folks.
 
after my brief dabble into the android and fore flight alternative world, F’ that noise, it’s really really inferior.

Just get a iPad mini and foreflight and be done with it.


As someone who uses foreflight all the time for work and also play, it’s really not something I can get away from.
 
Garmin Pilot on Android currently has a bug where it'll randomly delete all your data and lock you out of the app until you get to a Wi-Fi connection to download everything again. It's done it to me in flight a few times and I've confirmed others are affected. I've phoned and emailed Garmin several times but they couldn't care less. I wouldn't give them any money until it's fixed. .
 
Garmin Pilot on Android currently has a bug where it'll randomly delete all your data and lock you out of the app until you get to a Wi-Fi connection to download everything again. It's done it to me in flight a few times and I've confirmed others are affected. I've phoned and emailed Garmin several times but they couldn't care less. I wouldn't give them any money until it's fixed. .

interesting. hasn't happened to me yet, either the lock ups or the bad customer service.
 
While I prefer Android tablets to iPads, I also prefer the Apple OS version of GarminPilot to the Android version (and I’ve had both). In end I went with an iPad mini to get what I consider to be the better GarminPilot version.
 
There's all kinds of conversations we can have about this, but the long and short of it will end up in the same place: anything less than an iPad platform for the hardware/OS side will lead to less than desirable final result. Anything other than the "top two," which are Foreflight and Garmin Pilot, will lead to a less than desirable final result... no matter how you shake it.

If price is a factor and you want free, go ahead and use FltPlan Go. I personally tried to work with it multiple times just so I could be familiar with it for when I give safety seminars, but finally gave up. It's usable, but barely. You get what you pay for.

The Android flavor of GP is quite different from its iPad "sibling" (definitely not a "twin") and much buggier. I've had the opportunity to play with both. I use the iPad version extensively although I tend to use FF as my primary EFB while flying, though I do use both. This is because I have a Garmin panel and I use GP for database concierge, and it just works well with that stuff.

I would not want to try to run GP on an Android platform. Those who already do an like it are welcome to their opinion, but they don't know what they're missing, I reckon. The Android version is missing many features present in the iPad version, and it's buggier. Also just try to decipher which part of the user manual applies to your version. I don't blame Garmin; it's just mighty tough to develop for Android. There are about a billion slightly varying OSes floating around there on a billion different devices. It's never going to be anything close to the simplicity of developing for the iPhone/iPad.

You can dislike Apple for whatever reason you like, but you're just choosing a tough row to hoe when you insist on leaving the iPad ecosystem for aviation use. That gets emotions stirred up but it shouldn't. I couldn't care less about which platform I use. It just so happens aviation has "chosen" the iPad and there's so much momentum and inertia associated with that now that going with a different platform is like trying to paddle a canoe upstream.

There are a couple of easy, guaranteed-to-work-great solutions, then there are a whole bunch which run the gamut from decent to not great to awful. The few which are on the positive extreme end of the spectrum only run on the iPad. As Merlin says, "Choose wisely."
 
Garmin developers told me the same thing, but I am still using Android, not because I am delusional, but because of convenience and compatibility with existing systems. My phone is Android, I use gmail, google drive and such, so buying an iOS platform for just one software is majorly inconvenient, not to mention having to learn iOS. So far I haven't had any major problems, and I am sure it may be missing some nice features that are on iOS, but that is ok. It's like telling an Apple user to buy an android phone so that he can get a cheaper carrier. Chances are that is not going to be enough.

My guess is that the differences between Android versions become a factor only when the software is trying to squeeze out the maximum performance from the platform. As hardware improves, I imagine this difference will go away eventually. After all, most of the low-demand apps run just fine across all of the Android versions.
 
Garmin developers told me the same thing, but I am still using Android, not because I am delusional, but because of convenience and compatibility with existing systems. My phone is Android, I use gmail, google drive and such, so buying an iOS platform for just one software is majorly inconvenient, not to mention having to learn iOS. So far I haven't had any major problems, and I am sure it may be missing some nice features that are on iOS, but that is ok. It's like telling an Apple user to buy an android phone so that he can get a cheaper carrier. Chances are that is not going to be enough.

My guess is that the differences between Android versions become a factor only when the software is trying to squeeze out the maximum performance from the platform. As hardware improves, I imagine this difference will go away eventually. After all, most of the low-demand apps run just fine across all of the Android versions.

I get it... and I don't think you're delusional. I know this comes up as a serious concern for users who are invested in different platforms.

A data point for you that you might find worthwhile. I am heavily entrenched in Google's stuff as well. We have G-Suites at work, I've personally been using Gmail and Google Calendar since they came out (the former of which was well before the iPhone) and I have a ton of stuff stored on Google Drive. We use Google Sheets for our FRATs at work (paperless). We use the new Google Team Drives for Ops, Mx, and Scheduling. For the TEB FAASTeam we administrate the group using Gmail and Google Groups. Bottom line, I have always, and will continue to use a ton of Google's products. They put out some great, reliable, user-friendly stuff.

And I access it all through iOS devices like the iPad/iPhone or a Mac. I was a PC user before the iPhone came out, and slowly migrated completely to Apple. All of my phones, including my wife's and kids', are iPhones. I have multiple iPads, some assigned by work. An iMac. Two Macbook Pros and an Apple Air. I have ONE desktop PC which finally died last year and I haven't bothered to replace it or fix it.

And the integration is as smooth as could be. All of this stuff runs great on Apple products. Google Docs, Drive, Calendar, Gmail, all of that stuff runs fantastic on the iPad and iPhone. I'm not missing anything at all by avoiding Android products.

In short, I don't think you'll be at cross odds with your existing work eco-system simply by throwing an iOS device into the mix. For aviation use, I think you'll find it worth it to learn how to use iOS devices. You'll find the learning curve to be pretty easy and intuitive, and if you just use the iPad for Garmin Pilot and normal stuff like Gmail, Docs, Sheets, or whatever else you normally run on Android, you're going to see a lot of familiar UI elements. I really think it won't be that big of a deal. And you don't have to jump ship from Android, you can keep motoring along with those other devices in concert with your iPad.

Just a suggestion; YMMV; and best of luck to you.
 
Garmin developers told me the same thing, but I am still using Android, not because I am delusional, but because of convenience and compatibility with existing systems. My phone is Android, I use gmail, google drive and such, so buying an iOS platform for just one software is majorly inconvenient, not to mention having to learn iOS. So far I haven't had any major problems, and I am sure it may be missing some nice features that are on iOS, but that is ok. It's like telling an Apple user to buy an android phone so that he can get a cheaper carrier. Chances are that is not going to be enough.

My guess is that the differences between Android versions become a factor only when the software is trying to squeeze out the maximum performance from the platform. As hardware improves, I imagine this difference will go away eventually. After all, most of the low-demand apps run just fine across all of the Android versions.

I’ve been using google calendar almost since it first came out, from my old iPhones to my current one, and after my short time with that pixel 2, google calendar actually works better on the iOS calendar especially being able to just drag an appointment quickly and easily to different time or day

The google drive app works just like Android one, minus it doesn’t appear to cross pollinate your data across every other app in the phone, which is good for security.

I also prefer the iOS mail, which works just the same with google mail as it does with exchange or anything, and the interface feels much more polished than bluemail or the other 2 high rated mail apps I tried on the pixel before I returned it.

Speaking of phones and OSs, anyone with a iPhone 6 or higher (or if it works for android) should get “barometer” it’s a free app, a nice barometer that uses the iphones internal baro sensor, add it as a widget or whatever and you can see easily see a current trend regardless of weather stations or reception, it makes for a more detailed weather picture and trend for anyone and is really nice for backcountry stuff where there often is no local weather reporting.

D190_C51_E-_CE3_D-4_AFD-886_F-_C7_B606_BC5_C6_A.jpg
 
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Probably the thing that bugged me the most is that I wanted a wifi-only version, no mobile data. In the Apple world, you can't get that with a working GPS, because (as I understand it) the GPS receiver and the mobile data stuff is integrated in the same chip. So now I have to pay for the mobile stuff just to have a working GPS.

First world problem? Sure, but still super annoying...
 
I use a Samsung S3 and have had no problems over the past 1-1/2 years I have been using it. YES - Garmin Pilot Android version was "buggy" up until the last few updates for me. Over the past few months I have not had any crashes or losing of data.

I have never owned an Apple product - phone, tablet, or watch - and never will. I am sure that ForeFlight iOS is the better choice - but Garmin Pilot Android has evolved into a darn good system and now that Garmin seems to be taking over the GA avionics market, I see nothing but smoother and better performance from GP as the years go by.
 
im debating between keeping my ipad mini4, which is ok, but loses power really fast, and trying the new ipad pro 10.5 inside a 172M. Any experience out there with that?
 
There's all kinds of conversations we can have about this, but the long and short of it will end up in the same place: anything less than an iPad platform for the hardware/OS side will lead to less than desirable final result. Anything other than the "top two," which are Foreflight and Garmin Pilot, will lead to a less than desirable final result... no matter how you shake it.

If price is a factor and you want free, go ahead and use FltPlan Go. I personally tried to work with it multiple times just so I could be familiar with it for when I give safety seminars, but finally gave up. It's usable, but barely. You get what you pay for.

The Android flavor of GP is quite different from its iPad "sibling" (definitely not a "twin") and much buggier. I've had the opportunity to play with both. I use the iPad version extensively although I tend to use FF as my primary EFB while flying, though I do use both. This is because I have a Garmin panel and I use GP for database concierge, and it just works well with that stuff.

I would not want to try to run GP on an Android platform. Those who already do an like it are welcome to their opinion, but they don't know what they're missing, I reckon. The Android version is missing many features present in the iPad version, and it's buggier. Also just try to decipher which part of the user manual applies to your version. I don't blame Garmin; it's just mighty tough to develop for Android. There are about a billion slightly varying OSes floating around there on a billion different devices. It's never going to be anything close to the simplicity of developing for the iPhone/iPad.

You can dislike Apple for whatever reason you like, but you're just choosing a tough row to hoe when you insist on leaving the iPad ecosystem for aviation use. That gets emotions stirred up but it shouldn't. I couldn't care less about which platform I use. It just so happens aviation has "chosen" the iPad and there's so much momentum and inertia associated with that now that going with a different platform is like trying to paddle a canoe upstream.

There are a couple of easy, guaranteed-to-work-great solutions, then there are a whole bunch which run the gamut from decent to not great to awful. The few which are on the positive extreme end of the spectrum only run on the iPad. As Merlin says, "Choose wisely."

Very well said.
 
@Ryan F. dude why are you selling your plane? It shows for sale on your website
 
But you still got your plane right?

Yep. Going on 19 years of ownership come January of '19. The plane has been upgraded pretty substantially in the last 5 years.
 
Probably the thing that bugged me the most is that I wanted a wifi-only version, no mobile data. In the Apple world, you can't get that with a working GPS, because (as I understand it) the GPS receiver and the mobile data stuff is integrated in the same chip. So now I have to pay for the mobile stuff just to have a working GPS.

First world problem? Sure, but still super annoying...

Also heard that Apple has no FM radio. I use my radio all the time on Android, while working in the garage or sitting in my tent at Oshkosh.
 
The 7-8 inch category is almost dead, except for Huawei. The M5 8 looks interesting, although it has some minor flaws.
Huawey pre-loads with junk, like HiCare (and that's only the easily visible junk). I have an M3, which replaces old Nexu 7. The performance of built-in GPS is okay.
 
For those interested in Android tablets, Samsung announced the S4. Looks pretty nice but having a hard time finding a full spec page for it.

Annoying: They have decided the initial cellular capable one is Verizon only (fine) but can only be ordered in 64GB of built in storage (boo!) whereas the WiFi variant can be had in 128GB.

Who are the idiots that approve stuff like that?

The vendor lock is bad enough but survivable, but limiting the storage on the more expensive cellular model? Shoot whoever approved that.

Just means anyone with a need for built in cellular data and large storage has to wait instead of putting their reservation in TODAY.

Stupid.

Unfortunately, like Apple, the thing is enormous.
 
For Android, you may want to try DroidEFB. It runs much better than Garmin Pilot. I wish I had known about it before paying the annual subscription to Garmin.
 
For Android, you may want to try DroidEFB. It runs much better than Garmin Pilot. I wish I had known about it before paying the annual subscription to Garmin.
I checked it out, no dynamic maps, a big plus for GP. The flight planning tools look to be very basic, I don’t see a flight profile page or altitude page like GP where you can see wind speeds.Synthetic vision? Rubber banding? And just as expensive as GP. I would go with Fltplan Go, it’s feature limited but totally free, quick chart downloads.
The dynamic maps with wx, traffic overlays is CPU extensive, if you want the bells and whistles you need a late model tablet, older refurbished ones won’t run well.
 
im debating between keeping my ipad mini4, which is ok, but loses power really fast, and trying the new ipad pro 10.5 inside a 172M. Any experience out there with that?
i use an ipad air 2, which is a little smaller than the pro (9.4"). i'm also 6'3" and 230lbs. it's not a problem to have it on a kneeboard.

I don't know if an extra inch would be too much.

Honestly, i wish they still made the air 2 (with just faster guts).
 
Honestly, i wish they still made the air 2 (with just faster guts).

Everybody wishes Cook didn’t need to show off his extra inches every time he releases new hardware.

Solid rumors out today the next iPhone is getting bigger again...
 
I checked it out, no dynamic maps, a big plus for GP. The flight planning tools look to be very basic, I don’t see a flight profile page or altitude page like GP where you can see wind speeds.Synthetic vision? Rubber banding? And just as expensive as GP. I would go with Fltplan Go, it’s feature limited but totally free, quick chart downloads.
The dynamic maps with wx, traffic overlays is CPU extensive, if you want the bells and whistles you need a late model tablet, older refurbished ones won’t run well.

DroidEFB will display weather and traffic, including via wifi from a variety of cockpit hardware including Lynx. Garmin locks you into their ecosystem. Droid EFB runs just fine on a old Nexus 9 or any relatively recent android phone. Any of the Samsung Galaxy tabs are also fine. The flight planning features are basic, but moving the map and approach chart display is fine, which is what I need it for. Super simple to use. It's a good option on Android for those not tied exclusively to Garmin.
 
Huawey pre-loads with junk, like HiCare (and that's only the easily visible junk). I have an M3, which replaces old Nexu 7. The performance of built-in GPS is okay.

I miss the pure Google tablets. Everybody else installs all sorts of crapware to disable or ignore.

My wife just got an M5 8.4 to replace a Nexus 9 and it's pretty snappy. Running Oreo. Might be my next cockpit tablet.
 
How come in these discussions I never read about Windows tablets? Win 7 is solid. 10 is supposed to be but it's sneaky and I haven't learned to like it yet. The new sunlight-readable Surface 6.1 tablet is the cat's meow.

In any case, does anyone have any comments to offer on TrueFlight's software? I let my subscription expire and am thinking of renewing.
 
How come in these discussions I never read about Windows tablets? Win 7 is solid. 10 is supposed to be but it's sneaky and I haven't learned to like it yet. The new sunlight-readable Surface 6.1 tablet is the cat's meow.

In any case, does anyone have any comments to offer on TrueFlight's software? I let my subscription expire and am thinking of renewing.

Because there’s very little aviation EFB software written for Windows.
 
Because there’s very little aviation EFB software written for Windows.

Yeah, that's pretty much it. Apple has such a big lead in this area (and not just in the aviation segment) that it's not even funny. The installed user base is so large and the platform is easy enough to develop for that for aviation, anyway, it's pretty much iPad. A smaller group uses Android, which is a viable second place contender. Windows isn't really on the list whatsoever beyond a token showing.

The hardware is the smallest consideration when talking about EFBs. It's all about the apps.
 
DroidEFB will display weather and traffic, including via wifi from a variety of cockpit hardware including Lynx. Garmin locks you into their ecosystem. Droid EFB runs just fine on a old Nexus 9 or any relatively recent android phone. Any of the Samsung Galaxy tabs are also fine. The flight planning features are basic, but moving the map and approach chart display is fine, which is what I need it for. Super simple to use. It's a good option on Android for those not tied exclusively to Garmin.

One thing I wish DroidEFB did was to display the approach plate on the main map with a user-selected transparency, like Garmin. It is useful when you are outside the chart area, or for knowing what is below you while on an approach. Secondly, when I hit "update" DroidEFB seems to re-download everything, while Garmin will tell me if I am upto date (kinda important when you are on a limited data plan). However, DroidEFB seems to be a lot more stable and fluid on Android compared to GP.
 
Yeah, that's pretty much it. Apple has such a big lead in this area (and not just in the aviation segment) that it's not even funny. The installed user base is so large and the platform is easy enough to develop for that for aviation, anyway, it's pretty much iPad. A smaller group uses Android, which is a viable second place contender. Windows isn't really on the list whatsoever beyond a token showing.

The hardware is the smallest consideration when talking about EFBs. It's all about the apps.

A single manufacturer making hardware does have its advantages when it comes to software development, but I am not so sure about the other claims. While Apple does have a lead in aviation apps, I doubt it is large enough for Apple to take notice, let alone adapt the hardware for that user base. With android, there are so many manufacturers, and except for Samsung and Google, most of them are very small and diverse. One of them could conceivably develop an android tablet just for aviation, though I don't know why it hasn't happened already. There are also several open-source hardware designs for tablets, and none of them use iOS (not that's even possible).
 
One of them could conceivably develop an android tablet just for aviation, though I don't know why it hasn't happened already.

Because ...

A) There’s no particular hardware an “aviation” tablet needs to have that isn’t already in normal consumer tablets other than a very bright screen. All sorts of tablets have the GPS and fast enough processors to handle whatever an aviation app can throw at them.

B) There’s no margin in most consumer tablets as it is. There’s definitely no market for a one-off design (if one was even needed) that would sell maybe 1000 units a year, maximum, after an initial run of a few thousand for the “new product crunch”.
 
A single manufacturer making hardware does have its advantages when it comes to software development, but I am not so sure about the other claims. While Apple does have a lead in aviation apps, I doubt it is large enough for Apple to take notice, let alone adapt the hardware for that user base. With android, there are so many manufacturers, and except for Samsung and Google, most of them are very small and diverse. One of them could conceivably develop an android tablet just for aviation, though I don't know why it hasn't happened already. There are also several open-source hardware designs for tablets, and none of them use iOS (not that's even possible).

Correct. The aviation market for Apple is tiny enough that they probably don't care about how popular the device is in our segment. But they designed a device easy for app developers to work with and as such there are many fields in which the iPad leapt ahead -- not just aviation.

Aviation has voted iPad. Individual users may still use Android devices but the vast majority of the market has gone with Apple's creation. It would take something seismic to shake that up at this point.

The "smallness" of our market means the probability of a purpose-built aviation device coming to market is slim to none at this point (and if one did come, the chance of its success would be even smaller). It would be a very difficult business proposition, when Apple has built such a formidable barrier to entry. And don't forget, we already have dedicated hardware devices (portable GPS/"EFBs") from Garmin which take a little slice of that pie, too.
 
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