Thinking of buying a tablet before starting my PPL.

WBBulldogs

WBBulldogs

Filing Flight Plan
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To get a quick summary. I'm in Kuwait right now. Plan is to be home and start flight training by this time next year. I've been thinking of buying a tablet (iPad or possibly Android) within the next week or so to use to read while I'm out here when I have a chance. I wanted to put copies of the PHAK, FAR/AIM and other pubs from the FAA. It would also be nice to have the AOPA flight training magazine too. I've been using my smartphone with its tiny 4 inch screen.

So my question is once I get to the point when I start training about a year from now do you think it would be useful in the cockpit? I'm just wondering if it would be better to wait and buy a tablet a year from now. If I do buy one do you think it would still be useful a year from now? Thanks.
 
The iPads at the moment have the best aviation software available with WingX and ForeFlight (the Android WingX and ForeFlight aren't the same things). There are known bugs with how android handles the GPS to boot. I'd go iPad. Word on the street is that a new iPad is coming out soon but I don't think that the current generation will be obsolete in a year.

With that you'll probably not even need or use an iPad very much or at all for the duration of your PPL training. A slide rule will suffice :)
 
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bartmc said:
With that you'll probably not even need or use an iPad very much or at all for the duration of your PPL training. A slide rule will suffice :)
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I kinda agree to this.

1) It's useful for some of the pre-flight planning you will do with your CFI(especially if you have the 3G version and are in a void zone for WiFi), but there is enough going on during primary instruction that it's better to stow it during the lesson.


But once you get your license, it's still extremely useful to get that last minute briefing before engine start. lots of other good usefulness too.
 
Didn't we have this discussion a few weeks ago?
 
We did murphey. I just have been on deployment and a lot of PDFs I have to use for work would be convenient if I could put them on a tablet. Truth is it'd be convenient but not necessary. Plus I could put some FAA pubs and magazines on it. I'm just trying to justify buying one. I think if I started reading a lot of the FAA pubs now it might help.
 
Get a Kindle for handling all the paper and a Garmin 696 for a GPS. I have the iPad and consider it a mistake.
 
Henning said:
Get a Kindle for handling all the paper and a Garmin 696 for a GPS. I have the iPad and consider it a mistake.
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Henning's among a very small minority. The iPad is virtually ubiquitous as the EFB of choice, especially among professionals.
 
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