Which iPAD and amount of Gig

[Tom Boles]

Hello Group

After a lot of research I have decided to buy either an Apple iPAD Pro or iPAD Air with wifi and cellular, for navigation on the boat and several other marine apps, and home use. I have 2 questions.....1) recommendations on the iPAD Pro versus ipAD Air other than the obvious fairly substantial price difference and 2) how many gigs do I really need....another substantial price changer.

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

[ChrisJHC]

Think about what else you’re going to use the iPad for.

Will you be downloading movies for watching offline?
Storing photos / videos that you’ve taken?
Storing or downloading music?
Obviously each of those will need more storage.

For comparison, I have Navionics with most of the east coast of Australia downloaded: 1.4 GB
Music: 55 GB (yes, I have a lot of music!)
Videos come in at around 2GB each from Netflix.

Short answer, get the biggest one you can afford!

I have the iPad Air (4th Gen) and I’m very happy with it.
Mine is 256 GB which should be heaps (I’m currently using 86 GB all up).

And double check that it is the cellular version so that it comes with the GPS chip.

[Sohum]

55 gigs music! Wow.

Here’s a link comparing the 2,
https://www.macrumors.com/guide/ipad...ipad-pro-2021/

Sounds like Pro will suit you better, more ram.
8GB RAM on models with 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB storage
16GB RAM on models with 1TB or 2TB storage ($$$)

Very happy with my 11, wifi only, goes thru hotspot.

[StuM]

Originally Posted by Sohum

Very happy with my 11, wifi only, goes thru hotspot.

What do you do about GPS?

[Sohum]

Originally Posted by StuM

What do you do about GPS?

Used manly for planning, research, surfing, hotpot can handle this. There is a GPS dongle option. When underway, The plotter along with phone. iPad sits in the salon.

[Sohum]

Having another navigation device would. be nice. Didn’t realize gps feature needs no activation.

[purplesunrise]

We have an iPad Pro 12.9 256 GB (4th generation) and run both Navionics and Aqua Maps with a WiFi data feed from the DY NavLink2. However on passages over 24 hours EVEN when it is plugged into the house 12 volt power, it will run out of juice and have to be shut down. This is not the case for our iPhones or an older iPad. Apparently this is a common problem with the larger iPads and there is no solution.

[Flatswing]

I just bought a plain iPad with cell capability to get built in GPS (but not using sim card). That way you can have a second nav source completely independent from your MFD. I also store a lot of music in addition to Aquamaps for NA & Bahamas plus all my boat stuff including manuals and pics but few vids. 256GB is plenty.
The larger the screen, the more power you will need so plan to have a 12v, 2.4A source close to the helm and or nav station if you use it for daily nav even as back up.

[FabioC]

I use iPads on my boat all the time. From my experience these are my recommendations:
1. A WiFi + Cellular iPad is a MUST. This is true even if you do not plan to ever use the cellular. The reason for this is that a WiFi + Cellular iPad has internal GPS (that works even if you do not have a SIM). In a WiFi only iPad, you need to add the GPS and it is a pain.
2. At least 128 GB of memory (preferably more). One of my iPads has 32GB of memory and runs out of memory very often (even just running navigation apps on it), to the point of severely limiting its use.
3. Size matters, but in this case, IMO bigger is not better. I find that the 9" iPads (or close to that size) are the most convenient to hold on deck and their screen is sufficiently large. Also, you can mount them easily and they are small enough that you do not bump on them. They also fit in the pocket of your wind jacket (I guess, that depends on the jacket), which sometimes is useful.
Larger iPads are too bulky and heavy, they are awkward to hold on deck, and you do not really take advantage of the large screen most of the time. Also, they do not mount as easily and once they are mounted, they are too large for not bumping on them. Consider that in order to freely use the iPad on deck, you'll need a protective case and preferably a case that offers some water protection, which will add some additional bulk and weight, so it is important to start from a device that is small enough and light enough.

[ChrisJHC]

Also, be aware that you can run your iPad in aeroplane mode which saves the battery significantly but still keeps the GPS running.
If you can, also set the app using the GPS to only use it while active (i.e. not running continuously in the background) to save more battery.

[Tillsbury]

Just a note to remind you that the cellular option is most certainly not a "must" with an iPad, unless you don't actually want much in the way of navigation. If you are going to use it for navigation, for example I use mine with SeaIQ, then you will be setting it up to receive all the nav data over wifi - speed /wind/AIS and of course you'll get the gps position from that (XB8000 or similar device). You're still completely independent of a separate MFD navigation system using low resolution or vector maps, as your AIS unit has its own gps position. If that fails you can use the gps from the MFD. If all your devices fail and the nmea2000 network with it you can get your gps position by tethering to your iPhone, so you have three separate gps position inputs even without a cellular iPad.

[steve77]

Originally Posted by Tillsbury

Just a note to remind you that the cellular option is most certainly not a "must" with an iPad, unless you don't actually want much in the way of navigation. If you are going to use it for navigation, for example I use mine with SeaIQ, then you will be setting it up to receive all the nav data over wifi - speed /wind/AIS and of course you'll get the gps position from that (XB8000 or similar device). You're still completely independent of a separate MFD navigation system using low resolution or vector maps, as your AIS unit has its own gps position. If that fails you can use the gps from the MFD. If all your devices fail and the nmea2000 network with it you can get your gps position by tethering to your iPhone, so you have three separate gps position inputs even without a cellular iPad.

I would caution that the OP confirm this before buying the Ipad without cellular/GPS. What you say may be true with a newer navigation electronics installation, but perhaps not if the OP has older electronics. Our 7 year old Simrad navigation system has a Go-Free WiFi1 installed to allow connection with smart devices to the network. For years I was able to connect flawlessly until they updated the app. Now, the only device that will connect is my old, old, old Ipad. Newer iPhones and iPads will not work as the new app is not compatible with my NSS8s. Yesterday was an hour-long call to tech support before they told me the only solution was to keep the old iPad as it was the only thing that will now work.

Cheers!

Steve

[Smokeys Kitchen]

I use an older gen II iPad Air with no cellular. I run Navionics on it and attach it to a Bad Elf gps puck via bluetooth. Has worked great for us for 4 years.

[FabioC]

Originally Posted by steve77

I would caution that the OP confirm this before buying the Ipad without cellular/GPS. What you say may be true with a newer navigation electronics installation, but perhaps not if the OP has older electronics. Our 7 year old Simrad navigation system has a Go-Free WiFi1 installed to allow connection with smart devices to the network. For years I was able to connect flawlessly until they updated the app. Now, the only device that will connect is my old, old, old Ipad. Newer iPhones and iPads will not work as the new app is not compatible with my NSS8s. Yesterday was an hour-long call to tech support before they told me the only solution was to keep the old iPad as it was the only thing that will now work.

Cheers!

Steve

+1.
Steve, what you say makes sense.
It is not my intention to open up a debate on whether you "must" have GPS or not on your iPad onboard.
As with anything electronics, there is a solution for everything, depending on the level of aggravation you are willing to go through and your technical skills. If your iPad does not have GPS, yes, you can use a GPS dongle or a GPS puck, or connect it to your on-board GPS via the NMEA network or whatever network you are running aboard. A dongle is not ideal if you want to hold your iPad while hiking on the rail, plus it interferes with the protective case, plus it will fall in the water eventually. A wireless connection to an external GPS is a much preferable solution, but be prepared for a "lost GPS connection" popping up at the most inopportune moment, like when negotiating the entrance of a channel...
If your iPad has GPS (i.e., it is a WiFi+Cellular iPad), then you do not need to do anything like the above...
If one already has an iPad, then they have no choice but to work with what they have and be happy with it, but if one is buying an iPad to use it aboard (as it seems the case of the PO), IMO it would be foolish not to buy a iPad with GPS: the little money saved with a wifi-only iPad would not justify the inconvenience to add external GPS connection (plus, there may not be any money saved at the end; for example, some pucks are fairly expensive).

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by Tom Boles

Hello Group

After a lot of research I have decided to buy either an Apple iPAD Pro or iPAD Air with wifi and cellular, for navigation on the boat and several other marine apps, and home use. I have 2 questions.....1) recommendations on the iPAD Pro versus ipAD Air other than the obvious fairly substantial price difference and 2) how many gigs do I really need....another substantial price changer.

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

Gigahertz or gigabytes?

Looks like the Pro has 2.3 Ghz CPU speed and the Air has 1.5 Ghz CPU speed

iPad Pro comes with 8 or 16 GB Ram

iPad Air 1 to 4 GB Ram

iPad Pro 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB Storage (T-terabyte; if you care about how many teras you need)

iPad Air 64GB or 256GB storage