2017 10.5" iPad Pro versus 2015 iPad Mini 4

Hi all, 

Just some notes from the field...

I recently upgraded from an iPad Mini 4 to an iPad Pro for mapping using Map Pilot and was super impressed with how much smoother the operations went. Terrain calculations and mission upload seemed to be snappier, and the tablet battery life was much improved.

A single 40ha mission with terrain awareness (5-6 flights with 90/90 overlap at 100m agl) would reduce the iPad Mini battery charge from 100% to about 30%. The iPad Pro only drops from 100% to about 65% for similar missions. The iPad Pro battery capacity is inherently bigger (30.4 Wh for the 10.5" Pro versus 19.1 Wh for the Mini 4), but I think the Pro also runs more efficiently partly because it doesn't get quite as hot trying to do the computationally intensive tasks of managing the flight.

I'm curious how the 2018 iPad would do-- it's battery capacity is similar to the 10.5" Pro (32.4 Wh) and it does have a newer processor. The newer processor isn't quite as fast as the one in the Pro and it has less RAM, but I bet it would still do pretty well.

tl;dr: spring for the iPad Pro if at all possible and don't forget to get the cellular version!

Hope this helps, and happy flying!