Ipad with no 4G Plan

[RJBJ]

I have seen a few discussion boards on this but was wanting to make sure that I was clear.
As of right now I do not have a cellphone or ipad that is to the current specs, so I will need to get that.
My question is: I am looking at getting an ipan air 2 or mini 2 with no data plan/service.
From what I understand, I will be able to fly the drone just fine but wont have the follow me function available. Is this correct?
Will the drone still have the home takeoff and fly back home when the return to home button is used or if it is low battery or if it flies past the range?
Basically, what functionality of flying am I losing by not using a phone and just using an ipad?
Thanks for any help

 

[msinger]

If you have a Wi-Fi only iPad Air/Mini, then you will not be able to use the Follow Me feature or reset the home point to your location after takeoff. If you do have a cellular iPad Air/Mini, then you will be able to use both of those features (even if the cellular service has not been activated).

 

[Omniround]

Guessing it doesn't matter with an Android tablet like the Nexus 7? Does it matter if the tablet is "online" through your cell phone? Can the tablet have a wifi connection to the phone and still have whatever connectivity the tablet and controller need? This is with a P3P.

 

[msinger]

The Nexus 7 has a GPS receiver -- as do many other Android devices. Apple devices only require cellular devices because those are the only devices that also come with GPS receivers. Wi-Fi only Apple devices do not have GPS receivers.

As for connecting ("tethering") your Nexus 7 to your phone, you could do that to download the maps while out at your flying site. Or, you could cache the maps in a location where you have an Internet connection before you head out to fly.

 

[QuadBart]

I have an Ipad Mini wifi and tried tethering it to my iphone 6, using my Iphone 6 as a hotspot. Didn't work well at all. Video feed was super-laggy and Follow Me didn't work. Said something about not enough satellites or something like that. Went back to just using my Iphone, everything worked again...

 

[Tony Cowan]

Interesting. So if I take my SIM card out of my iPad Air which has cellular will it still work?


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[msinger]

I have an Ipad Mini wifi and tried tethering it to my iphone 6, using my Iphone 6 as a hotspot. Didn't work well at all. Video feed was super-laggy and Follow Me didn't work.

You must have the cellular version of the iPad Mini 2 (or higher). The only way to use the GPS features of DJI GO with a Wi-Fi only Apple device is to use it along with an external GPS receiver.

 

[OrderFromChaos]

Interesting. So if I take my SIM card out of my iPad Air which has cellular will it still work?

From what I understand yes it will still work. Although it sounds like you will still need to cache your maps before you head out to fly.

 

[henick]

Personally I enjoy my LTE connection but it's kinda fast enough to stream to youtube so it makes it usable. You don't need that but it's nice to have. Lots of people suggest airplane mode but I've always ran with an active mobile connection and no issues.

It sucks to get to an area where you forgot to cache your map. Doesn't affect anything in the least but but for the price this damned thing cost I want my luxuries. Your call really.

 

[OrderFromChaos]

@henick I have an iPad Mini 2 that I use and I also fly with an active cellular data connection. I've never had any issues.

 

[Tony Cowan]

I enjoy I lte too. The problem is out of the country if you don't want to it $10 a minute. You take the SIM card out. And I hope it still flies fine. I guess I can load the maps on wi-fi then roll from there. I will not need follow me or anything. Mostly manual flights.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots mobile app

 

[Omniround]

Haven't learned about map caching yet....still waiting for my P3P to arrive.