Flying Gecko
lvl.1
China
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Hey guys,
After reading and reading and reading. And then reading some more on this subject, I was down to choosing between a proven Nexus 7II (2013) and a Chinese, cheap but powerful Xiaomi Mipad.
I work on my Macbook Pro every day, carry an iPhone and have an old iPad. I just didn't want to splash on a iPad since I hardly ever used my old one, so I had a feeling any new tab would be used almost exclusively for flying.
I live in China and both the Nexus 7II and the Xiaomi Mipad can be had for about USD 110-130 second-hand.
In the end, I went with a cheap Xiaomi Mipad.
Hardware-wise it punches substantially above its price and should be much more powerful than the Nexus 7II. Its high res "Retina" screen seems OK so far though I need to stick a matte screen protector on it and get a proper hood.
You can expand it's internal memory by adding a MicroSD card (I don't think the Nexus has that option, nor of course the iPads). It's not a biggie at all, but if I do end up using it more, it will likely be for viewing movies on long flights and storing footage for inspiration, so there it could come in handy. The internal memory on my tab is 16gb (it might come in a 65gb version, can't recall).
I couldn't get the Pilot app to connect when I first installed it but a simple reboot solved that. Also, once in a while the DJI Pilot app wont open from "sleep" but it sounds worse than it is. If I kill the app, and open it from scratch works (closing apps works the same as on an iOS device). So, that's my MO now and I haven't had any grief since adopting it.
Apart from having to remember to start the Pilot app fresh and not from sleep, on the few flights so far, it has behaved impeccably. No issues at all.
While the Nexus has a GPS in it (I think), the Xiaomi Mipad doesn't and this could be a deal-breaker for some.
Since I am still just learning to fly it hasn't been an issue yet. But without a GPS on the controller side I can't change Home Point to the controller nor will I be able to use "Follow-me" modes once they get implemented.
The way around that would be to hook up the tab to a Bluetooth GPS or a phone with GPS. The tab can do that (just not with iPhones, I think). But I don't know if the Bluetooth is a source of interference best avoided.
Anyways, for the USD 130 I paid for this thing, I am happy that I am flying and have no real issues.
BTW, I agree with the folks who have said anything lower than 8'' starts getting tricky. My first flight was on an iPhone 6 and I have to say that I don't think I can go back to anything smaller than the equivalent of an iPad Mini. (I think the Nexus is a tad smaller, but probably not much at all).
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