thinking of getting the ipad mini 4 this weekend to be able to view the flight and pop up messages better, the question is what one to pick up. I think I read that the one you should get is cellular due to the GPS built in to the ipad, is this the case ?  

If you're willing to pay a bit more money for the cellular iPad Mini 4 then yes, you'll get GPS with it; I didn't consider it worth the extra money, but that's just a personal preference. I connect my iPad Mini 4 to my cell phone's hotspot-enabled wifi and get all the functionality I care about that way.

DroneFlying Posted at 2017-3-15 07:21
If you're willing to pay a bit more money for the cellular iPad Mini 4 then yes, you'll get GPS with it; I didn't consider it worth the extra money, but that's just a personal preference. I connect my iPad Mini 4 to my cell phone's hotspot-enabled wifi and get all the functionality I care about that way.

Connected to a hot spot, is GPS the only functionality lost by not using a cellular capable iPad Mini?

It would be nice if the hotspot GPS capabilities could be passed on to the connected iPad mini, but I can understand why it isn't.......

NoSale Posted at 2017-3-15 07:51
Connected to a hot spot, is GPS the only functionality lost by not using a cellular capable iPad Mini?

It would be nice if the hotspot GPS capabilities could be passed on to the connected iPad mini, but I can understand why it isn't.......

Not having GPS in the mobile device means that you can't use Follow Me or reset your home point to the controller location during flight; everything else works fine if you have a wifi connection. And if you're willing and able to cache the flight maps beforehand you can get by without even the wifi connection.

If the price isn't much different then I would get the one with cellular as that has the GPS and then you can use Follow Me or reset the home point to your position. (you don't have to have a data plan)
But if you don't care about Follow Me (you can use Active Track instead) then you are fine without the one with cellular and if you fly from a moving car or boat you can just reset the home point to the aircraft position.
And without cellular, you can cache your flight area map at home on WiFi or when you get to your flying area and use your phone as a hotspot to lead the map.

I got a good deal on a new 16GB cellular model. The 16GB and 64GB models were discontinued last year, but some stores still have them. I got one on Amazon (from a third party seller) for $315. I see today 3rd party sellers have them new for about $325, still a good deal IMO. I only use the iPad for drone work, so 16GB is plenty of space for me. No movies, music, videos, etc. https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B018TES0J6/ref=olp_f_new?ie=UTF8&f_new=true&sort=taxsip

DroneFlying Posted at 2017-3-15 07:59
Not having GPS in the mobile device means that you can't use Follow Me or reset your home point to the controller location during flight; everything else works fine if you have a wifi connection. And if you're willing and able to cache the flight maps beforehand you can get by without even the wifi connection.

Does a cellular iPad mini require a cellular data plan for GPS to work?  In other words, is it possible to use a cellular iPad mini, getting data only from a wifi hotspot, and still have the benefits of GPS?  I'm not certain if GPS is truly triangulated off of cell towers, or if it has its own chipset that reads satellites.

NoSale Posted at 2017-3-15 12:29
Does a cellular iPad mini require a cellular data plan for GPS to work?  In other words, is it possible to use a cellular iPad mini, getting data only from a wifi hotspot, and still have the benefits of GPS?  I'm not certain if GPS is truly triangulated off of cell towers, or if it has its own chipset that reads satellites.

you dont even have to have hotspot conection for a cellular capable ipad mini, to get GPS.
I have a mini3 with Verizon cellular capability. I get GPS with no hotspot.

https://www.lifewire.com/ipad-air-2-mini-gps-1683577

NoSale Posted at 2017-3-15 12:29
Does a cellular iPad mini require a cellular data plan for GPS to work?  In other words, is it possible to use a cellular iPad mini, getting data only from a wifi hotspot, and still have the benefits of GPS?  I'm not certain if GPS is truly triangulated off of cell towers, or if it has its own chipset that reads satellites.

Does a cellular iPad mini require a cellular data plan for GPS to work?

No, the GPS is independent of the cellular data plan and as fans90d4f438 pointed out you don't even have to have a hotspot connection. Having GPS gives you the ability to use Follow Me and to reset the home point, while having a wifi connection or cellular data plan gives you the ability to dynamically load / update the maps during flight. Having both (GPS and wifi / data plan) gives you the maximum functionality and flexibility, but you can have one without the other or use the tablet with neither.

Basically as said:  If Follow Me mode and the ability to reset the home point is important to you, then get the cellular.  I have never used both of these features so I use a Wifi only iPad and it very good compared to my android devices.

Thanks for the information I don't think I will be using follow me , if I do I can hook up the cell phone. I was more worried about the maps and loss of the drone getting gps coordinates if it lands where it shouldn't

Yokota85 Posted at 2017-3-16 04:33
Thanks for the information I don't think I will be using follow me , if I do I can hook up the cell phone. I was more worried about the maps and loss of the drone getting gps coordinates if it lands where it shouldn't

I was more worried about the maps and loss of the drone getting gps coordinates if it lands where it shouldn't

The Mavic has its own built-in GPS receiver, so regardless of what kind of mobile device (with or without GPS) you use, as long as the Mavic can communicate with the controller you'll always know where the Mavic is. It transmits its location back to the controller while they're connected and the controller in turn provides that location to the (DJI Go 4) app, which can display a map with the Mavic's location on it.