Mini or Air?

[jeremyk]

I am planning on getting an iPad this week. The major driver for this purchase is to be able to do real-time nav and to study satellite images, to answer that persistent question, "I wonder where that road goes, it's not on the map". I can't carry enough gas or take enough vacation time to drive down them all. I am hoping that I will be able to cache Google Earth images or other satellite images (I don't know how to get those yet) to get a true birds-eye view of where I am so that I don't drive by something I'd really like to check out. I want to do real-time nav on a satellite picture - if at all possible.

My main question is: iPad Mini or iPad Air? For those of you who have done this already, which would you buy if you could do it again?

I am planning on getting the wifi + cell version so that I can refresh maps somewhat remotely and for the GPS chipset. No puck required I'm assuming.

What size memory would you purchase now that you have one and have found other uses?

Satellite images are my primary desire, is there a good source or program for these?

 

[robgendreau]

From what I've heard from photographers the regular iPad has a bit better screen than the mini retina. One thing I'd wanna check out in person is whether you feel the smaller images are as easy to read. Only you can tell. And try them both in strong sunlight; the iPad sucks at this and I expect the mini isn't much better but ya never know.

There are nice pucks available now for iPads, with much better GPS performance. And if you're using it in a vehicle remember that if you need to touch it odds are the GPS reception might be compromised. But even so, unless you're near a lot of wifi you still may need the cell. Unless you've got another source for that as well. Probably still not to the point where we can ditch it.

The size is the big thing. As a real time car display I don't wanna use anything but a phone sized screen, but hey everyone's different. And there's the matter of typing on it; some can get by with the mini or mini plus keyboard; some want something bigger. You gotta get one in hand to see what works for you. And then there's cost and whether you already have an iPhone or plan on getting one. I do have an iPhone, so I find the mini rather useless (but I'm sure I'll probably end up in a situation where I absolutely have to have that size now that I've said that).

I'd get as much memory as you can. For us photos and maps and graphic apps eat up a lot of space. Then there's books you bring, movies, etc. Remember: no external storage, unfortunately.

And for satellite sources for mapping I'd go with GaiaGPS first, and Motion X second, but others may differ. Both allow an extremely large array of map/sat photos to be used, even ones you can make yourself if you can georeference them. See the Motion X thread. And take a look at CalTopo.com; it has a bunch of the sources used in these apps.