Tricks for IPad Viewing in the Sun

WDD

WDD

Final Approach
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Vintage Snazzy (so my adult children say)
Any tricks for making I Pad more visible when flying in summer daylight? Lately I'm finding the screen more difficult to read. I have a Ram mount on the left front window, so the I Pad is eye level about 6 inches or so away (I fly primarily a Skyhawk), but the sun just washes out the screen. I have it of course on full brightness, taking power from a USB power source to keep a full charge on it. I'm using a 9.6 inch I Pad Pro (a bit old, but still works great).

I've ordered a new anti glare, matte finish screen protector and will see if that helps.

I see there are some Velcro attached hoods / black visors that you can put on it, but that looks like it would block the instruments on the panel.

Don't see how a newer version of an I Pad or a Mini version would be any better.

I know we'll never get the readability / sunlight brightness you have such as on a Garmin 650, but any tricks to get it better?
 
WDD said:
I see there are some Velcro attached hoods / black visors that you can put on it, but that looks like it would block the instruments on the panel.
Click to expand...
Something like that you can likely fashion yourself from a Manila folder, scissors, Velcro dots, and matte black rattle can paint.


And you’re correct a new mini doesn’t fare much better. Slightly better, but not enough to justify purchase just for that.
 
The anti-glare screen protector will help a lot but I also use a "portable" sun visor (plastic sheet with suction cup mount) to stick on the windows wherever necessary to block the sun shining on the iPad.
 
Forgot about the small portable mesh sun screens with suction cups.

That would help. And you have the ability to move them from spot to spot as needed.
 
Arrow76R said:
The anti-glare screen protector will help a lot but I also use a "portable" sun visor (plastic sheet with suction cup mount) to stick on the windows wherever necessary to block the sun shining on the iPad.
Click to expand...

Can you post a pic of that ?
 
WDD said:
Can you post a pic of that ?
Click to expand...

I think he’s talking about this, except with adding a suction mount.
This was original version, I’ve since added extra tint to darken them up, for those cases of looking directly into the sun.
88cf5c183508b2dc1e98ca18a4854e01.jpg
 
I bought my sun shield through Sporty's. Here is a photo of it.
DIM-IT Movable Visor (6 in. x 12 in.)
7543A
$11.95



9074_4.jpg
 
WDD said:
Any tricks for making I Pad more visible when flying in summer daylight? Lately I'm finding the screen more difficult to read. I have a Ram mount on the left front window, so the I Pad is eye level about 6 inches or so away (I fly primarily a Skyhawk), but the sun just washes out the screen. I have it of course on full brightness, taking power from a USB power source to keep a full charge on it. I'm using a 9.6 inch I Pad Pro (a bit old, but still works great).

I've ordered a new anti glare, matte finish screen protector and will see if that helps.

I see there are some Velcro attached hoods / black visors that you can put on it, but that looks like it would block the instruments on the panel.

Don't see how a newer version of an I Pad or a Mini version would be any better.

I know we'll never get the readability / sunlight brightness you have such as on a Garmin 650, but any tricks to get it better?
Click to expand...

The cheap ipads suck in the sun! You can't see them because the glare is horrible.....
The Pro version of the Ipad has a awesome annti glare screen that you can see plain as day in the sun. I used mine in the pitts, Eagle and Stearman with direct sun on it and never had a issue seeing it. My buddy went cheap with the basic ipad and all he does is complain.
The PRO cost more for a reason. It says right in the description Antiglare screen.
 
I’m using the 9.7 inch I pad pro.
 
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WDD said:
Any tricks for making I Pad more visible when flying in summer daylight? Lately I'm finding the screen more difficult to read. I have a Ram mount on the left front window, so the I Pad is eye level about 6 inches or so away (I fly primarily a Skyhawk), but the sun just washes out the screen. I have it of course on full brightness, taking power from a USB power source to keep a full charge on it. I'm using a 9.6 inch I Pad Pro (a bit old, but still works great).

I've ordered a new anti glare, matte finish screen protector and will see if that helps.

I see there are some Velcro attached hoods / black visors that you can put on it, but that looks like it would block the instruments on the panel.

Don't see how a newer version of an I Pad or a Mini version would be any better.

I know we'll never get the readability / sunlight brightness you have such as on a Garmin 650, but any tricks to get it better?
Click to expand...

pirep on the anti glare screen protector please...
 
The previous versions of the iPad Mini that I have are practically unusable in my plane, I'm not sure how people are utilizing them. The iPad Mini 5 however works very well, about the same as my Android Nexus 7 tablet from 2013. The iPad mini 5 "...offers a brightness of 515 nits at the center of the display and a maximum of up to 533 nits"

tablet_and_phone_brightness.png

tablet_brightness.png
 
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Fly into a cloud to reduce the amount of light being let into the plane. :D
 
It's not a lot of fun in the summer, but if you can tolerate wearing a dark-colored shirt that can help with some of the reflected glare.
 
I fixed that problem by buying a Garmin 796. Its pricey and doesnt have the same resolution but it works great, is sunlight readable and never overheats. I recently coupled it to a GDL 50 for all the additional goodies that come with it.
 
I liked it so much I moved the steam gauges over and put it right in front of me. Poor mans EFIS.
 

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Can you tie a Garmin 796 to your non Garmin transponder and get real time traffic and weather ?
 
I get that from the Garmin GDL 50. My transponder will not do that. I got a bare wire kit and tied it to my garmin com so I can also put com frequencies in my stand by just by touching it on my 796. The 796 was $1500. the GDL 50 was $700. Maybe another $100 for mount and bare wire kit. I get a ton of features for a fraction of the cost of the glass panels out there. I am really happy with it. I still retain all the original gauges to be legal but I hardly look at them
 
Scott MacMoyle said:
I fixed that problem by buying a Garmin 796. Its pricey and doesnt have the same resolution but it works great, is sunlight readable and never overheats.
Click to expand...

I used your method but it was an iFly 740b that has 1100 nits. In the meantime I learned that's it's an awesome GPS and works well in the heat.
 
thats a good option too and a bit more affordable. The ipads are great but they are no good to me if I cant see it. Garmin just came out with a 7 inch 760 and most people poo poo it because of price and resolution but its rock solid and stable.
 
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