iPhone mount

stewartb · Aug 4, 2019

No secret, I’m a Garmin Pilot fan and have said for a few years I’ll never buy another GPS box. To accommodate my iPhone I’ve bought a small crop of phone holders and prefer the Nato Mount but was hesitant to install one near my G3X. A Garmin engineer told me not to fret, the magnet wouldn’t bother anything so I added a Nato Mount to the Cub and ditched the yoke mount in the Cessna, too. The phone is rock solid. Very easy to use in flight. Happy happy.

Pinch it open to zoom? Yep, there may be a few options in an emergency.

Sent from my iPad using SuperCub.Org mobile app

Lutter · Feb 17, 2021

Do you have a traditional compass installed anywhere? Curious if a strong magnet could throw that off, or any other instruments for that matter.

stewartb · Feb 17, 2021

Typical in-panel compass in the Cessna that actually works. No issues.

RVBottomly · Feb 17, 2021

Thanks, Stewart. Just yesterday I was trying to figure out a decent mount. I hadn't run across the Nato mount. Looks like it works for tablets, too.

Scooter7779h · Feb 17, 2021

I too am a NATO mount fan after SB posted about them. Have 2 in my plane and 1 in my SUV, and four new ones ready to use somewhere. Thought about my snowmachine, but not sure it will take the big bumps. Might try it though.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

RVBottomly · Feb 17, 2021

Scooter7779h said:
I too am a NATO mount fan after SB posted about them. Have 2 in my plane and 1 in my SUV, and four new ones ready to use somewhere. Thought about my snowmachine, but not sure it will take the big bumps. Might try it though.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Is that for GPS mapping? At first I chuckled at thinking of an iPhone stuck on a snowmachine. But why not?

Crash Jr. · Feb 18, 2021

RVBottomly said:
At first I chuckled at thinking of an iPhone stuck on a snowmachine. But why not?

Because they shut off randomly when they overheat OR get too cold. That's why not.

I've flown using foreflight on my phone a couple times and had problems with it overheating and shutting down when mounted on the panel with direct sunlight heating it as well as the internal antenna working overtime and heating the case up. A friend had his die with 75% battery left while flying on a cold day. I wouldn't trust consumer grade electronics built in a sweat shop in china for my primary navigational equipment.

Scooter7779h · Feb 18, 2021

RVBottomly said:
Is that for GPS mapping? At first I chuckled at thinking of an iPhone stuck on a snowmachine. But why not?

Could run ForeFlight or other navigator. Can see texts come in, etc.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

stewartb · Feb 18, 2021

I've never had an iDevice overheat in Alaska even with full exposure to sun, but when its warm I have every vent open so air is moving. On the dash on a hot day in west Texas or on the beach in Hawaii? Different story. Easily managed by shading the device.

I've never needed a GPS navigator on a snowgo but I've had friends mount GPS units with heat pads. I carry my devices in a bib pocket.

Joe Wood · Mar 6, 2021

I recently purchased an iPhone 12 Mini and it easily overheats when running ForeFlight. Hasn’t shut off buts dims considerably, making the screen difficult to read. I think Apple crammed too much battery in a small case. But I do like the smaller size—I like carrying it in my shirt pocket rather than a pants pocket.

I plan to run it on Dark Mode and see if it uses less battery, heating less.

stewartb · Mar 6, 2021

I just spent 2 weeks in the Hawaiian sun and my iPhone did just fine as long as I kept extended exposure to direct sun off of it. Make a shade.

Crash Jr. · Mar 6, 2021

A lot depends on the age of the phone, specifically the battery. I normally keep my Iphones past 2 years and once you get out there the battery starts to really heat up when you're doing high power draw tasks like running GPS continually. My Iphone 6 was working fine at 4 years in but finally gave up the ghost when it would overheat almost immediately on startup.

Even with a water or shock proof case though I just can't get around the idea that an Iphone being a consumer grade electronic device is nearly as reliable as a dedicated GPS with IPX water resistant/shock resistant rating like a 660 or 396. That being said my 396 is currently on the fritz with an antenna issue so guess I'm just a skeptic of electronics in general at this point.

stewartb · Mar 6, 2021

Apparently you haven’t had an aviation GPSshut down at the worst possible time. I have. We all have our reasons.

Crash Jr. · Mar 6, 2021

Oh I definitely have or more accurately it just lost signal and would not pick up satellites in the middle of a flight. Luckily I was already pointed in the right direction and just had to head towards the anchorage skyline.

Lots of people run Ipads or Iphones and swear by them it's just I've first hand witnessed more instances of Iphones randomly dying than I've witnessed aviation GPS units failing. Statistically Iphones/handheld devices fail in some way after less than 2 years. My 396 is probably 14 years old at this point and has finally gotten a loose antenna connector. Even just in terms of wear and tear I don't expect to have a device like a smart phone that I use 4 hours per day, charge every night, knocks around in a pocket, and gets dropped an embarrassing amount to be as reliable as a GPS that gets used a couple times a week for a couple hours and lives in a padded case the rest of the time.

Not saying there's a right or wrong about it but personally I wouldn't rely on an Iphone. Your flawless experience with yours is the statistical outlier in terms Iphone reliability.

Grant · Mar 7, 2021

I fly with Foreflight on an iphone and I look out the window and only glance occasionaly at the iphone for the "Warm and Fuzzy" feeling. I dont have it mounted because I'm always in a different airplane. I've had them overheat and shut down, so what? Take them out of the sunlight and let them cool down.... If you cant make it without a gps on a VFR day then you're in need of some training. If you're trying to get somewhere when IFR using/relying on an iPhone then you need a brain. Otherwise, learn to navigate and any of these gadgets will become nice to have, but not need to have. Find a way to mount it, if it overheats, let it cool and keep on truckin'.... With respect to the NATO mount.... I like it.

RaisedByWolves · Mar 7, 2021

Grant said:
I fly with Foreflight on an iphone and I look out the window and only glance occasionaly at the iphone for the "Warm and Fuzzy" feeling. I dont have it mounted because I'm always in a different airplane. I've had them overheat and shut down, so what? Take them out of the sunlight and let them cool down.... If you cant make it without a gps on a VFR day then you're in need of some training. If you're trying to get somewhere when IFR using/relying on an iPhone then you need a brain. Otherwise, learn to navigate and any of these gadgets will become nice to have, but not need to have. Find a way to mount it, if it overheats, let it cool and keep on truckin'.... With respect to the NATO mount.... I like it.

I have foreflight on my phone updated to keep me legal and out of any airspace when I’m bringing airplanes back. Quick look and away it goes. A customer was horrified when I told him he didn’t have to put the ipad, stratus intercom and radio in. He asked how your going to get home. I said look out the window. Put my ear plugs in and prop me.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cub junkie · Mar 7, 2021

Those individual state printed aviation charts are usually free and work well in an airplane that cruises at cub airspeed. Sectional charts are expensive.

flynlow · Mar 8, 2021

I keep sectionals (often outdated)on board when in unfamiliar sky’s
The 430 I had only quit me once... on the way to my instrument ride. ( it recovered before I got there)

Sent from my iPhone using SuperCub.Org

Paul Jackson · Mar 8, 2021

I was giving my son (now Marine pilot) some dual in a G1000 C-182T and put some paper over the PFD screen (used to use those shower suction thingies but "advanced" to an 8x11 sheet of paper with masking tape). He calmly reached into his flight bag and pulled out an iPad and fired it up and pressed on. I reached over and grabbed it and he gave me a dirty look and pulled his iPhone with Foreflight on it out of his pocket. I said the battery was dead and he grabbed a jumper battery out his bag and asked if I wanted him to use this or the USB that was in the panel to charge.....I relented and said the lesson here was not dead reckoning but redundancy and he passed. I later took him for a nostalgic tour of tracking a VOR and matching a lake shape to that of a sectional. He nodded and smiled like I did when learning an NDB hold in the 80's.

Devices require the same practice of redundancy and contingency planning when using them in the real world.

Now if we could just get Foreflight and Garmin to depict a pattern around an airport that isn't 3 miles away from the point of landing it would be great....but I digress.

mam90 · Mar 8, 2021

For years, international procedures recurrent training included how to manually complete the calculation for determining equal time points for oceanic flights (the point where you turn around, or continue forward in an emergency). Then one day, computer flight plans came along which included all of our ETP calculations.. No said the instructor, things could change from the plan so you still need to know the formula and how to manually compute them. Then our magic box FMS’s came along and they included a page where you could make a few inputs and it would compute your ETP’s and would update as you flew.. No said the instructor, those boxes can fail (yes, all 3 of them). So, when did we stop manual computation training?? When that generation of instructors retired.........
Point being, it wasn’t the introduction of the technology that changed the thinking, but the acceptance of the technology by a new generation of pilots.

StuBob · Mar 8, 2021

RE: the NATO mount

How steady is that magnet? If I mount my phone like yours is, landscape mode, above the stack, will the weight of a charging cable pull one end down?

stewartb · Mar 8, 2021

The phone will jiggle a little from hanging cantilevered but the magnet is plenty strong to hold it in place. An iPad would be a stretch but a phone is no problem.

stewartb · Mar 14, 2021

So on a cold windy day I had some time to play with an unused iPad Mini that’s still active on my Garmin Pilot devices list. A little velcro and bingo. And for the nay-sayers who are certain an iPad will fail? Pull it off the velcro and the Aera is still there.

RVBottomly · Mar 14, 2021

I like the velcro idea. After poking around for various mount options, I forgot all about the simple.

I have some industrial strength velcro. I think I'll try it for mounting a Samsung tablet with Garmin Pilot. If I splurge on a GDL 50 I can feel like I have a glass cockpit in my ancient knockabout.

stewartb · Mar 14, 2021

Don’t underestimate the capability of a tablet running Pilot through an ADHRS box. Amazing. And the app will update charts automatically, and then prompt you when firmware updates are available for the ADHRS! My G3X requires constant updates that must be done by loading an SD card from a computer and transferring them to the G3X. The iPad is much simpler.

Kodiakmack · Mar 15, 2021

I fly twin otters all summer fighting fire in the west. It’s hot as balls. Never had an overheat issue on an iPad mini in a case. I also don’t put it in direct sunlight and expect it to work. &#55358;&#56631;*

do what you’re comfortable with. I don’t carry a single paper map. Between installed avionics, iPad, iPhone, I’m just not worried about it. Even ifr.

hotrod180 · Mar 15, 2021

RVBottomly said:
I like the velcro idea. After poking around for various mount options, I forgot all about the simple.
I have some industrial strength velcro. I think I'll try it for mounting a Samsung tablet with Garmin Pilot. If I splurge on a GDL 50 I can feel like I have a glass cockpit in my ancient knockabout.

I had a weak moment when I was googling tablet mounts,
and now I have a Ram "Tab Lock" mount.
It works just fine, but the velcro I used before that worked just fine also.
I made a little sheet metal channel that the bottom edge of the tablet rested on--
it took the weight of the tablet, the velcro kept it sucked up to the panel.
Velcro mount:

Ram mount:

farm_boy252 · Jun 23, 2021

stewartb said:
No secret, I’m a Garmin Pilot fan and have said for a few years I’ll never buy another GPS box. To accommodate my iPhone I’ve bought a small crop of phone holders and prefer the Nato Mount but was hesitant to install one near my G3X. A Garmin engineer told me not to fret, the magnet wouldn’t bother anything so I added a Nato Mount to the Cub and ditched the yoke mount in the Cessna, too. The phone is rock solid. Very easy to use in flight. Happy happy.

View attachment 43982

View attachment 43983

View attachment 43984

Pinch it open to zoom? Yep, there may be a few options in an emergency.

View attachment 43988

Sent from my iPad using SuperCub.Org mobile app

is that the original or xl version? if original do you think it would work for a tablet?

stewartb · Jun 26, 2021

Farm_boy,

The mount shown is the larger one. No, I don't think it’s adequate for a tablet. In fact I’ve changed direction in both planes and have removed the Nato mounts. They’re awesome in cars and with standard size phones but my max size iPhone jiggled in the planes. Engine and prop vibrations transfer through the arm and the heavier phone bounces a bit. I thought about making a stiffer fixture and using the magnet but I took a different path. I put narrow velcro around my Aera in the Cessna and stuck my iPad mini right over the top. The Aera powers up with the avionics master (as does the iPad) so it’s still working in the background in case I need it. In the Cub I cut a scrap of lexan and stuck it to the panel with velcro. Then I stuck an iPhone case to the lexan with VHB tape. I pop my phone out of my everyday case and into the panel case. No arm to flex, no jiggle. I put the everyday case in my pocket to remind me not to leave the phone in the plane.

180TigerCub · Nov 30, 2021

Here is another option that works REALLY well. They also make a tablet mount that is extremely strong.
https://hondogarage.com/collections/all/products/big-squeeze-tablet-mount

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