Ipad Mounts

[Whitsundays]

Im looking to mount my iPad mini 6 in my microlight and wanted to know what everyone else has used for the mount

 

Any pics would be great or links where you got them please

 

Thanks Dale 

[skippydiesel]

RAM has a wide selection of mounts

 

https://rammount.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoq06nONwmJ_WdB2g9y0oijy06h1UbRJXrbExZrUlagkj4MW_Z0O

 

😈

[Moneybox]

Guardian flush mounted iPad holders have fan cooling. Look like a good option?

[skippydiesel]

On 03/10/2025 at 9:16 PM, Moneybox said:

Guardian flush mounted iPad holders have fan cooling. Look like a good option?

I have a  Guardian iPad mount/docking station with charger & fan. I also have a Guardian, in paned, mounted  USB-A, twin port, charger . 

 

Observations:

• The mount is flat to the panel, which is fine IF the directly in front of pilot. My son made up an angled spacer for mine, tilting the screen towards the pilot position (more betterer!)
• The fan seems to work well. The charger has been a problem from day one.
• Guardian do not respond to enquiries regarding product difficulties.
• Their products are TSO (certified) so very very expensive compared with say a good quality automotive/marine competitors
• Delivery costs from the USA may shock you.

With my last aircraft I mounted my iPad/ RAM in-front of a small eyeball vent - worked a treat.

😈

[Moneybox]

14 hours ago, skippydiesel said:

I have a  Guardian iPad mount/docking station with charger & fan. I also have a Guardian, in paned, mounted  USB-A, twin port, charger . 

 

Observations:

• The mount is flat to the panel, which is fine IF the directly in front of pilot. My son made up an angled spacer for mine, tilting the screen towards the pilot position (more betterer!)
• The fan seems to work well. The charger has been a problem from day one.
• Guardian do not respond to enquiries regarding product difficulties.
• Their products are TSO (certified) so very very expensive compared with say a good quality automotive/marine competitors
• Delivery costs from the USA may shock you.

With my last aircraft I mounted my iPad/ RAM in-front of a small eyeball vent - worked a treat.

😈

(My son made up an angled spacer for mine, tilting the screen towards the pilot position (more betterer!))

 

Marty introduced me to Fusion 3D CAD so I’ve spent several hours getting familiar with it so that I’m prepared for little jobs like this. I have the 3D plastic printer but I’ve never had a job for it before. I’m looking forward to knocking up all those little fancy bits I need from time to time. 

 

[skippydiesel]

There are several other suppliers of fan cooled docking stations - can not vouch for them but look oaky on Google.

 

If you were to purchase a nice RAM mount, it would be easy enough to drill few ventilation holes & attache a computer fan to the back - just a thought.

😈

[danny_galaga]

I like the Ram ball joint mount because you can angle it how you want and if outside light changes (sun glare etc) you can just retilt it to suit the moment. Also if a passenger is helping they can tilt it towards them if they need 

[skippydiesel]

I had a RAM /iPad Mini mount on my last aircraft.

 

IPad shut down, due to temperature, twice before I took preventative action.

 

The action was to plumb in, from one of my cabin air vents,  to a very small eyeball vent, directly behind the RAM mount. I cut many holes in the back of the cradle to facilitate cooling - worked a treat. No more over temperature outages.😈

 

 

 

[danny_galaga]

1 hour ago, skippydiesel said:

I had a RAM /iPad Mini mount on my last aircraft.

 

IPad shut down, due to temperature, twice before I took preventative action.

 

The action was to plumb in, from one of my cabin air vents,  to a very small eyeball vent, directly behind the RAM mount. I cut many holes in the back of the cradle to facilitate cooling - worked a treat. No more over temperature outages.😈

 

 

 

There's heaps of options. I'm mostly referring to the gymbal part. What I have attached to that is the X type cradle that just grips the tablet on the sides. Virtually every part is getting free air flow.

[skippydiesel]

"Virtually every part is getting free air flow."

 

Its been a few years, if aged memory serves, both my iPad shut downs were in winter. Cockpit vents closed and the sun beating down on the instrument panel/iPad, from behind the aircarft. At a guess, cockpit air temperature was in the low teens. The problems for the iPad were, not much air movement and the sun directly on the tablet. This probably would not happen in a high wing.

 

The dedicated eye ball vent provided, controllable flow, external, cool air - problem solved with a KISS solution. 😈

[Reynard]

I use a quad lock ‘lever head’ mount only because it fitted directly onto the yoke and it didn’t take up too much space. The female add-on part of the mount I stuck onto the back of a wombat ware cooling case.https://getwombatware.com/?srsltid=AfmBOopYRwnNLiGL31LYCQmPkiax7dj87z1rY8D3I1SJRWxUFKQc8Ypa

 

https://www.quadlockcase.com.au/collections/build-your-own?selected=eyJoZWFkIjoiUUxQLTM2MC1MSCJ9

 

This allows me to easily remove the iPad from the plane, but leave the mount with cooling case in place on the yoke..  The iPad can be tilted through 90 degrees from horizontal to vertical to avoid sun glare, but cant be tilted laterally though- so no good for sharing with pax.
 

I’ve flown in the heat but haven’t had an iPad overheat event yet. I’m not convinced the cooling case is that great- I think simply directing one of the (high wing) eyeball vents toward the iPad is enough to keep it cool.  I have both window vents plus eyeball vents so can get quite a wind blast through the cockpit if desired.

Unfortunately I don’t have a pic of the setup, but I’ve now flown with it for about 90 hours and it does the job. There are probably better setups, but this suits me so far.

 

[skippydiesel]

Looks like good stuff Reynard.

 

How is the Wombat fan powered?

 

😈

[Reynard]

The wombat case has two small fans supplied from an internal rechargeable battery. The fans are controlled by a thermostat and last around three hours and rechargeable via a usb-c port.  My gut feel is that the fans aren’t powerful enough to provide sufficient cooling on their own, but I haven’t really pushed the temp too far to date.

I’ll try to get a photo on Thursday for those interested in the mount and case arrangement.

[Reynard]

Here is the quad lock and cooling case setup mounted directly on the yoke.

[danny_galaga]

On 20/10/2025 at 1:06 PM, skippydiesel said:

"Virtually every part is getting free air flow."

 

Its been a few years, if aged memory serves, both my iPad shut downs were in winter. Cockpit vents closed and the sun beating down on the instrument panel/iPad, from behind the aircarft. At a guess, cockpit air temperature was in the low teens. The problems for the iPad were, not much air movement and the sun directly on the tablet. This probably would not happen in a high wing.

 

The dedicated eye ball vent provided, controllable flow, external, cool air - problem solved with a KISS solution. 😈

I guess what I'm saying is that with the gimbal mount, if you are on a track where the sun is beating down on the screen, you can tilt it a few degrees down until the sun or your track has moved.

 

It's all academic for me of course, test flying means there's no point even using a tablet. And when I'm done, I still haven't done my navs anyway 😄

[skippydiesel]

In my case there was no warning that the iPad was overheating  - just happened.

 

I offer my experience to show that you don't have to purchase a whiz-bang high tech cooling system - just add a little airflow where its most needed.😈

[skippydiesel]

Very nice Reynard - my Sonex is a tad more squeezy than your compendious cockpit.😈

[onetrack]

Skippy, I think the word you really want, is commodious. 🙂 Funnily enough, "commodious", meaning roomy and comfortable, has the same language roots as "commode", a relatively recent term for the toilet. The words come from the Latin "commodus" - meaning "convenient". A roomy cockpit is more than just convenient! 🙂 

 

Edited October 23 by onetrack

[Moneybox]

As much as I can see the value in the iPad cooling mounts I still don't trust them enough to rely on one for my primary instruments. We're quite practised at slipping our phones into the fridge before being able to make a call. If an iPhone overheats in my pocket, as it often does, a little fan cooling is not going to be enough to sway me.

 

I spoke to Carlos from Aircraft Automation at 6am this morning. I've pretty much decided on the Super Echo AP that stands alone rather that the Levil Aviation AP. Both use the same trim tabs but the Levil AP needs the iPad to operate. Of course I'll still need the iPad for OzRunways. Now I just have to find a suitable ADSB in/out. 🙃

[skippydiesel]

9 hours ago, onetrack said:

Skippy, I think the word you really want, is commodious. 🙂 Funnily enough, "commodious", meaning roomy and comfortable, has the same language roots as "commode", a relatively recent term for the toilet. The words come from the Latin "commodus" - meaning "convenient". A roomy cockpit is more than just convenient! 🙂 

 

I have three handicaps; Dyslexia, spell check &  failure to review - Yes the intended word was commodious.

 

A possible fourth handicap is a love of language -  verbose in the writen & spoken word😈

[Reynard]

I had a direct traffic conflict yesterday. If it wasn’t for the traffic alert from ADS-B I may have needed that commode.

[danny_galaga]

11 hours ago, skippydiesel said:

In my case there was no warning that the iPad was overheating  - just happened.

 

I offer my experience to show that you don't have to purchase a whiz-bang high tech cooling system - just add a little airflow where its most needed.😈

Totally agree..like I say, you can't get much breezier than an X mount on a gymbal 😇