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iPad mini 7 hr drive + kids = 1st gen mini, 2nd gen mini or kindle fire hd?
- Thread starter p1rate chris
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You will be SO much happier with ANYTHING apple offers (even a 1st gen iPad) than with a Kindle Fire. Bloated, not Google Certified (no Play Store, so you just kissed goodbye any decent apps on android), etc. etc.
For a 7 hour trip, that is a long time without charging.
From what I have seen of battery life benchmarks when watching movies, Apple iPads traditionally outlast other devices by sometimes by a couple of hours - literally.
If you are 5 hours into your trip and the device dies, that might not fare well for the remaining 2 hours. Or, if you have to wait 2 hours before your kids can start using their devices to ensure they have enough battery may not be what is needed either.
You need to balance that with the cost however obviously as Apple products will be pricier.
Just some thoughts.
From what I have seen of battery life benchmarks when watching movies, Apple iPads traditionally outlast other devices by sometimes by a couple of hours - literally.
If you are 5 hours into your trip and the device dies, that might not fare well for the remaining 2 hours. Or, if you have to wait 2 hours before your kids can start using their devices to ensure they have enough battery may not be what is needed either.
You need to balance that with the cost however obviously as Apple products will be pricier.
Just some thoughts.
The OP can purchase a USB/Cigarette vehicle charger that works for smartphones and tablets.
With our daughter and a few trips last year we had the same dilemma and went with the Ipad mini. We bought a refurb 1st gen from apple, are amazon prime members and luckily have a wifi hotspot so she was entertained through two long drives (5 hours on one and 10 hours on the other).
Recently we've flown a few times this year and just buy some doc mcstuffins or handy manny (she doesn't do feature length movies yet).
I don't have enough experience with the Kindles to say if they are good or bad so sorry I can't help there!
My daughter uses my iPad 2 in the car. We went on a 10 hour road trip a couple days ago and she watched Little Mermaid like 3 times over and over (She had other choices but no - it HAD to be Little Mermaid)... I personally think the iPad is the best choice and you can get decent used ones. If you will be in the car you can also get 3 meter 12volt adapters to keep it charged on the long drives... Good luck mate.
Thanks for all the great comments! I have a few 12v usb chargers for the car, so running out of juice shouldn't be a problem. I have also just picked up a sandisk media connect wifi drive to load up with videos for the trip. I tested it with my iphone and it worked really well, even with itunes purchased content. The model I bought comes with 64gig built in but another 128 can be added via sd. Now all I need is an iPad....!