iPad 2 still running iOS 5.1.1 - Should I upgrade to iOS 8?

[chronopx]

In retrospect, I should have at least upgraded to 6 while I still could, but that ship has sailed. I use my iPad quite a but, but for pretty basic stuff -- web browsing/reading; email; reading comics; Twitter. Finding out that the iPad 2 is STILL going to be supported with iOS 9 got me thinking whether or not I'm being overly paranoid by not upgrading. My biggest concern is that the iPad will slow down so much that it's barely usable, and I've seen very mixed comments about that (though the questions seem to be from people who at least have iOS 6 -- I don't even have that). None of my apps receive updates anymore and I can't download any new apps. Currently, everything does run pretty fast, though Safari does crash a fair bit and some websites are nearly unusable (maybe that would be the same with iOS 8?). As much as I'd welcome a new iPad, it'll probably be at least another year or two before I can justify the purchase.

So, thoughts on whether the benefits of a much more modern iOS would be worth it for me?

Also, if I were to do this, does it matter if I do a clean install vs the regular upgrade?

 

[Oudinot]

IOS 8 sucks big time for iPad 2. Don't know if it would be better or worse for you. Upgrading from IOS 7 was a very big mistake for me. If yours is working okay for what you do then I would leave it alone. Maybe IOS 9 will be faster. Stranger things have happened

 

[azentropy]

Shame you didn't upgrade to iOS 6. iOS 7 really slowed down the iPad 2. Hoping iOS 9 improves things but so far haven't noticed any improvement with the first developers release. If you don't need any of the features that iOS 8 offers and are not too concerned about security patches, I'd stick at iOS 5 at least until iOS 9 is finalized.

 

[markovchain]

I resist the upgrade to iOS7, iOS8 even Safari crashed a lot on my iPad 2. Everything else runs smoothly.
Also iOS7 and iOS8 UI is too complicated for me. iOS6 (or iOS5) is just simple and beautiful.
Having said that, I do want some apps that only run on iOS7

I am waiting for iPad Pro 12" to have at least 2GB RAM. Like everyone else, I am very skeptical about iOS9 (performance). Let's see end of 2015 or 2016.

 

[s2mikey]

We have a couple iPad 2s in the house and both run decently on the latest iOS which is. 8.3. I say go for it. Some people have reported problems but we haven't seen any. We did upgrades too, not "start from scratch" or set up as new.

 

[iOSUser7]

If you plan to upgrade it (which I don't recommand), jailbreak it (if it's not already) and save your 5.1.1's SHSH, I believe there is already a way to downgrade iPad 2 for people who saved SHSH.