I’m using the iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil to write everything down. Feels like writing on paper. The scratch pad of the Garmin Pilot App is very usefull to me.
As I’m using the UAG case for the iPad with Pencil holder the pencil-falling-down-rate is going to zero. And anyway, on the iPad as backup your finger may replace the pencil in the worst case. Try this on paper. 
I had the pen for many years!
SD has multiple (infinite?) pages of scratchpad.
Timothy wrote:
SD has multiple (infinite?) pages of scratchpad.
True.
My experience is that after about 3 pages, it is fairly easy to ‘get lost’ in the pages.
Sure, I can flip to the end, b/c it is the latest info, but after a few pages of notes, that gets a little cumbersome.
Also, ‘flipping back’ to check something else gets ugly, quick.
In the end, I find writing on paper simpler, as I organize a sheet by DEP/ENR/APP and have all the info on a single page (in case I need to refer in-flight).
Being able to quickly glance down and see exactly what I’m looking for is critical.
The GUI for the scratchpad is too small for that.
So, yes, having multiple pages is helpful, but not as useful as having tabs, that I can pre-fill prior to arrival, and simply quickly modify if anything has changed. That’s how I use it, which isn’t exactly how it was designed.
Have you tried using the scratchpad in SD without any paper?
Have you tried using the scratchpad in SD without any paper?
That is my normal methodology. I rarely use paper.
Hmmm. Any objections to tabs in the scratchpad?
On the other hand, I’d love to have a ‘pencil’ and really debated buying that the second it came out.
In the end, i couldn’t justify it just for taking notes, as I wouldn’t have any other use for it.
So, I still use my finger, which is a disaster, but works.
Please could someone write from experience (or even, if they have the equipment to hand, try out) whether using a stylus, such as an Adonit, is better than a fat finger, specifically on the SkyDemon scratchpad on an iPad. (Mine is a Mini 4).
I read what @eddsPeter writes, but the Apple Pencil is a very special case that only works on a very limited range of iPads.
In the absence of an answer, I wrote to SD.
Their response:
No, it wouldn’t make a difference if it’s a finger or a ‘pen’; the line will be the same thickness. I’ve made a note for future discussion on this subject, in case we do have a way of detecting that it’s a thinner stylus. I have taken this as your official request, so the suggestion is on the list.
I have a capacitive stylus, and it works better, simply because the size of it is about 1/4 the diameter of my fingertip…
…but the writing remains the same size?
I too use a stylus (they are about ten for £1 on Ebay) with a capacitive screen device (i.e. virtually all current consumer-grade phones or tablets) whenever doing a lot of work on the device, because it is much easier than using a finger, but it doesn’t solve the issues of where to put the device in the cockpit where you can use it and cannot mess it up with accidental touches. In my plane there is no room, but e.g. I flew in Jason’s jet and he does have room to mount an Ipad on a mount, and scribbles on it quite well.
The inductive “digitiser” type screens which used to be the standard thing before capacitive came in, and are still available on some high-end tablets, don’t have the “accidental touch” issue (because the finger does nothing) but if you lose the stylus you can’t do anything with it. But I prefer that type for the GPS moving map application.
