New mount, kneeboard options for the iPad Pro 10.5″

The iPad Pro 10.5″ has quickly established itself as the best iPad yet for pilots. We’ve been flying with it for over six months now and we love it. The combination of a bright, large, low-glare screen and a lightning-fast processor makes it a reliable everyday electronic flight bag.

How to secure this new iPad in the cockpit isn’t so simple. There are a number of options available, but not every iPad Air or iPad Pro 9.7″ accessory works with the larger 10.5″ size so you’ll want to pay attention when you’re shopping. Fortunately, some new mounts and kneeboards are now available. Let’s review the options.

Mounts

RAM’s popular EZ-Roll’r cradle is now available for the iPad Pro 10.5″.

The most popular iPad mountain option is RAM’s EZ-Roll’r cradle, a form-fitting cradle that perfectly fits an iPad without a case. This is finally available, after a long wait. If you just want to upgrade your existing RAM Mount, the cradle is available by itself. If you’d prefer to buy a complete kit, those are available for yoke mount, suction cup, and glare shield.

If your iPad Pro 10.5″ has a case, there are some other options. First is the spring-loaded 10″ tablet cradle. This expands to fit any tablet between 8.5″ and 10.75″ high, and will accommodate tablets up to 0.56″ thick. Kits are available with suction cup and yoke mounts, or you can buy the cradle by itself for $33.95.

The other option is the 10″ X-Grip from RAM, which is another style of spring-loaded cradle. This is an easy, one-handed mechanism that grabs the iPad (with or without a case) using four rubber fingers. This is the best choice for really thick cases, like the Otterbox. It’s pretty handy, but the mount ends up being fairly large and heavy. Again, there are suction cup and yoke mount kits, or you can buy the cradle by itself for $78.95.

Finally, MyGoFlight offers a universal tablet mount that works with virtually any size tablet. The cradle is available individually for $119; you can also buy a complete suction cup or yoke mount kit.

Kneeboards

The Flight Gear HP iPad Kneeboard now works well with the iPad Pro 10.5″.

The good news is that basically every iPad Air/Pro 9.7″ kneeboard will fit the new 10.5″ iPad Pro. The bad news is that it’s a fairly tight fit if the design hasn’t been updated lately. Here’s what to consider.

• Flight Gear Rotating Kneeboard – this simple kneeboard holds the iPad on your leg and allows it to rotate. The attachment mechanism is four elastic straps on the corners, and it has been upsized to fit the iPad Pro 10.5″ without any trouble. It’s a great budget choice.
• Flight Gear HP iPad Kneeboard – like the rotating model, this kneeboard uses four elastic straps to hold the iPad securely to the kneeboard, and has been updated to accept the iPad Pro 10.5″ easily. This model offers more storage options if you carry additional gear, like cords or charging plugs.
• Flight Outfitters Kneeboard – this deluxe model uses the same elastic straps at the corners, but adds on some molded plastic clips to hold the corners down. The iPad Pro 10.5″ fits in here reasonably well, but it takes a delicate touch to keep from breaking the hardware when you install the iPad.
• MyGoFlight Folio C Kneeboard – much like the Flight Outfitters kneeboard, MyGoFlight uses four plastic clips attached to elastic strap. Again, we’ve used it with the iPad Pro 10.5″ and it fits, but you’ll want to be careful with the plastic clips to make sure they aren’t damaged by the tight fit.

One kneeboard that fits the new iPad perfectly, without any concerns about a tight fit, is the MyClip. This simple kneeboard uses two rubber grips attached to a wide elastic strap, and works great.

We’ll continue to update this post as new designs become available.