I have a new iFly 720 as well as a newer ("Retna screen") iPad Mini. I find the iFly screen at least as bright & readable in sunlight as my Garmin 196. The iPad is terrible in that regard, IMHO, even with the expensive anti-glare screen protector recommended by the folks with Foreflight. The VFR updates for the 720 are $69/year, which includes up to date Sectional, vector and WAC charts for the entire U.S., as opposed to $40 a shot (28 day cycles) for the Garmin updates, which is why I usually only update it once a year. The iFly data also includes Google Earth views of thousands of airports, fuel prices, etc., etc. It's a great unit, which stores it's data on an SD memory card, has built in WiFi (can be updated with that) which can connect it with other devices like an ADS-B unit, etc. It has a dual core processor that is much faster than the old iFly units. You can drive an autopilot from its usb port. I love it so far. I use my iPad for flight planning, & I use it in the cockpit to a limited degree, but the iPad has some serious flaws for use there - again, IMHO. Mine also is prone to overheating & shutting down. I've also experienced noise in the audio circuit that sounds like a stuck mic at certain frequencies when it's plugged into ship's power. I'll personally take the unit designed for aviation any day over an iPad, if I had to choose one over the other. Oh, & by the way, my iPad, with GPS & 32 GB of memory was more expensive than the iFly.