Hi Colm

My iPad is an iPad mini. It is a wifi +3G version but as it doesn't have a sim card in it it's working as wifi only. As I mentioned before I'm running it with free sat-nav software and it works very well.

Being wifi only the sat-nav is running from the internal maps that you download before you leave so there's no way it can go online via the 3G phone network and run up second mortgage bills. That's the way I want it to be. The iPhone does have a sim card and while I use it on the bike(s) I tend to stick with an old pda that runs TomTom sat nav. TomTom software is def easier to use although I've run both of them side by side in the Land Rover and they pick pretty much the same routes.

I'd certainly put the iPad mini into the tank bag map compartment and use it because it would fit in inside its case but we also have a full size one and that won't go in at all (I've just tried). Even if your tank bag is bigger than mine I'd be a bit worried about using it - they're a little fragile for that (our one is only used around the house and it's on its third screen (and that's cracked)).

I've chucked the pda into the tank bag map compartment and used it all over Europe both summer and winter without any problems. In your position I'd be seriously considering buying a cheap car Tom Tom sat-nav on eBay, using that in the tank bag and keeping the iPad for route planning in the evenings.

I tend to use sat nav to take the strain out of reading signposts and deciding which way to go at T junctions. I'd never get off the ferry in Calais and just set it to Athens (or wherever I was going) because it would probably route me through Moscow or Stockholm or somewhere stupid. Instead I decide for myself which route I want to take and make a list of intermediate points probably no more than 50 miles apart. That way it's likely to chose sensible roads.

With TomTom choosing the "shortest route" option is the way to be routed along dirt tracks and through front gardens. Go with "fastest route" to avoid that. Even then there are times when it makes crazy decisions - like 2 miles down a dirt road to do a U turn and detouring me 5 miles through a village and bringing me out onto the main road 200m from where I started (both of those in northern France). Other than that it does make nav a lot easier. No more stopping at crossroads and spending 20mins with a map trying to work out whether to turn left or right. I've not bothered with bluetooth in-ear directions and tend to turn the sound off. The pics are good enough.