+Roaming Empire Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 One of the reasons that I have been discouraged to purchase a color screened GPS unit is, the experience that I had going from the old black lcd screen cel-phones to the color phones. The color phones have way cooler features, but get them out in direct sunlight, and the screens visibility drops to near zero. If I did my Geocaching at night, this would be no problem, but my caching is during the day. I have never used a color gps unit, nor have seen one in operation. Are there similar problems in the field with the new color GPS units verses the old black lcd screened units? Quote Link to comment
+Night Stalker Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 I can't compare the Magellan color screens to the black and white, but I can compare the Garmin 60C series. The difference is unbelievable. The brighter the sunlight the better your screen will look. This is just the opposite of the older black and white screens which wash out in direct sunlight. Quote Link to comment
Ray&Nat GeoExplorers Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 I agree, I've got the Garmin Legend CX and the color screne is great. No matter what sunlight and if you have the backlight off or all the way up it looks perfect. I was really surprised at how well it looks outdoors especially in full sun. Quote Link to comment
+BigLarry Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Garmin's new color screens are perfect and work great in sunlight with a nice back light as well. I'd agree that the more sun shining on it, the better they look. The colors remain bright and delightful, not faded, in the brightest sun. It's amazing. The color scheme can be changed, but the default behavior changes from a pleasing yellow background to a very dark blue background automatically at sunset, and back at sunrise. The high quality of Garmin's color screens also make me wonder why cell phones and other portable devices don't use this fabulous technology that's available. How much more could these screens be these days? Garmin sells the whole Vista Cx for around $200, the cost of a cell phone. Quote Link to comment
+markp99 Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 I have both and eXplorist500 and 60CSx: 1. The Garmin is MUCH better that the Magellan outside in bright sunlight with no backlight 2. The Magellan's backlight is MUCH brighter than the Garmin 3. The Garmin can be a difficult to see in the car (i.e., no direct sunlight) with backlight on during the day, nearly impossible to see with backlight off. Quote Link to comment
+phask Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 I'll second that or 3rd or whatever. One of the reasons I bought mine is because the color is SO MUCH easier to see - and I usually have to put reading glasses on to see it anyway. Quote Link to comment
+Train_Man Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 Color is good... You can see it better in the sun then out of the sun. It's SO much better than b/w that you'll NEVER go back to a b/w gps Quote Link to comment
+Roaming Empire Posted October 12, 2006 Author Share Posted October 12, 2006 How about battery consumption? do color screens eat more batteries? Quote Link to comment
+geognerd Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 How about battery consumption? do color screens eat more batteries? Color screen power consumption isn't an issue anymore (not sure if color displays ever used more power to begin with). The eXplorist 400 (monochrome) and eXplorist 500 (color) are both listed as running 14 hrs on a full charge. I get more like 18 hrs on my 400. Quote Link to comment
+hogrod Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 How about battery consumption? do color screens eat more batteries? compare a greyscale legend to a legendCx.... greyscale legend 18hr claimed battery life legendC 36hr claimed battery life Both get less battery life than claimed, with my legendC I get between 25-30hrs of use without the backlighting. I can't think of any drawback to having a garmin color unit, I would never buy another gps that wasn't color. Quote Link to comment
+gpsblake Posted October 12, 2006 Share Posted October 12, 2006 The battery life of the Legend-C is about twice that of the Legend B&W. In other words, battery life isn't an issue with the color units anymore. The display of the color units beats the B&W units hands down, especially at night with the backlight on. The only time I have a little bit of a problem with the color unit is if I am riding my bike with the sun at my back putting a shadow on the unit (usually mid-afternoon) which makes it a little hard to read the map display. Garmin sells the whole Vista Cx for around $200, the cost of a cell phone. I paid 29 bucks for my Tracfone cellphone and it looks great with 256 bit color. Quote Link to comment
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