readability of display - Garmin COLORADO

[freeday]

how to improve the readability of the new Colorado?

Do you have any tips or should i hope that garmin will change the coloring and type of font.

why did garmin change the layout ?

 

please reply without the pics inside - thank you

 

a white background.jpg was already installed

Edited March 1, 2008 by freeday

[+Renegade Knight]

Short of using the backlight I'm not sure there is a way to make the display better. It's flat out not as nice ast he 60 series.

[+qlenfg]

How about a comparison showing a map screen or something we might actually use in the field. I think I've actually looked at the satellite screen all of once or twice to turn off the receiver to save power while playing indoors.

 

Also, the viewing and lighting angle are critical -- different LCD types require different lighting angles and viewing angles and will not look the same when compared as in the photos.

[freeday]

How about a comparison showing a map screen or something we might actually use in the field. I think I've actually looked at the satellite screen all of once or twice to turn off the receiver to save power while playing indoors.

 

Also, the viewing and lighting angle are critical -- different LCD types require different lighting angles and viewing angles and will not look the same when compared as in the photos.

therefore you need a map which is registered on all units - otherwise you cannot compare it.

 

you are right, but

believe me, this photo shows, how it behaves in reality - the colorado is not easy to read - with every type of lighting angle, the gpsmap is much better.

 

i myself would like to have great readabilty - i hate it to bellyache about something.

That's the way it is.

[+Evshro & son]

Would something like an invisible shield make a difference? I read something about it enhancing the contrast.

[freeday]

Would something like an invisible shield make a difference? I read something about it enhancing the contrast.

maybe - i ordered one, but the first version is to small so we have to wait for the next version - i hope the next version will fit.

 

But it could only change a little bit of the readability - the best way would be that garmin changes the color and font-typ

Edited March 2, 2008 by freeday

[+GOT GPS?]

In this picture, I see you used a white jpeg image as a background, so now the fonts are less readable, but since this unit does not have a Day/Night changing screen, I have to either use a black jpeg or a white jpeg. Also one other issue is the plastic film on your GPS, it will hurt the readability of the screen, but it does protect it, and cut glare.

 

Edit: each of my error corrections seem to create a new error.

Edited March 2, 2008 by GOT GPS?

[toddm]

Yeah I played with one a lot with different backgrounds, in full sun the black background seems best, in other light white seemed better.

 

The bottom line is, while the screen may have more resolution, and be larger, etc. etc. it sucks to see compared to older units. The backlight is useless outside because it's not nearly bright enough to make any difference, and if it was the runtime would be so bad it also would be useless in the field.

 

All I can say at this point is I hope they did not use the same type of screen on the edge 705, because that will make it pretty well useless for cycling, as the colorado is impossible to see on the bike for me unless it has full sun on the screen (meaning you can only see it when you are riding with the sun above and to your sides) or it's dark out, in cloudy conditions or medium brightness forget it.

 

I'd trade the resolution in a heartbeat to get the same screen as the etrex hcx lineup has. It's backlight is bright enough you can see it help in full sun, it makes the unit readable in all light conditions. Because frankly, a gps unit with a screen you can't see to use is just dead weight, and really expensive dead weight at that.

[+geokitebuggy]

Part of the Colorado's display problem is that the pixels are smaller. The 60CSx nad pixels measuring 237x233 microns. The Etrex HCx has 187x195 micron pixels. The Colorado has 158x158 micron pixels. The transflective display allows sunlight to pass through the display and be reflected back through to the user by means of a reflective inner layer. Since the Colorado's pixels are smaller, each pixel is capable of passing fewer photons through it - hence dimmer performance with higher resolution.

 

Some qualitative improvement might be made if Garmin would modify some of the color schemes such as how roads show up against the map background. Allowing the user to modify the color mapping would be a nice feature. What you need to make the display useful is contrast and brightness. Bright ambient lighting reduces contrast...