Quest Screen Scratching

[The Phantom Pieman]

I have just had a look at the screen o my Quest. Where it has been "in transit", either in pockets or bags, the screen now has some light scratches on.

a) Has anyone else noticed this?
b) Are there any optical / cd cleaners that can remove this?

Thanks

 

[swebb]

i havent noticed any scratching on mine, but i do take extra care in storing it, ensuring its always packed with screen against something soft/fleecy etc to prevent scratching....

I don't think any kind of lense cleaner will "repair" scratches, they're normally for cleaning greasy finger marks etc from the surface.

I'm not sure, but i think once scratched, your stuck with it......

If you do find something to remove the scratches... be sure to let us all know....

good luck...

 

[Pondboy]

Screen scratch remover

I got a tube of Displex Display Polish online £5ish and used it to good effect on my Ipod and my mobile.

Very effective. Takes 95% plus of the big scratches out and buffs up the hazy ones a treat. One tube does about 5 treatments. Mask off all the surrounding areas, as it WILL remove the paint/finish there just as effectively as it removes the scratches on the screen. PB

 

[Paul Young]

I keep my Quest in an Oakley sunglasses bag. The soft microfibre material protects from scuffs/scratches & buffs off fingerprints a treat. Oakley recommend the bags for cleaning the iridium finish on their lenses.

HTH,

 

[Deleted account W]

I think what’s happened is the anti-reflective coating on the screen has become scratched.

I've had the same problem. The effect on the screen was it made the image pixelated, if you know what I mean. Very small scratches all over the screen.

What I did was use a lens cleaning cloth and a small bottle of lens cleaner that came with my glasses.

After a fair amount of vigorous rubbing with the cloth the scratches were gone …along with the anti-reflective coating
You can still see a small area the coating in the corners where the cloth didn’t reach, it appears blue in colour compared with the rest of the screen when the display is turned off.

I'm going to buy a pack of the screen protectors that are sold for PDA's and apply one to the screen before I use it again.

 

[The Phantom Pieman]

I think what’s happened is the anti-reflective coating on the screen has become scratched.

I've had the same problem. The effect on the screen was it made the image pixelated, if you know what I mean. Very small scratches all over the screen.

What I did was use a lens cleaning cloth and a small bottle of lens cleaner that came with my glasses.

After a fair amount of vigorous rubbing with the cloth the scratches were gone …along with the anti-reflective coating
You can still see a small area the coating in the corners where the cloth didn’t reach, it appears blue in colour compared with the rest of the screen when the display is turned off.

I'm going to buy a pack of the screen protectors that are sold for PDA's and apply one to the screen before I use it again.

Bugger, I wish I had reaf this before I did what I did ...

1) Any way of reapplying anti refelective coating
2) Does it make a big diff anyway?
3) Can I get a new screen fitted ?

Thanks

 

[FIN_GSer]

My Quest has bad scratches. I have kept it in my pocket with mobile phone.
Display durability of Quest is A LOT worce than my mobile phone one. 26xxx series display issues I can understand, because they have touch screen. Quest has no sensitive window, so scratch resistance should be similar to mobile phone one. It is not!

Bad quality I would say!

FIN_GSer

 

[PanEuropean]

Fin:

It's not bad quality, it is the nature of an antireflective coating. Ipods and mobile phones don't have an antireflective coating on them - so, scratches are not very visible, and if you do want to get rid of a scratch, you just polish it out.

Garmin GPSR's and corrective lenses (eyewear, glasses) do have anti reflective coatings on them. The coating on the Garmin GPSR's is just as durable - or, just as fragile - as the coating on high quality off the rack sunglasses, or on prescription glasses that have plastic lenses.

The only way to make the coating more durable would be to go to a sapphire crystal screen - like a Breitling watch - and that would add a horrible weight penalty, not to mention the cost.

The only answer is to treat the screen on the GPSR the same way you would treat a lens on a camera, or a pair of good quality sunglasses. You have to protect it from abrasion. I keep my GPSRs in a little pouch when I am not using them. Just get a kid's pencil case, and wrap the GPSR in a little bit of felt cloth. Or, if you fly on airlines from time to time, scarf one of the little amenity kits that the airlines give out in business class. The Air France ones are perfect for the 276, the Air Canada ones are perfect for the 26xx series. Maybe British Airways kits might be suitable for the Quest - I don't know, I have never used a Quest.

Michael

 

[PanEuropean]

What I did was use a lens cleaning cloth and a small bottle of lens cleaner that came with my glasses. After a fair amount of vigorous rubbing with the cloth the scratches were gone …along with the anti-reflective coating

Don't feel bad, Whatton - I did the same thing to my SP III when it got scratched up. The screen was like a friggin' signalling mirror after that - I couldn't see the image on the display unless I went down into a coal mine.

I sent the GPSR back to Garmin UK with a note explaining the problem - they replaced the front cover (the whole front part is one single bit) and returned it the same week - I think they charged me CHF 50 (about GBP 20) for the repair. They are not out to make a profit on screen replacements (or any repairs, for that matter) they do repair work pretty close to cost price. If the cost of a repair is very small, they often won't bother charging for it, they just chalk it up to goodwill.

Michael

 

[Deleted account 220427002]

why don't you put one of the clear screen protectors that you get for PDA's just buy a bigger one and cut it to size

 

[Beemer]

I have just had a look at the screen o my Quest. Where it has been "in transit", either in pockets or bags, the screen now has some light scratches on.

a) Has anyone else noticed this?
b) Are there any optical / cd cleaners that can remove this?

Thanks

Encountered exactly the same problem, I used some car polish and it came up like new. If I've polished away the anti reflective coating, I can honestly say I haven't noticed the difference.
Had I known how "fragile" the coating was I would've done exactly as Pan European suggests, but it's done now!!
Steve

 

[The Phantom Pieman]

I have to admit , I see very little diffrence between the areas with coating and without ...

If anything the screen is clearer without!

 

[DodgyGeeSer]

I presume it would be ok to use something like this:

Screen-Clene (Safeclens): Monitor / Filter Screen Cleaner.

The Blurb on the back says:
Highly-effective non-smearing pump action cleaner for use on monitor screens, anti-glare filters and glass surfaces...... Contains no alcohol.....

It would be cool if I could, as it's cheap, and is in plentiful supply here..
Anyone know if it might be harmful to the anti-reflective coating?

Could be a cheap answer to keeping the screen clean..

 

[PanEuropean]

Personally - I just stick the whole darn GPSR underneath the tap, run some warm water over it, then put a drop or two of mild dish detergent onto the screen, and rub the detergent around with my fingertip. Then, I rinse the GPSR off, again, under the tap.

Before you accuse me of losing my marbles, consider this: The automotive GPSR's are all waterproof (PDA models excepted), and the risk of scratching the screen comes from the possibility of rubbing dirt particles on the screen when you clean it. By just sticking the whole thing under the tap, you rinse off any dirt particles. The mild dish detergent then gets rid of any smears or other oil marks from your fingertips, etc.

Why complicate matters by purchasing some unknown cleaner? Everyone has dish detergent at home, and every hotel room will have a little bottle of shampoo in it that works just as well.

Michael