Trying to sort the Streetpilot screen

[Rob Farmer]

My Streetpilot III is a great piece of kit apart from the screen glare, which makes it all but unusable in daylight when it's on the bike, so I wrote to Garmin to see if they did something to reduce the glare. I've just got this reply:

Dear Sir,

Unfortunately we do not produce a coating or film that can reduce glare.

Sarah Chaddock
Garmin (Europe) Ltd
http://www.garmin.com
http://www.garmin.com/support/


Very helpfull that?? anybody got any ideas?

 

[judge]

Have you tried the little hood/covers either genuine part or home made Vernatech stylie?

 

[schnauzer]

is it just glare, ie: would putting a piece of 'cut to shape thin non-reflective glass over the screen help? ( see your local picture framer for an offcut to try?) or if you put sunglasses on the screen does that cut the 'glare' out, in which case a bit of polarised plastic may do. the ultimate is probably a sheet of reactolite glass!

 

[Ned Flanders]

Not sure but you could try thin sheet polarising film (from photographic shop). However the SP with its LCD screen will be polarised so you'll need to fix the orientation of the polariser accordingly (rotate it). If the glare is from surface reflections this should cut it out. Worse still, at best the polariser is only ~50% transmitting, so the screen could be so 'dim' you won't see it

Probably talking absolute bo**ocks, and haven't got a GPS to try it out on. I'll seek advice for you from the real scientists at work tomorrow.


Regards

Tim

 

[schnauzer]

another thought......... have you tried riding at night?

 

[AndyT]

My Streetpilot III is a great piece of kit apart from the screen glare, which makes it all but unusable in daylight when it's on the bike, so I wrote to Garmin to see if they did something to reduce the glare. I've just got this reply:

Dear Sir,

Unfortunately we do not produce a coating or film that can reduce glare.

Sarah Chaddock
Garmin (Europe) Ltd
http://www.garmin.com
http://www.garmin.com/support/


Very helpfull that?? anybody got any ideas?

Strange as on Page 58 of the users manual under cleaning it states that the screen is "coated with a special anti-reflective coating...." Maybe they forgot!!

On my Streetpilot colourmap I fitted a touratech sunshade and never had any issues with reflections. I havn't used my SP111 on the bike yet as it is white outside and my new touratech mount has only just arrived.

Have Fun

AndyT

 

[roadrider]

[/B][/QUOTE]

My Streetpilot III is a great piece of kit apart from the screen glare, which makes it all but unusable in daylight when it's on the bike

I've been using the SP3 for 2 years now and don't have a problem with glare. Have you tried adjusting the contrast and brightness. and adusted the angle of the mounting???
John

 

[PanEuropean]

Rob:

My experience with the SP III (70,000 km's over two summers) was that I could solve the glare problem pretty easily by tweaking the contrast level - about one colour bar to the left, if I remember correctly - and by very slightly adjusting the tilt of the GPSR on the motorcycle. I have never needed to use a glareshield with my SP III.

I'm not sure how your GPSR is mounted, if you have a "fixed" type mount that does not allow for vertical angle adjustment, or if you have a Ram-Mount or similar that does allow for vertical adjustment. I have a Ram-Mount with an arm about 3 inches long that attaches to the back of the Garmin SP III bracket. You can see a picture of it at this link: SP III Mounts. Whenever glare has been a problem (e.g. sun shining from behind me), I just adjust the tilt a few degrees - not very much at all - and this solves the problem.

The second summer I was riding, I screwed up the screen cover very badly by cleaning it with an aircraft window polish. The screen had a few minor scratches on it, and I wanted to get rid of them. Well, I got rid of them OK, but I also removed the quarter wave dichroic coating that Garmin applies to the surface of the screen (actually, to the plastic cover that goes over the screen) in order to reduce glare. The thing was practically unreadable in sunlight after that.

I sent the unit to Garmin in the UK for repair (via a dealer here in Switzerland), and they replaced the whole front case cover for me. The screen cover is plastic-welded to the front case cover. Total cost was about CHF 50 (about GBP 25, I think) and the turnaround time was a week. Getting the SP III back with a new screen cover with an un-damaged coating on it was like getting a whole new unit.

So, I suggest you check - compare your SP III to a new one in a showroom - and see if the 1/4 wave coating has been removed or damaged. If so, get the front cover replaced, it is well worth the expense.

You might also want to try doing a "factory reset" on the settings of your SP III. To do this, first, save all your waypoints, routes and your track logs by uploading them to MapSource (the factory reset will erase all your waypoints, routes and track logs). Then, with the unit turned OFF, press and hold the QUIT, ROUTE and RIGHT PAN buttons. Press and release the POWER button one time. Then, release the RIGHT PAN button only. Continue to hold QUIT and ROUTE for approx 15 seconds. During this time, you should see a blank, backlit screen. If you see this, then you know that the unit is resetting. This will reset the unit to factory defaults for EVERYTHING. You can then try moving the contrast slider one 'colour bar notch' to the right (I think this is the correct direction) or to the left and seeing if that makes it easier to read.

By the way, to anyone else reading this, don't do this factory reset sequence unless you have a reason to. Not sure why not, but that is what I have been told - "don't do it unless you need to".

PanEuropean

 

[John Armstrong]

Year zero reset

I understand that the factory reset will also wipe the data card (if installed) and that it is the data card that stores the road speed data.

This I found out after doing the reset in Spain, and with help form the dealer who contacted Garmin for me and who siad to remove the data card. "Year zero" as it takes the unit back to Tiawan and zero's the clocks, to help the GPSR put it in the right country!

I've a sunshade and never noticed a problem on the bike that couldn't be solved by adjusting the contrast or colour balance.

 

[Podger]

Re: Re: Trying to sort the Streetpilot screen

Rob, I know that this came up as one of your gripes last week, and I commented then.

I use an Adventure Motorcycle mounting bracket (which is based upon the RAM mounting) at http://www.adventure-motorcycling.co.uk/ , and which is partly swappable between my Hayabusa and the 1150.I can honestly say I have never had an issue of reflection in all weather and light conditions , and personally I think that you should look at your mounting system which would allow you to adjust the viwing angle.......

Adventure even do one that allows you to extend a standard 1150 mounting it up vertically by addional ball joints so that the unit can be mounted of the handelbars , but extend over the top of fully filled Baglux tank bag.

 

[Howard Millichap]

The simple answer to the glare problem is to mount it and angle it so that the relected image is of something dark. The darkest thing I've found is my riding kit. So make sure the unit points at your jacket.
Having said that, there will always be a situation where the sun is in a position to reflect on the screen, blotting out the screen a bit. You just have to move you head a bit.