Comments on: Screen Brightness: Garmin Vs TomTom

By: Wayne

Wayne — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 23:32:00 +0000

My old Garmin 650 still shines in bright light.
Surprisingly it even added a tone like the normal door tone before announcing road directions. I wonder if this is a new feature for all Garmin GPS units?

By: Francisco

Francisco — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 18:48:36 +0000

During a recent trip I saw that most taxis in Spain have GPS units, and all that I saw were TomTom. Several times I saw the taxi driver shade his TT with a magazine or newspaper because otherwise the TT was not legible in bright sunlight. Of course, lack of adequate display brightness is precisely the reason why I no longer own the TT930. It is an excellent unit but I am not willing to put up with its dim display, which I always find difficult (and often impossible) to read during sunny days. Too bad.

By: Dan

Dan — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 22:53:04 +0000

I also bought a Nuvi 255 and still have my 260. The contrast and brightness on my 255 is not as good as my 260. To make things worse I stopped at Circuit City and found they had the 205 and 255. The 205 looked washed our like my 255. The 255 they had looked as good as my 260. I think Garmin is either buying displays from two different sources or have a Quality Control Issue. Has anyone questioned Garmin on this issue with the 2×5 series display. The GPS is great but this display issue is disappointing.

By: adam

adam — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 01:01:53 +0000

just bought the nuvi 255 4 days ago and not at all pleased with the screen/colour contrast compared to the 250 which I’ve just sold.I suppose everything’s about compromise and while the 255 has introduced many improvements over the 250 these are let down by the poor screen.shame really or I would give it 10/10

By: Wayne

Wayne — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:43:59 +0000

Tim, your screen tests are treally informative. I for one appreciate your great effort in that, and in answering numerous questions ever so patiently!
Wayne

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 17:00:47 +0000

Update: There is also a good thread about this same subject happening in the Poll: TomTom screens really that bad? thread of our forums.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 23:45:45 +0000

Tim- My fault I meant the C550.

By: Tim

Tim — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:43:30 +0000

Mike – There is no Nuvi 550.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:28:07 +0000

I have tested the Garmin Nuvi 550 and 760 against the TT 720 side by side. 550 and 760 hands down have a better screen than the TT 720. As far as the map colors go Garmin has had the right defaults since day one. I never have had a desire to change my map colors on my Garmins. The TT 720 defaults are pitiful but even with a new color scheme downloaded the screen is still very poor and the lack of anti alias on the TT 720 is even worse.

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 27 May 2008 02:34:01 +0000

I used a Garmin 760 & a TomTom 930 simultaneously in my taxi for a full week. My goal was to conduct an informal test / comparison as to which GPS worked better for me.

I never realized how much brighter, easier to view, and easier on the eyes the Garmin 760 was when directly compared to the 930 in a real world application.
For me, it got to the point where I didn’t even want to look at the TomTom screen anymore, the difference was overwhelming.

With that said, keep in mind that I drive a taxi and will be looking at the screen for 8-12 hours a day, the average ‘Joe’s would only refer to it a few hours a month, hence I’m extremely nitpicky compared to most.

The TomTom is a solid, feature packed unit, but for the time being, the only unit that will grace my taxi cab will be a Garmin.