Fix for too bright GPS display

On several flights at night, I found my Garmin GPSMAP 295's display didn't
dim enough to suite me, so I finally decided to try to fix the problem.

I went to a local professional photographer's store and bought a packet of
neutral density filter material for a few bucks. It had 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9
densities. The sheets are paper thin plastic. I cut pieces the size of my
GPS's display and found 0.9 ND worked perfectly.

Jon

Gee, I'm surprised Garmin doesn't have a better dimmer circuit. My AvMap
has a dimmer circuit that tones it all the way down to nuthin'.

In fact, we actually thought the unit was broken one day when it wouldn't
"power up." It turned out we had dimmed it so much the night before that
we couldn't see it in the daylight!
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:
Gee, I'm surprised Garmin doesn't have a better dimmer circuit. My
AvMap has a dimmer circuit that tones it all the way down to nuthin'.

In fact, we actually thought the unit was broken one day when it
wouldn't "power up." It turned out we had dimmed it so much the
night before that we couldn't see it in the daylight!

That's likely why it has a minimum brightness setting - it keeps the
service calls down.

My GPSMAP 295 can be dimmed to black! I would like it to be brighter. I'm
surprised you can't dim it to your satisfaction.

Rod

"Jon Woellhaf" wrote in message
news:ku8Zb.359882$na.536009@attbi_s04...
On several flights at night, I found my Garmin GPSMAP 295's display didn't
dim enough to suite me, so I finally decided to try to fix the problem.

I went to a local professional photographer's store and bought a packet of
neutral density filter material for a few bucks. It had 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9
densities. The sheets are paper thin plastic. I cut pieces the size of my
GPS's display and found 0.9 ND worked perfectly.

Jon

Ditto here.

I think there is something wrong with your unit. You should be able to dim
it all the way to barely visible.

I wrote that I can't dim my GPSMAP 295 sufficiently and Rod Madsen said he
can dim his to black. "Hudson Valley Amusement" agreed, and Chris Campbell
said he can dim his to barely visible and suggested something might be wrong
with my unit.

Very interesting! I hadn't thought that it might be defective.

My 295, S/N 98802510, is one of the first. I received it on 4 Feb 2000. I'm
running the latest firmware, ver 2.50.

Rod also said he'd like his to be brighter. Mine is plenty bright when
running on external power. I wonder if a production change was made that
lowered both the maximum and minimum brightness.

I'll ask Garmin.

Thanks for the responses.

Jon

I found that the contrast seemed to have an overly significant effect too




"Jon Woellhaf" wrote in message
news:MFfZb.81462$jk2.424947@attbi_s53...
I wrote that I can't dim my GPSMAP 295 sufficiently and Rod Madsen said he
can dim his to black. "Hudson Valley Amusement" agreed, and Chris Campbell
said he can dim his to barely visible and suggested something might be
wrong
with my unit.

Very interesting! I hadn't thought that it might be defective.

My 295, S/N 98802510, is one of the first. I received it on 4 Feb 2000.
I'm
running the latest firmware, ver 2.50.

Rod also said he'd like his to be brighter. Mine is plenty bright when
running on external power. I wonder if a production change was made that
lowered both the maximum and minimum brightness.

I'll ask Garmin.

Thanks for the responses.

Jon

Recently, Rod Madsen posted:

My GPSMAP 295 can be dimmed to black! I would like it to be
brighter. I'm surprised you can't dim it to your satisfaction.

Rod

"Jon Woellhaf" wrote in message
news:ku8Zb.359882$na.536009@attbi_s04...
On several flights at night, I found my Garmin GPSMAP 295's display
didn't dim enough to suite me, so I finally decided to try to fix
the problem.

How did you try to dim your 295? Mine dims to black, and coupled with the
"night view", the range of brightness is certainly more than enough.
Unlike Rod, I don't need it to be brighter in daylight!

Neil

My 295 is also an early model S/N 98802855 which was sent back to the
factory for warranty repair 2/06/01. It has firmware from the latter date.
My lack of brightness may be a defect or maybe the LCD is just getting old
and tired. It's got a lot of hours on it.

Rod
"Jon Woellhaf" wrote in message
news:MFfZb.81462$jk2.424947@attbi_s53...
I wrote that I can't dim my GPSMAP 295 sufficiently and Rod Madsen said he
can dim his to black. "Hudson Valley Amusement" agreed, and Chris Campbell
said he can dim his to barely visible and suggested something might be
wrong
with my unit.

Very interesting! I hadn't thought that it might be defective.

My 295, S/N 98802510, is one of the first. I received it on 4 Feb 2000.
I'm
running the latest firmware, ver 2.50.

Rod also said he'd like his to be brighter. Mine is plenty bright when
running on external power. I wonder if a production change was made that
lowered both the maximum and minimum brightness.

I'll ask Garmin.

Thanks for the responses.

Jon