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.

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

Neil Gould asked, "How did you try to dim your 295?" He also said his dims
to black, and doesn't need to be brighter in daylight.

I dim my 295 by momentarily pressing the power button then repeatedly
pressing the down rocker. I never change the contrast setting (except once,
unknowingly, after which I thought my display had failed). I have my
contrast bar set about in the middle of the green bar below it. If I dim the
display to minimum then adjust the contrast to the right, I can get the
display to dim much more but I lose the gray bar below the color bars.

Where do you guys who can dim to black have your contrast set and do you see
the gray bar when you've dimmed the display way down?

Jon

On Fri, 20 Feb 2004 21:45:44 GMT, "Jon Woellhaf"
wrote:

Neil Gould asked, "How did you try to dim your 295?" He also said his dims
to black, and doesn't need to be brighter in daylight.

I dim my 295 by momentarily pressing the power button then repeatedly
pressing the down rocker. I never change the contrast setting (except once,
unknowingly, after which I thought my display had failed). I have my
contrast bar set about in the middle of the green bar below it. If I dim the
display to minimum then adjust the contrast to the right, I can get the
display to dim much more but I lose the gray bar below the color bars.

Where do you guys who can dim to black have your contrast set and do you see
the gray bar when you've dimmed the display way down?

Jon - my 295 is the same way. It goes pretty dark - but is still
bright when flying on a pitch black night.

Mine is a very old 295, can't remember exactly when I got it, but it
was 3-4 years ago, so maybe that has something to do with it.

-Nathan

"Rod Madsen" wrote:
My GPSMAP 295 can be dimmed to black!

Have you actually tried this in a blacked-out room?

Mine can't be dimmed to black. I have one built very early in
production, but it's had every sw update. At minimum brightness, it'a a
bit too bright for me for night flying.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM
(remove pants to reply by email)

No. I haven't tried it in a blacked-out room. I've tried it in my
windowless garage which leaks a little light around the door. I have
firmware version 2.10 which is pretty old, and I have the contrast set in
the middle where the white, gray, and black bars are all easily
distinguishable.

Rod
"Dan Luke" wrote in message
...
"Rod Madsen" wrote:
My GPSMAP 295 can be dimmed to black!

Have you actually tried this in a blacked-out room?

Mine can't be dimmed to black. I have one built very early in
production, but it's had every sw update. At minimum brightness, it'a a
bit too bright for me for night flying.
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM
(remove pants to reply by email)