GPS Car Navigators: Screen Readability Test

GPS Reviews | GPS Software Hub | September 24, 2007 at 4:07 am

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The units examined for this evaluation were, Left to Right: Lowrance iWay 500, Garmin c320, TomTom Go, Magellan Roadmate 300, Garmin StreetPilot 2610, and the Cobra NavOne 3000. In the descriptions below, I give readability ranking as 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. If two units have the same rank, that means there were about equally easy to read in the given ambient light.

This is an overview of our arrangement with all of the units in view on a cloudy day. In this light, I would say that the most readable were in descending order: (1) iWay 500, (1) StreetPilot 2610, (1) Cobra NavOne, (2) Magellan RM300, (3) Garmin c320, (4) TomTom Go.

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It is getting on toward dusk and the iWay 500 is very readable and the c320 is more difficult to see. ALL instruments are set to maximum brightness.

Again, more toward dusk and the c320 is “OK”, TomTom Go almost impossible to see and the Magellan a bit brighter than the other two. This photo is in a glare situation that makes all three look a bit worse than your eyeball would see.

Here we see that the RoadMate 300, StreetPilot 2610, and the Cobra NavOne are all easy to read in the cloudy/overcast time.

Another photo shows the TomTom Go still difficult to read, Magellan RM300 quite readable and the SP2610 with its usual good contrast.

Another picture of the c320, Go, RM300, and SP2610. There was a lot of glare on the c320 in this photo. Notice the XM Radio is ON, but the screen is not readable at all. Makes the GPS gear look a bit better.

Photo showing the iWay 500, c320, Go, and RM300

As it gets on toward dusk in cloudy weather, the Go, RM300, SP2610 and Cobra NavOne are seen.

Near dusk, the iWay 500 has a bright crisp readable display. Same under all lighting conditions. User must manually reduce brightness at night as the intensity is not automatically adjusted for night vs day.

The readability of the display on the Garmin c320 is a bit disappointing.

The GO is difficult to read, and the Magellan RM300 shows a quite readable display. The GO kept zooming in on its own so it was impossible to zoom out and take a picture before it automatically zoomed back in.

Source: http://gpsinformation.us/joe/gpscompare/gpscarnavscreencompare.html