I returned mine partly for this reason amongst others & replaced my broken 810 with a 1000. It was dull & wet so I didn't really try the 1030 in bright sunshine then it repeatedly crashed & locked up so I got my money back. However by all accounts the screen is optimised for outdoors so try it outside & see what you think but I agree the colours all looked washed out indoors.
We made some changes to the display of the Edge 1030 to optimize daytime riding use. I think you will find that in outside conditions the display is much better than past Edge product. We do have an online FAQ that discusses the difference.
I have not owned a Garmin device before so I can't compare to prior products but I would say that while I agree that the screen looks washed out and dull inside is really easy to read when I am out riding (30 rides under many different lighting and weather conditions). I am very happy with the screen.
The screen is a major disappointment and a great step back from my 800 and 1000. In daylight it’s fine (notice the Garmin rep only mentions the daylight performance and says nothing about other conditions), but really it’s not appreciably better than past Edge screens in this regard. In twighlight it’s infuriatingly dim, especially when auto brightness is selected. If you manually crank it to 100%, it’s marginally better. In complete darkness it’s ok, but again, only at 100% brightness and the colors are still almost completely muted making it difficult to discern color-related elements on the map.
The screen is inexcusably bad, but what makes the situation worse is that the auto brightness feature is very non-reactive to darkening light. When it’s getting dark, the device should put the backlight at an appropriate brightness. It doesn’t. And with the 1030, the appropriate brightness in dim-light is almost always going to be 100% (truthfully, the appropriate brightness would be 200%, something the 1030 will never be able to achieve). I’ve tried running the 1030 at 100% brightness and while the screen usability improves, battery life takes a big hit.
Look, I’m 50 years old. My eyes aren’t what they used to be, nor are those of the millions of other riders my age. It’s well and good for a 20 year old to say the screen is fine, but are they really the core market for a 1030? It seems logical to me that in general, guys in their late 40s and older are the ones with the cash to purchase the more expensive 1030s and the ones who would find the 1030’s larger screen a boon. The 1030 completely misses the mark at providing a needed benefit to what should be a target audience: readability.
I simply don’t see myself buying another Garmin when the time comes in a year or two. By then all my equipment (power/speed meters) will be bluetooth compatible and an iPhone may just do a much better job in this role with its much better screen. This is assuming the battery tech improves. The only thing holding me back from switching to an iPhone at this point is battery life and ANT compatibility.
And on another note, I’ve simply had it with the Edge series’ refusal to stay connected to my iPhone. Just getting my rides to upload has become an ordeal and I’ve never successfully gotten the 1030 to sync using WiFi. Bluetooth connectivity has been a problem with all my Garmins and they’ve made no progress in this department. At least with my previous Edges I could simply disable Bluetooth and upload rides via WiFi. But who knows? Maybe the next update will fix the WiFi issue. Or the one after that? Or the one after that?
I wonder if there is some manufacturing variability in the screens. I have 56 year old eyes and bike without my glasses. I find the screen easy to read in all conditions - bright sunlight, clouds, rain, twilight, night, etc. I find it hard to believe that anyone would not be thrilled with the screen on my unit. I have not touched any display settings and I am running with the default settings.
New Edge 1030 on left (100% brightness). Old 1000 on the right. I find it hard to believe that anyone would find this acceptable. ciq.forums.garmin.com/.../1269667.jpg
I find the screen one of the few aspects of the 1030 that makes it worth keeping. Indoors it seems dim, but outdoors it has always been readable even in direct sunlight.
