Display Brightness

You'll have to angle the screen to get better visibility. Loosen the mount and play with the angles - most of us end up with a leveled flat angle to catch as much light as possble onto the screen. And you'll lose 50% of the screen clarity if u wear a sunglass.

Without a doubt the Edge screens are less brighter than the Wahoos. The Wahoo screens are very very good - even with sunglasses.

I use my 530 with  brightness at 0%. At 100% it's gonna kill your battery real fast. If you're still having difficulty at 80-100% brightness maybe you'll need to get one of those miner head lamps to further light up the screen.

Thanks Machoman. Not what I was hoping to hear. As you mentioned, I was able to see the screen better without sunglasses, but in So Cal, I'm riding with sunglasses most of the time. Regarding screen orientation, my screen is currently completely flat so it should be catching maximum light.

During today's 90 min ride at 100%, I drained down to 80%, so not ideal. 

I'll play with the settings over the next few rides, but ultimately, it may have to return it if I can't see the data well enough while riding. 

I must say that the battery life is really good for the 530 - albeit not at your 100% brightness setting.

You shouldn't need the backlight on at all to see the display in bright conditions.  It should only be required when it is darker.  This goes for Wahoo units too.

What glasses are you using? I find some of my glasses allow me to see the screen clearer than others. Might be polarisation?

I've tried reducing the brightness and holding it up into direct sunlight and I can see it, althought not super bright. I'll give that a try during this afternoon's ride. 

As for the sunglasses, they are 100% polarized and they do have some impact on clarity/brightness for me. 

I'll add that while I have 20/20 eyesight, I'm in my early 50's and my eyes are starting to require more light to see menu's or such in dimly lit places. 

if the angle of polarisation of your sunglasses is close to 90 degree of that of the LCD screen in your Garmin it will be harder to see the screen.   Hold you sunglasses above the Garmin, look through them at the Garmin screen and rotate them.  At one point you won't be able to see the screen due to the polarisation angles being at 90 degrees.

I find the Edge 530 screen pretty easy to see if the sun is behind me.  However, if the sun is in front or to the side, I have trouble.  Flat angle did not work at all in those situations.  I am using a 20°-40° tilt now and it's a bit better.

I often find i cannot differentiate or have great difficulty seeing the magenta colored route versus the other roads.   

I have the unit flat right now, but I’ll try tilting it a little and see how that works. Regardless of the angle it still feels like it’s not very bright.