Poor screen visibility in sunlight

[woodentop]

The problem of not being able to read the TomTom screen in bright daylight is well known, and a frustrating common factor with modern mobile phones and I-pads. The old black and white screens are much better because they rely on reflected light for readability; my old Nokia phone was easy to see in sunlight, and the monochrome Amazon e-readers work well. I overcame the problem in my van by mounting the TomTom at the top of the windscreen, but that's not possible in the car. it occurred to me that a visor/sunshade around the screen might be helpful, so I have experimented with bits of card, rather like the peak of a baseball cap, and it does help. Has anyone ever addressed this problem? Is there a commercial product available, or even a home-made solution?

 

[Arno]

Check out
https://www.glarestomper.com/visors-for-tomtom/

(The older URL put up by dhn does not work any longer.)

 

[dhn]

(The older URL put up by dhn does not work any longer.)

Huh?

 

[Arno]

https://www.tomtomforums.com/threads/need-a-visor.29414/#post-172614

 

[dhn]

Oh, ok, thanks.

 

[Arno]

ISTR that in 2008/2009 someone posted a link to a drawing to make a perfect cardboard visor.

 

[canderson]

While it's nice to be able to pan and pinch and all of those other neat tricks that came with capacitive screens, the dead smooth and hence super reflective surface sure doesn't help with visibility. I still prefer by FAR my old Via 1605 in bright sunlight to any of the many more recent TomTom units that I 'drive'. In fact, there are several resistive screens that I like better than my current TomTom models, my phone and any other capacitive screen device.

One would think they could sort this. I am unaware of any requirement for top glass surface that absolutely requires that smooth a finish when achieving a capacitive screen design, but if what we see is what's possible ... nuts.

My defensive measures have to do with positioning the device such that it's rarer (but certainly not impossible) that I'll ever have a major reflection issue. Preferred device position is on vent using one of the TomTom vent mounts, angled such that the only issue will be if I am facing just the wrong way (into the sun) and wearing a very light colored shirt. Even then, the angle makes a big difference.