Anybody else having trouble seeing Garmin 530 display?

[Dogtrousers]

I can see mine OK with my regular varifocals, which is what normally ride in.

It sounds like the problem is your eyesight + the fact that the corrective glasses you use when riding are not up to snuff.

Mind you, I do very often have trouble seeing the damn thing at all. Normally when I'm getting ready for a ride and can't remember where I put it.

 

[a.twiddler]

There must be someone somewhere who makes wraparounds that are designed for spectacle wearers without making you look like a bug eyed monster. There are an awful lot of spectacle wearers who might prefer to wear something on top rather than faff around with inserts etc. Having said that, I generally use a set of prescription sunglasses with largish lenses, which helps with the wind and insect problem, but they obviously don't have the "look".

 

[Ming the Merciless]

The problem is poor near distance eyesight and not wearing suitable glasses to correct it, when riding. Investigate wearing vari or bi focal cycling glasses rather than your current ones which are clearly not up to the job for near distance.

 

[fossyant]

Old knackered eyes - I can't see mine very well as I stubbornly don't use varifocals, and my cycling glasses aren't. I just press go and record the ride and not worry about the Garmin at all. If navigating the direction arrow etc is enough.

 

[Bollo]

+1 for the eyesight issues. I’m a varifocal wearer and also have occupational glasses for screen work. Because I’m a slave to marketing I have dedicated single-vision cycling glasses and I did struggle to read the 530 screen when I had one.

But I’d also agree that the 530 screen is really too small. A chunk of my job is squeezing as much info as possible into not many pixels so I can sympathise. I think the font Garmin seem to have used for time doesn't work especially well on smaller screens. It’s just a bit heavy.

The Garmin 10xx screens are much better but serious coin. My 530 gave up a while back and thought the 1030/40 were to way too much for lots of functionality I’d never use. I took a punt on a Karoo 2 and I’m generally pretty pleased. The screen is very legible, especially with some backlighting, but the battery life isn’t all that.

 

[fossyant]

There was a reason for getting the 'Explore' - I can just about see it !

 

[Dadam]

I can see mine OK with my regular varifocals, which is what normally ride in.

It sounds like the problem is your eyesight + the fact that the corrective glasses you use when riding are not up to snuff.

Mind you, I do very often have trouble seeing the damn thing at all. Normally when I'm getting ready for a ride and can't remember where I put it.

Well clearly* if I had perfect vision I wouldn't have seen* the need to post a thread.
* no puns intended

The corrective lenses in the inserts I use are pin sharp for distance, but are single vision. I also use single vision disposable contacts for other sports, which I could try on a ride as the insert is removable. The reason I haven't thus far is if I need to adjust anything on the bike or fix a puncture I'd have to take them out to see what I was doing. So I'd be stuffed when I got back on the bike unless I carred my varifocals along as well. With the inserts I can just take them off and as I have myopia as well as presbyopia I can see really close things just fine.

 

[fossyant]

Well clearly* if I had perfect vision I wouldn't have seen* the need to post a thread.
* no puns intended

The corrective lenses in the inserts I use are pin sharp for distance, but are single vision. I also use single vision disposable contacts for other sports, which I could try on a ride as the insert is removable. The reason I haven't thus far is if I need to adjust anything on the bike or fix a puncture I'd have to take them out to see what I was doing. So I'd be stuffed when I got back on the bike unless I carred my varifocals along as well. With the inserts I can just take them off and as I have myopia as well as presbyopia I can see really close things just fine.

That's how it is with older eyes. What info do you want from the garmin ? As someone who has used one 'forever' (over 15 years), I just press start and ignore it until I've got to the end of my ride. If you are new to these things than you'll be looking at it. For navigation, you can set it to sleep until a turn comes up, and you get a bleep and a big arrow on screen - that's how I use the explore as the battery struggles for 4 hour rides plus if the display is 'on'.

 

[Dadam]

@fossyant
I guess I don’t need that much in screen. For commuting, speed and time of day really, but on a leisure ride it would be nice to see HR and gradient too. Not for training purposes, just to keep an eye on HR.

@Bollo it is a small screen but it’s probably big enough if it had clearer fonts and a bit more thought on accessibility settings. I looked on Connect Iq and there are a number of apps that offer different layouts but I couldn’t see any that focus on bigger or clearer numbers.

 

[fossyant]

@fossyant
I guess I don’t need that much in screen. For commuting, speed and time of day really, but on a leisure ride it would be nice to see HR and gradient too. Not for training purposes, just to keep an eye on HR.

@Bollo it is a small screen but it’s probably big enough if it had clearer fonts and a bit more thought on accessibility settings. I looked on Connect Iq and there are a number of apps that offer different layouts but I couldn’t see any that focus on bigger or clearer numbers.

Just ignore it, then check the data later ! That's how I do it. The longer you've got one, you'll just use it to log data, then look later - it's distracting on the bike. Navigation is different, but set it to let you know when you need to change direction.

 

[presta]

I just have those sticky plastic lenses inside my cycling sunglasses

They're a good idea, I'd never seen those before.

 

[PaulSB]

As an observation, not a Wahoo v Garmin thing, this problem was a key factor in my choosing the Wahoo Elemnt. The Elemnt has a 2.7" display, the 530 is 2.6".

Crucially the Wahoo has a black and white dispay with great contrast. At the time I was using a Garmin 810 with colour screen and it was always a problem for me to read. I've never been convinced of the need for or usefulness of a colour screen on such small devices.

 

[cougie uk]

As an observation, not a Wahoo v Garmin thing, this problem was a key factor in my choosing the Wahoo Elemnt. The Elemnt has a 2.7" display, the 530 is 2.6".

Crucially the Wahoo has a black and white dispay with great contrast. At the time I was using a Garmin 810 with colour screen and it was always a problem for me to read. I've never been convinced of the need for or usefulness of a colour screen on such small devices.

I do like the colour maps. And the colour code on the gradient of climbs.

 

[Alex321]

As an observation, not a Wahoo v Garmin thing, this problem was a key factor in my choosing the Wahoo Elemnt. The Elemnt has a 2.7" display, the 530 is 2.6".

Crucially the Wahoo has a black and white dispay with great contrast. At the time I was using a Garmin 810 with colour screen and it was always a problem for me to read. I've never been convinced of the need for or usefulness of a colour screen on such small devices.

The Elemnt started having a colour screen a long time ago - but doesn't over-use colour.

It uses I think 4 colours on the map, and it uses colours to show the gradient (after a firmware update a few months ago). But all the main fields are black and white, with good contrast, as you say, and with a glare-free screen.

I wear contact lenses for distance vision and need reading glasses for close vision, but surprisingly, in daylight I can see all the relevant numbers on mine even with the main screen set to 11 fields. I need to drop it to 9 at night. And I can't read the labels when it is on 11 fields, I have to know which field is which.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

As an observation, not a Wahoo v Garmin thing, this problem was a key factor in my choosing the Wahoo Elemnt. The Elemnt has a 2.7" display, the 530 is 2.6".

Garmin Explore is 3”