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I'm reassured to hear it's not just me who has an issue with the screen. I was beginning to think there might be a fault with mine!
I'm surprised that garmin is dying on the hill of battery life as it must be a tiny percentage of people who need >10 hours. In principle I'm pleased that they are focusing on it, but not in this way.
I expect I find it worse than most people as I've spent the last 18 months using a phone. That has its limitations, in very bright sunlight or heavy rain, but all round its so much more pleasant. I would have left the garmin in its drawer if I wasn't planning to do the TCR this year. The garmin does do a couple of things that phone apps don't but none of them are deal breakers.
I had a look at Karoo but the dc rainmaker review made it sound a bit flaky so not sure. So I moved on to looking at the stages one, but it takes ages to work out what they are like.
I did get a 530 to try when I got the 1030 and the screen was better, but it didn't work well with the buttons so I sent it back and kept 1030. 830 is probably the best option but I don't think I'd get another garmin, though.
What I will probably do is use a phone app as my primary navigation and have the garmin there to switch on as backup when it rains hard, phone battery runs low or when I want to do stuff on my phone. I can mount two devices on my ultra racing bike so that's not a problem. And phone + power bank on winter bike. I don't think I can stand that ghostly glare for riding in the dark again!
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frank9755
Saffronspokes
I flogged my 1030 to Hippy for this exact reason. It's much discussed amongst users but dissenters are usually shouted down by the "but it's amazing in sunlight and the battery life is awesome" crowd (which is true, it is very good in those specific scenarios - but that doesn't alter the fact that it's shitty in the dark).
You might want to have a look at the 530/830 as it seems Garmin did relent slightly on the display for those (and the battery life is still excellent). They still aren't as good in the dark as the 800/1000 were though..
It will be interesting to see if Garmin continue to pursue the battery life angle, at the expense of the display clarity, on their next models - particularly given the increasingly positive reviews that the Karoo is getting (mainly due to its display)..