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Saffronspokes
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!