Garmin in the shade

I am getting them to respond. I may have had a role in the Montana software being updated three times in the last three weeks, I have been after them for about five or six weeks. I have been all over them on some rather obvious problems that should not have been around on a product that has been in the field for so long.

They have a ways to go, a couple rather "big" issues to be fixed. I'm giving them some time before I follow up.

I'm confused as to what he is saying.

I interpret it as he\she is not happy with Garmins service on fixing issues. He is advising you to continue to hound them to get your problem resolved.

If you mean the Facebook post, the user is probably talking about terrain shading covering up the road. This is true. On units like the 3490 that have 3D terrain and shading, if you drive in a mountainous area, the shading is so dark, it covers up the light colored road and you can barely make out the road.

This problem is further exacerbated by the nature of an LCD panel to lose color when viewing at an angle. So if you happen to be viewing the screen at an angle ("tilting the unit backwards" according to the user), this problem gets worst. This is especially pronounce on the 3590. But the source of the problem is that the terrain shading covers up the road too much to begin with.

for the translation class3. I couldn't understand the post either, but it makes sense now.

...I meant the facebook post. Thanks for the explanation.

I've noticed that the display on my Acer laptop changes appearance with pretty small changes in viewing angle compared to other screens. I suspect that is a side effect of an otherwise desirable characteristic which saves screen backlighting power by greating reducing the "wasted" light leaving at greater angles.

The user action seems obvious--live with it by looking at it from the angle where it works. And certainly the angular behavior of the hardware is not going to be altered by a software update. Although perhaps for this specific model a different choice of coloring options for the map data could help.

It sounds like the OP is having trouble viewing certain color combinations on his/her screen when looking at the screen from certain angles.

I can't say I've experienced this although using polarized sunglasses can make it more difficult to view the screen.

I had the project manager for the 34xx series ask me to send him information regarding bugs for the 34xx series at the CES show last year. I emailed him and several other employees screenshots, logs, suggestions, etc. - two pages worth. No response and nothing fixed. I'm going back to CES again this year and you know they're gonna get an earful from me! With all the smartphones and other PND's out there, they shouldn't conduct themselves in this manner whatsoever.

Using my polarized sunglasses, I cannot see practically anything on a screen.

That is down to what kind of LCD pannel is being used. In your case and the Garmin's, they use cheaper TN panels which suffer from poor viewing angles. There is much more information available below for those interested

http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/articles/panel_technologies.htm

The screen was designed to be looked at dead on, not at angles like a flat panel TV, or monitor. It doesn't matter if the angle is only good for 45 degrees. Who uses it that way?

OP, as for the shading, my 3790 has no such problems. All the roads are quite clear. BTW, I live in a mountainous area.

Putting aside technical issue - the position taken by support representative is not surprising. This is exactly how pretty much any tech support in any company would react. This problem is from quality assurance area, while tech support is trained to help customers - totally different goal, and they won't even understand why you are not satisfied, and what you expect from them. Even if they understand, it's possible and even likely that they don't have procedures and contacts to send the issue to quality assurance. This is especially true for outsourced support, which is the case in pretty much every large company.

The only way to get the actual issue looked at is to call the corporate office. You will talk to administrative assistant, who will take information, and arrange for a call from someone competent. Even then, if it's just you who have reported the problem, most likely they will ignore it, with the explanation that they have to control the costs. If you are lucky, they will give you some kind of reward or compensation - free X months of service, money back, etc. For example, this was the outcome of my own fight to make my brokerage ING Direct to fix the bug on their website. They admitted it, but since they did not hear about it from others, they gave me half a year of free trading.

I had exactly this scenario many dozen times with dozens of companies, big and small. I would be highly surprised if tech support actually took information about de-facto bug report, and passed it through.

I have been using a sunshade ever since I had a Nuvi 350, have one for the 855 and also for the 3790.
I had a home made one at first, but found out quickly that they can be bought for 4.3", 5" and 7" screen sizes.
Makes a tremendous difference to see the screen, especially in sunlight. The hood across the top of the screen is about 1 1/2" deep and on the sides it tapers down to zero. As Juggernaut also mentions, my screen is adjusted for the best angle for me to view the screen.