Garmin 595 screen and battery issues.

colin.carter

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Hi all.
My trusty Zumo 550 has finally gone to the great scrapheap in the sky so I have replaced it with a 595.
Playing with it this weekend has raised a couple of issues.

Firstly the screen seems quite difficult to read, almost as though it has a film over it. It's just about OK at 100% brightness but it only retains that setting when powered up. On battery only it very quickly drops to just 40% brightness and wont let you push the brightness back up. At 40% the screen is unreadable. I hire bikes a lot so often use the unit on battery alone in fact I went for the 550 for its quickly replaceable battery as I usually carry a spare.

Anyone else finding this an issue.
TA
C
 
There are one or two reports of poor screens but nothing much else. Everything else says the screens are better than earlier models.

I would find your way to another device and compare them. One question: Does the device have some sort of reduced power setting, that is activated when the device is running off its internal battery, dimming the screen?
 
The Garmin Zumo 590 (in my experience) has an appalling battery life, and judging by the comments in this thread it seems the 595 has similar issues, probably less life with more functionality.

My first 590 went back because it stopped taking a charge off the micro USB, the replacement worked initially but that has also stopped charging via USB.
Last week I had it on charge for over 4 hours from a wall socket (not a laptop).
It powered down after roughly a minute from start up (didn't get fully charged) even though the set gives the appearance of charging.

I have resigned myself to charging the device from the cradle when in use.

That said I cannot understand why the 590 is so power hungry the battery is very similar to a common mobile phone, why does it drain the battery so fast??

I would guess from fully charged you would only get max 10 -15 minutes (if your lucky) before the battery is exhausted. Which to me I unacceptable.

I would probably go with the smaller Zumo 350 or 390 if battery life is important.
 
Been in Europe this week in a hire car so took the new unit along. In the charging cradle it is a great unit. Quick to power up and re-route, great directions often with simulated picture of the junction, lanes and even road signs. Screen is easy enough to use and see but only at 100% brightness. When I turned it down to 40 it was completely unreadable. Will try and get it on the bike this weekend as I suspect it will be great in a cradle but pretty useless on battery life.
 
If the screen is unreadable, you can change the theme of the maps, which give a different contrast. As for battery life, my 590 was the same. I contacted Garmin, and they sent me a new unit................ Twice !

Good luck.
 
Continued playing with 595 and also spoken with Garmin and the supplier Get Geared.
Fully charged the battery has a useable life of 15-20 mins after which the screen dims to 40% and cannot be seen.
This is a default setting and cannot be overridden so unpowered the device has a working time of approx. 15mins!

Despite quoting a battery life of 3 hrs in the spec Garmin say this is about right. They added the device is meant to be used powered up and the battery is for emergency use only, eg. plotting a route off bike! I did say my 550 had a similar 3 hr battery life spec with a useable battery life of 3-4 hours without dimming but they didn't respond.

Have spoken to GetGeared this morning and they were great. They called Garmin and were given the same line they gave me. They accept that its all misleading and have offered a full refund. I will prob go this way and try to get the 550 repaired short term until I can try other units.

Bottom line, 595 is a great unit when powered up in the cradle but useless on battery power.
Thanks all.
 


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