How To Make Your GPS Daylight Readable – Really!

For years GPS manufacturers have been promoting the ‘daylight readable display’ mantra. Of course, if you have purchased one of these GPS units, you will soon realize that the claim is way over the top at best. In a minute I’ll tell you how to really get a daylight readable GPS display, but first we need to understand what GPS manufacturers are up against.

First, LCD screens are a remarkable technology. All color LCD screens are made up of tiny crystals that move when an electrical current is applied. A light, located behind the crystals, is allowed to shine through the screen when these crystals are in a certain orientation. The brightness of the light behind the glass determines the overall brightness of the screen. The opacity of the glass determines the perceived contrast of the screen.

The companies that manufacture these displays have a real challenge on their hands. One is that they must compete with millions of glow candles from the sun and two; they have limited power to do this. Most of these devices (GPS units) are designed to operate with very little power. Otherwise they would NOT be portable units at all. Even without this restriction, LCD screen technology has not advanced to the point where it can provide truly daylight-readable displays.

So is there really a way to get a display that can read outdoors? Of course, spread your hands, cup them around the screen, and cast a large shadow on it. So let’s turn this simple act of shading the screen with your hands into something you can do permanently and still have enough hands left to operate the vehicle.

Recently, I came across a very simple device (GPS accessory actually) that does just that. In fact, it was so simple that my first impression was “how stupid”, but this simple idea made me a believer!