On Sunday, June 21, 2015 at 9:51:22 PM UTC+2, wrote:
On Sunday, June 21, 2015 at 2:56:42 PM UTC+1, Papa3 wrote:
A somewhat related question - has anyone run into problems with a Kobo (Kobo Mini) washing out in direct sunlight due to overheating? I flew with one for the first time in a club glider earlier this month running TopHat on a Kobo Mini. The Kobo was secured via a suction mount to the canopy. I liked it quite a bit, until the display began to become fainter and fainter. At some point, the touch screen became unresponsive. Luckily, I had a backup copy running on my HTC One which worked fine.

Some Googling suggests that some Kobo Minis may have issues with long periods in direct sunlight. Anyone in the gliding community care to comment?

P3

That's quite feasible. The stated max operating temperature of E-ink displays is low (50C). If you've got no air circulating in the cockpit and the sunlight's shining at right angles to the display, ghosting and eventually fading is possible. High ambient temperatures are less significant, but certainly won't help.

Briefly opening a vent to get some airflow over the display should resolve the problem temporarily, or tilting the display so that the sun's shining at a more oblique angle. Using a Kobo Mini with a white casing and even avoiding using the 'inverse' colour scheme (black infoboxes) might have some effect too.

I tried using my Samsung Galaxy S2 to do this job in a club glider (once) and was immediately convinced that I need a different solution. I've looked at using a Kobo for the e-Ink display and battery life, but couldn't think of how to get GPS connected... Can someone (Paul, Gary?) please point me in the right direction? On the internet I found some information from a guy who got all the way to getting XCSoar running in simulator mode because he hadn't connected GPS input.

Also, would you recommend using a Kobo mini or Kobo Touch? I know I wouldn't go for a Kobo Glow, because the backlight is a waste of energy in the cockpit. But compared to the Mini, the Touch has a nice big screen.