Originally I posted this in Land Rover Owner International forum but got no response, so copied and pasted into here, hopefully a bit more specialist help.

I have been using the wife's FL 2 while my defender is being rebuilt, what I have noticed is when I get in it first thing in the morning the Sat-Nav screen is very dull, almost unreadable, you can just about read the clock, the screen gradually get brighter and after about 15-20 minutes it's back to normal and continues as normal for the rest of the day no matter how many short or long trips I do.
I have looked at the Auto dimming setting and brightness control but if you turn up the brightness it's too bright when working properly.
The lights are on Automatic but it makes no difference if the lights are on or not and I have only experienced the problem first thing in the morning, It can be 6.30, dark, lights on, dull screen or as today 9.30, bright, no lights, dull screen.
Can anybody tell me if the temperature affects the screen or could there be a fault?

Yes, cold temperatures do effect the screen brightness on start-up - the colder it is outside the darker the screen is on start-up and the longer it takes to reach normal brightness. When the Freely is at normal working temperature the screen will reach normal brightness. So it is NOT a fault, just a LR quirk  2007 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Manual with Premium Pack & Moonroof.
Stornoway Grey with Ebony Black Pleather, Clear Indicators, Body Side Mouldings etc.

I find it to be the same on most touch screens

LCD technology does suffer at cold temperatures. The liquid crystal is harder to polarise so the contrast ratio suffers. Electronically, a bias voltage is used to set an appropriate threshold at a nominal temperature. Ideally, that bias needs to be adjusted with temperature but only some extended temp. designed screens can do that, effectively adjusting the contrast to suit the ambient temp.
The backlight is probably electroluminescent so it also tends to be less efficient when cold.
At some point, when I get time, I intend to remove my screen to look at interfacing more video inputs (reverse camera/iPod etc.) so when I do, I'll check to see if there's any analogue bias adjust control. If there is, it's possible to retrofit some temperature compensation - but there are still limits. There are very few LCDs that perform well at -10C and worse.

Well that well and truly answers that one. Nice one Andy T still pining for my 3dr, no removeable hardtop, no drop glass tailgate, no roof rack, no pockets everywhere to stow all that man kit

I found this a wee bit of a niggle which seems to be made worse by the crude auto-dimming feature. So i found that i could minimise the effect by only using the auto-dimming feature, on a relatively bright setting, when its dark at night.

So i have got into the habit of turning off auto-dimming during the daytime which gives a brighter 'start-up' followed by a very bright screen in daylight, which i like.

The persistent question at every start-up (choose nav or settings etc) is also a ball-ache though :o/

My advice would be stick with a TomTom. Inbuilt units are unlikely to be as good - and you can keep it indoors overnight

richardk wrote:

My advice would be stick with a TomTom. Inbuilt units are unlikely to be as good - and you can keep it indoors overnight

I have a SONY sat-nav hard-wired into the cubby & the screen is fine from the off, coldest was -8C a couple of weeks back.

He he ...aye TomTom, CoPilot and Telmap Navigator make reasonable 'backups' ...but nothing beats fully integrated <eg>

All that spaghetti from their power chords, cheap dash/screen mounts, long first-time-to-fix and constantly on-view for some copper to pull you over, or some low-life to nick - no thanks <lol>

Since i've discovered the LR split-screen mode (giving near & far views simultaneously) i like it so much that i am now looking for a chart-plotter (for boat) with that feature? :o/

b0nh4ch wrote:

Can anybody tell me if the temperature affects the screen or could there be a fault?

Deek wrote:

He he ...aye TomTom, CoPilot and Telmap Navigator make reasonable 'backups' ...but nothing beats fully integrated <eg>

All that spaghetti from their power chords, cheap dash/screen mounts, long first-time-to-fix and constantly on-view for some copper to pull you over, or some low-life to nick - no thanks <lol>

Since i've discovered the LR split-screen mode (giving near & far views simultaneously) i like it so much that i am now looking for a chart-plotter (for boat) with that feature? /

I am sure integrated has its advantages but at the moment Traffic HD, Road Angel speed cameras etc etc are not available integrated (unless with Nissan's TomToms). Nor do I have to buy expensive discs to get an annual updates where tomtom updates daily..and in the warm too

Each to their own.