IT IS INEVITABLE that new technology will become more widespread, more acceptable and, best of all, more affordable.
The first head up displays offered as options in cars were limited to high-end luxury cars and ruinously expensive. Now we’ve seen after-market versions for as little as $39.
You may question the importance of the technology, but a car travelling at 100km/h will travel 55.6 metres in two seconds, so even a quick glance down at the dashboard is potentially dangerous. However, the prevalence of speed cameras, average speed zones, changing speed limits and any number of other challenges means that you need to know your speed at all times, plus plenty of other essential information.
Until recently, few cars were equipped with head up displays and retrofitting for most of them was simply not an option.
Even the $39 HUD is a useful piece of equipment. It projects key driving information retrieved via GPS satellite straight onto your windscreen. It plugs into your car’s 12-volt socket and projects your speed onto the windscreen, receiving this information via GPS satellite so it will probably be more accurate than your car speedo. It has a 3.5-inch high definition display, built-in speed alarm, nano-technology to eliminate double reflections (sometimes when things are projected onto glass, you get two images because one image is on the front side of the glass and a second image appears on the other inner surface), auto and manual brightness adjustment to combat glare and auto power down when you switch off the car (although we’d have to check this – many European cars have power sockets that stay live even with the ignition switched off).
The $45 unit is much the same, except it has a larger 5.5-inch display, appears to display more information (which is not necessarily an advantage) and is a larger unit (worth keeping in mind, since it has to sit on your dashboard).
Both units come with a non-slip mat so they won’t slide across your dashboard top, a car charger and the necessary reflector film to display the information on the windscreen (which means the unit cannot be readily swapped from vehicle to vehicle). They come with a one-year warranty.
These two are available through Kogan, who also had Hudway glass units (where the information is projected onto a glass panel) that use a smartphone, but these are currently sold out. (https://www.kogan.com/au/shop/?q=head+up+display)
Supercheap Auto stores carry a range of head up displays including one apparently with their own branding. The SCA GPS head up display is on special for $48.99 (normally $99.95). It comes with two sheets of reflective film, so it can be moved between two cars (although at this price, why not buy one for each vehicle?) Supercheap also carries a Gator HUD selling for $100, but no specifications or details are provided. A similar unit, for much the same price can be found at JB Hi Fi.
A head up display for these prices is well worth considering, but we’d check out what else is available before committing.