
Navdy’s Heads-Up Display for your car starts shipping for $799 - kjhughes
https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/25/navdys-heads-up-display-for-your-car-starts-shipping-for-799/
======
jdcarter
My wife's BMW X4 has a built-in HUD, and to us the killer uses are:

1) Current speed shown along with the speed limit. It gets the speed limit
from onboard maps combined with using the car's cameras. If there's road
construction, for example, it'll notice the signs and update the speed limit
accordingly. This seems really simple, but it means never needing to look at
your dash to check your speed.

2) Driving directions. Very handy when you're in places you don't know well,
or in heavy traffic. The HUD is dramatically better than looking aside to your
phone or the car's center console screen.

If an after-market HUD can do those, I'd seriously consider putting one in my
other (older) car.

~~~
izacus
Yup, I also noticed on my Mazda that I don't really look at the main gauge
cluster anymore - HUD is way closer to my standard field of view, it's focus
is closer to the things on the road and it shows all the critical info (speed,
radar cruise control status, directions, lane keeping... in new version also
blind spot monitoring status and speed limits).

I'd recommend it to anyone, the annoyance is only that you need to readjust it
for every driver.

~~~
Cyph0n
Which Mazda model is that if I may ask? I'm looking for relatively low-end
(and affordable!) cars with helpful safety features. I've heard Subaru has
some good stuff, but didn't know about Mazda.

~~~
sliken
No idea on the HUD, but subaru's eyesight regularly wins the comparisons I've
seen. In the USA the IIHT does regular testing, overseas there's a similar
organization (sorry can't remember the name). Youtube, consumer reports,
various car magazines, and various others have done similar.

Definitely seems smart enough to reduce or even eliminate (some cases) rear
ending someone. I know a few people with eyesight systems and they speak of it
highly.

Kinda surprising given how small subaru's R&D budget is compared to the bigger
makers. I think subaru is in the 3rd generation or so.

------
upofadown
>... put it on a screen that is, in theory, less distracting.

A heads up display isn't less distracting. If anything it is more distracting
since it is more in your field of view.

The value of a heads up display is that you don't have to move your visual
focus as much as with something in the dash. Better heads up systems than this
one make it so you don't have to change your distance focus, everything is at
infinity focus.

A heads up display still requires your attention. The improvement is in a
reduction of the dead time while switching between it and your surroundings.

~~~
Heyokamerican
I believe the front element is curved--i.e. it's a lens--and the system puts
focus a couple of feet forward of the windshield.

~~~
coredog64
A proper HUD uses collimation to move the perceived focus point out to
infinity.

------
fra
Navdy looks neat, but I have a hard time believing that $799 is the right
price point for something that competes with a $20 cell phone holder...

Perhaps I'll eat my word :).

~~~
dyim
People are weird when it comes to buying car addons :) . Look at how much
these 5-series upgrades cost:
[http://www.bmwusa.com/standard/content/byo/byohome.aspx?namo...](http://www.bmwusa.com/standard/content/byo/byohome.aspx?namodelcode=165B)
.

I drive an '04 Civic, so it's all moot for me... but I'd guess that people are
willing to pay ~$800 for the aesthetics of a HUD vs. the kind of phone mount
you see in an UberX. Although who knows!

~~~
olyjohn
When you can roll it into your car loan, it doesn't seem that expensive. Cash
out of pocket hurts all at once.

~~~
dyim
Good point! Hadn't considered that; you're 100% right. As smacktoward
suggested, maybe Garmin should sell these to dealerships.

------
mzs
Too bad the Garmin HUD was discontinued: [https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/on-
the-road/discontinued/hud...](https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/on-the-
road/discontinued/hud-head-up-display-/prod134348.html) It was $150 plus a
smartphone and $35 app or compatible Garmin GPS.

~~~
praeivis
Because Chinese clones cost only $30.

~~~
AtheistOfFail
Link or it didn't happen.

~~~
post_break
Tons on aliexpress
[https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=S...](https://www.aliexpress.com/wholesale?catId=0&initiative_id=SB_20161025091228&SearchText=car+hud)

Refurb on ebay [http://www.ebay.com/itm/Garmin-Head-Up-Plus-Display-HUD-
Navi...](http://www.ebay.com/itm/Garmin-Head-Up-Plus-Display-HUD-Navigation-
System-/311652123586?hash=item488fea03c2:g:omIAAOSwZ1BXfuZ5)

~~~
mmastrac
Are any of those integrated with a phone? They all look like they are just
OBD-II speedometers. $25 for a simple product like that is reasonable.

~~~
post_break
Only the garmin is integrated via bluetooth. There are chinese clones of the
navdy but haven't found a way to purchase them.

~~~
exhilaration
There's a comment above
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12790191](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12790191))
that mentions one of the Chinese clones by name: Carrobot. That might help you
track one down.

~~~
post_break
That's the one, I couldn't for the life of me remember the name of it. Not
worth tracking them down though after I found out language barrier would be
impossible to overcome.

------
falcolas
I'd be curious how hard it would be to create a "case" which could take a
smartphone screen and properly reverse it and move the focus point outwards,
such that you could get the same effect with your smart phone displaying off
the windshield.

------
monkmartinez
I wonder how it will work in Arizona sun. Especially when one would
potentially need it the most. That is, in the morning and then in
afternoon/evening commute. The sun is at the worst possible angles during
those times if one is east or west bound respectively.

------
post_break
$799 ouch. I'm waiting to see what Anker's ROAV costs in the mean time.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziMZgN60muM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziMZgN60muM)

~~~
brianbreslin
I was thinking the same thing. Anker seems to be able to put out decent
quality hardware affordably. So I'd be surprised if their version is over
$299. Unfortunately I can't see myself spending more than $99 on something
like this.

------
ge96
Too bad it's not a thin-sheet that you apply to your entire windshield. Not
sure how you'd make a cheap material that's also a transparent display.

------
doorty
I thought it would be much bigger and projected onto the glass. Maybe my
physics is off, but this form factor doesn't look that impressive.

~~~
hx87
That might work if the windshield is steeply raked (e.g. Honda Civic) but not
if it's closer to vertical.

------
cordite
Hudly is similar though they seem to be more focused on the community
providing software solutions for what to display.

~~~
grok2
Isn't it illegal in most states in the US to place objects on the windshield
like Hudly's projection device appears to be placed in their pictures?

------
rory096
That's _head_ -up display.

And while I'm at it, it's not "line of site" either.

------
gigatexal
800 bucks is too much imo

~~~
TaylorGood
It wasn't 10 years ago when car audio / electronics regularly commanded
$1,200+ for a "Flip up" or double din screen by Alpine. Now they are $250+
with everything better; touch screen etc.

