So, for those of you with this option, is it worth the £1000? Is it readable/useful/distracting? During the day/at night? Can you see it with polarising sunglasses on? I didn't specify for my car but haven't seen any comments on it. Mark

SVR in Estoril Blue

I think it's great. Driving the SVR at 30 or 40 mph is not easy, and having the speed and current speed limit in front of you is a huge benefit. Haven't tried with glasses yet (ordered some Serengeti blue matching shades yesterday ). Only done one trip with the sat nav on, and I knew where I was going, so can't comment on the helpfulness of that. It also displays the forward alert symbol, which is a good thing.

A great option. 

Thanks, in theory, reflected light is plane polarised so polarising sunglasses may block out the light but will be interested to hear how it is with them. I agree the SVR is difficult to drive within the speed limits, I use the speed limiter just for this purpose. Mark

SVR in Estoril Blue

Yes, the reflected light from the HUD will be polarised. What gets through the glasses will of course depend on the orientation of the polarised lenses. Some glasses have this at 45 degrees. Some driving glasses, through, are oriented to cut reflections from the road, which would also cut the HUD.

I'll have a play with different types later today. I'll try and capture some photos/video. 

Last edited by philmw on Sun Apr 19 2015 9:54am. Edited 1 time in total

I have this on my L405 and think it is useless in daylight. It's been in once for 'adjustment' and is no better.

Do you guys suffer from 'washout' in daylight? I can barely see it on max brightness!

Fine on mine. Mine is too bright when turned up. 

So, in real life the HUD appears slightly brighter than displayed in a photograph due to the slow refresh rate of the HUD compared to the shutter speed (and why I haven't made a video yet as my proper video camera is too bulky to set up quickly), but:

Photograph of view in daytime with the sun behind cloud (and ignore the uncut grass to the right):

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Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated

The sunglasses rotated through 90 degrees improve the contrast.... but it does look like normal orientation blocks out the light.

I assume the optical system makes the display appear at close to infinity so it's in focus when looking at "stuff" through the windscreen and you don't need to refocus on the display. Mark

SVR in Estoril Blue

Yes, driving with your neck bent 90 degrees would appear to help greatly.

The point of focus I presume is in front of the windscreen by the same distance the HUD unit is away from it, 12 inches at most. The second photograph support this 

I expect the optics are such that the image passes through a collimator which will make it appear to come from infinity or at least a distance rather greater than the actual projector-windscreen distance; otherwise having to refocus from the road to the display - as you have to do with the instruments - will be quite tiring on the eyes.

That for me would be the major benefit but I haven't seen it so cannot be sure. Certainly, in an SLR camera, the eye-piece optics make the focussing screen appear much farther away than it actually is which is why short-sighted people like me cannot see the detail without their distance glasses on. Mark

SVR in Estoril Blue

I can confirm that all polarised glasses I've tried are oriented so they cut out almost all of the HUD light. Also, TFT displays are also polarised and sure enough bits of that disappear too  

I spent about an hour in the Oakley vault at Cheshire oaks yesterday trying to find a pair of non polarised glasses that I like. Both of my current sunglasses are polarized.

I am stuck with a pair of Serengeti 555 nm lenses as they reflect blue light that matches the car.  

I haven't had any issues with viewing the tft screens in the Evoque even the dual view works ok with my Oakleys.

TFT and centre screen are polarized at 45 degrees.