Garmin's Portable Head-Up Display Adds a High-Tech Touch to Cars

[Haywood]

This is pretty cool for folks who opted to not get NAV. Has anyone seen this yet?

http://mashable.com/2013/07/08/garmin-portable-hud/

[THE TECH]

Interesting but seems a bit lacking on tech. Defi was making generic displays that looked like this years ago.

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by THE TECH

Interesting but seems a bit lacking on tech. Defi was making generic displays that looked like this years ago.

+1
I have a family member,and he has a ///M6 AW Limited Edition Competion with HUD and this looks....man...amazing

[MA///M3]

that's cool. What's the price though? Looks expensive!$$$$$$$$$$$$

[TexasSpartan]

Originally Posted by MA///M3

that's cool. What's the price though? Looks expensive!$$$$$$$$$$$$

$129 plus $29 for the maps if you don't already have them.

[MA///M3]

Originally Posted by TexasSpartan

$129 plus $29 for the maps if you don't already have them.

That's not bad at all.

[g222leav]

I couldn't believe that BMW's HUD is practically useless when you wear polarized sunglasses. I was testing driving a 2013 335ix and I never noticed the HUD until the dealer pointed it out AFTER I had driven it and parked it back. I had to turn it back on to see it before I believed it. You'd think they'd have fixed that...i assume most people who would purchase a BMW would also splurge on polarized sunglasses.

[Boostin FD]

There's an app for that. ;-)

[alee0729]

Originally Posted by g222leav

You'd think they'd have fixed that...i assume most people who would purchase a BMW would also splurge on polarized sunglasses.

HUDs deliver polarized light. Until displays can be embedded in the glass, projection-based HUDs will continue to be incompatible with polarized sunglasses.

[g222leav]

Originally Posted by alee0729

HUDs deliver polarized light. Until displays can be embedded in the glass, projection-based HUDs will continue to be incompatible with polarized sunglasses.

I learned something new today!...That's a shame though, because that tech is really cool, and the incorporated nav instructions are useful too

[VMcV3y]

I pulled the trigger a few days ago on this and received it today.

I am already a huge fan of the Garmin Navigon for iOS, and you may have seen my severe criticisms of BMW's Sat/NAV in contrast to what Navigon offers. (It is not surprising to me that there are plenty of morons that purchase the Garmin HUD and then give it a low rating because they did not read the not-fine-print that it requires Navigon or Garmin Street Pilot.)

While still in a parking spot at the UPS Store, I unboxed the HUD and removed the packaging, and found a decent resting spot for it on the dash, to the right of the instrument cluster hump, and to the left of the Sat/NAV hump. It just sort of fits nicely in the middle of the two, but is still only a few inches off-canter to the right of the driver's sight-line. The base has a semi-sticky curvable-flexible panel and it grabbed onto the dash easily.

It comes with both a plastic film for windshield applications, and a hard-plastic back-screen that is clipped onto the device. The back-screen went on easily.

I ran the cable down to the cigarette power cord and the device lit-up.

Paring with an iPhone5 took about 20 seconds. It read "OK" in green letters on the back-screen. Clear, easy, low-profile.

I turned on Navigon, and hit "Take Me Home."

The display instantly gave the summary drive information: arrow, speed and the current mph, distance to next turn. There was no lag, nothing.

Seriously, from opening the box to actually using the device took less than two minutes' time.

After the drive home, I decided that this was a "keeper" so I went to work with the windshield-film.

I'm not yet sure if this is the best thing or not. It is a clearer-display, for sure. However, maybe it's our M3 slant-angle on the windshield, or the horizontal dash surface, but there must be about, oh, a 45' angle of the top of the device to the reflecting surface. The back-screen works perfectly on this; however, I had to significantly tilt UP the device to use the windshield film. I am not sure if pushing the device very-much forward would have made a difference, but it was encroaching on the defroster vents.

Now, at night it wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it might be, as far as a distraction. The windshield-film does make a rather high-clarity view. I have not tested it during the day-light. And in day-light, I may decide that the tilted-UP device is too much for me to like from a cosmetic point of view.

I'll do an update within another day or two on the results of day-light driving, and whether there is better placement options on the dash of an M3.

Also, I'll attach a night-time and day-time video on Friday evening.

- V

.

[Haywood]

Originally Posted by VMcV3y

I pulled the trigger a few days ago on this and received it today.

I am already a huge fan of the Garmin Navigon for iOS, and you may have seen my severe criticisms of BMW's Sat/NAV in contrast to what Navigon offers. (It is not surprising to me that there are plenty of morons that purchase the Garmin HUD and then give it a low rating because they did not read the not-fine-print that it requires Navigon or Garmin Street Pilot.)

While still in a parking spot at the UPS Store, I unboxed the HUD and removed the packaging, and found a decent resting spot for it on the dash, to the right of the instrument cluster hump, and to the left of the Sat/NAV hump. It just sort of fits nicely in the middle of the two, but is still only a few inches off-canter to the right of the driver's sight-line. The base has a semi-sticky curvable-flexible panel and it grabbed onto the dash easily.

It comes with both a plastic film for windshield applications, and a hard-plastic back-screen that is clipped onto the device. The back-screen went on easily.

I ran the cable down to the cigarette power cord and the device lit-up.

Paring with an iPhone5 took about 20 seconds. It read "OK" in green letters on the back-screen. Clear, easy, low-profile.

I turned on Navigon, and hit "Take Me Home."

The display instantly gave the summary drive information: arrow, speed and the current mph, distance to next turn. There was no lag, nothing.

Seriously, from opening the box to actually using the device took less than two minutes' time.

After the drive home, I decided that this was a "keeper" so I went to work with the windshield-film.

I'm not yet sure if this is the best thing or not. It is a clearer-display, for sure. However, maybe it's our M3 slant-angle on the windshield, or the horizontal dash surface, but there must be about, oh, a 45' angle of the top of the device to the reflecting surface. The back-screen works perfectly on this; however, I had to significantly tilt UP the device to use the windshield film. I am not sure if pushing the device very-much forward would have made a difference, but it was encroaching on the defroster vents.

Now, at night it wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it might be, as far as a distraction. The windshield-film does make a rather high-clarity view. I have not tested it during the day-light. And in day-light, I may decide that the tilted-UP device is too much for me to like from a cosmetic point of view.

I'll do an update within another day or two on the results of day-light driving, and whether there is better placement options on the dash of an M3.

Also, I'll attach a night-time and day-time video on Friday evening.

- V

.

Definitely love to hear more. But, the NAVIGON cost on the App Store is $60. Is that much better than Google Maps or Apple Maps???

[W///]

Originally Posted by VMcV3y

I pulled the trigger a few days ago on this and received it today.

I am already a huge fan of the Garmin Navigon for iOS, and you may have seen my severe criticisms of BMW's Sat/NAV in contrast to what Navigon offers. (It is not surprising to me that there are plenty of morons that purchase the Garmin HUD and then give it a low rating because they did not read the not-fine-print that it requires Navigon or Garmin Street Pilot.)

While still in a parking spot at the UPS Store, I unboxed the HUD and removed the packaging, and found a decent resting spot for it on the dash, to the right of the instrument cluster hump, and to the left of the Sat/NAV hump. It just sort of fits nicely in the middle of the two, but is still only a few inches off-canter to the right of the driver's sight-line. The base has a semi-sticky curvable-flexible panel and it grabbed onto the dash easily.

It comes with both a plastic film for windshield applications, and a hard-plastic back-screen that is clipped onto the device. The back-screen went on easily.

I ran the cable down to the cigarette power cord and the device lit-up.

Paring with an iPhone5 took about 20 seconds. It read "OK" in green letters on the back-screen. Clear, easy, low-profile.

I turned on Navigon, and hit "Take Me Home."

The display instantly gave the summary drive information: arrow, speed and the current mph, distance to next turn. There was no lag, nothing.

Seriously, from opening the box to actually using the device took less than two minutes' time.

After the drive home, I decided that this was a "keeper" so I went to work with the windshield-film.

I'm not yet sure if this is the best thing or not. It is a clearer-display, for sure. However, maybe it's our M3 slant-angle on the windshield, or the horizontal dash surface, but there must be about, oh, a 45' angle of the top of the device to the reflecting surface. The back-screen works perfectly on this; however, I had to significantly tilt UP the device to use the windshield film. I am not sure if pushing the device very-much forward would have made a difference, but it was encroaching on the defroster vents.

Now, at night it wasn't as big of a deal as I thought it might be, as far as a distraction. The windshield-film does make a rather high-clarity view. I have not tested it during the day-light. And in day-light, I may decide that the tilted-UP device is too much for me to like from a cosmetic point of view.

I'll do an update within another day or two on the results of day-light driving, and whether there is better placement options on the dash of an M3.

Also, I'll attach a night-time and day-time video on Friday evening.

- V

.

Cool, thanks for the review. I'm waiting for someone that has ability to plug this to the OB2 port and send data to the screen, that would be great.

[VMcV3y]

Originally Posted by W///

Cool, thanks for the review. I'm waiting for someone that has ability to plug this to the OB2 port and send data to the screen, that would be great.

Yeah, that would be awesome.

Here's a YouTube review by someone about an OBII connector HUD, but it doesn't include Sat/NAV, just current vehicle info:

- V

.

[mkPOTO]

Originally Posted by Boostin FD

There's an app for that. ;-)

haha!!

[VMcV3y]

Originally Posted by Haywood

Definitely love to hear more. But, the NAVIGON cost on the App Store is $60. Is that much better than Google Maps or Apple Maps???

There are varying opinions on this.

The initial purchase of Navigon is one thing. If you want real-time traffic updates, there's a one-time cost (~$10?), and if you want quarterly map updates it's something else (LiveMaps) to add.

The benefits of Navigon over GoogleMaps and AppleMaps area:
- No need for any data plan (unless you want traffic updates). You can previously download the maps. I've been remote areas of West Texas and in the hills of Tennessee, and there was no LTE, 4G, or 3G signal. So those apps would have been USELESS.
- I also do international travel, and have a Navigon Europe and Navigon Australia -- and I don't have to pay for exorbitant roaming fees.
- Navigon is a true vehicle Sat/Nav system with an interface designed around supporting that function. GoogleMaps is not -- it's a do-all thing (I like it), but it's not a vehicle Sat/Nav. The graphics, zoom-in when needed, lane-optimization, etc. is superior in Navigon.
- Oh, Navigon HAS Google POI search in it, and when you near your destination, you can opt for a Google Street-View of it. (so they're not competing with Google as much as co-opertition).

Downsides:
- Cost.
- Maps and POI's might be 90 days out-of-date. (but who knows how often AppleMaps and GoogleMaps update?)

Note: my review is on the Navigon for Apple iOS -- don't know anything about the performance on Android devices.

- V

.

[W///]

Originally Posted by VMcV3y

Yeah, that would be awesome.

Here's a YouTube review by someone about an OBII connector HUD, but it doesn't include Sat/NAV, just current vehicle info:

- V

.

Wow that's pretty cool actually. The only thing is that the RPM counter only goes up to 6k, kind of a deal breaker

[VMcV3y]

Originally Posted by W///

Wow that's pretty cool actually. The only thing is that the RPM counter only goes up to 6k, kind of a deal breaker

Well, probably not an issue for the MY 2014 M3 & M4's. LOL

- V

.