To clarify: I'm not entirely convinced this design is better than version 1, so for our purposes, "version 2" merely means it was built after version 1.
Major differences that I experimented with:
- I took out the lens completely. Although I do love the concept of collimation, I wanted to see what it would look like if the display wasn't focused at all.
- The glass combiner is a simple two-way mirror instead of a fancy teleprompter mirror. This cuts down on the cost considerably, at the expense of having a darker tint on the glass.
- The combiner is low in the driver's field of vision, so it is less distracting:
- The Arduino is wrapped in black paper, for aesthetics.
- The glass is mounted to a holder made out of wood with super tape, which eliminates the distracting suction cups:
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| The wood holder |
- Having a lens definitely makes the display safer. Not only does it cut down on transition time when you glance at the display, you can actually see the road better in your peripheral vision. If I just kept staring straight at the display while driving, I would be able to see the road significantly clearer if the display was collimated.
- The fact that the display is so low in the driver's field of vision almost negates the effect of a heads-up display. A HUD is supposed to overlay information so that it seems part of the real world. This display is in the same line of sight as the top of my hood, which I do not normally look at when driving. I think a better placement of glass would be slightly higher so that it overlays the road instead of the hood.
- The display is much closer to the windshield, which creates an unwanted second reflection off the windshield. In the future I can fix this by blocking that path of light with cloth or paper.
-Bill
Questions or comments? Email me at abnormalbill@gmail.com!
