HUD and polorised sunglasses

[Daz Auto]

I love polarised sunglasses. They are especially good at this time of the year with low sun reflecting of wet roads. The problem is, the the head-up display in my wife's car almost vanishes when I put on my sunglasses.

I was watching a youtube video and the fella said there was no point having the HUD as it doesn't work with sunglasses.

What are other peoples' thoughts and experiences of the head-up display?

[fredgroves]

Yes its generally a problem with the technology and the Mk8 user guide says "Sunglasses with polarising filters can negatively affect the readability of the display."

I should add, I don't wear sunglasses unless i'm suffering from snow blindness on the snow in the Alps.

[Daz Auto]

I remember on my Mk6 GTD the centre screen looked funny through polarised sunglasses.

I didn't realise that pilots don't/can't wear polarised sunglasses. Aircraft windscreens may be polarised or have coatings that don't work with polarised sunglasses. Also, it can reduce visibility of digital instrument displays from certain angles.

Do you ever notice some on-coming car windscreens look a lot different through polarised lenses? It might be anti-glare or heat reducing coatings, heated windscreens or bullet proofing. 

[fredgroves]

The CAA say:

Polarised lenses reduce the amount of light passing through the lens by selective filtering of certain electromagnetic spectral planes.  These lenses can cause distortion patterns from certain laminated cockpit windshields.  They can also alter cloud appearance and reduce ground reflections useful for VFR pilots.  The use of these sunglasses is therefore discouraged.

I don't know if civillian aircraft make much use of HUD's, military aircraft certainly have done for a few decades now, although I think that tech has changed to projections onto helmet visors or even directly into the eyes.

I guess Maverick has to just wear his shades on the ground now 

Something I can tell you about is polarised filters for photography.... you can see all sorts of weird effects from those, especially on things like plastics on motorbikes.

[Daz Auto]

I have found a solution...



 

[kevinm]

My daily driver has had HUD for nearly 4 years now. I just got a second pair of sunglasses with non-polarised lenses which permanently live in the car.