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Navdy HUD Setup on my Gen 2

11K views 20 replies 13 participants last post by  Bacardi 
#1 ·
Hello all,

Just wanted to share my Navdy HUD setup on my Gen 2 Volt "Electra." Curious if anyone else out there has put one in their Volt. I've had it for a couple months and find it incredibly helpful. I use a lot of navigation to get to my patients' houses (I am a travel physical therapist) and just the fact that I don't have to take my eyes off the road and still see the map makes the pretty high price tag worth it for me. Definitely think it has made my driving experience safer.

By the way I love educating people about the Volt. Whenever I pull in to a new patient's house I'd say 75% of them always ask me about the car. People's awareness of the Volt is horrible!!




 
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#3 ·
What is it showing exactly?
 
#7 ·
I'm told it displays a ton on data fed from the ODBII port like tire pressures etc. What additional info does it show that's not in the Volt's displays?
 
#9 ·
Geohec: As far as negatives go there aren't too many. I find it to be plenty bright in bright sunlight and even while wearing sunglasses I have no problem seeing the display. One of the biggest negatives for me is that I can't input a new destination over voice ie. with Siri. Siri automatically routes you using Apple Maps and the Navdy is only compatible with Google Maps so your navigation wouldn't show up on the display.

So the information that is pulled from the OBD II Port is somewhat useful. You can tell that electric vehicles weren't at the forefront of the engineers' minds while designing the Navdy. It shows things like your speed, fuel level(sigh), tachometer(sigh), compass, current trip information(length and distance you've traveled since you last turned the display off). Honestly I value it more for safely seeing where I'm going and being able to see the things I need to see right in front of me while I'm driving like speed, music, and maps.

It is also hard to see in the pictures the actual projection...pretty hard to capture with a camera phone. I have map pulled up in the picture but tough to see. I can say that what you see while driving is very clear and crisp.

Express Wagon: Gotta represent and protect :cool:
 
#10 ·
Hmm, a HUD would go nice with the Volt. Easyemartin, what are those cable management nubs keeping your Navdy's cable routed along the edge between the trims? Do they allow for the cable to be removed and reinstalled easily?
 
#11 ·
QuirkySquirt: Those nubs came with the unit and they can be easily popped on and off depending on where you want the wires to go. That setup in the picture was as close to factory look as I could get. I'm just one of those people that notices a wire wherever they may be. I wish there was just a little more play where those two pieces of the dash come together so I could just route the wire underneath. Oh well...that's the story of aftermarket haha.
 
#13 ·
I can't see the pictures (all I get is a blue square saying "postimage free image hosting / image not found or was removed"), but sounds cool! I'm planning on making my own HUD using a Raspberry Pi and my Bluetooth OBD-II reader; the Pi will have a screen that will reflect into my windshield and display stuff like high-res battery charge (i.e. state of charge within the allotted buffer in charge-sustain mode), kW meter with a threshold bar for when the engine will start in CS mode, whether the engine is on, coolant temperature, etc...stuff I can quickly check without looking away from the road.
 
#14 ·
Any problem with the HUD screen jiggling around on bumpy roads? I saw a review with this happening on the NAVDY and that would drive me absolutely crazy on the beat-up roads we have around here.
 
#17 ·
And I would say that the Navdy does tend to jiggle around on rough roads...I've learned to live with it. For me it isn't too distracting on normal roads. As long as you really torque down the attachments on the dashboard the unit shouldn't jiggle around too much.
To minimize jiggling, you should rigidly mount the HUD to your car. Even dash panels are too flexible and will introduce additional extra wobble. Ever notice your dash and infotainment display don't wobble? Your body's built in motion compensation is both dampening unwanted motion and feeding info to your eyes/brain remove blur with clever tricks (linear motion compensation similar to the inverse transform of a linear blur, strategic blanking) when the Volt hits a bump.

If you can, mount the HUD as close to rigid parts as you can. For the Navdy setup, I'd avoid the little pedestal mount you have and instead get four short feet that can accomplish the same mounting position. Superglue to dashboard trim if you can. That should yield a much more stable image. The next point of issue is the hinge on the Navdy for the transparent screen the video is projected on. That hinge will not be very wobble resistant. Maybe position the screen at your ideal angle then shove shims into the hinge until it can no longer move.
 
#16 ·
I thought the thread was dead! I uploaded some new pictures of my setup.

Arcanox - Such a cool idea and way beyond my technical skills. Would be interested to see how your homemade HUD comes out!

And I would say that the Navdy does tend to jiggle around on rough roads...I've learned to live with it. For me it isn't too distracting on normal roads. As long as you really torque down the attachments on the dashboard the unit shouldn't jiggle around too much.

[/url]IMG_3042-min by Eric Martin, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_3043-min by Eric Martin, on Flickr[/IMG]

[/url]IMG_3045-min by Eric Martin, on Flickr[/IMG]
 
#18 ·
I had this on my Equinox, I ended up returning it solely because you cannot use Waze mapping...I live in some of the worst traffic and google or apple maps seem to always favor highways (often while gridlocked) unlike Waze...But if you're happy with google maps Navdy is great, you can set up Waze notifications which can pick up things like cops but you do have to open Waze and enter the address...Reportedly if Waze is disagreeing with Navdy/Google route you may not get notified until the last minute since Waze will constantly re-route and possibly assume you're going to do a U-Turn...

One really cool thing is it does get OTA updates via your phone, it now accepts your voice but still first have to open the app then it has the steering wheel knob, you press that and select voice...

All and all it's pretty cool, if I regularly went to new places it would come in handy assuming you're okay with google maps...I get a lot of notifications and while they can wait, nice to read them in the safest way possible...I will add that I thought the swiping would be cool but for me after the first ten times it old; I didn't spend a ton of time with setting but wonder if there was a way to "dismiss" a notification (glance) after like 15 seconds vs needing to swipe...

If folks are wanted diagnostics there are many universal huds for under $50 on ebay and amazon...

I might also suggest another device called Hudly which is $300 but there's a $50 off coupon although iphone users will have to shell out another $45ish for an adapter...It's basically a projector for your phone, you can't interact with it but man that's sweet...

I will add the Anker Roav is expected to ship soon, so it may be worth both seeing if you prefer the Roav more or if Navdy lower its price during the Roav to help steal its thunder...Roav will supposedly be cheaper but we're not sure by how much (like Navdy there was a $300 preorder, but that's no longer the price for either) will offer a LTE/4G option but you have to pay more up front and a monthly fee and also a built in dash cam...

Lots of options and all of them are fairly large as you cannot put them in your pocket...They all leave behind a "base" mounted to your dashboard so to the trained eye, someone might know you have $500 device, might make you a top target for a broken window whether or not you're the device is in your car or not...

Ultimately you can get a million different universal cell phone cradles for under $10 and mount it anywhere...That's what I'm using now and couldn't be happier to use Waze again...
 
#19 ·
Friend just told me about Exploride, basically the same thing as Navdy, preorder price is still $300...I am really interested in the Roav mainly because it has a built in dash cam but will depend on Waze...With a built in dash cam I'd take the thing with me on business trips...
 
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