It’s the epitome of the American car-lover’s dream: driving down the open highway, sun shining, and the convertible top down. As your hair blows in the breeze, you hear the robotic voice of your GPS navigation system telling you that your exit is coming up. But as you glance at the screen, you realize you can’t see the display in the glare of the sun.
Unmodified photo supplied by customer of Mercedes Benz SL550, with NuShield DayVue film in place on Command Center display.
Gone are the days of struggling with enormous paper maps, or printing out pages of MapQuest directions. In recent years, GPS navigation devices have become the standard method of finding your way to a new destination.
GPS devices can come installed in the dash of your car or purchased after-market. With these systems, you can receive both audio and visual cues, effectively ensuring that you never get lost again.
LCD screens, however, are not always clearly visible in sunlight. Glare can wash out the screen, making graphics hard to see. This is true in every car (especially those with a sunroof), and worse in an open-topped convertible where there is no way to escape the bright light of the sun. Polarized sunglasses make the screen even less visible.
It’s certainly worth pointing out that distracted driving, such as squinting at and adjusting your GPS screen, puts you at a three times higher risk of getting in an accident. Does that mean you need to sacrifice your open-topped drive for safety’s sake?
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