INTRODUCTION

    If you like cars as much as i do but you didn't get the chance to own one of the latest models that feature those fancy build-in HUDs (head-up display) and you'd really like to also have that "special" feature there are numerous devices in the market today that promise similar if not better results. Of course i believe that nothing beats something that's already intergrated in your car right from the factory (at least not in terms of appearance/looks) but not everyone has the ability to swap vehicles on a regular basis so improving some aspects of your car in order to make it safer and/or more enjoyable to drive is never a bad idea in my book. HUDWAY Glass was announced last October and after a very successful Kickstarter campaign not only has it already has secured a placed in thousands of cars all over the world but it's also been almost a full month since i mounted on the dash of one of our cars.

    Hudway, LLC, is a California company that provides comprehensive HUD solutions for drivers all over the world. Having done extensive research and testing, the company launched its flagship navigation app - Hudway - in 2013. Over one million drivers have used the app by now. Most recently, the company released HUDWAY Glass - a universal vehicle accessory bringing an affordable head-up display solution to any vehicle.

    There are currently two types of car HUDs in the market, software ones (free and paid versions for Android and iOS devices) which use the screen of your smartphone to project information/images onto the interior of the windshield and hardware ones which use multiple LEDs to achieve similar results. What makes this HUD solution quite unique is that although it still uses the screen of your smartphone to project images/information this time over it's the HUDWAY Glass that acts as the windshield and since you're free to position it anywhere on your dashboard it wouldn't be far-fetched if we were to compare it to the HUD glass piece found in fighter airplanes. Of course there are other benefits as well by using your smartphone and not a hardware HUD device and perhaps the most important ones is the available projections/information (different apps) and the lack of need for an exterior power supply (usually car lighter adapters). So much like the 9000+ people who helped make the HUDWAY Glass a reality via Kickstarter funding we too feel that it's a very good concept but how does the finished product compare to it?

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 The finished product is shipped inside a plain cardboard box that has a drawing of it at the front along with a thank you message by the manufacturer to everyone who backed the project.

A product description is placed on the sides.

At the rear of the box Hudway has placed a few words about the product and a list of the included bundle.

Packing is quite good for a product that has no electronic components.

Contained in the box are the HUDWAY Glass, adjustable stand, slim stand, soft storage pouch, quick start guide, NFC sticker, warranty information paper and two sealed cards with promotional codes for the HUDWAY Widgets.

THE HUDWAY GLASS

The HUDWAY Glass comes with two different stands, a full sized one (adjustable) which is suitable for cars with flat dashboards and a slim one which is mostly used with different shaped ones.

Both stands attach on the base of the HUDWAY Glass via magnets.

When closed the HUDWAY Glass measures 150mm in length, 110mm in width and 25mm in height but while open its height goes up to 105mm (120mm when on the full sized stand).

The HUDWAY Glass is made out of two pieces, the base and the tinted glass part (actually made out of UV-resistant ABS plastic) which features a mirror like finish on the exterior to make it usable in all weather conditions.

Rubber anti-slip material is placed at the top of the base to ensure that your smartphone stays in place even while driving around.

When not used you can always fold/close the HUDWAY Glass to save space and place it inside the carrying/storage pouch.

Although the base of the HUDWAY Glass is slightly smaller compared to my 5.5 inch ZTE smartphone still i had no problems using it (we also used it with an iPhone 6).

The device is also NFC compatible via an external sticker which you place it at the bottom of the HUDWAY Glass. However unlike regular NFC which is used to quickly pair two devices this sticker acts like a barcode which redirects users to a list of compatible android/iOS apps.

HUDWAY APPS / WIDGETS

HUDWAY has several apps available for the Glass (you can use other third party apps as well) including a GPS app, speedometer app and the glass apps (although you will need to install each of these apps they can all be launched from within the Widgets app).

The GPS navigation projects the road you need to follow (can also work offline with just your GPS enabled) while the glass app has 4 different speedometers some of which are reminiscent of very old cars (there are also two more speedometers with regular red/green numbers).

Moving to the trip information widget from here you can check the maximum and average gas consumption, advices you of your current eco "level" based on your speed and acceleration, records the miles per gallon/cost and finally it also has a compass.

With the speedometer app you can always know if you're within the speed limit or not since when you’re not it turns red (it automatically downloads speed limits in the country you're in the first time it's used).

The land meter (also part of the glass app) up may not be of any use to me but it should be for people with odd road vehicles who like using them any chance they get.

Final screen shows a large watch, a small compass right beneath it and the current temperature (or was it humidity level?).

CONCLUSION

   As you all saw in the previous page since i positioned the device right over the steering wheel (it's hardly a head-up display if it's placed at the center of the dashboard) right before going on a 120km round trip i had to take pictures of the apps projected on the HUDWAY Glass myself and since I’m not really fond of accidents i did so with the car stationary (i do realize that it would be cooler if i did while driving). With that out of the way i need to point out something important, you see although the manufacturer says that the HUDWAY Glass is compatible with most dashboards out of the 3 cars i have in my possession it wasn't compatible with the one that had a curved dashboard. I did try the slim stand as well but due to the design and material of the dashboard that didn't work either. The manufacturer was informed about this and so i truly hope that in the near future they will release a more "flexible" stand (perhaps a curved one) suitable for such dashboards as well. As for the device itself build quality is very good (although you should use the carrying pouch whenever you're not using it since the top UV-resistant ABS plastic is quite easy to scratch) and it does a very good job projecting information. Of course i also can't call it the jack of all trades since I’d really prefer a standalone device that would have zero need for my smartphone (or it would just exchange data wirelessly) and although that would probably mean it would require an internal rechargeable battery and a good amount of components (which automatically translates to a much higher price tag) still i think it would probably cover the needs of far more people.

   With a current price tag set at USD79.95 (directly from the manufacturer’s page) the HUDWAY Glass is certainly far from the cheapest HUD of its kind (yes others have popped up recently with similar offerings). At the same time however the HUDWAY Glass is the only one of its kind to include full app versions for both Android and iOS compatible smartphones and should also have no problem topping other similar products in terms of build quality. Now we do feel that the HUDWAY Glass should cost slightly less to better compete with products sold for less than half but even at USD79.95 it’s really not a bad deal and it is well worth our Golden Award.

PROS

- Build Quality
- Size
- Can Close / Fold
- Full Apps (HUDWAY GPS / Speedometer / Widgets)
- Two Magnetic Stands (Full / Slim)
- No External Power Required
- NFC Tag (Points To Compatible Apps)

CONS

- Price (For Some)
- Not Compatible with All Dashboards