RCCurtis

I've got an old pair of polarized Oakley's. All instrumentation in my '14 RS7 is visible. If I tilt my head 90 (head horizontal) the MMI screen and the screen between the speedo and tach go completely black. That's because the Oakley's are horizontally polarized to block glare reflecting off of horizontal surfaces.

My old MB E55 nav screen would go black if I tilted my head 45 deg. I guess that was sort of a compromise. Most gas stations have LCD gas pump readouts that will go black if you tilt 45 deg (with my Oakley's of course).

I don't have HUD but if it goes black with horizontal polarized glasses, that's a screw-uip on Audi's part. They should have set at 45 deg and provided two intensity settings so ppl w/ Oakley's can be happy.

Circular polarized glasses solves the problem, but they're not as effective for glare off of horizontal surfaces (the glare is horizontally polarized light).

Nyuni

You can get the Drivers lenses in pretty much any of their styles, and you can often find them for much cheaper than their website would have you believe. I believe I paid $150 for mine, if I remember correctly.

FWIW, Serengeti drivers lenses are quite popular with the airline pilot set since they're great glasses that don't cause any issues with the myriad cockpit displays while in flight. I'm not paid by Serengeti (bummer! ), but I'm just very satisfied with their product - and to make this topical, they of course don't obscure the HUD at all! Was worth the cost to me.

superswiss

Do you guys like the HUD? I'm driving a 2016 A6 Prestige loaner today and it has the HUD. Besides the issue of my polarized sunglasses wiping it out, I find it completely useless. I usually can be had for any kind of gadget, but the HUD seems like a solution in search of a problem. At least in its current form. Am I missing something or can the Audi HUD only display the speed and turn directions when navigating? I mean that information is sufficiently available on the dash with a quick glance. I was actually annoyed by the floating information in my view and after a while my brain started to tune it out just like it's tuning out a bug splat on the windshield. To read the info, I would actually have to focus on it, so I don't see how this is better than a quick glance on the dash or the MMI screen. Just curios. BTW, I've driven BMW's with a HUD before. Equally useless, but it was still faintly visible with polarized sunglasses. The Audi HUD seems to completely disappear.

IknowHuhA6

That is an ill-informed statement. I've had other cars of other manufacturers with HUD, and it's the same problem. It's not an Audi specific mistake. Audi, BMW, GM, Cadillac HUD's all suffer same situation.

I think there's misunderstanding of the situation. The HUD (information reflected in the windshield) does not go black. The display in windshield just disappears and not visible in the windshield when using polarized glasses.

ypa814

IMO, I agree, it's annoying. Good toy to show some gadget lovers, but for daily driving I never turn it on. Also, that big clunk of glass reflects on my windshield on sunny days, right in my line of sight. Has anyone been bothered with this issue? Sunglasses help...

Nyuni

I love mine, it's great having the speed information right there, not quite in my direct field of view, but focused at infinity so I can easily read it even without having to focus directly on it.

Add in the nav directions projected there while navigating, along with the adaptive cruise control indications, and it's a winner. A bit of VCDS tweaking and you even get a display with what gear you're in and oil temperature up there when you activate the Lap Timer.

superswiss

How do you turn it off? I'm still driving the loaner today and other then wearing my polarized sunglasses, I haven't figured out how to stop it from displaying the digital speedometer at all times. I can control the additional content in the MMI, but there doesn't seem to be a setting to turn it off completely. I'm totally with you on the glare from the HUD glass. Between that and changing light conditions it's equivalent to an annoying smudge on the windshield. I've turned down the brightness completely as at night it was even more bothering with this constant light source from the windshield.

RCCurtis

I oversimplified the statement. The reflected HUD does go black thru horizontally polarized glasses, "black" meaning no light. It disappears the same way the nav screen disappears when you tilt your head w/ polarized glasses. Nav screens are LCD displays that produce polarized light, and are purposely set so the polarization is not horizontal, and, therefore, visible thru polarized lenses when your head is level.

The HUD image depends on the impedance discontinuity of the windshield glass surface. That kind of reflection produces horizontally polarized light, which is exactly what most polarized glasses are designed to block.

If other cars have the same problem then they're all screw-ups. It's just an engineering problem. Add a little spectral reflection.

BTW, I rented a corvette w/ HUD a few years ago, and it was visible thru my polarized Oakley's.

1st Time Audi

+1 RCCurtis

I wear Maui Jim's and just shift my head a bit when I'm looking for the HUD info. That's because I have the setting not as bright to be distracting. You should be able to see it more clearly if you brighten the HUD.

superswiss - you can turn off the HUD by pressing in the height adjustment sliver **** on the bottom left dash panel

DanfZX14

I agree with 1st Time & RC. I wear polarized Oakley's and a slight shift of the head and I can see the HUD info just fine.