Nikon1

You may be getting on-line Rx orders if this proves “doable” and it works.

— John

bobdolex

I actually talked to my lab and seems a bit easier than I had originally thought. No need to change up the glasses prescription to compensate, the lab can just rotate the lens blank prior to putting the prescription in there.

I played around with my polarized glasses and saw that a 45 degree tilt still let you see the HUD adequately. Not as bright as a 90 degree tilt but a 45 degree tilt will allow some glare to be blocked out as well.

im going to see if there is a difference between a 45 degree clockwise vs counter clockwise tilt. I’ll try to get them to fabricate the lens in a week or two and will report back.

GuruGuy

The polarized lens problem is much more complicated than most of you are thinking. Simply rotating 90 degrees doesn't fix the issue, and could cause others. Don't forget this is being projected on tinted, and presumably polarized, glass. The windshield is also curved. What appears to be a simple projection is actually fairly sophisticated engineering. I have used non-polarized, anti glare, sunglasses since I first got a 2008 Corvette. I couldn't see the HUD or the info screen. There are a number on the market from the $10 "Seen on TV" ones to fairly expensive hunting glasses. To me, it is better to get a good pair of non-polarized glasses than bitch about engineering, wait for a fix (that the military has been searching for for decades) or simply not use one of the coolest features on your Prestige.

garberfc

Slightly off topic here, but related. On both my MY2019 S5 & RS5 on the climate control display the word "SYNC" appears as blue while all the other words are whiteish while wearing polarized sunglasses.

When I first got the S5 I thought that maybe it was a one off defect. When I later got the RS5 and it behaves the same, it makes me wonder... Is anyone else seeing this?

bobdolex

so the reason the HUD doesn't work is 100% because of the direction of the polarization. Sunglasses are polarized vertically and the HUD image comes in horizontally. I've uploaded 3 photos changing the orientation of the glasses showing how the intensity of the HUD changes. when the sunglasses are held normally you can barely see the HUD. however when the sunglasses are held at a 90 degree angle, the HUD is clear. the 45 degree angle is about half intensity. Feel free to try this yourself. This isn't simply an effect of camera exposure or me changing the intensity of the HUD. In the example with the glasses held at 90 degrees, the polarization is parallel to the HUD image (horizontal)

Now as I said before, using a horizontally polarized lens will negate a lot of the benefits of polarization. However, my theory is that having a 45 degree polarization will yield adequate visibility of the HUD and minor glare reduction. If you only do this irregular polarization in one eye, you'll still get the full benefits of the polarization in the other eye.

stanfna

Rotating the lens is reducing the polarization for everything else. so wouldn't you just be better off just not getting polarized glasses?

bobdolex

yeah so rotating the lens 90 degrees will basically eliminate all benefits from a polarized lens.

so what I was going to do is put a normal lens in my dominant eye (right eye). This will allow my right eye to get the full effects of polarization however I won’t be able to see the HUD with this eye.

for my left eye, I was going to put a 45 degree polarized lens. This will block out half the glare and also let me see the HUD with my left eye (at half intensity)

this theoretically give me a 75% overall polarization effect. It’s not a perfect solution. My main goal is to reduce the glare coming off the front of the dash. It’s possible it’ll induce uncomfortableness or the effect won’t be noticeable but it doesn’t really cost me anything to attempt it

bobdolex

I see the same thing. I can’t say with 100 percent certainty but it looks like that display is circularly polarized or something. If you rotate your polarized glasses like I showed in my previous post, you’ll see different colors

18A5SB

Agree with GuruGuy and Stanfa you would be better off getting a good pair of regular sunglasses I wear Transitions the newer kind gets pretty dark in the car even though the windshields are uv protection coated. The only downside the Transitions that get darkest do show a tint inside, i.e. do not become fully clear

bobdolex

Ok guys, a little update on this. As I mentioned before, I decided to order new sunglasses with one lens at 45 degrees polarized instead of vertical. This allows my left eye to get the full benefits of polarization and my right eye to have half the reduction in glare but let’s me able to see the HUD

so really, the glasses work how I expected it to. I can see the HUD enough and can notice a difference in glare compared to non polarized glasses.

however, as I had expected, there is a weird ‘shimmer’ effect because both eyes are receiving different visual information. This is more amplified when I walk around with the glasses but is sometimes noticeable when driving as well. I did a relatively light amber tint which is pretty comfortable for most driving conditions including cloudy/overcast days

overall, I like the glasses and will probably continue using them. However, I can see how the ‘shimmer’ effect can bother people, so I don’t know if I can recommend it to other people. I have an optical at my disposal so it didn’t cost me anything to try. I would imagine other people are looking at a couple hundred dollars for the lens’ alone, and as some have stated before, a good pair of non-polarized driving sunglasses may be the best option for most people