We suppose the line of thinking with the DSUS DS-400GB is that you're probably already eying your rear-view mirror plenty, so why not just split off a third and throw a 4-inch GPS nav unit up in there? Not a bad idea, but don't you want to be looking forward -- not behind you -- when considering your next turn? Not that it's of any consequence, anyway, this thing's straight outta China with no US release or distro (yet).
"Not a bad idea, but don't you want to be looking forward -- not behind you -- when considering your next turn?"
You mean as compared to down at your dashboard or center console? Just sayin'.
If this is a screen synced to an external rear camera, they can scale the image so that the 2/3rds of the mirror can get you the whole rear view, which make this an excellent idea. If it's just a mirror, they have to have bade the mirror slightly convex to capture the whole rear window, and that distorts your view. Or it's a flat mirror and you only see partially. Short of a camera/screen idea, a good idea poorly implemented.
While I'd love a camera so I could see around the crap we put in the back of the car from time to time, there's a good way to use mirrors not to have a blind spot already:
and if the GPS goes dark after every instruction, and is behind glass (think iPhone touchscreen tech), it'll turn back into a mirror when there's no instructions up. which would be leat.
"and if the GPS goes dark after every instruction, and is behind glass (think iPhone touchscreen tech), it'll turn back into a mirror when there's no instructions up. which would be leat."
Doesn't sound like you actually have a GPS unit. You don't just look at it when there's an instruction. People are people; you're not going to remember everything about the last instruction and you're not going to know what the next turn looks like or how many intersections you have to go before the turn.
You're also going to want to know the distance to your next maneuver at all times. The whole point of GPS is that you have this info on demand. It's not just about instructions.
It has to be on all the time. It can't flicker on and off. That would be even more distracting and obviously less useful.
It would be much smarter if they put the screen below the mirror instead of in the mirror. A windshield heads up display or DLP projected map on to the road would be even better.
The way I look at it, as long as the driver doesn't need to move their head to view the GPS display, it's all good. However, I do see a potential issue of having to touch the display when required. Imagine yourself driving, the car is shaking slightly, you are required to raise your arm over your shoulder trying to make route changes with the display. Sure there might be voice functionality, but that ain't perfect either.
good point. device is dangerous imo. imagine the night time glow coming from it. the eye is attracted to light and would distract from the view of the rear mirror.
"the eye is attracted to light and would distract"
You are the first person I have ever heard make this point. I preach this all the time. In Georgia, where I live, people think they should all turn on their hazard flashers when there is snow or heavy rain. It turns the interstate into a sea of confusion and distraction. Every time it happens I get terrified. It really feels like you are going to die. I learned to drive up north where we regularly deal with snow measured in feet, and in South Florida where every rain is torrential and causes "white out". I never felt intimidated by weather until I got to Georgia. Sad thing is, everything is mild except for the heat.
A terrible idea to obstruct/distract your rear view. As a driver you get trained to spot movements in your peripheral vision and in mirrors glancing at them. The additional time required to analyze what's showing the rear view and what's the changing GPS map/directions will only get drivers to react slower. I am not a big fan of regular in-car GPS units either as being mostly distractive (like someone constantly telling you how to drive). What would be a good idea is to have a heads-up overlay on the windshield of a limited amount of GPS data, like some expensive cars display the tachometer/speedo info.
I agree that this is a stupid idea because as a driver with a navigation system, i recognize how dangerous it can be looking at these things and not the road. We all want to believe we won't be distracted but, the truth is, YES we will be.
The best place for a Navigation system is high on the dashboard (i.e S550, 2008 Accord, Infiniti M45,etc) this way you can take a quick peek at the screen without taking your eyes off the road. Older Nav units mounted in the middle of the centerstack (i.e. 2007 GM trucks, Chryslers, Fords, etc) require you to look too far down.
I do not agree with the HUD for the windshield. Jets can have them because their is nothing ahead of you but sky in a jet. Trying to focus on a windshield HUD display causes vision tunneling and the road to become out of focus. Have you ever tried driving a Corvette or a Cadillac XLR / STS with the HUD display? It really isn't all its cracked up to be.
This tech has been out in Japan for quite some time now, so nothing really new there. It's actually a pretty good idea to merge the two.
People complain about it being a distrating location... Not really considering you should be glancing at your rear-view often enough to see what's behind you and it's still in the line-of-sight with the road in front of you instead of looking down at something on the dash, or worse yet, in your radio console area. If they incorporate the GPS antenna into the back of the mirror, that's less cables to worry about hiding, though I guess there's the power cable to worry about; nothing that cannot be ran up and around the window in the seam.
A better location for GPS is either on the dash or high up on the front panel. This requires minimal eye/head movement. Ideally of course the GPS would be projected onto the windsheild HUD style appearing to float off slightly to on the right side of the hood.
What about problems caused by your eyes having to have to switch between focusing on the very close GPS display, and the image in the mirror (a long way away)? This GPS would seem to be far closer to your eyes than your dashboard instruments.
As said by others a HUD is far better. I actually did this years back for a long journey - I printed out the instructions on a 1/4 of an A4 sheet, rescanned the image, mirrored it, and re-printed it. So the text was wrong reading on the paper, but when placed on the dash behind the steering wheel I got readable instuctions apppearing to be at the front of bonnet.
What is the difference where it is? If you are looking at anything but the road you are risking bumper-humping™ someone anyway. Listening more than looking is always best.
I agree with most of the comments here.. Not a good location. If i may re-iterate a few good points.. Small location on Rearview mirror. It's a little give and take with it being on that mirror. Don't want to obstruct the rearview of the driver (more than necessary) but also want to give enough space to view GPS properly... Personally, I prefer the GPS screen being a little closer to the middle of the windshield... because that way you atleast have the road in your background.. with this, you wouldn't be viewing as much as the road as I'd like...
Nice, it will still require the driver to take their eyes off of the road like the other GPS units already out there. Someone needs to come up with a simple multi-color HUD.
Not good for usability, but a helluva lot better than the idiots that suction-cup their GPS to the middle of their windshield, then pull it forward so it blocks a significant part of the driver's 1-2'o clock vision. Put your GPS low to the dashboard people!
The best intelligent idea would be to project the gps on the front windshield itself, they could develop the technology in the BMW M5, i am driving one, and once you activate the M function your speedometer, tachometer and all are projected on your windshield using a special technology, but it is translucent, thus i can still keep a proper eye on the road while having a look at the readings of the console...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
agroupofletters @ Mar 24th 2008 1:47AM
just don't sell them in the U.K.
Aguiluz @ Mar 24th 2008 1:48AM
Will that reduce the visibility somewhat? (Just asking)
joe23521 @ Mar 24th 2008 9:29AM
Yeah, by about a third, evidently.
Asa Dotzler @ Mar 24th 2008 1:49AM
seems a reasonable location. i'd rather it be mirror when not in use though.
Miguel @ Mar 24th 2008 1:51AM
"Not a bad idea, but don't you want to be looking forward -- not behind you -- when considering your next turn?"
You mean as compared to down at your dashboard or center console? Just sayin'.
If this is a screen synced to an external rear camera, they can scale the image so that the 2/3rds of the mirror can get you the whole rear view, which make this an excellent idea. If it's just a mirror, they have to have bade the mirror slightly convex to capture the whole rear window, and that distorts your view. Or it's a flat mirror and you only see partially. Short of a camera/screen idea, a good idea poorly implemented.
Tom @ Mar 24th 2008 5:33AM
While I'd love a camera so I could see around the crap we put in the back of the car from time to time, there's a good way to use mirrors not to have a blind spot already:
http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/mirrors/
and if the GPS goes dark after every instruction, and is behind glass (think iPhone touchscreen tech), it'll turn back into a mirror when there's no instructions up. which would be leat.
Jeff @ Mar 24th 2008 7:09AM
"and if the GPS goes dark after every instruction, and is behind glass (think iPhone touchscreen tech), it'll turn back into a mirror when there's no instructions up. which would be leat."
Doesn't sound like you actually have a GPS unit. You don't just look at it when there's an instruction. People are people; you're not going to remember everything about the last instruction and you're not going to know what the next turn looks like or how many intersections you have to go before the turn.
You're also going to want to know the distance to your next maneuver at all times. The whole point of GPS is that you have this info on demand. It's not just about instructions.
It has to be on all the time. It can't flicker on and off. That would be even more distracting and obviously less useful.
I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Mar 24th 2008 1:59AM
This mirror will provide just what i have always needed, a larger rear blind spot.
I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Mar 24th 2008 2:01AM
It would be much smarter if they put the screen below the mirror instead of in the mirror. A windshield heads up display or DLP projected map on to the road would be even better.
KL @ Mar 24th 2008 2:06AM
The way I look at it, as long as the driver doesn't need to move their head to view the GPS display, it's all good. However, I do see a potential issue of having to touch the display when required. Imagine yourself driving, the car is shaking slightly, you are required to raise your arm over your shoulder trying to make route changes with the display. Sure there might be voice functionality, but that ain't perfect either.
sinjinn @ Mar 24th 2008 5:15AM
good point. device is dangerous imo. imagine the night time glow coming from it. the eye is attracted to light and would distract from the view of the rear mirror.
RichardBronosky @ Mar 24th 2008 10:10AM
"the eye is attracted to light and would distract"
You are the first person I have ever heard make this point. I preach this all the time. In Georgia, where I live, people think they should all turn on their hazard flashers when there is snow or heavy rain. It turns the interstate into a sea of confusion and distraction. Every time it happens I get terrified. It really feels like you are going to die. I learned to drive up north where we regularly deal with snow measured in feet, and in South Florida where every rain is torrential and causes "white out". I never felt intimidated by weather until I got to Georgia. Sad thing is, everything is mild except for the heat.
Pampiun @ Mar 24th 2008 2:10AM
A terrible idea to obstruct/distract your rear view. As a driver you get trained to spot movements in your peripheral vision and in mirrors glancing at them. The additional time required to analyze what's showing the rear view and what's the changing GPS map/directions will only get drivers to react slower. I am not a big fan of regular in-car GPS units either as being mostly distractive (like someone constantly telling you how to drive). What would be a good idea is to have a heads-up overlay on the windshield of a limited amount of GPS data, like some expensive cars display the tachometer/speedo info.
Flashpoint @ Mar 24th 2008 8:02AM
I agree that this is a stupid idea because as a driver with a navigation system, i recognize how dangerous it can be looking at these things and not the road. We all want to believe we won't be distracted but, the truth is, YES we will be.
The best place for a Navigation system is high on the dashboard (i.e S550, 2008 Accord, Infiniti M45,etc) this way you can take a quick peek at the screen without taking your eyes off the road. Older Nav units mounted in the middle of the centerstack (i.e. 2007 GM trucks, Chryslers, Fords, etc) require you to look too far down.
I do not agree with the HUD for the windshield. Jets can have them because their is nothing ahead of you but sky in a jet. Trying to focus on a windshield HUD display causes vision tunneling and the road to become out of focus. Have you ever tried driving a Corvette or a Cadillac XLR / STS with the HUD display? It really isn't all its cracked up to be.
Azayzel @ Mar 24th 2008 2:44AM
This tech has been out in Japan for quite some time now, so nothing really new there. It's actually a pretty good idea to merge the two.
People complain about it being a distrating location... Not really considering you should be glancing at your rear-view often enough to see what's behind you and it's still in the line-of-sight with the road in front of you instead of looking down at something on the dash, or worse yet, in your radio console area. If they incorporate the GPS antenna into the back of the mirror, that's less cables to worry about hiding, though I guess there's the power cable to worry about; nothing that cannot be ran up and around the window in the seam.
mushrooshi @ Mar 24th 2008 2:45AM
wtf do you need 400gb for?!?
and how the hell do they accomplish this in a small space, if it obviouly isnt a SSD?
Please tell me this is just a idiotic name?
John @ Mar 24th 2008 5:00AM
it's just an idiotic name. kinda like mike danger. actually i take that back, mike danger is not idiotic.
Jon Doe. @ Mar 24th 2008 9:32AM
The display is probably just a display and GPS unit with a cable going somewhere else. The guts of the system are probably under the seat with
jekyoo_style @ Mar 24th 2008 2:51AM
the word fail is written all over this.
Johan S @ Mar 24th 2008 3:13AM
A better location for GPS is either on the dash or high up on the front panel. This requires minimal eye/head movement. Ideally of course the GPS would be projected onto the windsheild HUD style appearing to float off slightly to on the right side of the hood.
dave @ Mar 24th 2008 6:18AM
What about problems caused by your eyes having to have to switch between focusing on the very close GPS display, and the image in the mirror (a long way away)? This GPS would seem to be far closer to your eyes than your dashboard instruments.
As said by others a HUD is far better.
I actually did this years back for a long journey - I printed out the instructions on a 1/4 of an A4 sheet, rescanned the image, mirrored it, and re-printed it. So the text was wrong reading on the paper, but when placed on the dash behind the steering wheel I got readable instuctions apppearing to be at the front of bonnet.
TZK @ Mar 24th 2008 7:04AM
What is the difference where it is? If you are looking at anything but the road you are risking bumper-humping™ someone anyway. Listening more than looking is always best.
KazSur @ Mar 24th 2008 8:48AM
I agree with most of the comments here.. Not a good location. If i may re-iterate a few good points..
Small location on Rearview mirror. It's a little give and take with it being on that mirror. Don't want to obstruct the rearview of the driver (more than necessary) but also want to give enough space to view GPS properly...
Personally, I prefer the GPS screen being a little closer to the middle of the windshield... because that way you atleast have the road in your background.. with this, you wouldn't be viewing as much as the road as I'd like...
My 2 cents..
Andrew @ Mar 24th 2008 9:13AM
Thats kind of strange...not the product itself but the fact that i was looking at an ebay item last night almost identical to this
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Rearview-Mirror-w-GPS-Navigation-Bluetooth-Rev-Camera_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ38653QQihZ002QQitemZ120236255406QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW
GhostDoggy @ Mar 24th 2008 9:19AM
Nice, it will still require the driver to take their eyes off of the road like the other GPS units already out there. Someone needs to come up with a simple multi-color HUD.
E71 @ Mar 24th 2008 12:22PM
Eight posts in a row, that's gotta be some sort of record for you, huh, Ryan?
dvdivx @ Mar 24th 2008 12:29PM
O good. A small illegible screen to look at as you drive off the road. At least idiots will blame their GPS. Like they currenty do.
kevjohn @ Mar 24th 2008 1:05PM
Now you can crash looking forwards OR backwards! :)
- @ Mar 24th 2008 3:18PM
Not good for usability, but a helluva lot better than the idiots that suction-cup their GPS to the middle of their windshield, then pull it forward so it blocks a significant part of the driver's 1-2'o clock vision. Put your GPS low to the dashboard people!
Brian @ Mar 24th 2008 5:04PM
Oh. I thought I was being clever. :(
billmao @ Mar 24th 2008 4:28PM
What happened to BSUS and CSUS?
Yaneesh @ Mar 26th 2008 7:05AM
The best intelligent idea would be to project the gps on the front windshield itself, they could develop the technology in the BMW M5, i am driving one, and once you activate the M function your speedometer, tachometer and all are projected on your windshield using a special technology, but it is translucent, thus i can still keep a proper eye on the road while having a look at the readings of the console...