[dce]

Maybe everybody already knew this but for those that don’t: polarized sunglasses make the head up display totally invisible. Just had to exchange my new ray bans for non polarized right after I bought them. Hopefully this saves someone else the trouble!

[LindrelT]

Not quite my experience. This is my 3rd car with heads up and the second BMW. All when wearing my prescription polarized sunglasses cuts about 1/2 the brightness of the display. Still viewable but dimmer…. I just tilt my head to the right a bit and it is full brightness again. Not ideal but still a useful feature I wouldn’t give up. Cheers!

[Jacebror]

Just tint your windows and don't wear sunglasses

[dce]

Originally Posted by LindrelT

Not quite my experience. This is my 3rd car with heads up and the second BMW. All when wearing my prescription polarized sunglasses cuts about 1/2 the brightness of the display. Still viewable but dimmer…. I just tilt my head to the right a bit and it is full brightness again. Not ideal but still a useful feature I wouldn’t give up. Cheers!

Interesting.. what brand are your glasses? I might have to give them a try

[dce]

Originally Posted by Jacebror

Just tint your windows and don't wear sunglasses

Wish it was legal in NY!

[FZI89]

Same experience as LindrelT

Polarised ray ban glasses (prescription). Cuts out half the brightness, but still visible.

Make sure your HUD is set to max brightness

[MontyB1]

BMW actual offer a range of polarised sunglasses that work with BMW head up displays. It's the direction of the polarisation that cause the issue, so they have done a range that mean you can still wear them.

I've just got some Sungods in the car that aren't and they work fine just for the car.

[MontyB1]

Originally Posted by Lord Elpus

Exactly the same for me. Obviously, nobody at BMW wears polarised sunglasses or you would think that someone would have noticed.

What notice so much they created an entire range of sunglasses to help their drivers, I'd think they have noticed....Mmmm

[LindrelT]

Originally Posted by MontyB1

BMW actual offer a range of polarised sunglasses that work with BMW head up displays. It's the direction of the polarisation that cause the issue, so they have done a range that mean you can still wear them.

I've just got some Sungods in the car that aren't and they work fine just for the car.

Check out https://www.bmwblog.com/2023/02/03/b...isplay-review/

[Tunners]

Maui Jim polarised, these just dim the brightness but still readable.

[thenew3]

Originally Posted by Lord Elpus

Exactly the same for me. Obviously, nobody at BMW wears polarised sunglasses or you would think that someone would have noticed.

It's not an issue isolated to BMW. All HUD from all MFG have the same issue with polarized lenses.

Same reason pilots don't wear polarized sunglasses. It makes reading some of their digital gauges nearly impossible.

[beefgroovy]

I have a pair of non-prescription polarized Ray Bans (RB3498), and can see the HUD fine, just dimmer like the others. They have the gradient treatment, so that might help someone if they’re shopping for glasses as the other treatment types might not work so well.

[COOLGREANY]

My wife did a test drive a few weeks ago and always wears her prescription polarized sunglasses. She stated there wasn't a problem with the HUD so is there different kinds of polarized glasses?

[FlashMonkey929]

Originally Posted by COOLGREANY

My wife did a test drive a few weeks ago and always wears her prescription polarized sunglasses. She stated there wasn't a problem with the HUD so is there different kinds of polarized glasses?

Yes, there are. I just depends on how the polarization is oriented. The most common polarized glasses are often incompatible with HUD's and LCD displays in BMW's from my experience. My Oakleys and Ray Bans both would make the LCD in the radio of my e92 unreadable, and the HUD in my X1 dimmer. Now that I require progressive lenses, I'm looking at getting a set of prescription sunglasses that will hopefully be compatible with the HUD. If there's any doubt, I just won't get polarized lenses.

[thenew3]

Originally Posted by FlashMonkey929

Yes, there are. I just depends on how the polarization is oriented. The most common polarized glasses are often incompatible with HUD's and LCD displays in BMW's from my experience. My Oakleys and Ray Bans both would make the LCD in the radio of my e92 unreadable, and the HUD in my X1 dimmer. Now that I require progressive lenses, I'm looking at getting a set of prescription sunglasses that will hopefully be compatible with the HUD. If there's any doubt, I just won't get polarized lenses.

I've tried polarized prescription sunglasses from Lenscrafters and Costco optical, both make the HUD in my X7 nearly impossible to see.
Unfortunately neither of those places sell non polarized prescription sunglasses. So I ended up getting a pair of prescription sunglasses from Target that was non polarized.

I have noticed when I first got my X7 in 2020, a pair of non-prescription ray ban would make the HUD not visible. However after a # of OTA idrive updates, now I can see the HUD with that same pair of non prescription ray ban although it is very dim compared to non polarized. So not sure if BMW did something in their OTA software that made the HUD more visible to polarized sunglasses.

[FlashMonkey929]

Originally Posted by thenew3

I've tried polarized prescription sunglasses from Lenscrafters and Costco optical, both make the HUD in my X7 nearly impossible to see.
Unfortunately neither of those places sell non polarized prescription sunglasses. So I ended up getting a pair of prescription sunglasses from Target that was non polarized.

I have noticed when I first got my X7 in 2020, a pair of non-prescription ray ban would make the HUD not visible. However after a # of OTA idrive updates, now I can see the HUD with that same pair of non prescription ray ban although it is very dim compared to non polarized. So not sure if BMW did something in their OTA software that made the HUD more visible to polarized sunglasses.

Looking at the LensCrafters website, they do offer non polarized prescription Oakleys, but not in progressive lenses like I need. I may be able to get away with just distance lenses since I'm not using them for work where I need to look at stuff less than 2 feet from me with critical focus.

As far as the HUD in the X7, the only thing I can think of is that they made it brighter to help overcome the polarization. From everything I understand about polarization and LCD's, it is a hardware limitation that cannot be changed, and the only way to get around it is to either tilt your head a bit or get glasses that are polarized in a different orientation than standard.

[thenew3]

Originally Posted by FlashMonkey929

Looking at the LensCrafters website, they do offer non polarized prescription Oakleys, but not in progressive lenses like I need. I may be able to get away with just distance lenses since I'm not using them for work where I need to look at stuff less than 2 feet from me with critical focus.

My local lenscrafters says they don't stock the non polarized lenses as nobody buys them. They had a wait of 2-4 weeks and I didn't want to wait that long. So I went to target optical and they were able to get me a pair of prescription non polarized sunglasses within 3 days.

[FlashMonkey929]

Originally Posted by thenew3

My local lenscrafters says they don't stock the non polarized lenses as nobody buys them. They had a wait of 2-4 weeks and I didn't want to wait that long. So I went to target optical and they were able to get me a pair of prescription non polarized sunglasses within 3 days.

Sorry to dredge up an old thread, but I just picked up a set of prescription non-polarized Ray Ban's from my nearest Lenscrafters. Took them about 5 days to arrive, which was much sooner than the 2 weeks they quoted me. I think it helps that I think Lenscrafters actually owns Ray Ban.

I did try out my dad's non prescription Costa's and while it does dim the HUD, it's still usable on full brightness in all but the sunniest conditions here. I'd much rather have the HUD be nice and bright though, so non-polarized was the best for me.

[Lon3volf]

Originally Posted by LindrelT

Check out https://www.bmwblog.com/2023/02/03/b...isplay-review/

Yep, bought these few months ago. They are polarized and works well.
Of course it’s not as good as seeing the HUD with naked eye but it certainly is miles better than typical polarized glasses.

They glasses have this tiny mark Vi/ON etched on it. Only way to know they are genuine and would work with any HUD.

Funny thing is none of folks at dealership know about these kind of glasses except for that one blog.

[tex2670]

Originally Posted by Jacebror

Just tint your windows and don't wear sunglasses

....or just get non-polarized sunglasses....