Need Reading Glasses for Digital Rear View Mirror

common problem with video rearviews.

The focal distance is just the distance from your eye to the mirror, rather than the distance from the mirror plus the distance from mirror to following object.

I don't have a video rearview mirror, but I prefer driving with single-vision lenses for a lot of reasons.

 

Hmm, never thought about that. That would be inconvenient for me. Something to think about when shopping for my next vehicle.

 

It's the sort of thing that might work better if they left the mirror as-is, but instead replaced the rear window with a video display.

...don't worry, someone will be selling that before long.

 

FWIW I've read a lot about how many people get queasy/sick using digital rear views too. They're not natural and they can be off putting to a lot of people when used regularly. I've tried one once in another car, and I didn't like it. I think there are *some* situations where it could help - certainly. But I'd rather just use a regular mirror even if I had the digital one, I'd turn off the screen function most of the time. I'm pretty sure you can just use it as a regular mirror too right? Personally, if I did have it, I would only use it when stuffing the hatch up to the top since you still keep rear visibility that way.

And if an always online since the age of 14 millennial nerd doesn't acclimate instantly to yet another screen available to him, then maybe they're just flawed tech. That or they're too far ahead of the curve and only iPad kids are gonna be so used to screens that its a seamless transition for the tech ;D

 

Presbyopia is so common in the historic target population for the Prius, and the distant instrument cluster seems such a smart accommodation for that problem, it seems a pretty serious miscalculation to include a feature that would frustrate everyone over 60.

I have a plastic ruler that slightly magnifies the image of a page on which it is placed. I've also had a SeeAll rifle sight that uses magnification to fool the eye into focusing at a longer distance. I wonder whether magnification on the mirror itself might be a solution.

I'd steer clear of magnification high on your glasses, like shooting bifocals. Sacrificing clarity at the same height needed to see other traffic is a rough trade.

 

My solution is to just not use the digital mirror unless the back window is covered in something or I've got cargo in the back blocking it. Just flip the bottom lever to turn it into a regular mirror.

 

Or did they just put it in the middle for a one-size-fits-all, with left and right side positioned steering wheel?

 

The midline placement could be explained that way (though I still think they have different clusters for LHD/RHD cars).

But the placement as far forward under the windshield as they could get, with the use of mirrors to make the projected image more distant than that, was definitely to address the need for refocusing to check the gauges.

And finally in the latest generations, they've given it all up for a conventional display in front of the driver's nose. Drivers just always thought it was weird and reviewers never looked up why and explained it.

 

Yeah a lot of their other models stuck with driver-central instrument clusters. First experienced the central version in an Echo (at car show); not sure if it goes back further than that. Seemed weird.

 

Putting the instrument cluster in the middle might simplify manufacture across markets, but I was referring to the current instrument cluster in front of the driver's position but set farther forward. That seems like an accommodation for those of us who don't see the dash clearly unless we are looking through the bifocal portion of our glasses.

 

I found my best results with regular progressive lenses.

 

...and considerably cheaper to execute than the reversed display with mirror and associated lenses used in the older ones.

You can perceive the indicated angle or direction of an old dial speedometer needle even if you can't make out the numbers on the scale. But if you ever learned where important ones like 25, 45, 55 and 75 were then you wouldn't ever need to read that display again. A defocused glance at the needle could still inform you properly.

Going to a strict digital display takes that away, so I can see why Toyota wanted to make something that suited a further focal field.

 

Thank you, Tideland.

Indeed. A dial can be sensed with the most brief of glances whereas a digital speedometer needs to be read, a slower process. Digital instruments are a step backward, but we are likely to see them more frequently as the cost of dials remains static and the cost of screens decreases.

An optimized speedometer is even more important in a CVT where one can't estimate vehicle speed by gear and engine speed. At least Toyota have avoided the greater sin of a buttonless interior like the one in the VW GTI.

 

It isn't just for those of us with older eyes. It lets younger ones refocus faster on the dash, which leads to less time off the road.

 

I've read that before, but I don't understand why it would be so. I would imagine that any light source that could be projected directly at a driver could be bounced off a windscreen. Is managing the contrast against ambient light the problem? Do people with an astigmatism react poorly to them?

I can see the small driver centered current instrument screen as being less easily washed out by bright sunlight than a HUD. Maybe even more important where the target are buyers new to the model, a cluster gives a driver an object to look to for information. You can't foist too many differences on people and have them accept it all; most will want a lot of continuity to feel comfortable.

 

I hadn't gone so far as to consider the case of the HUD, I still consider that a niche.

I was thinking of it in terms of the CCFL displays in the early models which weren't terribly luminous, and thus required a hood for shading to allow readability. The cost isn't just the display itself when it needs an elaborate package to use it in all conditions.

Later they phased out the CCFLs for backlit LCD displays and in some cases OLED displays, all of which had much greater brightness, and needed less shading. Then the resolution got better so they weren't ugly or distracting even close-up.

 

Interesting. I didn't know why the current Prius cluster doesn't have a shade.

 

Why don't you turn it off?

 

Although I haven’t tested recently, I have excellent vision. I find the digital rear view camera jarring and disorienting when I first switch it on. My eyes expect to focus into the middle distance, like when I am looking out of the windshield or looking into any of the other physical mirrors.

Once I leave it on for a while, it becomes more comfortable to use, since my eyes can easily focus that close. I am finding I only use it in poor weather so far, and would also use it if the rear view is blocked.

Another minor problem I have with the digital mirror is that I can’t easily judge distances to cars, and I don’t think changing the zoom setting would help since it’s different from what I would expect. Maybe I will adjust, but it’s possible it will always feel wrong. The placement of the camera and angle of view are not ideal for visualizing exactly where cars are behind me. But it works adequately for its purpose, and actually shows a lot more of what’s behind me than the physical mirror.

It’s a pretty nice design but I prefer the physical rear view mirror when I can use it.