Speedo - digital or needle+dial

[turbodewd]

I was debating with someone on another forum the merits of this. I put it to him that traditional needle+dial speedos are silly. They used to rely on mechanical input and your brain has to waste time interpreting where the needle is on the dial to grasp the speed.

A digital speedo straight up tells you your exact speed and relies on digital input anyway. It would be stupid to then make a mech device display digital input.

RIP old speedos! Go digital!

Ever since Ive started using the digital speedo in my FG Ive never looked back.

[Silver Ghia]

Same here with my FG, never look at the analogue speedo.

[scottyg938]

Digital speedo is much better, getting out of my fg work ute into my personal ba I hate not having the digital speedo in it

[Phil B]

I like the needle, especially with the tacho which moves quickly, its hard to read fast changing digital numbers. I also find I can roughly tell where the needle is without actually looking and focussing on the gauge, which is helpful

[SSD-85]

I have always thought of digital speedos as more of a novelty thing. I loved the one in my ZL, but seeing it jump between roughly 96-100 all the time gets a bit annoying.

[Smoke Pursuit]

I like it in my FG... get in any other car without it and its annoying.. I am just glad they have both in the FG, not keen on the NA Fairlanes etc with just the digital speedo, looks a bit tacky.

[Luke Plaizier]

The BA can have LCD 'digital' speedo enabled - it's called 'Police Mode'. You just need to OBD2 tool to enable it. We've done it by hand with the cheap ELM tool otherwise your ford IDS diagnostic tool turns it on and off. The +2% can also be removed from the Police Mode so that the speed reading is more accurate.

I included the word 'digital' in quotes because in reality the dial is digital too. The Needle in the BA and onwards is computer driven - there are no mechanical linkages anywhere. The same data that is used to display the LCD Police Mode speedo output and is derived from the ABS sensor (Or on the shaft sensor for those early non ABS utes), is also used to drive a stepper motor to set the Speedo Needle position. Same is true for Tacho, Temp and Fuel - all numbers sent ot the Instrument Cluster over the digital CAN bus by either the PCM or ABS modules and converted by chips in the cluster to needle position on the display.

I've run with both in my BA, and to be honest, the needles are more intuitive after all these years because I can glance and see where the needle is, as opposed to having to read and comprehend the number being displayed.


Lukeyson

[FalconXV]

Originally Posted by Luke Plaizier

The BA can have LCD 'digital' speedo enabled - it's called 'Police Mode'. You just need to OBD2 tool to enable it. We've done it by hand with the cheap ELM tool otherwise your ford IDS diagnostic tool turns it on and off. The +2% can also be removed from the Police Mode so that the speed reading is more accurate.


I've run with both in my BA, and to be honest, the needles are more intuitive after all these years because I can glance and see where the needle is, as opposed to having to read and comprehend the number being displayed.


Lukeyson

Does the AU have a Police Mode? I swear I've read before that it does.

[M&Ms]

In actual fact, a Japanese car company (think it was Subaru, but could be wrong) carried out a test a few years ago (maybe even 10 years ago now), comparing a human mind reading a digital vs analogue speedometer. The brain had to think less, believe it or not, with the analogue speedo compared to the digital. In a digital one, you actually have to 'read' the numbers, in an analogue, your peripheral vision can in many cases guage the position of the needle, and the brain tells you how fast you are going. Think the article said something about you actually spend less time focussing on an analogue than digital readout. Might explain why a $75k 2013 WRX STi has only got an analogue speedo then....

[pottery beige]

having to read numbers or look at a stick..

stick wins..

[Franco Cozzo]

I like the way the Mazda RX8 is set up:



Digital speed readout with an analogue tacho.

But I also like the Honda S2000 setup:



All digital

The S2000 one is pretty sweet, it updates quickly, that is an S2000 cluster in an Integra.

[Silver Ghia]

For information to those who have not used the FG digital speedo, it is a far improvement to earlier digital speedos. No comparison. Easier to read, and the way how the numbers change, there is certainly no problem at all using it.

Then with the excellent digital cruise control with the speed setting just below it with adjustment at 1 kph increments, there is absolutely no guesswork when seeing what the exact speed is when passing speed cameras (mine is spot on when compared to the GPS).

[Itsme]

Who cares, all OK.....nothing hard to read dial or LCD unless you need glasses Ha ha ha .

[2011G6E]

Digital tachos are a pain in the bum if they're displaying numbers...needles or graphs are easy enough.

Digital heads up displays are something that I have never understood...why don't all cars have them? The technology is basic at best, and even some cheap cars have had it in the past (Nissan Bluebird of the late 1990's was one). They would simply be an amazing road safety change, with a projection of the basics, even just your speed really, so you don't have to keep glancing away from the road down to the dash board.

[Phil B]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Digital heads up displays are something that I have never understood...why don't all cars have them? The technology is basic at best, and even some cheap cars have had it in the past (Nissan Bluebird of the late 1990's was one). They would simply be an amazing road safety change, with a projection of the basics, even just your speed really, so you don't have to keep glancing away from the road down to the dash board.

Anyone with an android phone can have a heads up display of their GPS speed, at night only though. I have used it and in the end I actually found most of the time I was using peripheral vision to see my dial speedo anyway as I found that was actually easier than reading the on screen display. Though that may be different with a proper HUD built into the car.

[The Yeti]

Digital speedos are so 80's

Give me the style of an analogue speedo any day

[Motorbreath310]

I like analogue. Knowing from a quick glance how fast you're going, watching it climb, watching videos of them to put the acceleration into perspective. They're just cooler.

Same with rev counters. Would want a digital one of those?

Aston Martin came to mind when reading this thread. Them and their counter-clockwise tachometers...

[wang]

I like the digital speedo in my fg and don't look at the needle and when I drive my wife's ba find myself speeding more often.

[stevz]

I drive VE's and FG's all the time and whenever I get into another car without a digital speedo I find it so damn irritating. If I was shopping for a car it would be a deal breaker for me.

[Ben73]

My car has analogue, but I can also display digital if I choose too.
I never use digital, Id rather bring up the Fuel Consumption, range to empty, or outside temp in the place of the digital speedo.

[Drizz06]

Originally Posted by Ben73

My car has analogue, but I can also display digital if I choose too.
I never use digital, Id rather bring up the Fuel Consumption, range to empty, or outside temp in the place of the digital speedo.

That's the best thing about the FG, you have analog + digital speedo and fuel consumption all at the same time. Also cruise speed is listed so you can set it spot on to any given speed. Amb temp is displayed on the Icc so there's no need for it to be displayed in the cluster.

[TheInterceptor]

Yeah, needle and dial for me. Especially if it doesn't go through 50 computers to move on my cluster.

[roberts]

needle and dial for me, digital is very try hard.

[SumoDog68]

I would compare it to watches - much prefer analogue watch to digital ...

[svo supporter]

Digital fades after a while...(does anyone have the issue with EF/EL odometres being dull?) Analogue doesn't.....So it's needles and dials for me

[tranquilized]

Originally Posted by svo supporter

Digital fades after a while...(does anyone have the issue with EF/EL odometres being dull?) Analogue doesn't.....So it's needles and dials for me

A dull odometre in an EF/EL is due to a blown globe. Replace that and you're back in business.


I always thought of digital speedos as 80's try-hard items as well. I had one in my EB Fairmont, and while the novelty of it was ok, it was far from sporty...

I think the ideal setup is both like in the FG Falcon.

[Alan D Segal]

I personally prefer needle and dial. I find the digital ones distracting. Cheers and thanks for the interesting thread.

[FGII-XR6]

I am dyslexic and find the digital speedos difficult to process quickly where I am able to interpret a needle quickly by position

[turbodewd]

With the needle you cant dial in exact speeds and u spend more time looking at the dial to get your cruise control choice just right. This is my key thingo.

At the very least cars should have both options.

[Tysonv48]

+1 for the analogue needle, used to have the digital speedo in the old ea fairmont ghia.
The neadle is easier to read when given the opurtunity in dads ve I will always look at the needle and not the digital read out. Just my 2 cents.