The Garmin HUD is very cool, but in a 1980s sort of way. Driving around with this little, green head-up display projected into my line of sight with its segmented LED text and simple digital readouts made me momentarily feel like the star of an '80s action movie behind the wheel of an experimental sports car or an F-14 Tomcat. In reality, I was in a Ford Escape headed to pick a friend up from the airport or on my way to the office.

A head-up display adds a bit of drama to the driving experience, but more importantly it adds a bit of safety as well. By putting speed, navigation, and turn information in the driver's line of sight, the Garmin HUD allows drivers to keep their eyes on the road.

Hardware design and installation
The HUD technically isn't a portable navigation device - at least, not on its own - but the unit is about the same size as your average PND. The dashboard unit measures 4.25x3.46 inches and is 0.73 inch deep. On the top surface, you'll find a monochromatic LED text display with two-color illumination that is mostly green with a spot of red. You'll also note that all of the text that is displayed is reversed, but we'll get back to that.

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The tacky base flexes to conform and stick to your dashboard. Antuan Goodwin/CNET

Reflective display options
Because the HUD's display is mirrored, you'll have to reflect it off of something to view the information properly. In the box, along with the HUD and the power cable, you'll find two options for viewing the HUD's display.

The first is a transparent, reflective film that is installed on the windshield of your car. Installation is similar to installing a screen protector on a smartphone - wet the surface, position the film, and squeegee out the bubbles with a credit card - but removing the film once it's been placed will damage it. You've only got one shot at it while the glass is wet, so make it a good one.

The installation is tricky to get right and easy to mess up and install crooked or slightly misaligned, which I did. I'd like to see an extra film included for people, like me, who botch the installation.

For a more temporary setup, such as when moving the HUD between vehicles, Garmin also includes a rigid plastic lens that clips onto the HUD and reflects the light of the LED text display. The advantage of using the reflective lens is that it is much easier to set up, but because the lens is attached to the HUD, you're somewhat more limited in the placement of the display.

The reflective lens is the easiest way to get up and running with the HUD. Antuan Goodwin/CNET

Software and performance
The Garmin Head-Up Display is just that: a display. It's not a navigation device, it doesn't carry its own navigation software or a GPS receiver.

All of the turn-by-turn data that is displayed by the HUD is supplied by a smartphone running either the Garmin StreetPilot app for iOS devices or a Navigon navigation app for Android, iOS, or Windows Phone devices. I did my testing with Navigon USA & CAN on a Google Nexus 4.

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