Hudway Cast Review

[Vratenza]

Hudway Cast Review

 

Got my Hudway Cast from crowd funding recently (finally after a few months of delay). Promised a review of the unit for those who might be considering buying it. 

 

First off, a few pictures of the box and the unit. 

 

The undernearh the main unit within the box contains the accessories:

- the dash mount that has a semi adhesive backing. 

- small Allen key to adjust the tilt of the unit over the mount. 

- ciggerate socket lighter plug power cord

- a bag of plastic cord organiser with 3m double sided stickers to stick to your car dash

- quick start instruction manual booklet and device safety booklet

 

What is not included but I ordered as optional accessory is the OBDII connector/power cord. With this accessory, it allows me to free up the clutter at my centre console ciggy lighter socket area and let me have the car speed and rpm on display when my Hudway Cast is not connected to my phone. I feel this is a must have to maximise the capability of the Cast. 

 

This is how I position my Cast and how I laid the power cord see the blue arrow heads:

 

This is how OBDII is connected to my car's. I tucked the excess cords out of the way under the foot well lining:

 

The Hudway Cast positioned where the transparent display just above the engine hood top and the main machine unit is below the hood top. This will maximise the field of vision while reducing the main unit's obtrusion into the essential driving field:

 

The display looks bigger than what I can capture by my phone camera. Maybe it's something to do with the way the image is projected. Anyway the image is crisp and sharp;

 

I am unable to get a picture of the Cast displaying my Waze/Google map since the display will always cast whatever is on my phone when I goes into camera mode to take a picture... You guys have to take an Internet sourced picture as reference to the quality.. It looks like this:

 

Will post my thoughts and comments next=> 

 

Build quality:

the packaging and the unit itself feels very high quality. Will not look out of place in an expensive luxury car. 

 

Ease of hardware set up:

Very intuitive and plug and play. I am abit obsessive about not cluttering my dash, so took abit of time to lay and route the power cord in a way it is hidden from view most of the way. 

 

Ease of mobile phone connection setup (android):

I am using Samsung Galaxy S9+. Initially I thought it was connected via bluetooth so spent some time trying to search for the Hudway Cast's Bluetooth ID... Turned out I have to make use of the Samsung version of miracast, named Smart View. It is a form of WiFi connection. Once you make the first connection, it's pretty easy to connect from the pull down quick settings menu of the phone. 

 

Main function of the Hudway Cast:

It does it's job very well. Imagine your waze/Google map in semi transparent 8 inch phone displayed in your line of sight. The navigation voice and phone sounds are played through an on board speaker of decent mono quality. Volume can be adjusted via the physical buttons on the unit. 

The screen brightness level can be adjusted via Hudway cast app. 

The screen brightness also auto adjust according to varying ambient lighting. For eg, when entering the tunnel, it will dim the display so that you do not get the glare and when exiting, it will tune up the brightness so that the display remain visible under the sun. 

- it will auto power on and off when you start and stop the engine. 

- once connected, it will cast ANYTHING from your phone ..... YouTube, movies, ebooks..... But who does that while driving? 

 

 

Cons:

- the boot up slightly slow, so have to wait abit for the unit to be ready to connect to cast

- have to manually connect to cast (still figuring how to automate the connection process if possible) 

- the phone needs to be in landscape mode for the screen to display in maximum dimension. So either you get a phone mount that can hold the phone horizontal or you lock your phone in landscape mode manually while driving. 

 

Overall Conclusion:

Am pretty happy with the purchase and will recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good quality aftermarket HUD that can do alot more stuff that all car manufacturer's HUD cannot. .. Cast your waze/Google map in it's full glory. 

 

 

[TangoCharlie]

 

Hudway Cast Review

 

Got my Hudway Cast from crowd funding recently (finally after a few months of delay). Promised a review of the unit for those who might be considering buying it.

 

First off, a few pictures of the box and the unit.

 

 

 

The undernearh the main unit within the box contains the accessories:

- the dash mount that has a semi adhesive backing.

- small Allen key to adjust the tilt of the unit over the mount.

- ciggerate socket lighter plug power cord

- a bag of plastic cord organiser with 3m double sided stickers to stick to your car dash

- quick start instruction manual booklet and device safety booklet

 

What is not included but I ordered as optional accessory is the OBDII connector/power cord. With this accessory, it allows me to free up the clutter at my centre console ciggy lighter socket area and let me have the car speed and rpm on display when my Hudway Cast is not connected to my phone. I feel this is a must have to maximise the capability of the Cast.

 

This is how I position my Cast and how I laid the power cord see the blue arrow heads:

20181021_095530-picsay.jpg

 

This is how OBDII is connected to my car's. I tucked the excess cords out of the way under the foot well lining:

20181019_192006-picsay.jpg

 

The Hudway Cast positioned where the transparent display just above the engine hood top and the main machine unit is below the hood top. This will maximise the field of vision while reducing the main unit's obtrusion into the essential driving field:

20181021_095429-picsay.jpg

 

The display looks bigger than what I can capture by my phone camera. Maybe it's something to do with the way the image is projected. Anyway the image is crisp and sharp;

20181021_095241-picsay.jpg

 

I am unable to get a picture of the Cast displaying my Waze/Google map since the display will always cast whatever is on my phone when I goes into camera mode to take a picture... You guys have to take an Internet sourced picture as reference to the quality.. It looks like this:

 

Will post my thoughts and comments next=>

 

Build quality:

the packaging and the unit itself feels very high quality. Will not look out of place in an expensive luxury car.

 

Ease of hardware set up:

Very intuitive and plug and play. I am abit obsessive about not cluttering my dash, so took abit of time to lay and route the power cord in a way it is hidden from view most of the way.

 

Ease of mobile phone connection setup (android):

I am using Samsung Galaxy S9+. Initially I thought it was connected via bluetooth so spent some time trying to search for the Hudway Cast's Bluetooth ID... Turned out I have to make use of the Samsung version of miracast, named Smart View. It is a form of WiFi connection. Once you make the first connection, it's pretty easy to connect from the pull down quick settings menu of the phone.

 

Main function of the Hudway Cast:

It does it's job very well. Imagine your waze/Google map in semi transparent 8 inch phone displayed in your line of sight. The navigation voice and phone sounds are played through an on board speaker of decent mono quality. Volume can be adjusted via the physical buttons on the unit.

The screen brightness level can be adjusted via Hudway cast app.

The screen brightness also auto adjust according to varying ambient lighting. For eg, when entering the tunnel, it will dim the display so that you do not get the glare and when exiting, it will tune up the brightness so that the display remain visible under the sun.

- it will auto power on and off when you start and stop the engine.

- once connected, it will cast ANYTHING from your phone ..... YouTube, movies, ebooks..... But who does that while driving?

 

 

Cons:

- the boot up slightly slow, so have to wait abit for the unit to be ready to connect to cast

- have to manually connect to cast (still figuring how to automate the connection process if possible)

- the phone needs to be in landscape mode for the screen to display in maximum dimension. So either you get a phone mount that can hold the phone horizontal or you lock your phone in landscape mode manually while driving.

 

Overall Conclusion:

Am pretty happy with the purchase and will recommend it to anyone who is looking for a good quality aftermarket HUD that can do alot more stuff that all car manufacturer's HUD cannot. .. Cast your waze/Google map in it's full glory.

One of your pics showed the speed and rpm....is that from a phone app?

@badlammy your YouTube solution.

[Vratenza]

That is straight from the car's ECU via the optional OBDII connector/power cord.

So, if I am not connected to the phone, it will default display the Speed and RPM.

 

One of your pics showed the speed and rpm....is that from a phone app?
@badlammy your YouTube solution.

[TangoCharlie]

That is straight from the car's ECU via the optional OBDII connector/power cord.

So, if I am not connected to the phone, it will default display the Speed and RPM.

I see...thanks

[badlammy]

One of your pics showed the speed and rpm....is that from a phone app?

@badlammy your YouTube solution.ð

Huh...i might as well just play directly on phone and put it on a stand.

[Hamburger]

So there is a thin wire that would need to run on the dashboard to power up the hudaway?

[TangoCharlie]

Huh...i might as well just play directly on phone and put it on a stand.ð

Stand ugly, your phone 8" ah? Cannot complement your RS

 

[Charmaine12]

how much is this device? 

[Vratenza]

Yes, it can be powered by the ciggy socket plug cord (included) OR the OBDII plug cord (optional) .

 

To get the speed and RPM you will need the OBDII plug cord. 

 

The OBDII plug cord is the more elegant solution I feel. 

 

So there is a thin wire that would need to run on the dashboard to power up the hudaway?

 

[Vratenza]

Usd 299

 

https://hudwaycast.com

 

how much is this device? 

 

[Vratenza]

Timed the Hudway Cast's start up from start of my car's push start button to time it is ready to pair with my phone : 25sec

 

I guess I just have to slow down my early morning start up and drive habit.....

[inlinesix]

Any problem with polarizing sunglass?

[Vratenza]

Nope, tried it last Saturday with my polarized sunglass under blazing noon sun 

 

Any problem with polarizing sunglass?

 

[inlinesix]

Nope, tried it last Saturday with my polarized sunglass under blazing noon sun

Thanks

[benoit16]

can u still play music and take calls via Bluetooth to your car audio with this?

[Vratenza]

Good question. Have yet to try. Will try tonight and report back.

 

can u still play music and take calls via Bluetooth to your car audio with this?

 

[Vratenza]

Reporting back: 

 

My car's bluetooth connection works in 2 ways.

1)It will auto connect to my phone each time I start the car. This will allow voice call function over the car's sound system.

2) To play music via Bluetooth, I have to manually select the media source as Bluetooth. 

 

So with Hudway Cast, if i am connected via (1), the music will be played via Hudway Cast's inbuilt speaker. The voice calls will be via the car sound system. 

 

If (2), all the music and navigation voice from the phone will be routed via the car sound system.

 

So in summary: yes to your question. 

can u still play music and take calls via Bluetooth to your car audio with this?

 

[Galantspeedz]

the speed and rpm thing is not new right?

 

What makes this special is the ability to cast from the handphone?