Garmin's new GPS display is unlike anything else you've seen before. The new GPS features a technology called "HUD," which literally stands for "Heads Up Display." As the name suggests, this display appears on a driver's windshield and not on an actual device attached elsewhere inside of a car.

How HUD Works

The newest GPS by Garmin is entirely out of a work of fiction. Typically, GPS device maps appear on a square GPS gadget. To see the map, a driver has to look down or at a point on a dashboard where the GPS has been affixed. Garmin's new HUD display projects a map image onto a windshield, so that drivers can simply look straight ahead while driving.

The map image is projected onto a clear film that is stuck to a windshield. If you're thinking that this looks something like a hologram, you're not wrong. This GPS includes turn arrows, speed information, maps, and best route suggestions. The most important thing, though, is that this GPS' image projection appears directly in front of a driver, so it's simple to view a map when traveling.

Where the Image Comes From

Here's the crazy part: Garmin's new HUD GPS receives image information from a smartphone enabled with Bluetooth and running a Garmin StreetPilot1 or NAVIGON app. These apps work with iOS, Android, and Windows 8 phones. If you're into the audio side of GPS navigation, the new HUD GPS offers this too.

You can listed to GPS directions through your phone or through your car's Bluetooth system. Either way, that familiar GPS voice will be heard loud and clear - or, you can shut the voice off and just watch the projection that appears on your windshield. Is Garmin's new HUD GPS safer or better in some way?

Is HUD Safer?

Whether or not the HUD GPS system is safer than a regular system is debatable. Garmin doesn't claim that the new GPS system is, indeed, safer, but it does let drivers keep their eyes on the road ahead and not on a fixed point inside of a car. So, some might say that HUD technology is actually safer. It really depends on how you look at it, though.

HUD GPS technology is already available in some luxury cars, but a portable GPS of this sort makes HUD possible for anyone. Plus, not having an integrated HUD system means less costs when that system breaks down. The only real downfall that I see here is the possibility that the sticker used to project a GPS image may peel off. I'm guessing that Garmin will provide some kind of solution to this problem though.

Costs and Availability

Garmin has told press that the new GPS HUD system will be in stores this summer. The price of this new GPS technology will be $129.99. Is this new GPS technology worth the price? Should you consider HUD over any other kind of GPS? Maybe. If you are tired of looking at a GPS console attached to some point inside of your car, this new device might be just what you have been looking for.