Why are analogue speedometers superior to digital ones?

You commented that you don't understand the obsession with analogue speedometers. It is a well-understood ergonomic principle that an analogue needle display gives an indication of rate of change that is easier to interpret than a digital read-out. Also it is much easier to 'dead-stop' a needle and maintain a constant value rather than 'hunting' either side of the number in a digital display. You can see your speed at a glance from the position of the needle without having to actually read the value and then use brain power to process the information. This is why aircraft electronic instrument displays incorporate counter-pointer read-outs rather than pure digital, and why more analogue than digital wristwatches continue to be sold. It is bad design not to annotate the analogue speedometer scale with the important speed limit numbers.

Asked on 23 March 2013 by MB, Crowthorne

Answered by Honest John
An excellent explanation, but I still prefer digital. Another reason why it is better is no need to refocus from distant to close. The best examples of that are the tunnel vision digital speedo on the original Yaris and the base of screen speedo on the Prius II. The dashtop speedos on original Citroen C4s and C3 Picassos aren't bad either, though these also display your speed to any drivers you happen to overtake. I don’t subscribe to the wristwatch argument because that has 12 main hourly graduations. Speedometers can read up to anything between 100mph and 200mph so are not consistent.
Tags: speedometer
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