LCD, LED or VFD

[codeboy2k]

I was curious about peoples preferences for tech equipment on their benches. 

I am not talking about oscilloscopes here, but all the other glowing equipment that can be operated
with a front panel and has multi-digit or multi-character displays  (i.e. 7-segment, 14-seg, 16-seg, dot matrix).

This would include power supplies, frequency counters, function generators, timers, pulse generators, etc.  Most of the cheaper, older, or used stuff often
have numerous displays on them. Consider your home brew items too, not just commercial products. If you're building it yourself, what would you choose?

Do you care? Do you have a preference? is one easier to read than another? does a particular color sooth the beast inside you ?

Everyone can vote twice in the poll. I've done that you can give another preference, for example 1 color in LCD and 1 color in LED.

I don't know how much it will skew the results by allowing 2 votes per person, but it's just informal fun anyways.

Please answer the poll and let me know.
Thanks!

[AntiProtonBoy]

White LED and VFD.

VFD has a special place in my heart, even though they tend go iffy due to cathode poisoning-like issues.

[T4P]

I would use VFD but heck,
White LED is the best or Blue if you like

[johnnyfp]

What about OLED!

[T4P]

What about OLED!

Beautiful but ... pricey 

[codeboy2k]

What about OLED!

I considered adding OLED to the poll, but frankly there's not enough LAB equipment available with OLED displays.
LED, LCD and VFD have been entrenched in the industry for years, and I expect most people have developed a preference
for one over the others.  But OLED didn't seem to have enough history yet.

The poll is not about what you wish you could have, but what you actually prefer based on experience. 

And they are pricey, as DaveXRQ says.  However, I think they will be about the same price as VFDs but VFD's still win on lifetime.
OLED's aparently lose half their brightness in 5 or six years of continuous operation @ 8 hours per day. Some lab equipment is left on
for days at a time, and the OLED display just won't last.  I think the organic components decompose or something. Other than that, I think
they are much better than all the other display technologies.  Once they get the lifetime up and the price down, they will be great.
 

[mikeselectricstuff]

What about E-Ink...? A DMM with a fast E-ink display would be awesome!
IMO things like update rate, size and user interface are far more important than colour & type. As long as it's readable it's fine.
I dislike old low-contrast graphic LCDs with narrow view angles, and VFDs with  uneven segments due to burn-in, but anything else is fine.
 

[G7PSK]

I like needle pointers and moving scale equipment as well there is no tick box for this.

[Bored@Work]

What about E-Ink...?

Do you know of any instrument with an e-ink display?

A DMM with a fast E-ink display would be awesome!

I would be concerned about failure mode. If the meter fails, e.g. the battery got flat, or you maybe just forgot to turn it on, there would still be something displayed.

But if you want to go DIY, Eink offers samples of naked fixed-segement displays http://www.nexternal.com/eink/standard-segmented-display-samples-c4.aspx for $50 for a pack of five. 10 bar graph, 6 digits x 14 segments, and 8 digits x 7 segments (no, no decimal point ) are available. I have no idea how to drive them and haven't ordered any. They also have a matrix display eval kit. In the past it was a few thousand Dollars, these days you have to beg them, i.e. "qualify", to get one.

[T4P]

What about E-Ink...?

Do you know of any instrument with an e-ink display?

A DMM with a fast E-ink display would be awesome!

I would be concerned about failure mode. If the meter fails, e.g. the battery got flat, or you maybe just forgot to turn it on, there would still be something displayed.

But if you want to go DIY, Eink offers samples of naked fixed-segement displays http://www.nexternal.com/eink/standard-segmented-display-samples-c4.aspx for $50 for a pack of five. 10 bar graph, 6 digits x 14 segments, and 8 digits x 7 segments (no, no decimal point ) are available. I have no idea how to drive them and haven't ordered any. They also have a matrix display eval kit. In the past it was a few thousand Dollars, these days you have to beg them, i.e. "qualify", to get one.

Most of the amazon readers use E-Ink's

[chrome]

Most of the amazon readers use E-Ink's

Believe it or not, an amazon reader is not lab equipment.

[T4P]

Most of the amazon readers use E-Ink's

Believe it or not, an amazon reader is not lab equipment.

Oops. Not instrument.
OK, no instrument uses E-INK .

[Hypernova]

VFD - The type of "bling" it adds to an instrument simply has no equals.

[ejeffrey]

I like VFDs.  I spend a lot of time in dark optics labs, and a display that you can read in the dark is a big plus.  I prefer the digits to be illuminated rather than backlit, and the viewing angle of most transflective segmented or character cell LCDs is pretty terrible, especially when backlit.  Active matrix color LCDs are nice, but they are kind of overkill for most instruments whose primary output is not graphical.  Obviously for scopes and spectrum analyzers LCDs are the only choice.

[siliconmix]

how about a speaking one for the hard of seeing.

[SeanB]

You will be asking for a Braille display next..............

[free_electron]

The key is having high contrast and be not overly bright.
Instruments with white text on blue backlit lcds are horrible to read same for black text on yellow or red backlit lcd...

Simple displays such as old fashioned led behind a filter and vfd are preferred. Off is black ... And not ' low level light as with lcd...

There are lcd displays ( optrex) with white backlight that are monochromatic. ( black/white ) . Those are excellent.

I prefer my lab in half dark with a woking light shining on my test subject.
Paradise by the blinkenlights...

[codeboy2k]

The key is having high contrast and be not overly bright.
Instruments with white text on blue backlit lcds are horrible to read same for black text on yellow or red backlit lcd...

I agree with that completely.   I absolutely hate white on blue LCD (those  2 line x 20 char displays).  Black or white on a red background is equally horrible.
But black on yellow or yellowish-green LCD is ok to read. That's a common combination.

You once said you were colorblind.  Do you find that affects your ability to read some instrument displays? perhaps some manufacturers are not considering this. I imaging some o-scope traces can't be read easily

Simple displays such as old fashioned led behind a filter and vfd are preferred. Off is black ... And not ' low level light as with lcd...

There are lcd displays ( optrex) with white backlight that are monochromatic. ( black/white ) . Those are excellent.

I prefer my lab in half dark with a woking light shining on my test subject.
Paradise by the blinkenlights...

I love the white backlit monochrome LCD's that you mentioned.  They are just so crisp and easy to read.

[codeboy2k]

how about a speaking one for the hard of seeing.

I always wanted the auto mode of the DMM to beep and speak everytime it got a new reading. 

Turning my head to look up at the meter, I still have occasionally slipped a probe and fried something.

And I have yet to master the one-handed probing like I saw Dave do in one video.   Dave was holding
his probes like chopsticks and the meter in the other hand.  clearly he thought the DUT was Dim Sum.

[free_electron]

You once said you were colorblind.  Do you find that affects your ability to read some instrument displays?

yes it does. on a scope the yellow and green trace look identical since they have same luminosity.
that is something i found fantastic on the Rohde & Schwarz scopes. They let you set trace color and, since the have full RGB led's behind the buttons ont he control panel , the control panel actually changes accordingly !

That is a brilliant design. Like if you set the trigger to channel 3 ( blue ) the led behind the trigger button changes to blue as well. So you see 1 one step what you are linked to. ( as opposed to needing 4 leds , to show what you are tied to. simply change the ring around the level knob to the selected trigger trace color )

i wish more manufacturers woudl do that. rgb led's are peanuts on the cost of the scope

[codeboy2k]

That is a brilliant design.   I've never used R&S scopes , so I didn't know. 

Manufacturers need to know how their choices are affecting your abilities to use the scope, and ultimately how it affects a purchasing decision.

[Zero999]

I suppose you could use an LCD with an RGB backlight and a reversible polarising filter to give a choice of colours and whether it's positive/negative or you could just go the whole hog and use a full colour graphic screen, giving endless possibilities, including VFD and nixie emulation.

I'm happy with most colours (red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, white etc.) with the exception of bright blue, indigo, violet or pink which make my eyes sore. Unfortunately bright blue and indigo seem to be common these days but at least with an LCD it's often possible to change the backlight to a more sensible colour.