14. Roadmaster Scrolling Rear Deck Message System

by Ed Tittel

OK, we have to admit that this offering satisfies a long-term hankering we've had for many years to communicate visually (and explicitly) with other drivers in our vicinity. Though the Roadmaster Scrolling Rear Deck Message System (a license plate version is also available) is nothing more than a large linear array of LEDs with a driver to scroll text from right to left, it gives voice to things lots of people have wanted to say for a long, long time. That said, Roadmaster has thoughtfully installed a profanity filter, that takes note of certain colorful terms of speech and replaces them with first letter, asterisks, and last letter (as in s**t). We're not sure we appreciate this tampering with our First Amendment rights, but we certainly know why the company decided to add this feature!

It's only six pixels tall and 45 pixels wide, but what stories this gadget can tell.

The unit sits up on the rear deck in a car or truck, facing the rear window and plugs into any standard automotive 12V adapter (familiar to those with cigarette lighters or their receptacles). A remote control is included to enable users to select from a collection of canned phrases - examples include "Back off", "Help me", "Keep left" and "Keep right" - and its memory can accommodate messages up to 470 characters in length (though text entry is kind of a chore). You can peruse the complete library of words and phrases in the unit's user manual.

For a mere $60, the Roadmaster Scrolling Rear Deck Message System offers a type of automotive satisfaction that is difficult to put in words, by giving a voice to all kinds of thoughts and feelings for those on the road. We hope you've got a dad or grad who likes this sort of wonky widget; because we think it's the greatest thing we've stumbled across in quite some while.

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