Anything that spends a lot of time outside needs to be sturdy, from lawn furniture to outdoorsmen but electronics like digital menu boards are particularly delicate, and a lot of thought needs to go into choosing a menu board that’s intended to be installed outside. Much like an adventurer planning a backpacking trip, digital menu boards in outdoor locations like drive-thrus must prepare for outdoor survival.
2. Brightness: When the sun is out, some displays can become just too dim to be readable. A display that is perfectly bright indoors can seem absurdly dark in direct sunlight, so make sure to compare brightness ratings.
3. Rain and snow: Another vital area of digital outdoorsmanship is resistance to moisture, whether from humidity in the air or rain and snow. Anyone who’s experienced the panic after spilling a water glass on a laptop can attest to the fact that water damage can be a death sentence for electronics. That makes this another important thing to discuss with your digital signage provider: what’s keeping the water out?
4. Dirt and dust: You might think that dry weather might be safer for a digital menu board, but where there’s not moisture there’s dust. Dust might not be much of a problem for human outdoorsmen or lawn chairs, but for something as delicate as electronics, a misplaced speck of dust can be dangerous. This is an important issue but not necessarily something that will be routinely reported as part of the specifications for a digital display, so as always, make sure to ask!
This isn’t the end of the conversation, but having an idea of what you need will help you start the process of installing an outdoor digital menu board as an informed consumer.
Origin Display Group | originmenuboards.com | origindigitalsignage.com | 888-235-2579
