[shermantanktop]

When a device has many analog gauges, I assume it is an unnecessarily expensive device.

Few modern use cases actually benefit from the qualities of an analog gauge. It seems to be more of a status marker, at least for consumer goods. Military and ruggedized applications are a different story.

[carlosjobim]

What would be an application where a segmented display is just as good or better than an analogue gauge? The only one I can think of is a bedside clock or other device that will be used in the dark and can benefit from self-illuminance.

Especially household appliances are worsened by the switch from analogue to digital. A microwave oven used to be so practical to operate. Just dial the clock to your desired time and that's it. Now, you have to press +30s button a bunch of times, or type your time. They're even trying to put digital on stoves, clearly not intended for use by people who actually cook. Induction stoves all have this problem. My air fryer is much worse to operate than it should, because they insisted on digital. It would be perfectly fine with a gauge for time and one for temperature. Now there's all these buttons and a segmented display.

I have a segmented display thermometer. It's not better than an analogue in any way I know of, but they're cheaper. I have a segmented display speedometer on my motorcycle. It is of course getting its input from an analogue measurer, so why transfer it to digital?

[yencabulator]

Modern speedometers are digital. A magnet or metal disk with cutouts rotating with the transmission produces pulses in a magnetic field sensor, the pulses are counted by a microchip. The data is sent to the dashboard over a packet-based computer network.

I for one find a "71" in large digits much easier to read than trying to figure out where between the lines a little needle is pointing. If the opposite were really true, we'd draw little pictures of gauges to communicate numbers.

[carlosjobim]

In cars I see more analog than segmented displays for the speedometer, but I'm sure you're right that the underlying technology can be digital. For MCs, I kind of agree with you that numbers are nicer.

[yencabulator]

My current car and one previous had digital speed displays. It's starting to happen, but the inertia is high.