If you hook it up to your electrical system, then the back light will be on all the time. Nice bluish color that looks pretty cool at night. I haven't had any problems with seeing it in the daytime. Yeah, installation is a piece of cake. And I love the fact that you can hook it up to any electrical source - AC, DC, 12 volt, 6 volt whatever! My moped barely generates 6 volts at full throttle, much less at idle. The Vapor has no problem with it. The back light just goes on and off as the voltage changes!
Here's a photo of it mounted, so you can get a sense for how big it is: