4" common anode 7-segments: driver reference to buy in 2014

Hi Mat and welcome.

I would consider uln2803, tpic6c595 and saa1064. The '2803 and '595 do not contain constant current drivers but you can use series resistors instead. The advantage of the '595 is that it would use only 3 arduino outputs and the chips can be daisy-chained to drive more digits. The advantage of the '1064 is that it could drive 2 such displays, or even 4 with the addition of a couple of transistors. Also it would use only 2 arduino pins, since it connects via the i2c bus. It contains constant current drivers and has 7 brightness levels that can be selected in software.

Paul