State of Oculus Rift CV1 Sensors and Controllers worldwide availability

[Imgartn]

Hello,

I owned CV1 for a couple of years now and am really happy with it.
I understand that CV1 was discontinued but now there is a very poor state of its support. Taking into account that there are still a lot of CV1 in use.
A lot of people cannot setup 3 sensor tracking. You can see this by questions in shops, community posts and lack of sensors in retail (there are actually no sensors, at all).
There is a high demand on sensors with no new ones available and used ones sold for double and triple the price. And it will become even worse over time.
With controllers it's even worse. Pair of them costs around 350$ for new and a 200$ for used. Controllers is different kind of issue. They are constantly in use. They tend to break and buttons tend to wear. At some point a lot of people will end up with working headset without possibility to use it.
VR headsets are not cheap. It's not an every day product. It's not a thing that can simply be replaced. Especially considering contemporary demand. Especially if new ones are inferior in some way (Rift S display type, sound, tracking - dependency on lighting, dead zones, battery life).

I personally am frustrated and I think a lot of people share this feeling.
It feels that we were dumped. It gives Oculus a bad image.
If I were pro Oculus all the time and really wanted for company to bloom - frustration from different parts (desktop client usability, how shop and sales are organized, hardware support) will make me think when following generation of headset appears.

[Nunyabinez]

I own 2 CV1s as well and really enjoy them. I also now have a Quest. VR is still bleeding edge technology and all users should think of themselves as early adopters/beta testers. In mature space, I would expect defined update timelines, a reasonable amount of end of life support, etc. But this is not that kind of space.

They call it bleeding edge because you are going to get cut. People have jumped on this bandwagon without understanding what they were getting into and now are unhappy that it isn't what they expected. I came into this hoping that I could get two useful years out of each product and so far, I'm doing fairly good.

I don't want to be confrontational, but people need to come into these things with eyes wide open. When people complain that they spent $400 on a headset and can't believe it is not being supported after two years, I have to say "If you can't eat $400 then you shouldn't be in VR until it is mature." There is consensus that despite updates to the various different headsets, we are still on V1.0. V2.0 is still coming. I know that sounds harsh, but Facebook needs to keep innovating and not spend resources on things that are clearly dead ends. 

The future of VR is not tethered. Whether it is standalone or streamed, it is clear that the winners in this race will be those who follow the Quest branch of design. If you want to be a beta tester, enjoy the fact that you got in on the ground floor. If you don't want to be a beta tester, VR is not ready for you.

[RuneSR2]

CV1 has unique qualities, not sure how long they will last though (before a new oled hmd arrives that truly dethrones CV1, could be Quest 2...). If you truly appreciate the CV1, then go get those controllers and sensors while you can. $500 for old Touch and a sensor may not be a lot to pay if that's the hardware you truly want. 
I got a second CV1, I'm thinking about using it when Lone Echo 2 arrives. Compared to my 3 years old CV1, my spare CV1 seems to have better colors - some burn-in and wear may have happened to my old CV1. 

[Nunyabinez]

RuneSR2 said:

CV1 has unique qualities, not sure how long they will last though (before a new oled hmd arrives that truly dethrones CV1, could be Quest 2...). If you truly appreciate the CV1, then go get those controllers and sensors while you can. $500 for old Touch and a sensor may not be a lot to pay if that's the hardware you truly want. 
I got a second CV1, I'm thinking about using it when Lone Echo 2 arrives. Compared to my 3 years old CV1, my spare CV1 seems to have better colors - some burn-in and wear may have happened to my old CV1. 

I almost got a 3rd CV1 when they had the refurbished ones for $299 just for parts. But I figured that if it died, I would spend the extra $100 and get another Quest, or whatever is the current headset at that time.

Though when I put on the Rift after using the Quest, I can't believe just how light and comfortable it is. I haven't worn a Rift-S, so I don't know how those feel, though I'm sure it's better than the Quest. 

[Imgartn]

Nunyabinez said:

I own 2 CV1s as well and really enjoy them. I also now have a Quest. VR is still bleeding edge technology and all users should think of themselves as early adopters/beta testers. 

It's not an early adoption anymore. Judging by amount of VR information on the net (popularity), quality of new titles (invests) and lack of headsets (demand) in shops - VR stopped being a niche product and becoming mainstream. 
The issue is that there is a competition. And Oculus started lagging hard.
From hardware to support to marketing.
It feels that they are slacking. There is a demand but they don't realize it. Someone else will occupy this place.
You can see this by the sales in Oculus app store for example. Usually there is a stale list of old titles that is consistently rotating. Steam summer sale appeared with a lot of interesting and new titles for good price. After around 2 weeks Oculus deludes their stale list with some good titles. The issue is: I already bought the ones I wanted on Steam (Superhot, Until You Fall, etc.). Moreover price in Oculus store is higher even with discount.
It's not a good strategy.
And it's all over the place it feels like. Lagging in hardware support may result in people dumping unreliable seller. I would personally do this since I'm in a situation when I cannot make 360 tracking for more than half of year now. I'm also concerned that one of my controller will break at some point. And won't be able to use perfectly fine headset at all.
This is bs strategy to be honest. Or lack of any.

[Imgartn]

RuneSR2 said:

CV1 has unique qualities, not sure how long they will last though (before a new oled hmd arrives that truly dethrones CV1, could be Quest 2...).  

I have a feeling Oculus dumped CV1 to focus on Quest. It's a reasonable move for them.
It's economy (though small I'm sure). It's removing internal competition (to sale more new gen hadware since it's invested money).
It's just gives a bad image and puts CV1 users in unpleasant space.
Oculus could at least allocate some buffer to continue supporting CV1. Not making or selling new headsets but continue with hardware and software support for several years. Until it gets deteriorated or something reasonable better appears.

[Imgartn]

<all is good>

[Imgartn]

Example from Amazon.de.
Sensor. Used. 260 Euro.
Controllers. Used. 430 Euro. Almost the price of a new headset.

And it's not as if people put some astronomical price for fun. Someone would have to buy it if his controller breaks.

[OculusAbsolute]

honestly i wished i went for a vive since buying my CV1, the only reason i havent today is because of the amount of cash i have invested into oculus store now.... but that wont last if facebook makes future decisions like it has, i will ditch it and move on rebuy the software !!

[Imgartn]

OculusAbsolute said:

honestly i wished i went for a vive since buying my CV1, the only reason i havent today is because of the amount of cash i have invested into oculus store now.... but that wont last if facebook makes future decisions like it has, i will ditch it and move on rebuy the software !!

I also don't understand why Oculus ignores demand in such things like full body trackers or wireless adapter.
It's just unbelievable for me.
Sometimes I wonder what their top management is doing all the time. Guys there is a HUGE demand on all sorts of things. 🙂