I get nervous whenever I'm about to buy something expensive.
I start to second guess my commitment to purchasing something so outrageously expensive. I consider turning around. My feet grow cold.
It was nearly the same feeling I had when I was on my way to purchasing my first car. Only, in that instance fate would force me to turn away from that opportunity. Oh how I wanted that classic Mitsubishi Lancer.
Would the same thing happen on this day? Would an event transpire that would warn me of the foolishness of spending around 25,000 baht on a VR headset + GPU + hard drive? It nearly did.
Walking around Pantip plaza in Bangkok I only found one shop that had a headset on display for passer-byes (passers bye?). It seemed to me that it was the only place in the whole shopping complex that had it for sale. It was the Acer MR head set.
MR stands for Mixed Reality, which is strange because the head set really only functions as a virtual reality headset. It would be pretty sweet if at some point some Alternate Reality functions would be introduced for it as well.
I wanted to purchase an Oculus Rift, and had almost decided to travel to Taiwan just so that I could save money and knock off one of the countries on my to-travel-to list at the same time. See, Thailand has outrageously high import duties on expensive electronics. Purchasing an imported Rift in Thailand cost nearly twice as much as the retail price on the American store site. I was looking at 22,000 baht to buy one in Thailand.
According to the Oculus website, the rift sold officially in Taiwan at a price point only 50 USD higher than the American price. So I nearly booked a super cheap flight when my wife told me her mom wanted to go to Taiwan with us.
Had nearly just paid for the flight. It's fine, I'll search again for 3 passengers this time. Found the same cheap flight, ready to book. Then WAIT! Her mom didn't want to go anymore. It was too soon.
OK, search again for two passengers. BUT WAIT! The flight isn't available at that price anymore? Huh? So I spend the next hour hitting refresh, hoping to get the same price I had on my browser just minutes ago. The price never comes. I back down in defeat. Guess it just wasn't meant to be.
But I wasn't going to give up on VR. The Acer headset was comparable and officially supported in Thailand. It retailed around 13,000-14,000 baht on Lazada.com, a Thai online shopping site. It lacked the accurate outside-in tracking of the Rift, but had its own inside out tracking that did not require any lighthouse installations. However, I didn't want to buy it without trying it. Hence, I am now at Pantip plaza, nervous about spending a fortune, but somewhat committed to the idea of owning a VR headset.
I go to that one shop. A lady working there explains to me how to put it on and activate the motion controls. The headset feels comfortable, and surprisingly, my glasses fit just fine inside. It's like I'm not even wearing glasses. That's a good sign. I walk around the virtual home. The lady is not very helpful, she moves onto other customers. I find that annoying. But I continue to explore this little virtual home and I am impressed. I want it.
The price is 15,000 baht for the headset. I know that it's cheaper online, so I figure I might be able to bargain down the price if I add that I want to also purchase a GPU.
So now I'm talking to a guy behind a counter about doing just that and he introduces me to GPU 1 and 2 and tells me the prices. They seem a bit high compared to what I'd seen online in my research. I ask how much he can discount. He says he can discount me 400 baht from the 14,400 baht GPU and can't discount the headset at all.
Welp.
I tell him that I can find a better price online. He tells me cheekily to buy it online then.
Woof.
Ok, I'm out of there. I know I can go to Banana IT. I always buy my computer parts from there. Only, they don't have VR. That's fine, I know they won't rip me off on the GPU and Hard Drive. And sure enough, they have the same GPU only its 2,000 baht cheaper there. Sweet. Buy it. Buy a 1 TB hard drive for only 1,100 baht. I ask if they know anywhere I can purchase an Acer MR headset.
No clue.
Ok, I wander off next door into JiB. It's pretty big. So I go deeper in hoping to find something. Lo and Behold I find the Acer MR headset sitting somewhere minding its own business. Then I look at the sticker price. 15,000 crossed out and just under that number is 9,990.
WHAT? Is that 5,000 off the sticker price for real?
Masking my excitement, I ask a staff member to show me the product. He opens the box and shows me the head set and motion controllers. It's the real deal. Doesn't take me long to tell him that I want it. After paying, I say to him that I had nearly paid 15,000 baht for the same product just minutes ago. He laughs. I pretend to wipe sweat from my brow.
Turns out on this day, the universe found it appropriate to gift me what I wanted it. Wait, it would be better to say, the universe pushed me into the right time to buy. And I'm glad I listened.
It pays to be patient.
Follow this blog to learn more about how I interact with Virtual Reality.
The Reality of Virtual Reality
I start to second guess my commitment to purchasing something so outrageously expensive. I consider turning around. My feet grow cold.
It was nearly the same feeling I had when I was on my way to purchasing my first car. Only, in that instance fate would force me to turn away from that opportunity. Oh how I wanted that classic Mitsubishi Lancer.
Would the same thing happen on this day? Would an event transpire that would warn me of the foolishness of spending around 25,000 baht on a VR headset + GPU + hard drive? It nearly did.
Walking around Pantip plaza in Bangkok I only found one shop that had a headset on display for passer-byes (passers bye?). It seemed to me that it was the only place in the whole shopping complex that had it for sale. It was the Acer MR head set.
MR stands for Mixed Reality, which is strange because the head set really only functions as a virtual reality headset. It would be pretty sweet if at some point some Alternate Reality functions would be introduced for it as well.
I wanted to purchase an Oculus Rift, and had almost decided to travel to Taiwan just so that I could save money and knock off one of the countries on my to-travel-to list at the same time. See, Thailand has outrageously high import duties on expensive electronics. Purchasing an imported Rift in Thailand cost nearly twice as much as the retail price on the American store site. I was looking at 22,000 baht to buy one in Thailand.
According to the Oculus website, the rift sold officially in Taiwan at a price point only 50 USD higher than the American price. So I nearly booked a super cheap flight when my wife told me her mom wanted to go to Taiwan with us.
Had nearly just paid for the flight. It's fine, I'll search again for 3 passengers this time. Found the same cheap flight, ready to book. Then WAIT! Her mom didn't want to go anymore. It was too soon.
OK, search again for two passengers. BUT WAIT! The flight isn't available at that price anymore? Huh? So I spend the next hour hitting refresh, hoping to get the same price I had on my browser just minutes ago. The price never comes. I back down in defeat. Guess it just wasn't meant to be.
But I wasn't going to give up on VR. The Acer headset was comparable and officially supported in Thailand. It retailed around 13,000-14,000 baht on Lazada.com, a Thai online shopping site. It lacked the accurate outside-in tracking of the Rift, but had its own inside out tracking that did not require any lighthouse installations. However, I didn't want to buy it without trying it. Hence, I am now at Pantip plaza, nervous about spending a fortune, but somewhat committed to the idea of owning a VR headset.
I go to that one shop. A lady working there explains to me how to put it on and activate the motion controls. The headset feels comfortable, and surprisingly, my glasses fit just fine inside. It's like I'm not even wearing glasses. That's a good sign. I walk around the virtual home. The lady is not very helpful, she moves onto other customers. I find that annoying. But I continue to explore this little virtual home and I am impressed. I want it.
The price is 15,000 baht for the headset. I know that it's cheaper online, so I figure I might be able to bargain down the price if I add that I want to also purchase a GPU.
So now I'm talking to a guy behind a counter about doing just that and he introduces me to GPU 1 and 2 and tells me the prices. They seem a bit high compared to what I'd seen online in my research. I ask how much he can discount. He says he can discount me 400 baht from the 14,400 baht GPU and can't discount the headset at all.
Welp.
I tell him that I can find a better price online. He tells me cheekily to buy it online then.
Woof.
Ok, I'm out of there. I know I can go to Banana IT. I always buy my computer parts from there. Only, they don't have VR. That's fine, I know they won't rip me off on the GPU and Hard Drive. And sure enough, they have the same GPU only its 2,000 baht cheaper there. Sweet. Buy it. Buy a 1 TB hard drive for only 1,100 baht. I ask if they know anywhere I can purchase an Acer MR headset.
No clue.
Ok, I wander off next door into JiB. It's pretty big. So I go deeper in hoping to find something. Lo and Behold I find the Acer MR headset sitting somewhere minding its own business. Then I look at the sticker price. 15,000 crossed out and just under that number is 9,990.
WHAT? Is that 5,000 off the sticker price for real?
Masking my excitement, I ask a staff member to show me the product. He opens the box and shows me the head set and motion controllers. It's the real deal. Doesn't take me long to tell him that I want it. After paying, I say to him that I had nearly paid 15,000 baht for the same product just minutes ago. He laughs. I pretend to wipe sweat from my brow.
Turns out on this day, the universe found it appropriate to gift me what I wanted it. Wait, it would be better to say, the universe pushed me into the right time to buy. And I'm glad I listened.
It pays to be patient.
Follow this blog to learn more about how I interact with Virtual Reality.
The Reality of Virtual Reality
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