THIS IS A SLIDE SHOW, CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO SEE ALL SLIDES
[BMo_scrollGallery id=44 sG_thumbPosition=bottom sG_images=1 duration=slow gallery_width=600 gallery_height=400 thumbs_width=100 thumbs_height=100 sG_caption=1 sG_start=1 sG_loop=1 sG_loopThumbs=1 sG_clickable=1 sG_opacity=60 sG_area=200 sG_scrollSpeed=0 sG_autoScroll=0 sG_aS_stopOnOver=1 sG_diashowDelay=50 sG_followImages=1 sG_responsive=1 ]
Purchase Link for Cardboard Model $2.22 – (use google to see who is giving away a free one, there’s usually someone)
Purchase Link for Foam “EVA” Model $10 (approx- many models)
Purchase Link for VR-BOX Goggles $12.99
Recently I opened and tested VR goggles. I was playing with this tech over a year ago but it is suddenly getting popular and there are a lot more games now, so I wanted to give it another try. I tried out all three of the ones I see everywhere this year, the cardboard ones, the foam ones, and the hard shell plastic kind. They are all called “google cardboard” so that is one confusing thing, but getting the right one can be easy.
The first VR headset i tried was the plain cardboard kind. We got ours free from the nice people at NYU MetroTech. One of the worst things about his headset is the fact that there were no instructions that i could find. another problem that this product had was the fact that none of the pieces fit in the slots. The pieces were always too thin. I almost considered using the third hand tool. This product had its fair share of redeeming features to. It knew you would have trouble putting it together so it gave you two rubber bands. another “good” feature about this product is that it is VERY cheap (AS IN IT IS FREE). I would not consider the fact that you had to hold it up to your head a bad feature, just a minor inconvenience.
The second VR headset i tried was the EVA foam. This was soooooo much better than the plain cardboard. Lets start off with the fact that THE PEICES FIT INTO THEIR SLOTS. Yesssssssss! We need moat of that (that=stuff actually working). Another feature that is good about this product is the fact that it is is comfortable on your face. It also has a strap but that is besides the point. One little catch is the fact that the front can come off very easily as you are using the product, so your phone could pop out and potently break. there it an easy way around this problem though. if you gill each of the slots with a drop of gorilla glue
The Vellman “VR BOX” are a good product and i think that a lot of effort was putt into the features of this box. They are a lot like all the other plastic box types I see everywhere but they are made by a company I trust. I could see very clearly. The lenses are well protected and hard to scratch. It was easy to remove the correct part of the front plate for my camera. It is comfortable for gaming, enhanced reality, and even micro view apps. I would love it if Velleman made a more advanced one with built in earphones, better phone and button integration, and maybe even a bluetooth controller. It’s velleman, so a real DIY kit might be fun here too.
My favorite one to use was the Velleman VR Box. It is about twice the cost of an EVA but it’s still under $20. If you want to grab a viewer and play a game and just have fun, the Velleman VR Box is the very best of its kind and super easy to set up. It’s my favorite toy of this year’s pre-holiday season. We bought a couple of them because they were not too expensive and completely restarted our interest in smartphone based 3-d gaming.
My favorite one to BUILD was the EVA. The foam EVA was so well marked and so much fun to put together I was playing with it long before the phone was plugged in. This is one of those toys that’s just pure fun to put together and then really fun to use. Thing is you WILL wear it out. Me and my dad wore ours out in just a few weeks the first time. Make sure to use gorilla glue and when you start to really play with it, consider upgrading to a plastic model like the Velleman VR Box.
FULL DISCLOSURE(s)
This article contains items made and distributed by Velleman, Inc. In the past they have supplied notabomb.com with items not specifically for consideration, however that were used in this blog. The velleman item in this article was purchased by me at full retail price from the Velleman Store.
The cardboard NYU headset was provided to me free of charge by the NYU MetroTech space rover project that I visited when at the MakerFaire NYC 2016. A similar model was chosen for the purchase link above.
