So I’ve heard, and this is the particular claim I’ve really been interested in digging into. In part because defense of the Aero’s narrow FOV sounds like justification of an expensive purchase.
I’ve met too many people who are convinced that their car is faster than it really is. Or people who believe quite firmly that their exotic lenses produce better photos than Canon and Nikon lenses due to some apparently completely unmeasurable quality even though all the hard data says no. And in those examples, I’m convinced that their impressions are psychologically driven.
For the Aero, I don’t think it’s purely psychological, but I strongly suspect that this is a factor tilting things at least a little. And in any case, I think that a lot of people who hear the arguments will think so.
The thing I notice in arguments about the Aero’s FOV (besides how unfriendly they tend to get) is statements from Aero proponents that suggest to me that they don’t value FOV very much in the first place. Their use case (which seems to always be flight sims) and/or perception don’t seem to have much demand for it.
Earlier commentary from Aero proponents said you just don’t mind the narrow FOV. The clarity is so good you don’t notice it. The notion about edge to edge sharpness making its FOV effectively larger has appeared and become pervasive only more recently. I don’t find that claim very compelling. I don’t think it’s entirely without merit. I think there’s a real effect there, but it seems like just a kernel of truth to me and not really the whole story.
I’ve read about studies that were done on whether people valued clarity or FOV more. And the answer was FOV winning out for most people. But that’s only most people. I think the Aero represents the portion of the population that greatly value clarity over FOV finally getting their VR headset.
I think that’s the real core of what’s going on. The set of tradeoffs the Aero has made is appealing to only a narrow market segment, but it is VERY compelling to that segment.
I don’t agree at all. Every method of adding your own audio to a VR headset has substantial drawbacks in terms of usability, convenience, quality, and/or comfort. The notion that prosumers will prefer to add their own audio is imported from other industries and does not apply to VR. It can be done, but it kind of sucks. Especially for the microphone which as far as I know, the Aero is unique among consumer VR headsets in omitting the microphone as well.
There is a portion of the audience who will prefer to add their own audio (headphones, earbuds) despite the practical issues and who also don’t care much about microphones anyway, but I believe this is the minority. The choice to not include any built-in audio whatsoever slices the Aero’s audience even smaller.
You don’t hear much feedback from people who have bought the Aero complaining about the lack of audio because it’s easy to understand this limitation before purchasing it. People who won’t be satisfied simply won’t buy it in the first place.
What gets me is that omitting audio wasn’t a necessary tradeoff for Varjo to make. The clarity vs FOV thing isn’t avoidable with current technology. But there’s no technical reason the Aero couldn’t have mounted an audio system. At least a microphone! I see that as a poor decision on Varjo’s part that narrows the potential market for their product substantially without good cause.
The majority of the potential market for the Aero currently uses the Index. I think Thrillseeker really hit it on the head when he described the Aero as a hard sell to most Index users when it’s going backwards in both audio and FOV. The Aero has roughly 55% of the total FOV area that the Index has, and you go from the best audio on the market to no audio. That double whammy is hard to swallow as part of an “upgrade”.
If Varjo were to license and offer the Index’s audio solution like the Reverb G2 did, I think that would be enough to get me to buy one and at least try it to see whether I can live with the FOV. I am fascinated with the idea of its high clarity, and I want to see what this is like. Despite all that I’ve said on the subject, I’m open to the possibility that actually trying out an Aero will change my mind. But man, losing the audio, too? That really sucks.
And I think a lot of people, maybe even most people, will feel the same way about this that I do. And that leads to the market for the Aero being very small, but very dedicated. Even more so than for Pimax.
Love your straps and been recommending them to everybody!